I had my battery and alternator checked at autozone and they tell me that everything is fine and that the battery has 87% life left. However, the battery is often dead. For example, today I took a short trip, turned the car off with the lights on (I forgot to turn them off) for 5 minutes only to find that the car would not start. The temperatures have stayed below freezing for days and the car is not driven every day now because of work from home. My concern is if the battery is good, will changing a new battery do any better or should I be using a trickle charger no whatter what?
Each time this dies, I use a battery tender to charge it back up. It's annoying because my readiness monitors keep resetting and I need to get the car inspected soon too.
4 years is about the standard life for a basic battery that sees freezing conditions.
It likely needs to be replaced.
It sounds like you've verified the battery is going flat so it would not be an issue with the starter. You didn't say how old the car is. What kind of shape are your battery cables in? If there is corrosion the battery might not charge properly or deliver enough current to the starter even when it is charged. Also, have you checked for excessive current drain while the car is turned off?
Thanks. The car is a 2007 honda pilot with 160,000 miles. I checked for battery drain with the car off and found months ago that the drain was coming from the radio, which I disconnected by taking out the radio fuse. I verified that the drain was gone after that. Battery cables look fine at the terminals of the battery.
The battery is an interstate with a date code of 3/2017. So almost 4 years old.
OK, the car is 14 years old. Might be worth doing a voltage drop test across your cables in case there is corrosion that is not readily apparent. (Also see the Scotty video that mountainmanjoe linked to below.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch/qPpHRuddhh4
