I still have the original battery in my 2008 Solstice GXP when I store the car over the winter put a battery tender on it Had a load test done on battery a week ago and it was still in very good condition dealer said do not replace it. 41000 miles on the car.

 

My original one from 2007 just gave out last week. Pain in the butt to put in a new one. 11 years is a long time for a battery to last.:cheers:

 

:|Still have the original in my 08 redline, I use a maintainer over the winter as well.Car has 22650 miles on it,I'm not looking forward to replacing the battery.

 

I swapped mine out a couple years ago for an optima. But to your other point. I don't drive mine regularly either, so I bought a B&D battery minder that I have attached to a ceiling joist near my door opener and the cord dangles down to my battery area, so it's trickling a charge at all times. This set up works for me because I can go weeks without driving it. My B&D also came with three connection options, alligator clips, ring terminals that remain attached to the posts (which is what I use), and the 3rd, which may be good for you, is a plug for the lighter socket, haven't used this one ever, just leave it plugged in when not in use and unplug it for quick getaways. Just a thought because it really isn't good on a battery to let it run to its death.

I think I paid $12 for this one: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0051D3MP6/

 

Nice! Looks like our factory battery is pretty legit.

I do keep mine on a trickle charger/maintainer whenever I know I won't be driving for a few days.

 

doing a correct jump start

In the event of jumping your car when the battery is completely dead, there is a correct way where the terminals are for a proper jump connection of these cars. (search on the forum for the subject "terminal connections for jump start")

We understand if you do it wrong on some model years, the car gets screwed up in it's electronics and computer, which can be a real pain to resolve according to our experts. The experts have said this many times on this forum, so that is good enough for me. Just saying.

As far as the battery tender, I bought Sears Die Hard tenders (caught on sale @$22) that have the same three connection options pictured above. I use the cigarette lighter adapter. How can you go wrong, plus you never have to raise the hood.

 

In the event of jumping your car when the battery is completely dead, there is a correct way where the terminals are for a proper jump connection of these cars. (search on the forum for the subject "terminal connections for jump start")

We understand if you do it wrong on some model years, the car gets screwed up in it's electronics and computer, which can be a real pain to resolve according to our experts. The experts have said this many times on this forum, so that is good enough for me. Just saying.

I couldn't find what you were referring to... the "Google Custom Search" isn't very easy to use and I can never remember how to find the "real forum search" here. Can you paraphrase?

The only thing I could find was a reference to not jumping via terminals near the fuse box... I would never have thought to do this. I've always used the direct terminals on the batter and have never had an issue thus far.

 

Sorry about that. Had typed a paragraph of words but ended up losing it. The tab on the block is labeled GND (--). Tip the red plastic 1x2 toward front of car (positive connection underneath).

 

My first 1000 Solstice delivered Sept. of 2005 still has the original battery. I store the car every winter by just pulling the negative cable from the post without any trickle charge. Yes I know I'm on borrowed time but at this point it become a challenge. 0

 

Thanks for posting those photos!

 

The OEM battery has a 6 year warranty, so I had it replaced at 6 years with another OEM. To me, it's worth a few bucks to not wind up with a dead battery.

 

Our 2007 Sky has about 24,000 miles on it and has the original ACDelco battery. I have not had any problems with it. I park the car in unheated storage each fall and do not use any type of charger. So far, it always starts strong six months later. I think that I will replace
the battery soon for peace of mind concerning being stranded.

Bill Emerson
emersonwilly@charter.net

 

When I bought my Sky it had 33k on it and a dead battery.
Jumped it and took her home.
The next morning (a weekend), I learned a lot just to replace the battery!

 

On a related note, I was tightening a fastener (coil-over nut I think) and touched the wrench to the positive post on the electronics box above the battery. Sparks flew! I couldn’t believe a positive post was exposed like that. Is that normal?
I covered it with some shrink sleeve.

 

No, there should be a red plastic cover over that. Negative side too IIRC...of course that one would be black.

 

After almost 11 years I replaced my stock battery while doing new brakes and tires. I didn't want to be left stranded somewhere ever though it was still working. My service tech replaced it with a brand new AC Delco battery. I figured if the original lasted almost 11 years, why not replace it with the same battery. My tech removed a couple of screws/pins in the wheel well and changed it that way.


_

 

Original battery - 2009 19,000 miles.

