2008 Vue with Bad Battery?

[510man]

Working on a 2008 2.4L VUE. The ABS, Check Engine Light and Traction Control System lights are on. I've pulled codes and cleared them twice over a month or so. It's thrown the following codes:

C0035 Left Front ABS sensor
C0040 Speed Sensor
C0460 ABS Steering position sensor
C0899 Device power circuit low ABS
P0420 Engine Catalyst system below threshold Bank 1
P013B O2 sensor slow; Bank 1 Sensor 2

In researching the codes, it appears there is a low voltage problem when these codes occur together. Multiple ABS sensors failing at the same time would be rare. Some people replaced the various sensors and the problem did not go away. Instead, low voltage from the battery or alternator was the cause.

Following the low voltage path before replacing any sensors, I tested the battery and alternator with a multimeter. Readings are below:

Battery engine not running - 12.06 volts (should be 12.6V)
Battery when starting - 10.02V (battery going bad if below 10V; battery is marginal?)
Engine running with lights and AC on 14.25V (alt tests okay)

Battery date is August 2017. Three year warranty. I think the battery is failing but I'm hesitant to replace it as a guess.

Suggestions on what to do next? Thanks for any help.

[fdryer]

A 2017 battery with a 3yr warranty may be on its last legs. The best way to determine if the battery is on its way out is by auto parts store testing. Most auto stores selling batteries should have a load tester to determine if a battery is fine, partially discharged or at/near its end of life.

Another way to determine a battery nearing its end of life is as you did, measured standby voltage. Good batteries will show 12.5v or higher. Near end its of life, standby voltage will go below 12.5v.

I've had two Autozone Duralast batteries over the years. Each one died on the last year of warranty. Both tested at the store. Both revealed their end of life. The last one was a 5yr battery, ending after 5yrs. This one was a few months ago with a cold winter coming up so I had it tested before going into this winter. The previous winter I had signals of a no start/dead battery issue so I kept a trickle charger plugged in to get thru the winter cold. As soon as spring came around, warmer temps allowed the battery to live another summer. Once tested and found unable to hold a charge, I had another battery ready to go in. Winter freezing temps is the acid test for dead batteries and not the time of year to find out.

[homerec130]

Here in AZ it is a miracle if you get 3 years out of a battery. I just replaced the one in my Fiesta today after it didn't start yesterday. That one lasted about 30 months. My wife's 06 Vue gets about 3 1/2 years out of a battery. My 08 was about 3 years and that was driving it for at least 30 minutes twice or three times every day. I had an 89 Taurus that ate batteries - if I got a year, I was lucky, yet my Rangers got 3 years. It had to do with the air circulation under the hood. Heat will kill a battery faster than cold.

[510man]

I'll take the battery to NAPA and have them test it. I see their batteries are made by East Penn Manufacturing, the makers of Deka batteries. I'm getting 10+ years out of Deka two year marine batteries so I'll give NAPA a whirl if the current battery is bad.

[510man]

NAPA tested it. 12.04V and 523 amps. Should be 650 amps. Battery showed it should be charged and retested. The Vue had just been driven over 100 miles, which should have charged it. So.......I replaced the battery. Codes cleared when battery was replaced. No code for 20+ miles so fixed, right? Not!! Dash lights are back on.

I could take the alternator off and have it bench tested. Beyond that, I'm guessing. Could be an the alternator, several bad sensors, or something else. Putting it in the shop, which I never do.

[fdryer]

Originally Posted by 510man

Battery engine not running - 12.06 volts (should be 12.6V)
Battery when starting - 10.02V (battery going bad if below 10V; battery is marginal?)
Engine running with lights and AC on 14.25V (alt tests okay)......

This was the old battery.

What's alternator voltage, same setup, with new battery? Are battery cables clean and free of corrosion on both ends, including chassis/engine block grounds?

[510man]

Sorry. Missed this post. I've not tested the new battery but the Vue has had no further issues with this battery problem.

It still threw the ABS brake sensor codes so I put it in the shop. Guessing was starting to get expensive.

The shop confirmed the codes I recorded indicated two problems: 1) the battery, which I resolved by replacing it. Shop confirmed this car will throw codes if the battery is marginal. They would have replaced the battery so I resolved those codes myself. 2) The anti-lock codes. The shop was able to test individual wheel speeds while driving the vehicle and confirmed the driver's front wheel sensor was sending an intermittent signal. Thus the codes. They replaced the driver's front wheel bearing and ABS sensor. Problem is gone. No more issues or codes.

In the process, they wanted to replace the passenger side too, which I agree is the right thing to do and I would have done it. However, the shop being a NAPA shop, is a little too proud of their parts. They price a two year parts AND labor warranty into the part price plus the labor for the initial repair, shop supplies, etc. The part price basically includes the labor needed to make a warranty repair even though it's unlikely the repair will ever occur. I'm cool with the shop making a margin on parts. 80-100% margin for a pre-paid labor warranty I'm unlikely to need is a little steep. A warranty claim on 1 in every 100 they repair is a lot of margin on the 99 they never touched again.

I like the shop. They're honest and you can talk directly to the mechanic doing the work. But their pricing policy, which is determined by NAPA, will send me elsewhere in the future. Over $500 for one wheel bearing and the diagnosis. And that was after I talked them down a bit. Took them about 1.5 hours to do the work.