Went today to get another battery at a salvage yard. I dont have $100 for a new one but did manage to find battery with a date of 6/12 for $30. when i installed it the Vehicle cranked up and ran. I let it idle for about 10 minutes and drove it to the gas station to fill up then down to advance to let them test it. the battery tested bad because out of 550 amps it was showing 469 amps. IS this battery really bad or do you think it may just need a good charge? I was thinking about driving it for a day or so,or returning the battery for another. it has a 30 day warranty. I wonder if its just low since its been sitting for i dont know how long.

 

I don't know how they test those, but I have a hard time believing that they just hook an ammeter to the terminals. But maybe not.

I'd do what you are thinking, just drive it for a couple of days to see if it gets better or not. Just pay attention to how it sounds when you are trying to start it to see if the starter is bogging down, indicating that it doesn't have the power required to turn the motor over.

 

I ended up returning that one. They gave me another one,which has 650 cca and it tested bad since it only had 520 cca. But,one of the cells were low in water so i added some bottled water,and dropped it off at advance to be slow charged overnight. We'll see what it says today. She kicked over better though with this one. Hopefully im through with this.

 

welp,that one was bad..had great amps,etc...but the thing had a leak. no wonder the cell was dry. Got ANOTHER one today,had it tested. great amps,good volts. i think i got a keeper. whew.

 

Another thing to check is the voltage. Check from cell to cell, not just across the terminals. They should all be just over 2 volts. One cell can be bad, and the battery overall still show 12 volts. Fully charged, good condition is around 12.5-14 volts.