 

I still have the original battery in my 07 Sky. When I lived up north I put a battery tender on it for the winter.
"The Sky's The Limit"

atriot:

 

Thanks for posting (no pun intended) the pic, Tomato Soup.
I’ll see if I can find one—or at least something better than black shrink wrap!
(Glad I hit it with the wrench and not the opposite hand.)

 

I've gone through 3 batteries...wish I could drive more.

 

My buddy has a '07 Sky and he's still running with the original battery. I carry jumper cables with me when we go to car shows, cause one of these days he's going to need them, lol....

 

Our stock GM battery is a 6 yr battery....and of course, they do last longer if used properly.

 

I haven't been on this forum in a long time, but wanted to update this thread and say I'm still on the stock battery (2009, ~59K miles). As long as I drive it every few days it's fine without the trickle charger. I'm really on borrowed time though so I might cave soon

 

I have a 2008 Solstice GXP with the stock battery 46500 miles on car. just ues battery tender when store car for the winter

 

In 1983, I bought a brand new Toyota Pickup truck chassis (actually was a motor home). The original battery lasted 13 years. I kept fluid levels maintained, disconnected the battery for about 5 months a year, but never used any kind of battery tender. The battery died very suddenly, worked perfectly the day prior.

My new 1981 Toyota Corolla OEM battery lasted 11 years though used daily. It died exactly the same way.

 

It's definitely because of me posting, but my battery wouldn't start a few days ago. Hadn't stranded me in a couple of years. I had sworn the next time it failed to start, I'd replace it, so I guess it's time. 😆

 

Will it start? The sound of click, click and nothing. Sorry no permagrin for you today. I hate it when that happens.

I am now on my 3rd battery as of just recently. When I bought my Sky back in 2013, it had 17,360 miles on the odo.
5 year old battery OEM AC Delco but I knew I was on borrowed time here.
After reading this forum, hearing what our members had to say about how our car
reacts when the battery gets weak or goes dead had me worried some.

Changing out the battery seemed a pain to do with removal of the fender, lower quarter panel on our cars. We all know the horrors of our quarter panels cracking, plus with Fast Eddie doing the work things could get worse before they get better. So the time finally came to replace it, as I was doing my tire replacement at the same time.

An expensive day for sure. Dealer installed. July 2016. 31,446 on the odo. Battery cost then, $120. Labor rate was $107.70. Old battery was still good, but time was not on it or my side. Sooner or later. By my request I had them replace the old battery. Total then was $ 227.70. They went through the wheel well, removing the liner instead of the quarter panel here for reference.

Fast forward to present day July 2020. 47,849 on the odo. Click click the time has come again. Battery would not take a jump start. Hmmm. Put it on my battery charger/maintainer for 4 hours, nothing. Nada. Now what?
I could get a new battery, do the install myself, dealing with panel removal & reinstall. What if it is not just the battery that is preventing my Sky from turning over? Could it be something else? I checked the fuses. All good. Check the grounds, no corrosion of any kind. Could it be the starter or alternator then? Better have it checked out just to be safe here. So... the flatbed arrived to haul my car off to the dealers, what fun. Booster jump, started right up, drove on to the flat bed shut it down, Dead as a door nail again. It's toast. Now the good part sort of. 4 years almost to the day that the old battery came out, new one going in.

New AC Delco 86 going in but had more amps. 580 on the old one, 630 on the newer one. An upgrade sort of.
Price difference, shocking. Battery cost was... $ 252.94. Labor to install $140. Tow charge 126.50. Shop supplies and taxes $37.61 for a grand total of $557.05. Could I have saved the cost of the tow charge, yes.
Could I have gotten the battery on sale cheaper? Yes. Could I have saved on the labor costs, certainly.
However I don't have the ability to test the entire ignition system for other issues that might be causing it not to start or any replacement parts needed.

Was this expense worth it have the entire system checked over now, piece of mind? Yes at this age it is better to be safe now, than be stranded somewhere later, ie; not in my driveway when it goes dead. I have been turning my car over every 3-4 days now. Have run it couple of times, 1 hour or more running around town.

I now carry jumper cables in my trunk just in case, you never ever know when that sound will come back.
Click Click... never a good thing when you want to smile, but frown you can't have fun today.
An even a bigger frown when the final invoice is presented for payment due.

On the road again...

LAC