[Kandiru]

So, just after i had coilpacks 2 and 6 replaced after a 6 hour roundtrip to the nearest dealer i had a familiar problem.

Dash lighting up like Christmas tree, click-click-click noise.

Battery hooked up to the Sears Diehard tester and charger, alternator passes with headlights on 100% (did not completely trust it so double-blinded it with old faithful multimeter 14.8V alles gut).

Next, the surprise, battery lingering at an anemic 25% and that is after i had driven the living daylights out of the car as the weather turned good on Friday. Moreover after a Diehard charge to 100% i took the car for a drive to Walmart with AC and radio off. Oopsie, 40% batt life!

So i took the kids to playground with the jumper cables in the trunk (hehe) and on the way back bought this spensive sucker:

http://shop.advanceautoparts.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_Powersports-Battery-AutoCraft-Gold_2130015-P_340_R|GRPBATTAM2_1218483025___

Dumped the kids on the better half and dropped her in, took some wiggling and luckily i had the grab tool handy to remove the retainer, stack of 2 Stanley ratchet extenders got me into the well to remove the retainer bolt.

Put the new battery on a slow charge while i bathed the 3 rascals upstairs, then grabbed the engine and radio codes. Miraculously the car started and radio and all is well.

Now i will be driving with the old battery in the trunk for a week to make sure all is well, then return it for the $12 refund. The last thing i need is a short with slow leak, aouch!

Just don't have the time and energy to do another round trip to dealer.

Is there any way i can file a claim with SAAB and get reimbursed?

 

[mike saunders]

There's is no "GM battery." It's supplied by one of the five major manufacturers, who also supply Sears with DieHard or AutoZone with Duralast, etc...

You likely have a bad ground...

 

[Kandiru]

There's is no "GM battery." It's supplied by one of the five major manufacturers, who also supply Sears with DieHard or AutoZone with Duralast, etc...

You likely have a bad ground...

OK, the battery shows GM. About the ground, i will check battery again after i get home today.

 

[Diggs]

Don't see why Saab will reimburse you. Mine died in an even shorter span than yours did and they said tough luck.

 

[macustoms]

I had the same issue, Dealer wanted tons of money for a new battery. Went to Sears got a Euro battery no problems now.

One conclusion I have come up with about our cars is that everything stays powered. When you turn the car off you can still turn the radio on, move your seats, roll up and down the windows, etc. Once you open the door it all stops, so I figured the fuses should not have power, wrong, they all still had power, its what made installing a subwoofer so hard in my car, had to isntal my own on and off switch to not kill my battery.

 

[mike saunders]

I had the same issue, Dealer wanted tons of money for a new battery. Went to Sears got a Euro battery no problems now.

"Euro" battery? No such animal, unless you're in Europe.

Most auto batteries are made by just three manufacturers, Delphi, Exide, and Johnson Controls Industries. Each makes batteries sold under several different brand names. Delphi makes ACDelco and some EverStart (Wal-Mart) models. Exide makes Champion, Exide, Napa, and some EverStart batteries. Johnson Controls makes Diehard (Sears), Duralast (AutoZone), Interstate, Kirkland (Costco), Motorcraft (Ford), and some EverStarts.

The GM battery mentioned above was likely an ACDelco because Delphi is one of the largest suppliers to GM.

Sears doesn't make ANY of its house brand products, from batteries to washing machines. They're all made by someone else.

 

[JonV]

I had the same issue, Dealer wanted tons of money for a new battery. Went to Sears got a Euro battery no problems now.

One conclusion I have come up with about our cars is that everything stays powered. When you turn the car off you can still turn the radio on, move your seats, roll up and down the windows, etc. Once you open the door it all stops, so I figured the fuses should not have power, wrong, they all still had power, its what made installing a subwoofer so hard in my car, had to isntal my own on and off switch to not kill my battery.

Not true on my car, power cuts off after a few minutes after you lock the car and walk away.....notice if you open the car after it's been locked, the radio, seats, mirrors etc won't work till you turn the key and it handshakes with the CIM, which basically wakes up the car.

 

[JonV]

So, just after i had coilpacks 2 and 6 replaced after a 6 hour roundtrip to the nearest dealer i had a familiar problem.

Dash lighting up like Christmas tree, click-click-click noise.

Battery hooked up to the Sears Diehard tester and charger, alternator passes with headlights on 100% (did not completely trust it so double-blinded it with old faithful multimeter 14.8V alles gut).

Next, the surprise, battery lingering at an anemic 25% and that is after i had driven the living daylights out of the car as the weather turned good on Friday. Moreover after a Diehard charge to 100% i took the car for a drive to Walmart with AC and radio off. Oopsie, 40% batt life!

