AlDente67

It's been said before, but just to reiterate based on my need for a tow late last night in the cold...don't run the accessories without the engine running periodically.

I was running the XM radio for about an hour while waiting to pick up my son, and when I went to start the engine, all I got was click click click. All the lights worked for a time, but then it quickly died altogether.

With all of the electrical features on this car drawing on the battery, it really should be a larger battery. Mercedes uses one about 50% larger than what Nissan is putting in these cars.

Amerikaner83

iTrader: (17)

an hour? That's a long time, man.

2_da_max101

Shouldnt the battery know when the power is low and shuts off itself? Cause i know when im in the car listening to music for 30-40 mins it shuts off itself to conserve power i mean i have it on mine 2011 maxima sv i dont know if they just offered it on this model

AlDente67

It didn't show any indication that the juice level dropped below what it needs to start. The main screen was fully powered. When I hit the start button, no dice. Later on, there was a battery light, but it was too late.

Live and learn, I guess.

lightonthehill

As I posted on three other battery threads somewhere here (I'm too lazy to look them up), Nissan changed batteries for the 7th gen this past July. They evidently had a lot of negative feedback on the OEM battery, so when customers come in to replace the sorry old 550 cold cranking amps OEM battery, dealers now replace it with a 700 CCA one.

Even though I had absolutely no problems with the OEM battery on my '09 built in fall of '08, I replaced mine with the new stronger one a few months ago. At my age, I don't need to be stranded out in the middle of nohere in a blizzard.

The new Nissan battery sells for $129, but with a $15 rebate on the old battery, my cost was $114. If others here go this route, make sure the dealer does not use you to dump the last of his old 550 CCA batteries. Tell them you MUST have the NEW 700 CCA battery.

As info, the reason I did not have trouble with my old OEM battery is because, after seeing the battery troubles folks had here from day one with these 7th gen batteries, I NEVER left ANY device on when shutting the engine off. Radios will kill a weak battery, especially when aftermarket audio equipment has been added.

Makavel07

What's the battery model for the 7th gen? 34R?

RAINMANYEH

Learned something about the batteries today. Thanks for the heads up.

Ghozt

got an optima yellow top and never looked back. stock battery wasnt for me.

T_Behr904

You can't really go by the size of the battery. I know from experience that Mercedes batteries aren't of the best quality.

Fakie J Farkerton

iTrader: (51)

Yep yep! Yellows are tanks.

lightonthehill

24R. The R means the posts are reversed from the normal 24.

The part number shown on my work order for the new 700 CCA Nissan battery is 999M1-NC24F.

I have heard of some folks putting some variation of either a 34 or 35 type battery in their 7th gen Maxima, but that is not the OEM battery.

lightonthehill

Yellow Tops WERE tanks before their production was moved to Mexico recently. We have had two posters here who were not happy with their Mexican-made Yellow Tops. I am sort of watching here to see how others fare with the Mexican Yellow Tops.

It would be a shame to have what has been one of the best batteries on the market end up as a run-of-the-mill product.

AlDente67

Well after I dropped off the car via flatbed (the tow truck's jumper cable wasn't working, so we had no choice), I dropped the key in the slot with my contact info (this was late at night).
The dealer called me up at 11am the next day to report that all was recharged and fixed. No charge even though it was my own fault for killing the battery. Kudos to Windsor Nissan for the great service!

I don't think they put in the 700 (had I read this thread again yesterday, I would have known to ask), but I'll just make it habit not to leave on ACC without periodically running the engine.

Amerikaner83

iTrader: (17)

when a battery gets drained, it loses something like 15% of its charge capacity. They just recharged your original battery and called it a day. Be extra careful to not leave stuff on while your engine is off.

