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Well crap...

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Red Squirrel said:
Lead acid batteries seem to be one of the many things affected by the Covid Price Gauge(TM). Had to buy two 7.2ah ones for a small UPS and they're usually like 25 a pop they were more like $40 a pop.
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My car's battery is 8 years old and it's been acting funny. I'm only driving once every 2 weeks, maybe 15 miles, a Costco run and keep a charger on the battery. some days it reads low voltage, other days not, don't know what's up with that, but figure buy a new battery now, why risk getting stranded somewhere (even at home)? I could have ordered it delivered from Walmart but now they show OOS. It's been OOS for some weeks now. Meantime the battery is working but don't know how long. 8 years seems a long time. It's a hard to find battery. I think I could get one from O'Reilly, but I'd have to drive there are they charge a lot more.
 
Muse said:
My car's battery is 8 years old and it's been acting funny. I'm only driving once every 2 weeks, maybe 15 miles, a Costco run and keep a charger on the battery. some days it reads low voltage, other days not, don't know what's up with that, but figure buy a new battery now, why risk getting stranded somewhere (even at home)? I could have ordered it delivered from Walmart but now they show OOS. It's been OOS for some weeks now. Meantime the battery is working but don't know how long. 8 years seems a long time. It's a hard to find battery. I think I could get one from O'Reilly, but I'd have to drive there are they charge a lot more.
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You might want to drive the vehicle to O'Reilly's just to have them test your alternator (if they do that). I know some auto parts shops have testing equipment for basic things that are easy to diagnose.

It would show if it's more than just your battery; a new battery won't do much good for very long if your alternator is crapping out.
 
Pohemi420 said:
You might want to drive the vehicle to O'Reilly's just to have them test your alternator (if they do that). I know some auto parts shops have testing equipment for basic things that are easy to diagnose.

It would show if it's more than just your battery; a new battery won't do much good for very long if your alternator is crapping out.
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The car (1997 Mazda 626LX 2.0L) only has about 34k on it!!! I had a small highly rated indy shop do the 30K inspection at maybe 28K (I was antsy), no issues I can remember, that was 7 years ago! I don't know if the alternator is apt to be an issue with such a lightly used car?

I had that shop fix the AC, which was completely useless, a week before I had them do the 30K inspection. It's still working these days. I don't know if it's 100% effective, but it's NOT useless! They had around 4-5 mechanics at the time and IIRC every single one was certified for AC work.

I've been thinking I should rejoin AAA. They send me snail mail once in a while urging me to rejoin. I figure I'd like to see some sights around here but should rejoin before I do.
 
Muse said:
The car (1997 Mazda 626LX 2.0L) only has about 34k on it!!! I had a small highly rated indy shop do the 30K inspection at maybe 28K (I was antsy), no issues I can remember, that was 7 years ago! I don't know if the alternator is apt to be an issue with such a lightly used car?
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Them Ford genes always makes sure....to leave you stranded at least once...😛

Make sure the terminals are clean when checking voltages.
 
Torn Mind said:
Them Ford genes always makes sure....to leave you stranded at least once...😛

Make sure the terminals are clean when checking voltages.
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I place the terminals of usually one of my cheapie Harbor Freight multimeters across the battery terminals most times before I turn the car over (every 2 weeks lately) to check the voltage (just after removing the charger). When things were "good" it would say about 12.6v. A couple times in last few months it said around 12.2 or 12.3, so I was suspicious that the battery was dying. The car started, though, no problem. But several other times the reading was 12.6 or 12.7 or so, so I don't know what's going on. I just figured 8 years and I'm on thin ice with a car battery, don't really know.
 
Muse said:
My car's battery is 8 years old and it's been acting funny. I'm only driving once every 2 weeks, maybe 15 miles, a Costco run and keep a charger on the battery. some days it reads low voltage, other days not, don't know what's up with that, but figure buy a new battery now, why risk getting stranded somewhere (even at home)? I could have ordered it delivered from Walmart but now they show OOS. It's been OOS for some weeks now. Meantime the battery is working but don't know how long. 8 years seems a long time. It's a hard to find battery. I think I could get one from O'Reilly, but I'd have to drive there are they charge a lot more.
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8 years is treading on some very thin ice.

