bad battery?

[stevesnj]

Keep it on a 2amp charger for about 6-10 hours then the next day repeat the process. This should descale and get you back up to charge. Make sure your water level is at the Max line and ONLY use distilled water to top off. An alternator is not the way to charge a battery since it will not properly charge a battery even if you drove around for hours.

[BlueSTaR]

My wife had a defective battery. Subaru swapped it out.

[TruckTruck]

I think I will look into a tender, the next question is will it hurt to pull the battery because I will have to keep the battery and tender in my apartment.

[jarnojvv]

Nope, use the right tools, open the cells slightly and ventilate while charging.

[zc06_kisstherain]

Originally Posted by TruckTruck

I think I will look into a tender, the next question is will it hurt to pull the battery because I will have to keep the battery and tender in my apartment.

no problem at all.
just you need to carry battery around
also it's resetting all your setting like ECU, radio, etc

[justatroll]

Originally Posted by stevesnj

An alternator is not the way to charge a battery since it will not properly charge a battery even if you drove around for hours.

This is not entirely true.
It IS true that you should not allow your alternator to recharge a completely dead battery as this can stress the alternator.
However, if the battery was "just a little too low to start the car" (but it still cranked), then it is perfectly OK to jumpstart the car then recharge the battery using the car's alternator by driving for a few hours.


It is NOT ok to Jump-start a car with a completely dead battery and THEN let the car recharge the dead battery.
In that case it is best to put the battery on a low current charge and leave it for 24-48 hours (disconnected from the car is best)


Walmart sells a $20 maintenance charger that seems to work well for long term storage but they typically will NOT recharge a dead battery.

[BlueSky]

Originally Posted by TruckTruck

I have been storing my car for the winter in a heated garage. I wanted to just start it every weekend to make sure fluids moved around and battery would get charged. However I forgot about it for a month or 2 and the battery was dead, no problem just jumped it and ran it for a while no issues. Week later its completely dead again. Is this just cause its sitting for a week or bad battery. This is the first car I have ever stored so I wouldn't be surprised if I am missing something.

You shouldn't be starting it unless you are taking it out and driving it
oil will not reach temp just idling, and you will create more issues
either take the battery out (like you said) or hook up battery tender in the garage ( thats what i did, ran the tender underneath so i can close the hood properly and use a cover )
There is countless threads about winter storage, really depends on how in depth you want to go

you may be able to salvage your battery now by using a trickle charger or tender (difference: trickle constantly applies low voltage, tender monitors voltage )
I'm not a professional by any means, this is the info I gathered from the internet