Honda Car Forum

Had to jump start my 2001 Civic. I hadn't driven the car in about two weeks
and would like to know if not driving the car for a while would cause the
battery to go dead. The car only has 5500 miles on it. The dealer checked in
out and told me I must have left a light on or something as the battery checked
out fine. A few days later the car did start but it strained a bit. My
husband put water in the battery thinking that might be the problem. Someone
at the dealer told me you shouldn't put water in the battery. Is it true that
you shouldn't put water in a battery?
Thanks

On 16 Jul 2003 11:33:54 GMT, yatesat@aol.com (Yates AT) wrote:

>Had to jump start my 2001 Civic. I hadn't driven the car in about two weeks
>and would like to know if not driving the car for a while would cause the
>battery to go dead. The car only has 5500 miles on it. The dealer checked in
>out and told me I must have left a light on or something as the battery checked
>out fine. A few days later the car did start but it strained a bit.

Unless the battery is in bad shape, two weeks is too short a time to drain
the battery. There should be some drain with everything turned off, due to
the power required to keep the clock/radio/ECM circuits alive. You need to
get the drain current measured, with an ammeter and if it's too high find
the culprit... usually by removing fuses.

> My
>husband put water in the battery thinking that might be the problem. Someone
>at the dealer told me you shouldn't put water in the battery. Is it true that
>you shouldn't put water in a battery?

Some batteries are zero maintenance and never need water added but they
usually don't have plugs which allow access for topping up. IME if the
battery has such plugs, it's a "low maintenance" battery and may need
occasional topping up... say once every 2 years or so but worth checking
every year.

Rgds, George Macdonald

"Just because they're paranoid doesn't mean you're not psychotic" - Who, me??