I have a 2010 Honda Civic with about 25k miles on it. I was having difficulties getting it to start a couple of months ago, and took it into my local Honda. I was told that they thoroughly examined it, and determined it was just a bad battery. I previously had another dealer test the battery, and I was told that the battery was fine, it just had very little charge, and it might be the alternator. So, I was a little surprised when Honda said it was just the battery. They confirmed that they had tested the alternator and everything, and found no problems with those. So, Honda replaced my battery, and its been fine for the last 2 months.

Until, this morning I go to turn on my car and it won't start. I've had the car sitting without being turned on for a week or so. Any ideas what could be causing the problem since it has a brand new battery?

 

Time for a parasitic draw test. and have the battery checked again.

 

Thanks. I was a little annoyed because I called Honda and they told me it is totally normal for a battery to die if the car has just been sitting for a week. That just doesn't sound right to me...maybe a month or two...but not a week!

I had AAA come check the battery, and they said the battery failed the test, which seems crazy since the battery is only 2 months old! I don't get how it could go bad so quickly.

The results from the printout they gave me:

Battery Test:
Voltage: 10.45V
Measured: 0 CCA
Rated: 500 CCA
Temperature: 70 degrees
*Bad Cell, Jump Start Warning*

Starter Test:
Voltage: 10.07V
Amps: 52.0A
Time: 1.18S
*Jump Started*

Charging System Test:
No Load: 14.59V, 5.5A
Loaded: 14.42V, 6.8A
*No Problems*

Drain Test:
0.57A
*Pass*

Though, I'm not really sure what all of this means, but AAA told me a just need yet another new battery.

 

its normal to get a bad battery from time to time. it has probably had a bad cell since it was put in.