Hi guys, so it's been one year since I bought my Mirage (new).
I had experienced battery woes and corrosion in my old car it replaced (due to lack of knowledge and caring), so I'm not going to let that happen this time around.
First, I had made a thread a long while back asking whether or not the stock car battery is truly maintenance free, since that is what it states in plain English, printed right there on the battery.
Let me just say first, that maybe the battery is designed to require less maintenance, but it is definitely not maintenance free. I finally unhooked the battery terminals for the first time so I could remove the battery cell caps to add some distilled water. I figured, it's been through a whole year of hot Florida weather, it's definitely going to need some.
Well, setting the battery on a level table and VERY carefully, making the electrolyte solution slosh around so I could see where the level was, it turns out that all the cells except one were all at the full line level that's shown on the side of the battery. The one cell that I added distilled water only needed a very little amount since it was basically only a hair or two away from the full line level.
Question for anyone living in sunny, hot areas with more experience with car batteries. Is it normal after one full year of operation in a hot, sunny state (outside 100%, never garaged) for you to really not require distilled water top off? I myself was surprised.
Wasn't a waste though as it gave me a chance to clean the top of the battery off from the dirt/dust film that accumulated during that year. Apparently a dirty battery discharges faster than a clean one. Think it has something to do with the dirt attracting moisture and acting as a pathway between positive/negative terminals. It's not a huge drain, but it's actually measurable. Watched an 'Ericthecarguy' video where he tested it before and after cleaning it, and there actually was.
Can't keep the battery squeaky clean all the time, but I think I will be cleaning it off every couple of months now.
I would think it would be a fairly well sealed environment and although the heat will cause evaporation it will only stick to the insides of the cell and not escape.
Hi Charlie,
Compared to the old batteries years ago, it is maintenance free. It shouldn't need any water added for a very long time, if at all. I can't recall exactly how often but car batteries needed to be checked and topped off regularly. In the 70's, Delco had a battery called 'Freedom', that was the first maintenance free battery that I remember.
So I wouldn't worry too much about it. Maybe glance at it every year or two.
It is surprising to look at, however, looks like an old style battery.
@ Tomrad - Yea, you're right. In my old car, I just used the cheapest battery available from Advanced Auto Parts. Design between the 2 batteries of seems pretty much the same, can't determine easily what makes the Mirage's 'maintenance free'.
Micro-machine
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