2012 - EX - AWD - Battery died and Honda dealer refuses to replace - 4500 miles

[rickhow]

Yesterday my teenage son thought he would be nice and rotate the tires on the CRV (2012 EX AWD 4500 miles) for me (as a surprise). While doing so he put the car ignition in Accessory position, doors closed windows down, and played the radio. Took him about an hour to complete job. When done he was going to take it immediately around the block make sure if felt right..and IT WOULD NOT START. Lights worked, radio worked, only the passenger power window would work the others not..the sunroof not. The engine would not crank at all! He called me. When I got home we put the voltmeter on the battery and it had 11.46 volts..but would not even crank at all. I called the dealer who offered me no help at all..not even a recommendation of a tow truck company. The indicator on the battery was BLACK not green. We called roadside assistance (which we have with our car insurance), they came 1/2 hour later, jumped it, and we drove to dealer. After 2 1/2 hours they said all their tests indicate the battery is fine, Honda will not replace it. I showed them the indicator was still black..they basically said tough, our tests say it is fine we can't replace, Honda won't pay for it. It appears the the OEM battery has a very low threshold for dropping below starting power...simply running the radio for an hour kills it. This is my first AND LAST Honda. Previously we have only GM products. We have run the radio for much more than an hour on them. In fact the lastest GM products come with battery run down protection, when it senses battery drain it automatically cuts off the power to prevent further drainage. I am TOTALLY disappointed in Honda. I went out and bouth a portable rechargeable Battery Jump Starter for $29 at Sam's Club to keep in trunk to not get stranded. If it happens again I'll buy my own replacement NON HONDA battery.
I DO NOT recommend Miller Honda Service, Binghamton New York.

[FLCRV]

Your Honda education has just begun. On a car that does not have a sealed battery, just about the easiest maintenance to perform is checking the battery electrolyte. I was rather surprised to find all cells low and the ones at each end of the battery below the tops of the plates on the 2006 we recently bought. Topped up with distilled water and drove for a couple of weeks. Had a through test of battery and it shows 86% of full power, not bad for a three year old battery. But the disappointment and lack of trust grows in a dealer that made such a production of the through check of "everything" they do on every car that they sell from their lot.

[rickhow]

you are right I am getting an education as I thought the battery was maintenance free as it has been on every other car I ever owned from GM and Toyota .

[yst]

Your son discharged the battery - this is your problem, not Honda's. Just charge it.

[doc2mee]

Your battery is discharged accidentally, you can just charged it back to a full charge with a car charger overnight.

[Nod]

Checking a battery with a volt meter doesn't mean a thing, it can show 12volts and still be no good. It isn't the voltage that matters it's the amperage. When your car runs out of gas are you going to call Honda? I agree that using the radio for an hour should not deplete the battery, but like anything else that's electrical, you seldom get any warning that it's going to fail.

[rickhow]

I understand that the possibility exists that my son discharged the battery, even though only one hour of radio (so he says ) did so. Some of you mentioned that all I need to do is put a charger overnight on the battery. Yep. My problem with the dealer however stems beyond the battery. Two things I feel STRONGLY the dealer should have done for me, as a Honda customer...when I first called for advice could they have not recommended a tow company or at least given me a phone number for one? If I were on the highway (since Honda is one of the few companies w/o roadside assistance) would I have the yellow pages with me to find a tow? Second, after spending hours checking the battery and finding it "good", when they too saw that the indicator was black...couldn't they have put a charge on the battery..OR at minimum say to me as many of you have "all you need to do is put a charge on it overnight". Disagree all you may, I do not feel I was given Customer Service.

[gsm026]

When I picked my wife's 2012 up from the dealer after having the battery checked (see seperate thread in this forum), the Service Advistor warned me that the standard battery in the CRV doesn't have much margin. He said that you need to be especially careful ... they have had people run down the battery enough not to start the car just by listening to the radio for 30 minutes.

Not sure that I agree with Nod that checking voltage is worthless ... it's not nearly as good as a load test, of course, but a fully charged battery should read ~ 12.65VDC. If it reads lower than 12.6V, you don't have a full charge (for whatever reason).

[rocks]

Like I posted in another battery thread,the CR-V battery is small and weak.Cold weather starts have always sounded a bit weak for a fully charged battery.
I'll definitely look for a more powerful small battery when I replace the oem battery.

[jreagan]

Hmmm... I went 5 years on my OEM battery living in New Hampshire with the cold winters. I would run the radio for while waxing the car (albeit in the summer, not the winter). I never had an issue. I finally replaced it this year when I finally noticed a slow crank on a cold day. Got another OEM battery.