Hi! I have a 2003 Accord LX, 4 cyl, 4 door, manual xmission, 162k miles. I have been buying Honda labeled 100 month batteries for the last several years because of the 100 month warranty. None of the batteries lasted a whole 100 months and I've had to get a replacement battery under warranty after about 50 months. However, this last episode in concerning. I bought a new 100 month battery in Nov 2018. It died in Aug 2022, which is about 45 months, I went to the dealer for a warranty replacement. There was 60% proration, which means I had to pay 40% of the cost of a new battery. This battery just quit on me, after 27 months, or a little over 2 years. This doesn't look good. If I had to go for a warranty replacement, they'll count it as 72 months from the date of the original purchase in Nov 2018. They'll prorate it at 30%, which means I'll have to pay 70% of the current price of a new battery. It comes out to 70% of $160 or $112 with a remaining warranty of 28 months, which is slightly over 2 years. Is it worth going for a warranty replacement, given the short life of the last new battery? The other alternative would be to forget about warranty replacement and buy a whole new battery from scratch which will come with a 100 month warranty. The third alternative would be to ditch the 100 month Honda battery and go for a different manufacturer. What is the suggestion of this forum's members?

 

Hmmm, something doesn't sound right; I had a 100 month battery in my 2001 Accord EX-V6 which lasted 118 months (yes, two months shy of ten years). I'm thinking it might make sense to get your car tested to see if your car has a parasitic draw enough to continually draw the battery down or some other issue with the electrical system like maybe overcharging the battery.

 

Shipo, is this something I can check myself?

 

Should be; I'm sure you can find any number of YouTube videos on how to do it with a voltmeter.

 

Shipo, I'm getting the impression that before replacing the battery I should first identify whether any other issues are present like parasitic draw or the charging system. I saw some videos and did some alternator related testing. Here are the battery voltage readings I'm getting under various conditions.
Engine off 12.6
Engine running 14.35
Engine running with headlights on high beam 14.2
Engine off (subsequent to the running engine) 13

Does this mean that the alternator is doing its job? What should be the next step?

 

It sounds like the alternator is in good shape, next step is to see if you have a parasitic draw running your battery down when the engine is not running. Here again, there will be no shortage of YouTube videos on how to check for that. Good luck and keep us posted.

 

Shipo, I do see the videos, but something else came to my mind. I was away in July/Aug for 3 weeks and upon return the engine started just fine. Similarly, I was away in Sep/Oct for 4 weeks and upon return the engine started just fine. This was early Oct. If a parasitic draw had been taking place, wouldn't the battery have drained down in 3 or 4 weeks? As a routine matter, I drive something like 3 days a week.

 

Probably a pretty good bet you would have noticed any parasitic draw if there was some. The only remaining comment/thought I have, which may not even be relevant to a Honda electrical system is potentially overcharging the battery while the engine is running; this is something I've seen in other brands, but not Honday.

 

I tried to run a parasitic test with the meter in series with the battery and set to DC amps. It read 0.0 amps. Perhaps it doesn't have enough accuracy to go into the milliamp range. Also, just for fun, I tried starting the engine on straight battery power without a jumper. Much to my surprise, it started. I don't know what to make of it. I could now start driving as if nothing happened but am afraid I might get stuck somewhere.

 

So here's a thought...

If I recall correctly, the 2003 Accord was the first year of the Gen7 Accord; the same basic foundation as my 2006 Acura TL; at one point I had some irregular starting issues with that car, fortunately it was a 6MT so I could easily roll-start; I went out and replaced the battery, only to have the car fail to start a few weeks later. After screwing around with all of the connections I came to the conclusion the positive battery cable, which looked perfect visually, was failing internally; I replaced that cable and the car was perfect for the next 30,000 miles or so before I sold the old girl.