A Sobering Tale – Flat Battery on your Remote. Thank goodness for Youtube!

[kleung]

luckily the old "take the battery out and give it rub" actually worked...

I had that happen recently - I'm usually very careful with my car keys, but about a month ago I accidentally dropped them onto concrete on my way out to the car (must be getting clumsy in my old age). They had worked fine the night before to lock the car, but after dropping them they would no longer unlock my car, and little red light on the fob itself didn't flash like it normally does when you push one of the buttons.

Fortunately, removing and reseating the battery restored normal operation, and I haven't had any problems since.

The car is 7 years old and I've owned it for 2 years now. The thing is that the battery doesn't gradually die it just dies. Hard to know how long batteries last though.

I think you'll probably find that the range of the key gradually reduces as the battery ages, until one day the range gets so short (or the battery voltage gets so low) that it is no longer sufficient to transmit a signal that the car can receive.

Yes same for starter batteries. I noted the when checking the service history for next oil change that the starter battery was just over 2.5 years old. I thought hmm about time to change that, about 1 weeks later it would not start.

I don't think I've ever had a car battery that has not lasted at least 5 years, but then I tend to do below average kms, our cars are always garaged overnight, and I avoid short trips as much as I can. And I've found that there are generally signs that your starter battery is approaching the end of its useful life.

The factory battery in my father's 2010 Golf lasted until February this year, and it has only just recently ticked over 30,000kms, and most of his trips are short. He often goes overseas for 4-6 weeks at a time, and his car has never had problems starting when he got back, until his last trip in November, when the battery wasn't quite up to the task - it still cranked, but just a bit too slowly for it to catch. A quick jump start and a continuous 60km round trip to the airport to pick him up was enough to last revive the battery, which then soldiered on until February when it finally dropped a cell.

I had a 96 Commodore where the starter would hesitate for a moment before turning over when the battery was near the end of its life, and a friend's VY Commodore started doing the same thing recently shortly before he had to replace his battery as well.

The battery in my R36 is starting to show signs of aging too - the lights dim during cranking significantly more than they did a year ago, so I wouldn't be surprised if it fails within the next 6 months.