problem: My battery is dead.
the back story:
got the car in January 2012, no temps less then 40 degrees since I got her.
I replaced the battery the first time in in January, then again in March (was told it was a bad cell that would not charge). No problems until November when my alternator dies. Replaced it as well as the 3 belts. after charging the battery it starts and runs fine.
Last time I drove my care was 12-25. That night we were hit with a (for here) long cold spell. the high temp was less then 34 degrees for the last week. went to start it today, and battery is dead.

My questions is if "you" think it was just letting the car sit to long in the cold without starting it, or could there be something else going on I need to be looking for?

 

What's the battery's CCA rating?
Is the battery "bottom of the line", midrange, or high quality?
What does your dash voltmeter (if n/a) read at idle / driving?
Have you had your alternator / battery load tested lately?

A good quality, proper rated battery, charged by a working alternator should be able to withstand a week of sub-zero temps.

My AutoZone Gold battery has been sitting disconnected in my Z for 2 years now (been 10-20*F for the last week). I reconnected it over the weekend and it has full power.

 

440
Its an Oreilly's, super start economy (low end)
before I stopped driving it, it was reading 14. Nothing to lead me to believe i would have any issues.
not since I replaced the alternator. That is on my list to do, but it will be this weekend before i can do it.
This is what i was thinking, but just was not sure.

 

440 seems very low to me... off the top of my head I'm thinking it should be around 700-800 CCA. I know my Geo Metro 3cyl is a ~550 CCA. AutoZone / OReilly / Interstate Batteries websites should have the proper rating.

So is it completely dead, or just not enough juice to kick over?

EDIT...

Looks like the standard is 750CCA: http://www.autozone.com/autozone/par...mString=search

 

Lights work fine, but not enough juice to kick it over.

Yea I noticed on the O'reillsy website all the other batteries had between 675-800 CCA.

I've never paid attention to the CCA rating before. looks like I learned something the hard way this time.

 

Make sure you've got good battery cables and a good ground connection. Do the cables get hot when you crank it over?

 

buy an interstate battery. then check for vampire drain using a cheap ammeter between the ground strap and the battery. (in series if you are electrical knowledgeable)

 

had the battery load tested
was told battery tested out fine at idle
under load, it only outputting 40 amps not the 60 amps.

drove it to work today, (my DD) volt meter sets between the 14 and the red area (was NOT in the red zone). this is were it always set before.

Not sure where to go from here.

 

If all battery cables are tightly secured and free of corrosion as previously mentioned, given your description of the problem, your battery simply does not have enough juice to crank the motor when cold. Read up on proper CCA ratings.

EDIT... the load of 40amps is your alternator, which is normal, uber low and weak, but normal. Many of us have upgraded alternators (I have a GM-1wire 72amp).

 

sounds like cheap battery and/or fubar alternator. or corroded cables. I am amazed that people never bother to examine/test the cables which are the only connection to the heart of the electrical system.

 

Welp its currently 10 here in Sunny Pittsburgh! Yep cold will kill older cars. My 1990 ford probe. The 88 Taurus field beater and our 86 wood getter Subaru. All ate battery's. 2 options start it and idle for at least 20 mins once a week. Buy a 40.00 trickle charger from sears. Out here in the woods we've found a can of starting fluid and 5w30 really helps keep the battery from working hard. My datsun can go about 11/12 days before the RRRRRRRRrrrrrrrrrr click click.

 

Well it dipped all the way down to 41 where I live in Canada. First day of frost on the cars! - hopefully the cold snap ends soon ;P

 

Only 41 in Canada? I'm in California and it's been below freezing every night!

 

Yea well I live on the Pacific ocean near Seattle, WA - it usually hovers above freezing most of the winter but it usually stays below 90 in the summer. We get a lot of rain :/

 

Fair enough! Was about to get the fans out and blow this arctic s&#% back to you Canadians. Foot of snow at the house now. Gotta walk the napa gold down to the barn see if the ol Subaru will start. gotta haul up some wood.

Lil morbid but Had an aunt pull a Wilie coyote. Up there think it was Prince Rupert??

 

Prince Rupert is in the same province (British Columbia) as me but the temperature drops off significantly It's basically the last town in Canada before you hit Alaska on the coast.

 

I have family that lives up in Seattle. Beautiful area but you're right, a lot of rain.

 

Oh ok didnt know that it was that far north. I was around 15 and I guess she took a 95 Pontiac sunfire rental off a 400ft ravine. Took 8 months to find the car. I always asked couldn't they see the busted guard rail and was told there was none. We got mountains but we also have rails preventing plunges. But Alaska i can believe that. Morbid I know lol

 

Rain you say...?
Perfect!

 

I live in South Dakota and we have weeks at a time where the temp could be 10 below zero during the warm part of the day, and -20 at night. I have a cheap *** Walmart battery in my 86 300ZX and sometimes it sits for 2-3 weeks at a time during this weather. I can jump in and it starts right up everytime. I believe that a good tune, good fuel, and the proper weight oil is just as important as the battery. My battery is rated at 700 or 750 if I remember correctly.

 

I totally agree with tune-ups oil weights ect. A shitty car will leave you down cold or hot. Your nissan built z is fairly newer with way better electronics and fuel injection system. Us owners of the Datsun built z Need exactly 12 amps to start. Clock/radio memory "modern cd players". As well as open circuits in general. You must remember the average state of a 33 year old car. Tops in summer with yee ol Napa marine battery . I will keep charged week n a half tops then she goes to ten amps and I challenge anyone to start a bosh injected 2.8 cold on 10 amps Best Advise for a cold storage 280zx Disconnect the battery if parking it for more than a few days. I got tired of walking 1/4 mile back to the barn to grab my jump box

 

thought i would give a update.

Once i charged the battery, everything seems to be fine.

been driving the care for the last 8 days no issues, but.. temp has not been below 32.

at this point I have other issues to deal with, Im going to treat this as a one off unless it happens again.

btw- the battery in my wife's car did die the same weekend, it was a 07 battery. one of the cells died in it.

 

my replacement alternator died on the way home last night.
seems my replacement was bad.

to make matters worse, my water pump died also.
So as of now my car hates me.

 

Welcome to the world of the Z. If you sit real quiet in the car while its off. You can hear it Laughing at you. Normally they are super reliable. Say comparable to a Subaru. But they also have a mischievous side. Water pump is super cheap and takes me exactly 15 mins to replace. EZ fix. The alternator could be a glitch. Take it back If you have amps and subs in the car with out a capacitor You can burn them up.

 

OH btw dont let it get hot at all!!! Then your down a head gasket