Fakie J Farkerton

iTrader: (51)

Wow. Interesting. So far it has proven itself stronger than any other battery I have had, but it is my first dry cell. Mine is stamped 2/12, when did they go Mexico?

atlanta10

maybe I am wasting money but on my most recent cars, I proactively replace the battery after 2.5 years with one from Autozone (silver series I think) $100 is well spent for the peace of mind. I keep the replacement battery until I sell the car

Mario66

I literally just bought mine tonight from my local Pep Boys. Surprise surprise the minute I swap out the OEM junk battery my Remote Start miraculously works again.
Saved myself a trip to the dealership, because for weeks the remote start wasnt working and I was too busy to drop it off.
Ill keep you posted on how it goes.

lightonthehill

The two complaints were back in early and late summer. The early summer had problems with his new Yellow Top, while the late summer poster had read an article in a tech mag saying that since manufacture of the Yellow Top had been moved to Mexico, the batteries were not as dependable.

No date was given for when the shift took place. I usually simply make a mental note of such postings, then wait to see if others have the same problems. So far, I haven't seen any further complaints. If we do not get any more Yellow Top complaints, I would begin to suspect that the Yellow Top battery with a problem may have just been one bad one in a large batch of good ones.

funnyman82

How much water should be added into the cells? Yesterday I had a problem where the temp had dropped outside and I went to start my car which was parked on the driveway and it had difficulty turning over. After 5 seconds it did. I shut it off and tried again and this time it tried turning over but couldn't. Third time it turned over after 5 sec of sputtering. I left it in the garage for 1 hr and came back to start and it started normally as if nothing was wrong. I checked the battery and there seemed to be liquid on the top of it... Not a lot but some. When I opened the caps to look inside there was water in there but not to the top. Should I add some?

Serpent

When adding water to a battery, make sure it's charged, and then add distilled water to each cell until it comes up to the very bottom of the plastic from the top side of the batt. Kinda hard to explain, but, use a flashlight so you can watch it and fill it slowly. When it reaches the bottom of that plastic (maybe 0.5-1.0" if you were measuring down) that's good. Don't overfill it. That description kinda sucks, but I'm a lil tipsy ATM and can't find better words. Lol!

lightonthehill

Serpent is on the money. This procedure seems a little awkward, but it has been this way for many decades.

funnyman82 - After having any difficulty whatsoever starting a car, once it starts, unless I am going to immediately drive the car, before I turn off the motor, I make sure to run the engine for around five minutes, reving the RPMs up to somewhere between 1500 and 2000 in order to replace the power I just used starting the engine, and maybe add a little more power to the battery, just in case it is low on power. Starting the engine requires more power from the battery than any task we can do in a car.

If the starting difficulty continues (evidently yours did not subsequently continue to give trouble), it is time to have your charging system and battery checked. If the battery is over three years old, I would simply replace it without bothering to have it checked.

funnyman82

Hello light, thanks for the advice.. I will try and do the recommendations you provided. My Max is a 2010 I got used in 2011 so it might be time for a new battery...

lightonthehill

Good approach on your part. The 2010 Maximas were manufactured between July 2009 and July 2010, so your battery is between 2 1/2 and 3 1/2 years old. The mfg date is on a small metal plate on the outside of the 'B' pillar on the driver's side of the car. There are two metal plates in that general area, so check both, and one will have the two digit month and 2 digit year (no day).

mls277

I just had a dead battery 2009 Max went about 4 years 4 months. Been struggling a bit lately so i figured it was done soon and i was right. Put a good one in myself took about. 20 mins total. Brought the old one in to swap so didn't end up with having to deal with getting rid of old one.

funnyman82

What's a good replacement battery for our vehicle or is the new higher cca battery ok?

AlDente67

On a tangent, my little Battery Tender trickle charger only cost about $30 and has saved many many tractor battery replacements over the years. Probably would help in a pinch for the car too, assuming of course that you ran out of juice near an electrical outlet.

lightonthehill

The new 700 CCA Nissan battery ($129, reduced to $114 if you give them your old battery) is doing very well in my car, but only time will prove how good it really is.

I considered this new stronger Nissan battery a 'deal' because, as a result of buying it from my Nissan dealer, while they had the car, they replaced a malfunctioning internal antenna that had been causing my fob to sometimes not work. And they did that (took almost two hours) FREE as a 'customer goodwill' deed.

