I guess they don't call them Stealers for nothing.

 

Upsell everything. Run a special sale on oil changes and try to empty every customers wallet who falls for the trap. Did they offer to change your blinker fluid too?

 

Actually, the first thing he tried to sell me was the 90K service interval for $689. I politely declined since my car only has 82,936. This same dealer changed my oil 10 months ago with my mileage at 80,680 and my battery tested "Good" . . . I actually called the dealership back and spoke to the same service advisor. After telling him what my mechanic tested my battery at, I suggested that perhaps their battery tested might need to be "re-calibrated" . . . Unless of course, they were having a spiff on which service advisor could sell the most batteries this month.

 

...I suggested that perhaps their battery tested might need to be "re-calibrated"...

Unfortunately they've got their battery tester calibrated exactly where they want it.

 

...While waiting in the customer lounge, the service advisor came in and told me my battery had tested "bad" . . . only 150 CCA....

...Still, I wanted a second opinion...He tested the battery right before my eyes (twice) and his result was 563 CCA out of 600 CCA. Needles to say, I can't help but think the service advisor tried to bilk me out of $218. Makes me wonder if they even actually changed the oil and filter . . .

Some people / some establishments are sooo dishonest, straightup willing to lie to your face. You have something they want - money - and they are willing to play underhanded to get it.

 

... He tested the battery right before my eyes (twice) and his result was 563 CCA out of 600 CCA....

About every two weeks or so - along with checking the engine oil level - I check my Interstate 600 CCA battery (5 years old from Costco) with a battery analyzer. I make a note of the State of Health (SOH) and the State of Charge (SOC). And if the SOC is low I connect a battery tender for a little while to charge it up. I mostly do short trip driving <12 minutes.

But when analyzing the battery I've never paid attention to the CCA measurement.

So due to your post I analyzed my battery today and had CCA ~363, SOH 56%, SOC 51%.

After charging had CCA ~492, SOH 69%, SOC 100%.

Then occurred to me I hadn't checked the water level in awhile (Nov 2022) and discovered four of six cells were noticeably lower compared to the other two cells. Added distilled water to all the cells.

Thanks for your post.

wikiHow - How to Check Car Battery Water Levels

 

I thought most or all car batteries did not need water or anything added these days.
Or is that why they only last me 3 years or so?

 

Some, perhaps most batteries, are maintenance free but the particular Interstate I have has removeable vent caps which can be removed to check the water level.

In fact the picture on the home page for Interstate Batteries shows a battery with removeable vent caps

And at Walmart the EverStart Maxx Lead Acid Automotive Battery, Group Size 121R 12 Volt, 600 CCA which comes up for my car has removeable caps

I have previously sometime back had a maintenance free battery and if memory serves it was completely sealed - it had no removeable caps.

 

One good thing about the 1.6L manual transmission is that it doesn’t need to use an AGM battery. Regular old flooded does the trick and I’m not even sure what the difference is between the two except AGM is more $$$.

 

I just looked at the Walmart site and was surprised not really that much more than the lead acid for comparable. H6 lead acid 730cca/3 year warranty is $150 and the H6 AGM 760cca/4 year warranty is $170.

I have no idea if the car really needs 700+ cca probably not. They have 615 cca /2 year warranty showing $99.

 

You folks are finding better prices than I've found...by $100 or so!(Including the dealer "offer"...my friend was quoted north of $300 to replace her "dead" battery at her last service...30k miles).
Also, my efforts at the three "auto parts stores" and WalMart came up with $225 as the most common price for just the batt.

 

The battery for my 2018 Soul + was $300+ at AutoZone. They said it had to be a gel battery. They put the battery in, then when I went to use the car again it wouldn't crank. Called them, they said they don't sell a lot of them, so it might've been sitting on the shelf for quite a while. Had a backup car, took the battery back they gave me a different one, & it has been good for several years. Don't think I'll go there again.

 

Believe it or not, over the weekend I received another mailer from Myrtle beach KIA. It was a letter from the Service Manager, saying that based upon my lasrt service there, I needed to replace my battery . . . of course they included coupons. Can you believe they are STILL trying to sell me a battery?

 

Wowsa a thousand dollars.
Go trade now.
Jk.

 

A dealer told me that my battery "Failed.". I said "No thanks" to a new battery. Drive directly to Wal-Mart and had the battery tested. It passed no problem. Walmart tech asked why I was having it tested. I told him. He showed me the readout on the tester and shrugged his shoulders. The battery lasted for over a year. They should be able to make a good living without ripping people off.

 

They should be able to make a good living without ripping people off.

Preach!

Replaced power steering pump, rack, and some hoses. Before I started, I ran 1/2 gal of cheap walmart fluid through to flush it, then draind the system. Installed new parts and ran 1/2 gal of valvoline fluid through, just in case something got in.

Take it to an independent for alignment that wrote up a nice list of issues, with photos.

Curiously, I noted "flush power steering fluid" under recommended and not the 'based on age' section. I pointed out the reason for bringing it in, they didn't have much to say.

"That fluid doesn't have 25 miles on it, how is it bad?"

 

My 2016 has the Neverstart H6 AGM from wally I would assume second battery. ...

I don't have ISG. I bought the car second hand and don't know if it originally came with an AGM battery or if the previous owner decided to "upgrade" at battery replacement time.

Is the item I've circled in your battery picture attached to the negative battery cable?

If so do you know what it is or is for?

I'm wondering if it is a battery sensor.

 

It is attached, I'm not 100% what it is. Looks like 2 smallish guage wires wrapped in tape go straight up from it and join a larger harness. So yes some type of sensor I guess. @bwdz75 could probably tell us exactly what it does.

 

Our local Walmart will stare in your eyes with zero shame when you want to say drop off a core and none will come out and help. The people sitting there waiting for their new batteries to be installed will strike up a conversion saying how they've been waiting over an hour for a battery install and their car is IN the bay. I've also heard from friends personally how it takes them 4 hours to install 4 tires and do a oil change. They milk their day its clear as day. They get paid the same if they do 3 cars or 15 so why work harder!? Anyone anywhere can try to take advantage of you welcome to the world of business. I do my own work won't even go in for a alignment unless I really need to. Tires replaced? I'll take the rims off the car and bring them with me in another car.

EDIT: And yeah I buy the 121R Maxx's from Walmart @ $149 3rd time in a few years. Cars Batteries are essentially all made @ Johnson Controls. Guess who will be open at 8 PM on a Sunday with a rack full of batteries if it goes bad. Yep NOT the dealer, NOT autozone, NOT napa. Might as well pay less money for the same thing. Oh and their 2 year NON maxxs will literally die right after 2 years!