Battery vs E-brake

[crackz]

For me, the factory battery died after 4 years. Kind of shocking for me because I'm old and remember batteries lasting 10-15 years. Just up and died, no warning, just 10.4 volts. The real problem and the issue I didn't know:


The E-brake. If your battery dies, you can not disengage the ebrake. You have to manually take the wheel off and do it that way. I found out because I was nose first in my garage. This is one of those things I never thought of. My cables weren't long enough to reach backwards, I gave my mother in law the trickle charger..... damn.

Thankfully advanced auto delivers in 30 minutes. Bought a jump pack. That was enough to do disengage the ebrake and jump the car. New battery was also painfully expensive. I thought civics were cheap easy to work on cars but I guess times change.

Anyway. This seems more like a PSA that your e-brake will be a pain if your battery dies and you're the wrong direction. Also, damn, 4 years for a battery. Poo poo, I know these are basically little computers and it doesn't help I don't drive a lot but I thought there would be more of a warning sign than clicks and an e-brake that wouldn't release

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[ModJPB]

Battery lasting 10-15 years!!! That would be 1 to 2 batteries for almost the life of the car! What magical voodoo shop did you go to?!? Did you walk uphill both ways to school as a kid!?!

I've worked at an auto shop for 7 years and the normal life expectancy of an OEM battery is 3-4 years and after market is 3-6years. Your experience with this civic is normal.

Listen, I hate the electric ebrake too. The car would be so much fun with a manual pull handle brake, but why would you want to disengage a brake knowing your battery is dead and not be able to re-engade it. Are you trying to collect insurance by letting it roll runaway into someone!?! Sounds like Honda is choosing the safer situation by keeping the brake engaged until someone can jump, boost, or replace the battery.

 

[AZCWTypeR]

In hot weather states like FL and AZ, you're lucky to get 3 years of battery life. I had a top of the line Diehard go bad in 2 years in FL. Five years of life was my usual experience in the snow belt states.

 

[maracuch0]

I am on my second battery replacement already. Both failed every 2 years. The first one failed under bumper to bumper warranty, replaced at the dealer.. The second one failed outside warranty, so I bought an upgraded AGM battery over EFB Honda battery. Let's see if this one gets me through more than 2 years, although the battery has 5 year warranty so not worried about it.

 

[Stanleywinthrop]

3 years is kind of the norm for Honda batteries. The funny thing is that a lot of aftermarket batteries aren't very good either. I've had more than one aftermarket battery fail within the warranty which takes the sting out of it failing at 2-3 years. I've learned to keep a jump pack in all my cars, the most handy of which is the battery jump/air pump combo.

 

[zumbooruk]

Thanks for the heads up!

It indeed seems that battery life is shorter than it used to be.

A battery purchased about ten years ago lasted about eight years, was replaced about two years ago.

The warranty on the new battery was much shorter. used to be 48 months. now only 24 months.

I researched LiFePO4. about 20lb lighter, should last longer. some are very expensive (not worth it in my opinion)

This Mighty Max is about $210 after 10% off coupon:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GWRWMCFD/


The best jump starter I am aware of is Noco.

But best value (per project farm) is Gooloo GP4000

I own both, a 2000A Noco for the V8 Suburban, which is driven long distances away from major roads to trailheads, and the Gooloo for my FL5.

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