My Accord wouldn't start yesterday; my battery is one year old.

[Piotrsko]

I have a set of those, bought them at Sears Roebuck maybe 35 years ago for a stupid bolt on a car I no longer own. Never broke one, but I am skeptical that they could handle the torque my breaker bar and 3ft pipe cheater will.

[Xist]

Eric says they are rated for 400 foot-pounds and he used an impact wrench on it, although he had mixed results. It sounds like it reverses direction--when he went to loosen, it tightened.

[Piotrsko]

Well the 1/2 " drive breaks generally around 600lb ft, have gone as high as 2500 on the 3/4 drive, don't EVER expect to break the 1"

Yes an impact wrench would beat you up using those.

[2016 Versa]

Originally Posted by Xist

The custodian told me to start the engine and disconnect the negative terminal. If it dies the alternator is bad.
I replaced the alternator on my last Accord!

Wouldn't the negative terminal be required to run the car at all, circuits and all?

A quick Google search says to not follow that recommendations, it can damage the electronics. Everyone on CarTalk seemed to agree and the next search result was a page on Troubleshooters.Com called "Don't Disconnect the Battery with the Engine Running."

Trying that would be simple enough, but if I am already going to AutoZone...

Years ago on cars of the 70's and earlier before computers and so many electronics disconnecting the battery would tell you if the alternator was bad and didn't hurt anything. If the car continued to run it was running off the alternator. If it died well you know the rest of the story. I think a lot of the problem is they're just not making batteries as good as they use to. When I replaced the battery in my mom's Grand Marquis several years ago I was getting top of the line batteries with a 3 year replacement warranty. I think it was replaced either 3 or 4 times before I finally got a good one. Some were only lasting a few months. My son just replaced a battery that was still under free replacement warranty in his Dodge truck a few weeks ago. Also for the last few year I'd been having to replace the battery in mom's riding mower about every year. Sure enough when I went to start it this spring it was dead and wouldn't take a charge. I cut the ends off the cables and replaced them with terminals for a car battery and put a car battery in that sucker. Haven't had a problem starting that 15.5 HP engine since. I figured paying $55. for a car battery at Rural King and it lasting several years would be cheaper than paying $20-$25 every year and would be a lot less aggravation. If I remember correctly the battery that I put in it has a 2 year free replacement and 5 year pro rated warranty.

[Piotrsko]

I'm getting an average of 7 years on the factory F250 batteries, and have had only the first set result in a no start on a cold winter day. Mind you they are 350 @ set, but....

[MeteorGray]

I live in a hot climate, so I put louvers in the hood of my Mazda and a couple of other vehicles in order to vent off engine bay heat. I also have a small scavenger fan blowing hot air out of the louvers when the temperatures get too high. I use the fan when needed in stop-and-go traffic and when I shut the engine down in hot weather. All this helps give some relief to such items as the battery.

I've found that with the louvers, the engine bay does not rise above outside ambient temperatures while running on the highway. In stop-and-go traffic with the air conditioner running and when stopping the engine after a run, engine bay temperatures can climb sky-high, and that's when I turn on the scavenger fan.

I've found these measures significantly reduce the high engine bay temperatures which can be detrimental to a lot of under-hood equipment, including batteries.

I've read that more auto batteries are killed from high under-hood temperatures than from any other single reason. I'm doing what I can to alleviate those temperatures and keep the battery from suffering a young and tragic end.

[Xist]

Huh. Warm engines are good for fuel economy--to a point.

[litesong]

Originally Posted by MeteorGray

Location: Louisiana

Hear "don'T rump" will be at a Louisiana-Alabama(?) game today. After hearing "Lock him up", at the World Series, "don'T rump" has to withdraw to a racist, sexist, environmentally racial unjust region to lick his wounds.
Do you think, "don'T rump" will like impeachment or imprisonment best? His only option is to declare himself dictator for life & then invite authoritarian dictator putin to take over the U.S.

[MeteorGray]

litesong, have you turned this into a political rant, again?

Your statement qualifies for entry into one of the asylums that used to be available until the intellectuals decided they'd be better off living on drugs under a bridge or squatting and shifting on the sidewalks of Seattle.