I wanted a bigger battery because the factory one keeps dying on me after 2 years.. I managed to get the 51r Duracell battery to fit in there.. All I had to do was remove the battery tray and then tighten up the battery diagonally.. It starts much better and has way more juice than the original.. Heres a pic..

 

Kept dying on you? Do you have a lot of after-market electronics or something in the car? What was pulling so much juice? Is that an indicator that your alternator was having issues keeping the battery charged?

 

No aftermarket stuff.. Kept forgetting the lights and drained the battery so many times. Car was sitting in a shop for 3 weeks and that killed the battery. Tried to trickle charge it back to life but no luck.. It was a very weak battery overall. I can definitely tell that the 51r duracell packs a juice... The car starts very quickly and the lights seem not to flicker as much like it used to.

 

http://bit.ly/16aknhe

 

This op will help tons of people. 51r is a much better alternative to 151r if you make the effort to fit it in. Has more juice. Better starting power. Less light flicker. Smoother ride. Etc....

 

Would it not be cheaper to just pay attention to the beeper and turn the lights off? I am 4 years old and recently my dealer had done a battery check and I am still almost 100% life. Smoother ride? I don't know about that.

 

Interesting. Does it rub on the fender liner or the air box? Can you open the air box to get at the filter without removing the battery?

 

Perhaps so. I have adhd and im deaf.. I get real busy at times and forget about the lights and cannot hear the beeping to remind me to turn off the light. Maybe I should install an auto shut off mechanism for the battery or something. Im glad your original battery works well for you and hope it continues to.. Anyway im not the only one that has trouble with the original battery.. Many on here have complained about it. The 51r battery is cheaper than 151r and packs a bigger punch..

 

It is extremely tight in there.. Maybe 1 mm clearance from the liner and the red plastic part of the positive terminal touches the airbox. I will probably have to detach the positive terminal and loosen up the bolts that holds down the battery to open the air box.. It may take extra steps to open the box but it isnt difficult..

 

Well that explains a lot. Good luck with the new battery

 

Lol well that'll kill any battery. Thumbs up for being intuitive but as long as you properly maintain the honda battery it should last 4 years.

 

You're right, it should, but my 2011 Fit has 30,000 miles and it's already on its third battery. And I never leave the lights or accessories on. I really think the 151R isn't enough battery for the Fit, at least in this climate.

 

It heavily depends on the environment (temp and use) the battery has to endure. My '09 is at 46k is still on org battery. PO was in NJ and I'm in PA. Left lights on once last fall and it drained completely. Jumped it the next day and now it works perfectly (knock on wood). Actually surprised I haven't had trouble starting due the frigid days! YMMV.

That said, come time for battery I'd go 51r too!

 

I've about (I'd have to walk two blocks and scrape snow and ice to find the exact figure) 108k on my original battery. Starts fine, even in the coldest weather. But maybe I'll run into problems later in the winter? '09 Sport MT.

 

I have a stock '11 Sport with 36K in southcentral Pennsylvania and the battery was giving many weak starts in the cold weather we had this winter. Using Mobil1 0W-20, so the oil is water-thin and not a drag on engine on start up. I too see the headlights dim when some system kicks in - not sure what it is but notice all the time at night.


May give this 51r a try before going into winter 2104 / 2015. Don't have confidence that the existing battery will last that long.

 

I had an 3 year old Interstate battery getting weak on my Colorado PU. If I parked it for two days it would read 11.8 volts which is very low. It was three years old so I took it back under a warranty exchange. The retailer no long handled Interstate so he gave me Duracell replacement. The first thing I noticed was it was only 12.3 volts before starting. I figured it would charge up over the next few trips. Nothing doing, 12.3 after the surface charge bled off every time. I even stuck it on a trickle charge over night. After the surface charge bled off it was back to 12.3 again. A fully charged battery should read 12.6 or 12.7. I have never had a new battery do this before so, I'm watching it. If you do go get a new Duracell battery, you might want to read the voltage on it before installing it. A lot of people here have been buying Costco House brand 51r batteries. You might also want to look at that brand.

 

Just can't figure out how to install a 51R clean enough to please Honda if warranty issues come up. So they don't give me shit and void my warranty. Or am I just worrying too much about it.

 

Install like up above. As long as you don't fry the electrical system there should be no problem. If you are concerned buy a Honda battery. I just replaced mine after 4 1/2 years.

 

I have a new optima 51r I had in my si. Bought it and sold the car a week or two after. Kept the optima. Want to use it.... Feels like a waste hahaha

 

I have a 2012 Fit Sport with auto trans. I live in MA and it gets very cold here at times. When I go out in the cold morning and start the Fit it starts OK but you can really feel the battery is weak for cold starts, at least mine does.

Being retired I only have 10,600 miles on my car and I don't have any added on equipment on it and I've never left the lights on and killed the battery.

Like many others here I feel the factory battery is too small and doesn't have enough power as it should. My factory battery doesn't seem like it will last very long. I think Honda engineers messed up picking the battery they did. It's like a motorcycle battery.