# My OEM ACdelco battery died today



## SCruze (Oct 20, 2013)

Today i was at the mall & was just relaxing in the car, had the a/c on. Thought of putting the blower on full & A/c off & engine off, when after some time i had everything off, Then tried to restart the car & my car failed to start. Then after some time realised that battery was dead. The Road assistant had arrived & said i had to replace my battery, He then replaced the OEM with mammoth (UK battery) which costed 134 dollars.

I still wonder how can a battery have such less life span of just 1 1/2 year. My dad had his replaced in 3 years, he drives a toyota. Look at mine, died in 1 1/2 years. 

Why?? Does Chevrolet use cheap parts to cut costs??


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## obermd (Mar 3, 2012)

It's not just Chevy. I did some research on this last year and discovered that according to JD Powers batteries are the number one item to be replaced on new cars, even above the OEM tires, which are notorious for short life spans.

In the US the battery would have been replace by Chevy for free. Check with Chevrolet in your country about this. You may be able to get reimbursed for the replacement.


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## Christrit (Jun 23, 2012)

Same problem with me, had a dead battery at the 1yr 9month mark... Turns out it was a dead cell and was replaced under warranty at no charge by Chevrolet...

I've found the GM (AcDelco) batteries to be not too bad, but like most things, you get a dud every once and a while...


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## jblackburn (Apr 14, 2012)

They seem to have had so many problems with the 438CCA batteries that originally came in the Cruze (part supplier problem I guess) that they've been totally and completely replaced by 550 CCA batteries in all new builds and at the dealers for replacements.

Mine bit the dust at just over a year - replaced with a 550 that has been holding on to voltage (something the other one could never do right) just fine so far.


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## obermd (Mar 3, 2012)

I wonder if the 483 CCA batteries were simply too small for the car's power requirements. This would cause the battery to have to work harder and thus be more likely to fail early.


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## CHEVYCRUZE RS (Mar 29, 2011)

What battery are you looking at now ? Any green tops ? I've been looking just for an extra bump


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## Soopah_Troopah (May 18, 2014)

speaking of OEM batteries, I noticed, while inspecting my new axle, that the OEM is almost too small for the compartment, theres almost two empty inches in the compartment anyone know the reason behind this?


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## WhiteAndBright (Mar 4, 2013)

obermd said:


> even above the OEM tires, which are notorious for short life spans.


I just had my factory tires replaced on Thursday, I made it 74,900 miles problem free..

I couldn't believe the life that I got out of them, this is by far the farthest I have taken a set of factory tires..


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## Joegonzales22 (Oct 26, 2013)

I too noticed a gap in the battery tray. You can always upgrade the battery size I suppose. Maybe install an optima brand down the road. Optima red or blue tops last long!!


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## SCruze (Oct 20, 2013)

Well maybe the battery isn't just satisfying the power requirements, but apart from that Chevy cruze's parts just keep failing, Breaks just get weak after some time, this is the second time im replacing the brake plates. 

Also my viper broke, the rubber just came out, & i have to replace it now. But no Major issues as of now. But its so Sad that cruze is only car which acts like upper hand in its class, because of the quietness, refinement, & driving thrill. I just don't see corollas, Hondas as an option which are plagued wid road noise.


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## spacedout (Dec 7, 2010)

Soopah_Troopah said:


> speaking of OEM batteries, I noticed, while inspecting my new axle, that the OEM is almost too small for the compartment, theres almost two empty inches in the compartment anyone know the reason behind this?



The OEM battery size is group 47, Read one user said a group 48 battery has the same dimensions but is longer. They claimed the group 48 fit, but I have never verified. 

I purchased a group 47 diehard advanced gold AGM battery to replace mine, it claims 600CCA(stock is either 438CCA or 550CCA). The same battery in group 48 size is 700CCA but is probably overkill for most people.


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## rcclockman (Jan 16, 2012)

Had Mine replaced by Dealer today and it was 600cca...I don't knw what the oem onewas..


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## Robby (Mar 1, 2013)

rcclockman said:


> Had Mine replaced by Dealer today and it was 600cca...I don't knw what the oem onewas..


FYI,

The original is a 525 cca.

Rob


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## znaveed (Aug 13, 2015)

*Battery died*

iam from FIJI and my chevy cruze battery just died in 1 year and 5 months. and now the dealer is claiming that they only provide 1 year warranty to battery its seems like this dealer has made its own rules.. 
i have also noticed the battery compartment has space. i feel the battery supplied by GM doesnt have enough capacity since the vehicle is 1.8liter and the battery size is small due to the space is left in the compartment.


