So three days after I post in another threead that my truck must have a "unicorn" battery because the original was still going even after 5+years and 140K miles, karma reared its head. While not my first choice, circumstances lead me to get it replaced at Walmart this morning. Not the fastest service, but here's the surprise - two surprises actually:
First, their price for an AGM with 4 year full replacement warranty ended up being about a hundred bucks cheaper than at the usual auto parts stores (part of the savings was the sales tax holiday happening in Ohio right now).
Second surprise...of course my dash was lit up like a Christmas tree and the truck would not shift out of first gear, similar to most folks with a bad battery. My expectation was to live with this for several hours or even a day with multiple on/off cycles, after which these things typically resolve themselves. So then I'm watching the Wallyworld technician, who, by the way, looked like he was 15, and whom I watched eat a bag of potato chips for breakfast, goes on to shut my truck on and off about 5 times. Naturally I assumed he was trying to get all the telltales to shut off, so I'm figuring that was just futile because it takes hours based on every battery replacement thread ever. Turns out that worked! All my dash lights are dark, no CEL, truck starts and runs as normal. Maybe this has been other's experience, but it shocked me!
I'd be curious if anyone has ever tried this. or knew about this.
Anyway...have a good day.
First, their price for an AGM with 4 year full replacement warranty ended up being about a hundred bucks cheaper than at the usual auto parts stores (part of the savings was the sales tax holiday happening in Ohio right now).
Second surprise...of course my dash was lit up like a Christmas tree and the truck would not shift out of first gear, similar to most folks with a bad battery. My expectation was to live with this for several hours or even a day with multiple on/off cycles, after which these things typically resolve themselves. So then I'm watching the Wallyworld technician, who, by the way, looked like he was 15, and whom I watched eat a bag of potato chips for breakfast, goes on to shut my truck on and off about 5 times. Naturally I assumed he was trying to get all the telltales to shut off, so I'm figuring that was just futile because it takes hours based on every battery replacement thread ever. Turns out that worked! All my dash lights are dark, no CEL, truck starts and runs as normal. Maybe this has been other's experience, but it shocked me!
I'd be curious if anyone has ever tried this. or knew about this.
Anyway...have a good day.
