New Battery- New Attitude?
08-19-2004, 12:14 PM
#1
New Battery- New Attitude?
Since I bought my car about a year and a half ago, there was some el cheapo "Road Hawk" battery in my car. I came home from vacation, and my car was dead as a stump 
I jumped the car and drove it to my mechanic to have a battery test, b/c the last time my car stayed at the dealer for a week it was dead when I went to pick it up. I had assumed that they had left the dome light on or something. Didnt think it was the battery. So after the second occurance I figured I would check it out. When I popped the hood, the guys in the shop snickered at my "poor excuse for a battery", Anyhow, I changed the battery out for an AC delco with 730 cold cranking amps. They said that would be fine for a Max. So I drove off, and my car for some strange reason, and I am not imagining this flew like it never did before. Acceleration on the highway was very impressive. My car NEVER felt like this. Can a battery on its last legs affect the performance of a car. My head says no, but my butt dyno says yes. Any thoughts? Even my subs hit tighter. 
I jumped the car and drove it to my mechanic to have a battery test, b/c the last time my car stayed at the dealer for a week it was dead when I went to pick it up. I had assumed that they had left the dome light on or something. Didnt think it was the battery. So after the second occurance I figured I would check it out. When I popped the hood, the guys in the shop snickered at my "poor excuse for a battery", Anyhow, I changed the battery out for an AC delco with 730 cold cranking amps. They said that would be fine for a Max. So I drove off, and my car for some strange reason, and I am not imagining this flew like it never did before. Acceleration on the highway was very impressive. My car NEVER felt like this. Can a battery on its last legs affect the performance of a car. My head says no, but my butt dyno says yes. Any thoughts? Even my subs hit tighter.
08-19-2004, 12:56 PM
#3
Member
Join Date: Aug 2004
Posts: 66
if your battery was dying to the point of not producing 12 volts then it can mess with electrical systems but, that usual result in pretty substantial problems.. my parents POS chevy lumina van had this problem twice.. the whole car shut down though.. as soon as the bad batter cell died it fell below the required 12 volts and it shut down.
08-19-2004, 01:49 PM
#4
hmm, maybe it IS in my head., I mean I was driving a dodge caravan rental while i was on vacation. The thing was literally brand new (1600 miles on the odometer) We actually pulled over to check to see if it was a 4 cylinder, but it was a 6! OMG what a POS, And what a racket the engine made when getting on the pedal! It was slower than S!@#. 
I had forgotten about the VQ! 
I had forgotten about the VQ!
08-20-2004, 11:38 AM
#9
Once the car is running the battery is just charging. The alternator is doing all the electrical work. You can test an alternator by unhooking the battery. If the car dies then the alt. is junk. of course with a big stereo the battery is being used most of the time.
08-20-2004, 12:43 PM
#10
Originally Posted by Maxima10to1
Once the car is running the battery is just charging. The alternator is doing all the electrical work. You can test an alternator by unhooking the battery. If the car dies then the alt. is junk. of course with a big stereo the battery is being used most of the time.
PLEASE DO NOT DO THIS!!!!! I can't stress that enough. That may have been a trick in the 70 and 80s, but in today's modern cars you run the risk of frying your ECU or other computer components. Your battery also acts as a capacitor that helps the alternator regulate DC current. When you unplug it, it will only be running from the voltage regulator, which is more like a rectifier. You'll be running AC current on a system that only accepts DC current.
When the car is running the battery is not "just charging".
A bad battery DOES affect performance in a car..especially if it has an ignition system as sensitive as ours. Otherwise, grounding systems are useless, right? Your spark plugs get power from your coils. Your ECU calculates by moving electrons. Where do they get power from? The more steady power your ECU has the faster it can calculate. The more power your coils have the stronger the spark. Your electrical system is the most important item in your performance arsenal. If is wasn't, spark plugs would never be changed.
Originally Posted by Maxima10to1
The alternator is doing all the electrical work.......of course with a big stereo the battery is being used most of the time.
08-21-2004, 07:00 AM
#11
QUOTE
A bad battery DOES affect performance in a car..especially if it has an ignition system as sensitive as ours. Otherwise, grounding systems are useless, right? Your spark plugs get power from your coils. Your ECU calculates by moving electrons. Where do they get power from? The more steady power your ECU has the faster it can calculate. The more power your coils have the stronger the spark. Your electrical system is the most important item in your performance arsenal. If is wasn't, spark plugs would never be changed.
I was thinking this when I was brainstorming aas to why my car seemed to have gained performance. It does make sense.
A bad battery DOES affect performance in a car..especially if it has an ignition system as sensitive as ours. Otherwise, grounding systems are useless, right? Your spark plugs get power from your coils. Your ECU calculates by moving electrons. Where do they get power from? The more steady power your ECU has the faster it can calculate. The more power your coils have the stronger the spark. Your electrical system is the most important item in your performance arsenal. If is wasn't, spark plugs would never be changed.
I was thinking this when I was brainstorming aas to why my car seemed to have gained performance. It does make sense.
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