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## Robby (Mar 1, 2013)

znaveed said:


> iam from FIJI and my chevy cruze battery just died in 1 year and 5 months. and now the dealer is claiming that they only provide 1 year warranty to battery its seems like this dealer has made its own rules..
> i have also noticed the battery compartment has space. i feel the battery supplied by GM doesnt have enough capacity since the vehicle is 1.8liter and the battery size is small due to the space is left in the compartment.


Same battery tray for all versions…..over here, the 1.4T and 1.8 get a 525ah battery…..the diesels get a physically larger battery that just about fills the tray….they need the additional amperage for the high draw cranking that comes with a diesel as well as powering glow plugs.

In this country, the battery is covered for the full three year/36000 mile bumper to bumper coverage….you should consult your owners and warranty manual for the specifics in your country.
Prior to bumper to bumper coverage, battery coverage over here was only one year.

Usually the primary cause of early battery death, beyond mishandling from manufacturer to installation, is heat.
What kind of heat do you deal with in Fiji? Long periods of disuse can cause an early death as well……and, sometimes batteries short out for no real reason…..they just do…..same as they always have.

Rob


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## Hambone-IT (Oct 15, 2015)

I bought a new 2014 Chevy Cruze LT and my battery just did the same thing after having the car a year and a half. They had to replace my negative battery connector due to it being under special replacement for free, But my dealership and GM would not do anything to help with the replacement of the battery. Any suggestions? He said my battery is rated for 600 and is measuring at 254. My question to GM and the dealership is how it the battery worthless in this short amount of time and how is this not related to the negative connector they are replacing for free. Any help is appreciated.


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## jblackburn (Apr 14, 2012)

Hambone-IT said:


> I bought a new 2014 Chevy Cruze LT and my battery just did the same thing after having the car a year and a half. They had to replace my negative battery connector due to it being under special replacement for free, But my dealership and GM would not do anything to help with the replacement of the battery. Any suggestions? He said my battery is rated for 600 and is measuring at 254. My question to GM and the dealership is how it the battery worthless in this short amount of time and how is this not related to the negative connector they are replacing for free. Any help is appreciated.


The defective negative cable and battery being bad are indeed 2 separate issues. Car batteries have a lifespan of anywhere from 1-5+ years, and it's really just luck of the draw. My experience with the ACD batteries has not been great, but the dealer did cover battery replacement under the B2B warranty.


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## pandrad61 (Jul 8, 2015)

> Also my viper broke


The heck is a viper?


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## obermd (Mar 3, 2012)

pandrad61 said:


> The heck is a viper?


It's a Chekov wiper.


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## NickD (Dec 10, 2011)

Any number of issues, had batteries that lasted over 20 years. EPA is pushing for higher energy density batteries. Thinner plates, thinner insulation kind of thing. Marketing is pushing for so-called maintenance free batteries. No such thing as a maintenance free battery, electrolyte still evaporates leaving the top of the plates exposed. Environment another issue, actually the major cause of premature battery failure is down south with the heat. 

But also in the north, the weaker the charge, the greater the freezing temperature of the electrolyte. A partially discharge batter will freeze up at a much high ambient temperature. Yet another cause of premature failure is the location of the voltage regulator. Was always external and placed near the battery. The charging voltage must decrease by 13 millivolts for each 1*C increase in temperature. To save cost, and dey all do this, mounted the voltage regulator inside the alternator where its heat outputs the incorrect voltage. Battery is typically undercharged and an undercharged battery will sulfate.

Probably noticed you have a Delco battery in your Cruze, Delco hasn't made a battery now in over 25 years. Only the god-like purchasing department knows who made this battery. In my own personal experience, and take this with grain of salt, Johnson Controls makes the best batteries, and Exide makes the worse. Ha, Exide, go ahead and sue me. Just my experience.

Worse thing for a battery is to let it sit, has a self discharge rate, even disconnected. But these always hot circuit cars are also drawing a so-called parasitic draw from the battery to aid this self discharge rate.

What really helps is to connect a maintenance battery charger that outputs precisely 13.5 volts pure DC voltage. I get these from Harbor Freight for around seven bucks each. But I have take them apart and trim the voltage to this 13.5 value. All over the place. Designed my own maintenance charger for my motor home and wired it in such away so its isolated from the alternator. It has three very expensive batteries, but these only lasted ten years, just had to replace them this spring.


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## NickD (Dec 10, 2011)

Oh, my Cruze battery only lasted 28 months and is a daily driver, got a new one under warranty. Was lucky with the 04 Cavalier battery, that without a maintenance charger lasted nine years. When you buy a vehicle today, really don't know what you are getting.


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## sedanman (Dec 10, 2010)

spacedout said:


> The OEM battery size is group 47, Read one user said a group 48 battery has the same dimensions but is longer. They claimed the group 48 fit, but I have never verified.
> 
> I purchased a group 47 diehard advanced gold AGM battery to replace mine, it claims 600CCA(stock is either 438CCA or 550CCA). The same battery in group 48 size is 700CCA but is probably overkill for most people.


