| After cleaning the terminals and putting a protective spray, my car hesitated to turn over this morning. It was a pretty cool night but nothing extreme so I didn't expect the battery to hesitate after doing what the guys at Autozone told me. I went to Autozone after work and had another guy check it. The reading on his machine said that I had 188 CCA when the battery was labeled at 500 CCA. He said because my terminals were so corroded for such a long time the battery was never really getting a deep charge. He didn't think I needed a new battery and recommended taking it out and having them charge it. I explained to him that the battery was six years old and his jaw dropped. He stated, as many as you did, that most batteries only last 4-5 years and said to play it safe with the winter coming up.
After it was all said and done I bought the red top Duralast battery (600CCA, 2 year warranty prorated till 7 years). They had another red top Duralast battery that fit my car for $5 more with only 500 CCA. They couldn't tell me what the difference was so I went with the cheaper one with 100 more CCA. When I got home and tried to install the battery I realized the difference, the terminals were reversed. I was going to go back and get the other one but I decided to see if I could stretch the wires to reach the terminals. It's a tight fit but it seems fine. The wires are tight and are not moving. Should I be concerned or am I alright? |