Battery for 2003 Accent

I have a 2003 Accent and am having battery problems. Basically, the
car was struggling to turn over and now won't start. I was able to
jump start it to get it going thank goodness.

The problem is the battery problem occured at around 6PM on a Friday
Night, after the dealership closed. I went to 2 places and called 3
more, and was told they either didn't carry a battery for the car or it
had to be special ordered. The fact I only got a little over 2 years
out of the battery doesn't give me much confidence in Hyundai's
batteries either.

My wife has a 2002 Accent and was able to find a new battery without a
problem, but I wasn't. I have never in my life had this problem with
finding a battery.

It's really frustrating that I may have to do without a car for the
weekend over something as simple and common as a battery.

I wonder if anyone else has experienced anything like this?

Priz

 

Before you replace it, have you checked the fluid levels? Contrary to
what battery ads may say, there is no such thing as a "maintenance free"
battery, unless you want to replace your battery frequently and
unnecessarily. Pop the caps and if the fluid levels are low, top them
off with DISTILLED water, which is available at supermarkets and drug
stores.

Battery life will depend a lot on the climate you live in and the way
the battery is treated. Hot climates kill batteries pretty quickly.
Allowing the battery to fully discharge (by leaving your lights on
accidently, etc.) will damage a battery and shorten its life.

Go to Sears; they're bound to have a battery that will work and it's
easy to find a store when you need a new battery. There's nothing
special about Hyundai batteries and I would certainly not bother to try
to find an OEM replacement.

 

We've had a pretty hot summer down here in south Louisiana this year,
which might be part of the problem. I do check the fluids on my
battery and they are OK right now. The only problem is a couple of
times, the car had a hard time starting up so I figured the battery was
going, I just hoped it would hold out a little longer.

I've tried Autozone, PepBoys, Adavance Auto Parts, O'Reilly, Carquest(2
locations) and WalMart to no avail. I just find it strange a battery
would be so hard to replace. I've had bad luck with Sears batteries
over the years, as has the rest of my family, so we quit using them
since they never last more than a year is seems.

My last car, a Ford Escort, had the factory battery(Motorcraft) in it
for 5 years and never a problem and when it finally went, AutoZone had
a new one. Never seen anything like what I've experienced trying to
get a battery for this Hyundai.

Fortunately, the dealer is open today and they have one in stock, for
$75. Might be my only option.

Priz

 

The batteries in the 2002 and 2003 Accents are the same battery. If they
have one but not the other, don't worry about using it-- it'll work fine.

 

I was able to get a battery finally, and cheaper than I expected. I
got it from Carquest. They were more knowlegable than the other
places.

There were 2 problems I had when trying to find this battery. One was
the places I went to didn't have it in the computer and since it wasn't
in the computer, they insisted they couldn't supply it. The other was
the hot terminal has a different connector than one would expect. It
basically fits over the entire battery post, instead of just around it.
These other places insisted that was a proprietary terminal and they
couldn't supply the battery for it.

The guy from Carquest looked at it and said it shouldn't be a problem
and it turned out he was right. I've got the new battery and it works
fine. From now on, I plan to avoid Autozone, Pep Boys, and Advanced
Auto Parts and stick with Carquest.

Glad this little ordeal is finally over, but I still think the original
battery should have lasted more than 2 years.

Priz

 

That's why when I need a battery, I take it into the store. compare it
with what they have and buy one that's as close to identical as
possible. It eliminates the BS about whether it's in their list or not.

FWIW, I've heard that Hyundai had problems with the batteries they used
in '01-'03 cars. Early failures like yours were not uncommon.
Supposedly, they switched suppliers in '04.

 

That's a good way to do it to eliminate that problem. The only
downside to that is at Autozone and these other places, they have a
diagnostic machine they can connect up to the vehicle to see if the
problem is indeed the battery and not the alternator or something else.
Even though the car is only 2 years old and an alternator failure is
unlikely, I wanted them to put the car on the diagnostic machine so I'd
know for sure. If there was a cheap machine that does something
similar I could buy to keep here at home, I'd probably get one for that
reason.

I mentioned before, I talked to the service manager at the local
Hyundai dealership. He has done work on my wife's 2002 Accent, and he
told me it was a common battery and if they just took a look at it,
meaured it, etc., they'd probably have something else in stock that
would work. If I had gone to the dealership to have the battery
installed, it would have cost around $110 which to me was out of line
but expected, since dealerships like to gouge.

Like I also said before, these other places don't usually hire car
people, they hire salespeople, who don't know much about the product
and take the position "if it's not in the computer, we don't have it."
When I took the old battery back to Carquest for my core credit, the
man who sold me the first battery asked me if it worked and when I told
him it did, he started telling the supervisor about how these other
places insisted they couldn't sell me a battery that would work because
of the unusual connector. Both of them got a laugh out of the
ignorance of these other places, as did I, but it still wasn't funny
what I had to go through just to get a battery.

I read something similar in thie newsgroup when I ran a search on
Google Groups about Hyundai batteries. I found some posts from a year
or so ago saying there were alot of battery failures from that vintage
occuring. The Carquest battery I bought has a 60 month warranty on it,
hopefully it will last near that long.

Priz