Trekking - do I have a lemon?!

[Lozz]

Hi,

New to posting on this site...I am in Ontario, canada...I got my trekking with auto back in early September, and so far have approx 2600 km on it.

Soooo...I have been having issues with the car starting, the first time the car sat for about 3 days, went to drive it and wouldn't start, completely dead, although all the electrical came on...had to get a boost from roadside, the guy told me it's because it has a small battery...which I know shouldn't be the case! Took it to the dealership and they couldn't find anything wrong with it....also that weekend was a very wet weekend.

Ever since then it starts pretty hard when the weather isn't ideal...this morning our first really cold day was really hard start and then had the transmission light, and engine light came on...they stayed on for awhile, and eventually went off.

I was wonder if anyone in other cold climates have had any problems? Any feed back would be appreciate it! Also anyone driven in the snow yet? How did it handle without snow tires? Thanks!

[streetsurfer]

Hardly a lemon with one instance of battery problems that is yet to be resolved. Did the dealership load test the battery? There could be so many simple causes/fixes. Don't get worked up about having a lemon quite yet. I think various warning lights would come on when the voltage is sub par. I would put a battery tender on it when parked if you are not driving it daily. Maybe it sat for months without being charged or started, prior to you purchasing it, which can tax a battery. In time it can possibly be brought back, or it may need replacing before it's normally allotted time. A good mechanic should be able to sort this out for you. It could be the battery is fine and you have a weak connection somewhere.

Be persistant but patient about finding the cause. It'll happen.

[Tweak]

Welcome to the forum Lozz, no suggestions but I wish you luck in resolving the issues.

[streetsurfer]

The coldest I've started mine up at so far has been around 14 F. It started up fine, but made a little more noise than usual until three bars on the gauge, four bars being full normal operating temperature. Now that's just as far as starting the engine. I have the manual trans so I can't help with the automatic and warning lights issue other than as suggested above.

When it failed to start and you say the electrical came on, did you notice the brightness of the headlights by chance? If it was low voltage due to battery they'd typically be dimmer and fade even more when the engine was cranked over.

No snow tires and haven't and probably won't be driving it in snow.

[Curious]

Hardly a lemon with one instance of battery problems that is yet to be resolved. Did the dealership load test the battery? There could be so many simple causes/fixes. Don't get worked up about having a lemon quite yet. I think various warning lights would come on when the voltage is sub par. I would put a battery tender on it when parked if you are not driving it daily. Maybe it sat for months without being charged or started, prior to you purchasing it, which can tax a battery. In time it can possibly be brought back, or it may need replacing before it's normally allotted time. A good mechanic should be able to sort this out for you. It could be the battery is fine and you have a weak connection somewhere.

Be persistant but patient about finding the cause. It'll happen.

I think you got some good advise from streetsurfer. A good, hard freeze will drain any battery. Sitting, unused is also not good for any battery. You really should have the battery checked.

[jabird101]

Mine had a defective battery from the factory. This is the second vehicle i have had with a bad battery from the factory and it is very hard to figure out. They charged the battery and tested, all fine. Over the next two days they ran short trips in my 500L and tested it 30 min after parking it back at the shop. After the third or fourth trip they found the battery at less than 50%. They replaced the battery and in the past two months I haven't had any problems. 4 years ago I had the same issue with my wife's Honda. They refused to believe that it could be a battery and had to be something I was doing. I ended up putting my own new battery in the Element, and that solved that problem as well. After two months with no issues I got Honda to pay for the battery that they said couldn't be bad.

[Lozz]

Thanks for the response....the have replaced the battery, and said they are checking a few other things...not sure what they are...will get it back tomorrow, so I guess I will see how it is when I get it back...will keep you posted