Your car is probably one of the investments that you have right now that you enjoy and use to work and play, and having those moments with your family. Your car needs fuel, change oil, change of tires, and also a good battery change.
Knowing the life of your battery is also giving you that peace of mind that you will not be in the situation that your engine stalls in the middle of nowhere, or when the time comes that you need to go for an emergency, it won’t be able to start.
We have two cars at home, a Toyota Corolla Vios 2012 which is more than 12 years old, and a Hyundai Elantra 2017 that’s almost a 6 year old. I have probably one of the worst experience with a car having problem due to the battery. Since i am not the primary user of the Toyota Vios, i didn’t know the exact details about it.
One Friday night, we went home to Laguna, I was the one driving the Vios. During the drive, i felt something weird about it, first it was the sound of the engine and the aircon. It was like almost powering down, the aircon was losing its cool. We were in the middle of SouthSuperHighway when this happened.
The next thing i knew was the lights started to dim, from bright to amber. This got me scared. The lights were failing. Suddenly, i car crossed my lane so i had to honk him. The horn had a faint, weak honk. Now this really is bad! Approaching the toll gate, i had to rev down, pay the toll fees, and the car just stalled. The engine totally won’t start anymore. Luckily i was able to bring the car to the shoulder.
The Toyota Vios is an automatic. Thus, no amount of push would bring this to a start. After a few minutes of resting the car, it started so we are back on the way. This time i didn’t turn on the aircon, no music and opened the windows. Saving enough juice to reach our destination. We were only in kilometer 48 and we were 36 kilometers away from our destination.
Upon reaching the exit to Calamba, there it goes again. The engine started to sound different and the lights were collapsing on me. There was no more honk to the horn. It stalls for the second time. We were already in Calamba. It was already 12 midnight, and in the province, all business establishments were closed. There was a car battery shop that we passedby a few meters away so i had the leave the vehicle on the road and tried knocking on the door.
There was no one in sight and dogs kept barking. The car won’t start anymore. The battery was totally dead. So the only recourse was to call my brother-in-law for a tow truck or borrow a battery that we can temporarily use. Luckily, the battery of the Toyota Vios is a standard sized 2SM. This means any other battery brand would be able to start the engine and fit in the battery compartment.
Now here comes another experience with the Elantra. Since i availed it in 2017, 2020 came and it was pre-pandemic. My experience was different and the signs of the battery having problems. First, the memory of the FM stations were erased. I didn’t put much attention to this. Then the car remote got wonky, i thought at first it was just the battery of the remote on the key so i replaced it. While driving, the headlights weren’t as bright as it used to and the highbeam was yellowish instead of pure white. So i replaced it with a locally manufactured brand.
Pandemic came and we were all locked up in our homes. Borders were closed and for more than a year, travelling wasn’t something you want to do as the scare of the pandemic as the risk was so high. Later part of 2022 came when the economy needed to recover and everyone was allowed to travel already. It started to get normal again.
There were a lot of things happening since 2023. People started going outside, going to malls, attending events, meetings and so on. One Friday night sometime in February, I had to rush to a meeting in UPTown in Quezon City. I had my cark parked in a valet spot at the corner of the mall in an elevated spot. The meeting went on for hours and the malls were closed. My car was the only one left in the valet parking.
I opened the car with the remote, inserted the key and turned it. I was suprised that my car won’t start. It had a very weak and low revolution until it went dead. The light on the dashboard was weak and the horn wasn’t as loud as before. My Hyundai Elantra is a manual transmission. So i tried to push my car off the parking but was scared it might ran off and i won’t be able to get in the car and jump start it. Luckily, two guards onbaord a motorcycle was on the way home. I signalled them and asked for help. So they went down and pushed my car. Luckily it started.
March came and there was not much events happening so i stayed home. One morning i went down to get some stuff from the car. The remote wasn’t working so i had to open it with the use of the master key. A few days after i had to leave for a meeting, the car won’t start anymore. There was no more light and even the horn won’t sound.
Three years has passed. I lost track of time. I can’t jumpstart my car since i was parked on the third floor and you won’t be able to steer the wheel of a car when it is not running. It will be impossible to take it out of the slanted and elevated parking slot.
Since there wasn’t much travel done in the past years, i thought the health of my car battery was still at prime. But i was wrong. No matter what you do or don’t, it will really expire someday. No amount of energy saving will be able to help you make your car battery last longer.
