Delco Freedom batteries suck

So lately when I go to start my car in the morning, she is slow to crank, then nearly dies but catches herself. I know it's that stupid Freedom battery under the hood :banghead: Someone with a Malibu @ another forum had their Delco battery replaced 4 times before 36K!!! Can you believe that crap. My mom's in her 99 Blazer only lasted until 55K. Anyway, I am making the trek to the stealership tomorrow so that they can do a load test on the battery. Hopefully they will replace it -- I'm about 4K away from 36K and it wouldn't hurt to get a new battery :iceslolan

Anyone else have any battery issues in the Alero?

Jeremy

Hello, Interesting, however, I would make sure that they test other possbile causes including any aftermarket stereo or accessories that may be creating a drain. It seems like we all too often point the finger at the battery when other things are causing damage to the battery such as poor grounding, jump starting other cars or possibly a problem with the alternator/regulator. My 96 chev has the original Freedom battery (8 years old) and I got about 7 years out of the Freedom battery on my 93 Olds. I replaced it with another freedom in 2000 and it has been performing great. Anywya, good luck and post a reply and let us all know what they find out.

They load tested the battery and found the battery was leaking from the positive terminal. It also corroded the battery cables. The stealership replaced the battery as well as the battery cables. Thank jesus cristo! (say that in Spanish!)

Jeremy

Glad you got it fixed and it wasn't anything more serious. Those side mount GM terminals are really difficult to clean corrosion off of. I never have found any spray or cleaner to help keep corrosion down on these. I do check and get out the wire brush about once a year or so.

They load tested the battery and found the battery was leaking from the positive terminal. It also corroded the battery cables. The stealership replaced the battery as well as the battery cables. Thank jesus cristo! (say that in Spanish!)

Jeremy

I'm guessing that the dealer replaced your battery and cables under GM factory warranty and didn't charge you a dime.
If so, why are they a "stealership"?

Before I had my 2002 Alero I owned a 1997 Chevrolet Malibu. It was the biggest piece on the face of this planet. Anyway, long story short, the DEALERSHIP screwed me a few times. So that's why I have referred to them as the stealership. No matter what forum I'm in or who I'm talking to (even if I'm at the stealership) I will always refer to them as so.

Jeremy

58000 miles on mine original battery! Love delco batts. only ones ill use! I did have a corosion problem on our montana van it got bad enough that when it started to crank poorly that I chacekd the cables and the whole post came off! I replaced the cable end and the battery with a brand new shiny delco and I havent had nay problems with the van for 30000 miles. I check that cable often now and it still is clean! Just rember how well baking soda and water works on corrosion!

Before I had my 2002 Alero I owned a 1997 Chevrolet Malibu. It was the biggest piece on the face of this planet. Anyway, long story short, the DEALERSHIP screwed me a few times. So that's why I have referred to them as the stealership. No matter what forum I'm in or who I'm talking to (even if I'm at the stealership) I will always refer to them as so.

Jeremy


So much anger my friend! J/k you really do have to be firm with some of those dealerships! they'll try to take you for a walk and some of them are even cluless if noticed in my area!

I do have anger when I comes to my ex-Malibu and the Stealership. I just turned 16 when I got the Malibu. It had only 47K miles on it, which wasn't bad for a nearly 5 year old car. In the year and a half that I owned it, I wasted nearly $2,200 of my own $$ (not my parent's money, I have two jobs now and did then too) to fix that POS. I was the dumb one though, taking it to the stealership. They saw my situation: a poor kid who didn't (at that time) know anything about cars. Every problem they found they exaggerated it and made it sound like my car was going to explode the next day if I didn't spend $500 to get one problem or another fixed. There's no doubt that I am still bitter.

Jeremy

LOL I am not saying you do not have a right to be! I agree with for the most part!

I do have anger when I comes to my ex-Malibu and the Stealership. I just turned 16 when I got the Malibu. It had only 47K miles on it, which wasn't bad for a nearly 5 year old car. In the year and a half that I owned it, I wasted nearly $2,200 of my own $$ (not my parent's money, I have two jobs now and did then too) to fix that POS. I was the dumb one though, taking it to the stealership. They saw my situation: a poor kid who didn't (at that time) know anything about cars. Every problem they found they exaggerated it and made it sound like my car was going to explode the next day if I didn't spend $500 to get one problem or another fixed. There's no doubt that I am still bitter.

Jeremy

The funny part is, you could have said NO!
Just because you take your car to shop, doesn't mean you HAVE to do the work they suggest...they call you with an estimate and tell you what is wrong..YOU make the decision on whether or not you agree to their price or diagnosis.

I'm not saying that ever dealer (or any other shop) out there is the pinicle of honesty and integrity or that ever person that works in the service department knows what they are doing, there are exceptions to every rule.

Its up to you the consumer to educate yourself and make some educated decisions...its not in the best interest of a dealer or any other business to try to screw the customer...eventually that business will lose their customer base, get a bad reputation and close...also as a business you can not please everyone..no matter how hard you try there will be people that just won't be happy with anything you do.
I tell people here on the forum that if you have a problem (especially with warranty issues) with dealer X, dealer Y is right down the street and you may have better luck with them (personally I love it when a customer comes in and tells me that dealer X couldn't fix their problem...dam right I'll do anything to take care of them..because if I do, I now have a new customer that will come back and hopefully tell some friends too.)

Do technicians screw up..YES..we are all human and make mistakes, its part of life....I have found that most customer relation problems are from miscommunication between the customer and the advisor or the technican and advisor...sometimes alot gets lost.
How do we solve that...first you as the customer must be educated and make sure you give all the information to the service advisor (and make sure the SA writes down and understands everything)
Second, give time for diagnosis and don't set unreasonable expectations...everyday I have customers calling with the same question "have you found anything yet?"..and they just dropped their car off 15 minutes ago or my favorite on a Friday afternoon at 3 or 4 o'clock "my SES light came on last week and I'm headed out of town today, can you get me done by 5?"

Then there are the "parts hanger" mechanics..these are the guys that will throw hundreds of dollars of parts at a car until one of the parts fixes the customer concern...had one yesterday NO START (spins over OK)....MR parts hanger worked on the car all day and after replacing plugs,wires, module and coils and was getting ready to install a PCM, the service advisor called me over to take a look at it...15 minutes I had it running because Mr. Parts hanger failed to check for power to the module from the fusebox...a blow fuse caused by a chaffed wire was the cause...hopefully that guy won't be working here much longer.

Shoot, I've rambled long enough..back to work!