Battery suffered a dead short apparently today. New battery in place and all seems good again. My question is this: I had never even heard of this until 2 years ago when it happened to my 850, it happened today with my 960 -both 1996 models. The first time it was explained as a defective battery, but now I'm wondering...especially since the battery in the 960 is (was) only about 20 months old. How common is this malady? Does something --or lack of something-- encourage batteries to go all of a sudden? Thanks for your insights.

There are many things that can cause cells to deteriorate. Most commonly, the relatively thiin lead plates immersed in the sulphuric acid will buckle and/or warp, most commonly due to overheating under load, by overcharging, or high ambient temperatures. When one lead plate touches the other, they "short out" and the capacity of the cell is lowered. When this happens to enough plates in several of the cells in the battery, it loses its capacity to start the car. Note that this can also happen as a result of lead chips collecting at the bottom of the cell, as mentioned in an earlier post.

Also previously mentioned, impurities in cheap recycled lead, and mineral contamination in the acid, accounts for "planned obsolesence."

my .02

I've had two different batteries last less than two years on our '98 V90.They are solidly restrained and not abused-I heard from counter guy at Pep Boys that they have had a lot of failures lately.In both cases,these batteries (one labeled Exide,next one was an Enegizer) just died with no warning-open or wouldn't keep a charge.Any comments out there?
sredwine V90 has 106K,'94 940T has 168K

Thanks for the feedback everybody.
Here's the skinny: the battery was not clamped down at all, so now I know to do that.
It was, coincidentally, an "Energizer" as well.

I've had it happen a couple times, one was an Exide, probably 4 yr old, the other I don't remember. Just went to start the car in the morning, and dead - rattle from the solenoid, not much else, would charge to about 12v and start dropping voltage as soon as I unhooked the charger, with no load.
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Chris, Dartmouth NS Canada 70 M-B 280SE, 83 245DL, 84 244 turbo, 90 780 turbo, 92 VW Golf, 90 740 Rex/Regina

Here is a link ; http://www.uuhome.de/william.darden//carfaq12.htm , with more causes of battery failure.
Or, the battery manufacturers are just selling under engineered junk, just like a lot of other consumer auto products.




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Gary Gilliam Sumerduck VA, '94 940 Regina 167k '86 240 197k, 93 Camry 4cyl 5spd 245k

I do know that if the battery is not properly restrained, then excessive shock and vibration will cause it to shed plate material, build up on the bottom and then short out between two or more plates. Maybe your battery hold down, or mounting plate is loose?
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Gary Gilliam Sumerduck VA, '94 940 Regina 168k '86 240 198k, 93 Camry 4cyl 5spd 245k