I love my dealer, and they love me.

Zortster99

Had my 2010 SV Max for 2 years and 2 days when the battery died. Nissan would have replaced the battery for no charge if it had died 2 days earlier. Anyway, they replaced the battery for $25 with a 700amp Nissan battery. I didnt really mind paying the $25 for a new upgrade.

PSU09MAXIMA

Is the new battery maintenance free?

Jam_Roc

Johnsun Controls have the Max using 35, Nissan's hotline says 24F and some say 24R. Does all fit? Johnson also didn't get the memo on the new 700cca upgrade either.

Maxgig

iTrader: (5)

A little late for me now. I came home and set up my homelink and was messing with the radio for about an hour. When I tried to roll the windows up the passenger side one stopped half way up and then the battery light came on.

I had the same problem with my 2010 Murano about 10 days after I got it, that time I was actually trying out the bluetooth phone. I ended up adding water to the battery, still don't know why Nissan puts water cell batteries in their cars.

My 2003 Maxima had a water cell Panasonic battery in it. Luckily I have an appointment on Thu to get a fog light fixed. I'll just ask them to replace the battery at that time. 550cca to me is definitely not enough juice to run these cars, every time you press a button or turn a switch you can hear something electircal coming on or otherwise doing its job.

lightonthehill

The 24R and 24F both have reversed posts, and both are approved for the 7th gen Maxima. The plain 24 has normal posts, and will not work in the 7th gen Maxima. I'm sure there are probably variations of the 35 battery that would work in the 7th gen Maxima, but I don't know which ones, and Nissan does not list them for the 7th gen.

rader023

I have a 35 diehard platinum on mine. Definitely smaller that a 24F but depending on battery that might not matter.

sonomamax

Just got me another super duper nissan 84 month battery, This is the 3rd battery in the car in 26 months, The service manager told me that these nissan batteries are not really good, they are built by interstate batteries and go out quite frequently, They(Dealer) has had to replace them when the cars come off the truck, As long as these batteries are under warrenty and have not paid for one yet, They check the battery, Charge it, then reolace it,. takes about a hour,

MaxSport9

Is there any maintenance/cleaning that can be done on these batteries to prolong the life? Anything that's sucking a lot of juice that can be turned down/off?

silberma

Two things come to mind. Do not run accessories for long with the engine shut off. Second, check your battery water level. Unlike most modern cars these are not maintenance free batteries.

Finally, when the battery fails get a better battery than Nissan provides.

gizzsdad

1. Avoid deep discharges - these, and heat, kill a battery very fast.

2. Maintain (distilled)water levels. This was something that was new to me until a year ago. Will need a flashlight to help see water levels as you carefully add.

3. Regularly use a "smart" charger/maintainer. I have a BatteryMINDer 12248, but lesser models would be useful as well.

http://batteryminders.com/store.php?...=nav&&app=auto

I'm not a battery expert, and I didn't stay in a Holiday Inn Express last night, but after my OE battery crapped out in 14 months - I did a lot of research. Basically, most car batteries operate at a less than optimal state of charge - due to many power hungry accessories and multiple short trips. Actually - your alternator NEVER quite delivers a full charge (I assume to avoid over-charging), which exacerbates the operation at less than full charge, which in turn results in increased sulfation. These guys can explain it better than I:

http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/a...to_prevent_it/

lightonthehill

The 84 month 700 cold cranking amp Nissan battery only became available last July. Before that, Nissan had been using a fairly weak 500 CCA battery in the 7th gen Maxima since it was released in June of 2008. The change to 700 CCA was made because owners were having lots of problems with the 500 CCA Nissan battery.

Interstate also makes the little button batteries used in the intelligent key fobs for Nissan.

tgood

Wish I would have seen this article 10 mins ago...mine just died at the gym while I was talking on Bluetooth...lights were set to auto so still on while car was not running

sonomamax

The original battery was replaced after about a yr. they put in the 84 month 700cca then after 13 months That one died and I just got another 84 month 700 cca battery. So i am wondering how long this one will last.