So i took the kids to playground with the jumper cables in the trunk (hehe) and on the way back bought this spensive sucker:

http://shop.advanceautoparts.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_Powersports-Battery-AutoCraft-Gold_2130015-P_340_R|GRPBATTAM2_1218483025___

Dumped the kids on the better half and dropped her in, took some wiggling and luckily i had the grab tool handy to remove the retainer, stack of 2 Stanley ratchet extenders got me into the well to remove the retainer bolt.

Put the new battery on a slow charge while i bathed the 3 rascals upstairs, then grabbed the engine and radio codes. Miraculously the car started and radio and all is well.

Now i will be driving with the old battery in the trunk for a week to make sure all is well, then return it for the $12 refund. The last thing i need is a short with slow leak, aouch!

Just don't have the time and energy to do another round trip to dealer.

Is there any way i can file a claim with SAAB and get reimbursed?

FYI, a Saab branded battery from your dealer is actually an Interstate that is manufactured by Johnson Controls.

 

[jlrdrony]

. Moreover after a Diehard charge to 100% i took the car for a drive to Walmart with AC and radio off. Oopsie, 40% batt life!

The last thing i need is a short with slow leak, aouch!

Just don't have the time and energy to do another round trip to dealer.

Is there any way i can file a claim with SAAB and get reimbursed?

your battery discharged by internal short circuit into the battery.

the GM battery warranty is for a period of three years, you ought have gone to the dealership for a new battery free of charges.

I still have the factory battery (dated 2007-Jan-09) in my car working good.

 

[Kandiru]

BTW the car is a lot more responsive with new battery. Those cylinders must be exploding like crazy with those huge sparks
I believe the ECU reset and BSR tune fresh over that also helped. My car is back to her usual self again, praise be to .....
The coilpack failures may have been also showing better with the weaker battery earlier, at least that is what one shady tree
mechanic grandpa told me today.
============================================================================================

your battery discharged by internal short circuit into the battery.

the GM battery warranty is for a period of three years, you ought have gone to the dealership for a new battery free of charges.

I still have the factory battery (dated 2007-Jan-09) in my car working good.

You saw in my post where i just had repair work done and i am 3 hours in one way to dealer, so i will just absorb the cost, i have to enjoy the little spare time i have with family of 3 very active kids.

 

[Varilux]

The original battery in my Aero shorted at 17,000 miles- replaced under warranty (they had to drag the car out of the garage, because the tow guy didn't know he could manually take the car out of Park).

Having the battery short was interesting. I know exactly when it happened, because the stereo volume dropped by 50% while I was on the highway. Got home, put the top up, turned the car off, and when I tried to start it back up it the dashboard looked like the 4th of July.

 

[jlrdrony]

I believe the ECU reset and BSR tune fresh over that also helped. My car is back to her usual self again, praise be to .....

The coilpack failures may have been also showing better with the weaker battery earlier, at least that is what one shady tree
mechanic grandpa told me today.
============================================================================================

I think than I will keep out any modification in the electronic of my car, like BSR... as the engine V6 get very hot when I turn off the engine. the V6 engine, battery must be with material constructed to support those high temperatures in the engine bay, so near the turbo. for that reason I will recommend to use batteries from the dealer.

you got two problems:
the battery defective one has no relation with the other problem, the electronic coil packs and sparks plugs. just a pure coincidence but two different problems.
I am also worry about the coil packs......... crossing my fingers until I have to change the spark plugs (120000Kms.... (don't blame me)).

You saw in my post where i just had repair work done and i am 3 hours in one way to dealer, so i will just absorb the cost, i have to enjoy the little spare time i have with family of 3 very active kids.

I am agreed with you, all the time you share with family, kids the more important than a battery.

 

[brianl703]

The GM battery mentioned above was likely an ACDelco because Delphi is one of the largest suppliers to GM.

Delphi does not make batteries anymore. They sold that business to Johnson Controls about 3 years ago.

The GM battery mentioned above is most likely made by Exide, probably in Spain.

 

[jlrdrony]

Delphi does not make batteries anymore. They sold that business to Johnson Controls about 3 years ago.

The GM battery mentioned above is most likely made by Exide, probably in Spain.

exide is a worldwide company.
The Company shares expertise across business segments. For example, Exide established a global network of battery testing centers and design improvement centers in North America, France, Spain, Australia and the U.K.

 

[brianl703]

Even so, the Exide batteries made and sold in the USA are different from those made and sold in Europe. Here's an Exide made and sold in the USA:

The Exide sold in the UK looks like this (I don't know where it's made):

Here's another sold in the UK that looks closer to the one made in the USA but still different:

Here's the Exide used in the Saab 93: