Not the car to have in lockdown

[venturaII]

Still have the OEM battery in my 2013, but I think I'm going to be forced to replace it this year. It died on me a few times over the winter if I waited more than 2 or 3 days between drives, and now with the lockdown I drive even less. It owes me nothing at this point.

[DarkSunrise]

Originally Posted by venturaII

Still have the OEM battery in my 2013, but I think I'm going to be forced to replace it this year. It died on me a few times over the winter if I waited more than 2 or 3 days between drives, and now with the lockdown I drive even less. It owes me nothing at this point.

Replace it already! It's lived a long and full life. Time to put it to pasture. I just replaced my 8 yo OEM battery and the difference in cranking speed of the starter motor made me giggle.

[DarkPira7e]

I just had to replace my 2013 battery last winter, it barely started the car at 0 degree F. After replacing it, I couldn't BELIEVE the difference. Also upgraded to a 750cca battery rather than the 450. I don't think I've ever had a car lose its charge unless it;s been a year or more. it always astounds me how people in the west on Youtube are wondering if their battery will be dead after the car sits for a week.. My cars have sat for months and fire right up even in the winter.

The FRS is the perfect car for lockdown. It fits into smaller spaces, has great in-car capacity of you remove the passenger seat, and shares a bolt pattern with common cars, so if you're in a zombie apocalypse, you can steal wheels/tires from other cars easily if you get a flat.

[NWFRS]

Originally Posted by JD001

I haven't seen a "standard" top up battery in years.. Still get them??

Didn't our FRS/BRZ come with a standard Panasonic unit? It's been a while but I was fairly certain it was a top-up type. The newest car I ever owned before my FRS was a '92 MR2. And just a bunch of little 1970's imports before that. Had to play catch-up on deferred maintenance on every one of them, but they were all dead-nuts reliable after that. It was really something making a twenty-year technology leap forward. Still feels like a brand-new car to me.

[sukumizu]

The stock OEM battery that came with my car was pretty garbage. Died 3 times on the first year and I got tired of bump starting it at my workplace's garage ramp so I ended up getting a duralast. Been a few years now and it's still running strong.

[PetrolioBenzina]

Mine sat for over a month, fired right up. I need to drive more, I don't want the ethanol to sit so long in the tank.

[G-awesome]

Drove the car briefly for grocery shopping (10min drive) after not driving for two weeks since the start of the pandemic. Battery died when I started the car in the garage, after I got in the car to leave the grocery store parking lot, and died once more for shits and giggles once I got home to park it in the garage. ��

Battery going on 4 years now. It is now disconnected from the car and plugged into a battery tender for the foreseeable future.

[dnieves]

Originally Posted by Ernest72

I just take it for a ride through some nice roads. No real enforcement of the lockdown if you are in a car here in NY (outside the city). My car sits about 3-4 days at most before use. June will be 4 years on stock battery. It will probably go soon based upon others experience here.

My OEM Panasonic battery lasted four years and 3 months. Could've gone a little longer but with winter coming I didn't want to take the risk. Replaced it with a AGM battery -no complaints.

[Ernest72]

Originally Posted by dnieves

My OEM Panasonic battery lasted four years and 3 months. Could've gone a little longer but with winter coming I didn't want to take the risk. Replaced it with a AGM battery -no complaints.

I think it’s starting to go. Let it sit for 5 days and start was labored. It started right away but was what I consider a weak start. Probably gonna get a new battery before I head back to commuting after this lockdown.

[soundman98]

Originally Posted by dnieves

My OEM Panasonic battery lasted four years and 3 months. Could've gone a little longer but with winter coming I didn't want to take the risk. Replaced it with a AGM battery -no complaints.

did you include shipping time from the manufacturer to the assembly line, then from the assembly line to the dealer, and until you took delivery of it?

[dnieves]

Originally Posted by soundman98

did you include shipping time from the manufacturer to the assembly line, then from the assembly line to the dealer, and until you took delivery of it?

Battery was installed in car when built in June '13 shipped to USA and picked up in Aug '13 so add three months. How long from the time it was assembled to the time it was delivered and installed in the Gunma plant? No idea but you don't think there'd a old stock of batteries with a finite lifespan gathering dust as Panasonic seems to be a popular OEM battery for Japanese cars.


Revision: Panasonic OEM battery lifespan was about 3 years 6-7? months but it's tenure with me as the first owner was 3 years and 3 months (but could have went a little longer if I cheaped out).

[paulca]

I replaced mine with whatever I could find compatible locally, given the current situation.

A auto-store branded 65Ah battery.

Car starts much more eagerly. Obviously I'll be testing it's ability to survive a week long lay up.

Might be interesting to test what the capacity of the old one actually is now. Say from it's 12 hour rest voltage down to 10V. It was a 60Ah panasonic. It's be very surprised if it has more than 20Ah left to give above 10V.

[squall leonhart]

My 2013 still had a Panasonic until January or so. It was going fine until winter. I was bad about leaving it for weeks at a time without putting any charge on it, and it finally just went bad. If I had taken better care of it this past winter, I'd imagine it would still be going.

So I switched to the battery I had purchased for my '67 Datsun (fits in the smaller JDM battery tray). So far it's doing fine. That said, it's getting a little more use now that it's not winter, and I still work at an office (we are considered essential). But it generally is driven 2-3 times every 2 weeks or so.

[COBlue]

My '17 is showing 0.47a parasitic drain - curious what other people are seeing?


It sat for 13 days and was dead - even with a warranty replaced bigger battery last year. The Maestro RR/Pioneer setup I have had parasitic drain issues but supposedly wiring/firmware fixed that. (https://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=131462)

I know that's a relatively high drain, but this is my first car that's always "looking" for a key fob etc so don't know what's normal parasitic drain in these.