Battery Replacement
Posted: Wed Oct 30, 2019 12:35 pm
My son's 2006 Cayenne S sits in the parking lot at college for apparently up to 2 weeks at a time between starts. Last year, he started chirping that his battery was bad because he'd have to jump start it after it sat for 2 weeks outside in January. My response was "Well, what did you expect? Did it start back up again after you drove it for a while?" My advice was to go take the car for a drive at least once a week, and more often in the winter months, otherwise any battery is going to struggle to start it.
When he was home last weekend, though, he said that now after 6 days, the car won't start. So, I figured it was time to get him a new battery, if nothing else, to prove that you just can't let a car sit outside for 2 weeks straight and expect the car to fire right up. I went online at AdvanceAutoParts.com, got a pop-up ad from the site for a 25% off promo code and proceeded to buy him a battery for pick up at the store for $128 (tax included) (without the core charge).
The battery was an Autocraft Gold, non-AGM, size H8, 900 cold cranking amps. When I pulled the old one (more about that in a moment), I found it to be an Autocraft Premium AGM, size H8, 850 cold cranking amps. The manufactured date was August 2015. We bought the car in July 2016, and I don't recall replacing the battery, so I suspect it had been in the car for about 4 years. Looking it up on the Advance Auto website, the current Autocraft Platinum AGM is now 900 CCAs with a 36 month warranty. So, I suppose it did its job. But, the current model of that battery is 33% more money than I spent on the non-AGM. Plus, after all of the problems that I had with jump starting and charging the AGM battery on my Audi A8L over the past couple of years, I figured a non-AGM battery would be better for this application. So, with it being cheaper and less complicated, plus the same CCA rating, I got the non-AGM battery.
Now, regarding the actual work of replacing a first-gen Cayenne battery - WTF? It isn't the first time I've replaced one - my wife's silver 2006 Cayenne S needed a new battery last year. So, this was my 2nd time doing it. Still, a major PITA. I got it done in about 30 minutes, but it is still way too complicated of a process. Plus you need a special tool (the #10 triple square socket). If they wanted to put the damn battery under the seat, they should have made some provisions to make it more accessible. Starting with - why the #10 triple square bolt? If someone is stranded on the side of the road or in a remote location, wouldn't it be much better to just have a standard hex head bolt or even an Allen head bolt holding down the front seat rails? And how about moving the battery forward or aft just a few inches so that running the seat forward or backwards all the way would make the battery accessible without having to unfasten the seat rails in the first place?
Bottom line, I feel like the son is still going to have trouble getting the battery to start the car when it inevitably sits for 2 weeks outside this winter without starting. I've bought him a lithium ion jump start pack (a Weego), which hopefully will work easier with a non-AGM battery that's dead versus an AGM battery. We'll see. But, thoughts on any aspect of the topic?
When he was home last weekend, though, he said that now after 6 days, the car won't start. So, I figured it was time to get him a new battery, if nothing else, to prove that you just can't let a car sit outside for 2 weeks straight and expect the car to fire right up. I went online at AdvanceAutoParts.com, got a pop-up ad from the site for a 25% off promo code and proceeded to buy him a battery for pick up at the store for $128 (tax included) (without the core charge).
The battery was an Autocraft Gold, non-AGM, size H8, 900 cold cranking amps. When I pulled the old one (more about that in a moment), I found it to be an Autocraft Premium AGM, size H8, 850 cold cranking amps. The manufactured date was August 2015. We bought the car in July 2016, and I don't recall replacing the battery, so I suspect it had been in the car for about 4 years. Looking it up on the Advance Auto website, the current Autocraft Platinum AGM is now 900 CCAs with a 36 month warranty. So, I suppose it did its job. But, the current model of that battery is 33% more money than I spent on the non-AGM. Plus, after all of the problems that I had with jump starting and charging the AGM battery on my Audi A8L over the past couple of years, I figured a non-AGM battery would be better for this application. So, with it being cheaper and less complicated, plus the same CCA rating, I got the non-AGM battery.
Now, regarding the actual work of replacing a first-gen Cayenne battery - WTF? It isn't the first time I've replaced one - my wife's silver 2006 Cayenne S needed a new battery last year. So, this was my 2nd time doing it. Still, a major PITA. I got it done in about 30 minutes, but it is still way too complicated of a process. Plus you need a special tool (the #10 triple square socket). If they wanted to put the damn battery under the seat, they should have made some provisions to make it more accessible. Starting with - why the #10 triple square bolt? If someone is stranded on the side of the road or in a remote location, wouldn't it be much better to just have a standard hex head bolt or even an Allen head bolt holding down the front seat rails? And how about moving the battery forward or aft just a few inches so that running the seat forward or backwards all the way would make the battery accessible without having to unfasten the seat rails in the first place?
Bottom line, I feel like the son is still going to have trouble getting the battery to start the car when it inevitably sits for 2 weeks outside this winter without starting. I've bought him a lithium ion jump start pack (a Weego), which hopefully will work easier with a non-AGM battery that's dead versus an AGM battery. We'll see. But, thoughts on any aspect of the topic?