The Sears DieHard Advanced Gold AGM is what I replaced mine with when I noticed the stock battery weakening after about 4 years of use. The Diehard AGM is an excellent battery. Even my fuel economy improved.


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## jsusanka (Jan 31, 2011)

I am at 45000 miles on my 2011 LT1 (bought brand new) and still on the original battery (knock on wood - hand knocking on head). Still on the original tires but I think I have only one more rotation in those and will have to get new ones as they are getting close to being done. If I can get 5 years and 50,000 miles out of the OEM batteries and tires I am a happy camper. We got way less out of our mazda 3s but they go through tires like underwear. 

But really the cruze has been pretty maintenance free even though I changed the air filter early at 3 years/36,000 miles. I just had the brake fluid changed with Amsoil brake fluid and I do notice a difference in emergency stopping and brake fade after driving around all day. 

The only complaint I have had has been the water pump. That is the only chronic problem I have had and hopefully that has been solved with my latest water pump.


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## 87 (Nov 2, 2010)

I bought my Cruze in October of 2010 and am still on my original battery and original tires (summer and winter sets) after 76,000km.


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## spacedout (Dec 7, 2010)

moobox said:


> I bought my Cruze in October of 2010 and am still on my original battery and original tires (summer and winter sets) after 76,000km.


I replace my batteries before they ever exhibit any signs of failure or leave me stranded, driving around on a 6 year old battery isn't a good idea. Average battery lifespan is in the 1-5 year range, I replace mine every 4 years.


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## obermd (Mar 3, 2012)

75,000 miles on my 2012 ECO MT and still going strong on the original battery. I check the voltage readout frequently and monitor the time it takes to start the car in the morning. No change on either.


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## Eddy Cruze (Jan 10, 2014)

obermd said:


> 75,000 miles on my 2012 ECO MT and still going strong on the original battery. I check the voltage readout frequently and monitor the time it takes to start the car in the morning. No change on either.


 Is there a specific amount of time it takes for your CRUZE to start? Mine kicks over as soon as I fully turn the Key with no cranking ever needed. Bottom Tier 87 Octane Low quality Safeway fuel?


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## NickD (Dec 10, 2011)

Batteries can develop a high self discharge rate, using a precisely 13.5 lab type power supply with the battery at room temperature, expect the charging current to taper down to less than 50 ma. One in my Cruze would only drop to around 2 amperes.

Also have an old Sun VAT-40 to test the CCA rating, should hold above 9 volts for after 30 seconds.

One thing for sure, can't buy a new battery for 15 bucks anymore. For vehicles that sit, always hook up a maintenance charger, again, 13.5 V pure DC current, some just used a rectifier with 17 AC peaks, can over charge a battery.

Last spring was a shock, all three batteries in my motorhome went bad, but guess I can't complain too much, lasted over 12 years. 

Even below zero, bet you don't have this in Flordia, engine in my Cruze starts the instant I hit the switch. Like to let it warm up for a couple of minutes before taking off. Also stall in the run position to make sure the dash lights up like a Christmas tree, then pray all those lights go over in a few seconds after the engine starts. 

Before purchasing a battery, I ask how they test them, if they use those mickey mouse high impedance digital testers that are the worse joke in the world, just say, goodbye or something worse I can't repeat here.


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## brian v (Dec 25, 2011)

moobox said:


> I bought my Cruze in October of 2010 and am still on my original battery and original tires (summer and winter sets) after 76,000km.


Hey did ya atleast change the Oil ?


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## obermd (Mar 3, 2012)

Eddy Cruze said:


> Is there a specific amount of time it takes for your CRUZE to start? Mine kicks over as soon as I fully turn the Key with no cranking ever needed. Bottom Tier 87 Octane Low quality Safeway fuel?


About two seconds from the time I flick the key to the engine catching. It's been this way since I bought it.


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## ChevyGuy (Dec 13, 2014)

NickD said:


> For vehicles that sit, always hook up a maintenance charger, again, 13.5 V pure DC current, some just used a rectifier with 17 AC peaks, can over charge a battery.


Float chargers are passe. Really should have a charger that distinguishes between the different phases of charge and maintain. Better yet, get one that desulfates as well. I have a BatteryMINDer for my backup batteries.


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## ChevyGuy (Dec 13, 2014)

obermd said:


> About two seconds from the time I flick the key to the engine catching. It's been this way since I bought it.


I think mine is something like rar, rar, voom. Very quick. I don't think the cranking time would increase as the battery ages, but the "pitch" of the "rar" will drop a bit as the engine spins just a hair slower.

There is a aftermarket device that monitors the voltage while cranking and sounds an alarm if it falls too low. It's your hint that the battery has reached the end of it's life. The device effectively makes each start a battery load test.


