I have a Silver line battery from Advance auto and it went dead after not driving the car for 2 days because of the Hurricane down here. When I went to start it, everything was normal, lights, accesories, radio, except there wasn't enough juice to turn the engine over. I even tried to run a jump wire to the starter and the starter didn't turn the engine over.

I had a friend come over and give me a jump, but it still didn't turn over. So I pulled his battery out and put it in my car, and it roared to life, what a relief. So, I pulled his battery out, and the engine kept running just fine, which usually means the alternator is just fine. I took my battery down to Advance and they said it was dead and put a charge on it for 45 minutes, and said that it was fine. I brought it back home and installed it, and once again, no start. I again used my friends battery, and the car fired up perfect again.

Oh, and my battery is making a hissing noise, you can definitely hear it coming from the top of the battery where the vent caps are usually located. I don't understand why they say the battery is good, when it won't hold a charge more than an hour. Wouldn't there tester tell them that it was garbage? Or are they just trying to avoid swapping me a new battery under warranty. It is one year and eleven months old, one more month under a 2 year warranty left. I am going back tomorrow to exchange it, hopefully they won't give me a problem.

Anyone know why it is hissing, and is this an indication that the battery is trash, or is this a normal venting that occurs after being recharged?

And doesn't there battery charging/testing equipment have the ability to tell whether the battery is good (holding a charge), or bad like in my case?

Just sucks that I spent all day dorkin around with this when they should of just given me another battery to begin with, oh well, I'll get over it. Just another wasted day out of my life. BTW, I did search, no relevant info to these questions.

 

Is there any battery acid leaking from the battery? And this hissing... is it comming from the battery itself? I would start the car up and check the voltage regulator with a volt meter

 

Yea, Id check the output while the car is running as well. Should be around 13.5-15. Below 13-12.5 either the battery is weak or a weak charging system.

 

I checked the voltage on the battery, and it was under 11 volts. Then I checked with the car running, and it was over 15. No leaking gasses, but the hissing was definetly from the top of the battery.

Update: went back to Advance, a guy thru it back on the same machine the first guy used who said it was fine, and now it came back with a code for a damaged battery. Got a new one at no charge, car seems fine and runs soooooo much better.

With the old crappy battery, when I came to a stop light, the rpms would drop low for a split second then rebound, now it seems to be alot less drastic. Throttle response, acceleration, and powerband seem much more intense, could just be the cold air that we are enjoying here after the hurricane passed, but it feels like the ignition system throws a better spark or something. Also I replaced the negative battery cable for a thick 2 gauge one. Thanks for postin up fella's.