I moved to New York in March and left my 2009 Fit at my mom's house. She already has a car, but agreed to start the Fit every few days and drive it around the block. Six months ago she went away for about three weeks and couldn't start the Fit when she got home. I was able to jump it and the dealer put in a new battery.

Since then, she's been driving the car around the block 2-3 times a week. (All in all it's been driven 100 miles in the past 6 months.) However, 2 months ago, she came home from a short vacation and found the car dead again. Today I was able to jump it and bring it to the dealer.

I was sure they'd find something wrong with the electrical system, however the mechanic claims the car simply isn't being driven enough to maintain a charge. He did a "power draw test" and found nothing was stealing undue power from the battery.

I find his explanation hard to believe. People go away for months at a time and don't come home to dead cars. And little old ladies buy cars for the exclusive purpose of driving to church on Sundays, and they don't need a jump every time.

The car's under warranty, so the dealer has motive to deny a real problem.

Does this sound fishy to you?

 

It should start after 8 weeks of sitting. Longer than that, all bets are off.

If it was run for short periods, the drain starting may have been more than it charged going around the block.

You would probably be well served with an inexpensive "float" charger to keep it fresh for long periods. This will also help the battery from getting sulfide deposits (partially/complete discharged batteries get damaged this way).

 

There is no way you are going to keep that battery charged by just driving it around the block. Also driving it that way and not getting it completely hot will cause moisture (from combustion) to accumulate in the oil and the exhaust system. You would be much better served by having her drive it once a month for 30 miles or so.

 

To OP...

Like other posters have said, I think the problem is that starting the car is probably draining more than going around the block will recharge the battery.

I've seen recommendations where you need to drive for 20 minutes just to recoup the startup drain, more to actually charge the battery.

Either get a battery tender... or just disconnect the battery altogether if no one is really going to be driving it for extended periods of time. Sure, you lose battery presets... but is it really worth starting it every few days just to waste gas?

 

^ I agree. Regularly starting it just to drive a short distance is an excellent way to drain a battery.

 

Years ago we had a dispatcher that lived less that a mile from work. She was always having problems with dead batteries. She lived in an apartment and had no place to plug in a battery tender or charger. We finally installed a larger capacity battery in her car and told her to take a longer trips at least once a week (usually on weekends) to recharge her battery. That helped but in winter it was still a problem. Then one day I noticed a light pole in the parking lot at our office that had a 120 volt plug on it. We installed a 2 amp charger in her car and had her plug it in once or twice a week at work. That took care of the problem. She also had a problem rusting out exhaust systems because her car never got hot enough to evaporate the accumulated moisture.