Last time I priced out batteries to replace a 7-year-old battery, I found Sam's was about $50 less for the same Duracell battery, than any auto parts chain. Installation was free.
 
Zorba said:
A Forester is Subaru, built in Japan.

They had a couple years of bad piston rings a some burned a lot of oil. Mine was always borderline, but decided to get it tested at 93K miles. It slightly failed the oil burn and got the short block replaced. I wouldn't have done it if I knew they were going to use a rebuilt short block, but they did. It had rod bearing fail after 1500 miles. Replaced again, plus a ton of other stuff that metal in it, that short block last 750 miles, same thing.

I called, bitched, told them I wanted everything that touches oil to be replaced factory new. They agreed. So I got a brand new long block at 103K miles, seems good so far.

The rebuild shop was a third party in Dallas and obviously has shit quality.
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s0me0nesmind1 said:
I don't know why but when I hear "forester" I just hear "Jeep Forester" heh. Yeah, fair enough, I've heard decent things out of Subaru too. No idea if they are at the level of Honda/Toyota, but regardless I'd still trust it a million times over Ford/GM/Chrysler.
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Subaru and head gaskets usually have a negative connotation. Have fun while you have it, but don't expect it to be your...eternal.....
 
Torn Mind said:
Subaru and head gaskets usually have a negative connotation. Have fun while you have it, but don't expect it to be your...eternal.....
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The trick is that WHEN (not if) your Scooby 2.5l 4 needs head-gaskets, buy the more expensive rebuild kit that's intended for the WRX and you won't be replacing them again.

Either that or stick with older models equipped with the flat 3.0l 6 or the 2.0l 4.... Subaru's ARE very reliable cars and are built like tanks but also they are fairly complex with some annoying quirks.

(other common Scooby issues, exhaust rust/rattles, body-rot on the top of strut towers and most importantly/frequently CV boot punctures)
 
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Captante said:
The trick is that WHEN (not if) your Scooby 2.5l 4 needs head-gaskets, buy the more expensive rebuild kit that's intended for the WRX and you won't be replacing them again.

Either that or stick with older models equipped with the flat 3.0l 6 or the 2.0l 4.... Subaru's ARE very reliable cars and are built like tanks but also they are fairly complex with some annoying quirks.

(other common Scooby issues, exhaust rust/rattles, body-rot on the top of strut towers and most importantly/frequently CV boot punctures)
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Yeah, the CV boots like to tear, but I put 70K miles on my 06 with torn boots, never a single click. Kept meaning to replace the boot, but at some point I figured the damage was done and I'd just do the whole shaft when it started clicking. Car got total before that ever happened.
 
Captante said:
IDK from what I've read it still happens ... MUCH more rarely though.

I'm still a big Subaru fan though and would buy another one in a second.
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I haven't really seen much about it since that MY. Of course there are always going to be some failed gaskets on any cars. Luckily subies always had an external leak, so as long as you kept the fluids full, you could ignore it for a long time.

My mom's Tarus had an internal leak that caused the car to over heat within a few miles.
 
Finely heard from the repair shop. Still closed due to a positive COVID, but the only person I interacted with, the gal in the office, has had her shots, and has tested negative. Now they are hoping to open next week...

They had not started on my car, and knowing it's sitting there in an open lot, and they keep the keys on the right rear tire, I told them I was going to come out and pick it up. Probably could have had my pick of any car in the lot, but chose mine.
 
Zorba said:
I've had 4 Subarus, never had an issue like this before. Put about 500,000 miles totals on the four. Really just a few cheap and easy repairs I've done myself.
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I had a B9 Tribeca with the 3.0 H6, head gasket tends to go as you near 200k 🙁

Yeah, it was a 2006...
 
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