Mr. Pink

I have ran a multitude of different batteries over the years, Autozone(duralast gold and red tops), Advance auto's AGM and wet cell batteries, Napa's batteries, Optima etc. In my 4 current vehicles i have an ACdelco wet cell(2010 Jetta), Advance auto wet cell(2001 Toyota 4Runner), Carquest(Advance auto) wet cell(1985 F150), and an Carquest(Advance auto) AGM(in my ZJ). Granted all but the AcDelco i have put in in the past 6mo. But have not had issues with any battery that i have owned in the past 10yrs if they are properly maintained. Before the past 6mo i have not replaced a battery in a vehicle in years.

shooptube

I work at advanced auto and I honestly love our gold series in a bigger than stock size. I wouldn't waste my money on a modern day optima since they are owned by Johnson controls. I have had zero complaints about my gold series though.

Hoenestly

I have had duracel automotive battery when I bought my xj. I did not know the history of it, but from the looks of it, it looked some what new. The battery died on me from charging my phone and I was so confused haha. I got it jumped and it was never the same. I went to auto zone and got a duralast gold (I know it might not be the best). It's been a good battery ....5 year warranty and cranks good in freezing icy weather. No issues......yet....I hope lol

JSJJ388

You sir, have a knack for breaking bull****ometers!!!

mdtobe

WINNER!!!

So this morning a few minutes after my first post, the Jeep wouldn't start. Tried jumping it and it still wouldn't turn over (just made the proverbial groaning noise for a second and then silence followed by just the solenoid clicking when I turned the key again). Checked the battery and it had 13.2 Volts! Just to be sure I connected a spare battery from another car I keep on a trickle charger through the winter. Nothing but solenoid clicks. And then I could smell burnt electric motor smell coming from the starter.

It's sitting outside my house on a Chicago side street, complete with snow, slush and leaf scrum under it and that's where the job's going to have to be done.

I'd be happy to let anyone that wants to, come over and change out a Jeep starter on a bed of snow, slush and leaf scum in the freezing cold! I'll even provide coffee and/or beer. Maybe some rum, too. Any takers?

Seriously, starter brand recommendations?

Autozone, NAPA or Mopar?

Cheers,

John

Jeepin'_Aint_EZ

Didn't you know, parts like to break/stop working at the most ****ty times?

mdtobe

Oh yes. Failed to mention the rest of this morning's story. It was my wife who was on her way to work. Jeep wouldn't start. Jeep wouldn't jump start. At this point wife is saying VERY bad words. Loudly. Go to get key for the Mazda Miata I've been driving (it has Winter Tires). Prefer for wife to have Jeep with AWD option (242 Transfer Case) and Antilock brakes, but oh well. Wife starts to pull away in Miata - and gets stuck in the snow as she's trying to get out - BECAUSE THE RIGHT FRONT TIRE TURNS OUT TO BE FLAT. Wife's language continues to be rather foul...

Now, all that's left to be driven is our Ford Taurus station wagon. But, though it has snow tires, the heater core is plugged up (common Taurus problem) so absolutely NO HEAT (accept that provided by wife's continued ranting and raging). It's also buried under a foot of snow and ice. And it's battery is not installed (it was the battery I had on the trickle charger in the garage). So the wife works on the snow and ice while I install the battery. And eventually, off she goes in the very cold Ford Taurus.

So the rest of my day is planned out. I've aired up the Miata tire (it's a slow leak between the bead and the rim) and I'll drive it to Discount Tires and have them deal with that. Then I'm off to a parts store for a starter. Then hopefully I'll have the starter installed early enough so that I can drive the Jeep to the wife's workplace and take the Ford during the day and leave her the warm Jeep to drive home tonight.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it...

Cheers,

John

P.S. I might have exaggerated the wife's level of ranting and raging a bit. And it's possible some of that r and r was coming from me...

Jeepin'_Aint_EZ

geeze man, I hope the beginning of 2017 is better than the end of '16 lol. Anyway, have you tried tapping the starter housing to see if you can get it to crank? It's probably a dead spot in the armature. Tap it moderately with a hammer while the wife or friend turns the key orrrr you can jump the terminals with a screwdriver. Dont hit it too hard or it's gunna crack.

mdtobe

Thanks for the suggestion. I did whack it a bit with a crowbar, and then tried to start it (no one to help). It did make a slight difference - where as before smacking it, I got nothing but solenoid clicks, after smacking it, the starter did turn over one (very slow) time, then went back to clicking.

I've shoveled out under the car, and I do have a mechanics creeper, so the job won't be too horrible. Even if I got the Jeep started, I've got sports cars in the garage ('72 Datsun 240-Z and another nicer '93 Miata) that I do not want to take out and put on the salty Chicago streets.

Cheers,

John

mdtobe

I was wrong, the job was horrible. But at least it's fixed. Took more than six hours! Mainly because I elected not to jack the Jeep up. Nobody home but me and I was concerned about using jacks and jack stands on the slippery pavement a little bit, and mainly didn't want to have my hydraulic floor jack sitting in 3 inches of salt water slush by the curb (where it would have had to be to jack the Jeep up on that side). Couldn't move my arms between my chest and the bottom of the frame and stuff so I had a lot of trouble keeping the socket wrench on the bolts, and then when I could, I could hardly get leverage to wrench them. The neighbors got to hear some very colorful language as sockets got away from me and rolled into the cloudy salt water muck by the curb...

Bought a brand new starter with a Lifetime Warranty from Napa for about $102 including the tax and it cranks the engine really fast. Nice.

Cheers,

John

Hoenestly

I'm confused lol

mdtobe

Yea, I was wondering about that, too.

fb97xj1

The only store bought battery i have ever used was Everstart. Never had a problem. The last one (in the mustang) was 7 years old. Any problems i did have were traced back to the battery cables and clamps. Kept tabs on the voltage and always kept the cells topped off using distilled water only. Cant say much about the XJ other than it has an Everstart, which is only a year old, and has not been driven since July.

The only other battery i have used is Motorcraft, which is what the mustang is using now, just to keep things original.

JSJJ388

Given your track history on actually telling the truth I dont buy that your battery died from charging your phone. i have charged my phone for several hours using the ciggarette lighter and never killed a battery like that. Id wager that you probably left your lights on and killed it.

Jeepin'_Aint_EZ

Mannnnn that sounds like a good time. I absolutely hate working on vehicles when it's cold outside. At least you're up and running now!