AutoZone says her battery is good, so I worry that her prorated warranty is worthless like with tires. I think that she bought it from her mechanic, but I called twice, and nobody answered. Interstate shows a few other places in town selling their batteries, but none of them were open on Saturday. Then I came home and Mom told someone that she keeps telling me to ignore her warranty and just buy a new one.
I love it when I first hear that she has told me to do something repeatedly when she is talking to someone else.
I think she has the Better MT-24F, 600 cold-cranking amps, 24-month warranty, and 5-year performance warranty for $150.
The Good M-24FHC is the same price for 700 CCA, but only has an 18-month warranty. It just says "Free Replacement Warranty."
Their Best MTP-24F is $170 for 750 CCA and a 2.5/6-year warranty.
Then Premium MTX-24F $210 710 CCA and 3-year warranty and
Super Premium MTZ-34R $300 for 800 CCA and 4-year warranty.
I didn't think that 600 CCA was much, but it is 750 cranking amps.
Walmart sells a battery with a 3-year warranty and 750 CCA for $100 and one with a 2-year warranty and 600 CCA for $80.
The warranty says they will give her 10% off, so $135, when the Walmart one is similar (but with a worse warranty) for $80, and they have a better one (without the prorated warranty) for $100.
If you pay $150 for an Interstate and it fails in the third year they would credit you $67.50 for a replacement, so even the best-case scenario for Interstate favors Walmart.
By the way, once I figured out the belt and finished installing the alternator, it still wouldn't start. I eventually realized that the 120 amp alternator fuse was bad:
Which required removing all of this:
The fuse was $4 and replacing it wasn't too hard. It just seems weird that it has bolts inside the fuse box.
So, now I say the first rule of auto repair to disconnect the negative battery terminal, which I didn't remember until I touched the alternator with my wrench.
Time to buy a carbon fiber socket wrench!