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## Eddy Cruze (Jan 10, 2014)

obermd said:


> About two seconds from the time I flick the key to the engine catching. It's been this way since I bought it.


 That is really different from what I have heard. My CRUZE doesn't even begin to crank as it lights as soon as I make contact with the ON. I went to McDonald's this morning and was thinking about this post. I've never had a Car that started this easy, just a quick contact & release!


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## jblackburn (Apr 14, 2012)

Eddy Cruze said:


> That is really different from what I have heard. My CRUZE doesn't even begin to crank as it lights as soon as I make contact with the ON. I went to McDonald's this morning and was thinking about this post. I've never had a Car that started this easy, just a quick contact & release!






This was when it was quite cold. Despite piston slapping away, she was still pretty happy to start up.

Still nowhere not as quick as an old carbureted car on a good day.


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## blk88verde (Apr 30, 2011)

> Float chargers are passe. Really should have a charger that distinguishes between the different phases of charge and maintain. Better yet, get one that desulfates as well. I have a BatteryMINDer for my backup batteries.


 Yes - My brother loaned me one of these. Saved/recovered my $200 plus Optima Red Top AGM in my GTO.


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## spacedout (Dec 7, 2010)

Eddy Cruze said:


> That is really different from what I have heard. My CRUZE doesn't even begin to crank as it lights as soon as I make contact with the ON. I went to McDonald's this morning and was thinking about this post. I've never had a Car that started this easy, just a quick contact & release!


You don't need to hold the key forward to start the cruze while the engine cranks over, all you need to do is tap the key to the on position for a split second and it will crank as much as needed to fire the engine. Suspect this is why you are not noticing the engine turn over 1-2 times before it fires. Basically the ignition switch on cruze with a keyed ignition works exactly like push button start in regards to how it starts the car. 

Oh and the cruze knows its running and will not crank again while running possibly damaging the flywheel and starter.


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## pandrad61 (Jul 8, 2015)

> Oh and the cruze knows its running and will not crank again while running possibly damaging the flywheel and starter.


ahh wounder full car times we live in now... besides the emissions systems.


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## jc. (Jul 28, 2019)

[QUOTE = "jsusanka, post: 2098298, membre: 505"]
Je suis à 45000 miles sur mon 2011 LT1 (acheté neuf) et toujours sur la batterie d'origine (cogner sur bois - cogner à la main sur la tête). Toujours sur les pneus d'origine, mais je pense que je n'ai qu'une rotation de plus dans ceux-ci et je devrai en obtenir de nouveaux à mesure qu'ils approchent. Si je peux obtenir 5 ans et 50 000 miles avec les batteries et les pneus d'origine, je suis un campeur heureux. Nous avons obtenu beaucoup moins de notre Mazda 3, mais ils passent par des pneus comme des sous-vêtements.

Mais vraiment la cruze a été assez sans entretien, même si j'ai changé le filtre à air tôt à 3 ans / 36 000 miles. Je viens de faire changer le liquide de frein avec du liquide de frein Amsoil et je constate une différence dans l'arrêt d'urgence et la décoloration des freins après avoir roulé toute la journée. 4
La seule plainte que j'ai eue a été la pompe à eau. C'est le seul problème chronique que j'ai eu et j'espère qu'il a été résolu avec ma dernière pompe à eau.
[/CITATION]
moi aussi la pompe a eau vien d'être changer sur garantie de 2012 a 2020 a 165,000km.maintenant je crois que ces la batterie d'origine qui me lâche.a -25 il a de la misere a démaré avec mon démareur a distance
La


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## Blasirl (Mar 31, 2015)

Publiez dans la langue de votre choix, mais utilisez également Google Translate et publiez-le également en anglais. Merci. 

[QUOTE = "jsusanka, post: 2098298, member: 505"]
I am 45,000 miles away on my 2011 LT1 (bought new) and still on the original battery (knocking on wood - knocking by hand on the head). Still on the original tires, but I think I only have one more rotation in them and I will have to get new ones as they approach. If I can get 5 years and 50,000 miles on the original batteries and tires, I'm a happy camper. We got a lot less from our Mazda 3, but they go through tires like underwear.

But really the cruze was fairly maintenance free, even though I changed the air filter early at 3 years / 36,000 miles. I have just changed the brake fluid with Amsoil brake fluid and I notice a difference in the emergency stop and the discoloration of the brakes after driving all day. 4
The only complaint I had was the water pump. This is the only chronic problem I have had and I hope it was solved with my last water pump.
[/QUOTE]
me too the water pump has just been changed on warranty from 2012 to 2020 at 165,000km. now i believe that the original battery which let me go. at -25 it has misery started with my remote starter
The


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