First, the 51R battery does fit under the hood after the removal of the battery tray. While I have never needed more capacity or cranking amps past what the smaller 151R battery gave me, it would have been nice to know more capacity was there in the event of emergency conditions. Lets say I had an emergency where I needed to keep the hazard lights and vehicle lights going for an extended period. The 51R has 85 reserve minutes versus the 55 of the smaller battery. Also, if something did happen to the 151R its not easy to get that replaced. The 51R can be purchased at any Walmart whereas the 151R is generally only in-stock at the dealership. The only downfall is that you will be modifying the inside of the vehicle by getting rid of the battery tray. Im not sure if anyone will notice however.

The 51R is larger, more robust and will probably last longer then the smaller 151R. In a heavy snowstorm or really cold weather, the 51R has better chance of cranking that vehicle up.

Second, I looked at Interstate, Autozone Duralast, Sears DieHard and Walmart Everlast. They are all the same battery manufactured by Johnson controls and Walmart was by far the cheapest 51R at $85. The Interstate battery, the same battery as the Everlast, went for $140 at the local Firestone dealership.

 

Yes, do tell us more... I mean all those older threads from even 2009 telling us we could use the 51r wasn't enough!

/end sarcasm

Good grief... is there some malfunction in your brain that makes you NEED to feel important? You create thread acting like some expert... half the time, not even making sense!

 

I used to post here a lot, but I rarely do nowadays. My Honda Fit is getting to 100,000 miles so I thought I might. Have a great day.

 

it is hysterical how some people fail to realize that there are already 100,000 redundant posts on this website and that somehow yelling at people to do a search to find their answer among a sea of junk is somehow going to correct the fact that there are 100,000 redundant posts on this website. There are two solutions for them: 1: stop reading any more posts; then it won't bother you to come to the realization that there are 100,000 redundant posts.....or 2: have the mods wipe out the entire website except for stickies.
Oh and for the record, the 51R is a better battery as you said, and it is available at Costco (if you have access to one) for only $72. How do I know it fits and is appropriate for the Fit? Because it was worth my time to read lots of redundant posts written by sincere, caring people who were only trying to help someone else. The low capacity Honda battery, along with my leaky hatch, narrowing valves and cranky coil packs are all a thing of the past thanks to all those who took the time to share their story. Thank you.

 

I've read about the 51R battery fitting the Fit in past posts but I didn't mind reading it again. It just reminded me that when it's time to replace the factory motorcycle battery in my Fit what to use.

 

Every 51r installation in a GE I've seen pics of has been ugly with extra connectors/adapters or the battery sitting diagonally.

Please post pics.

As an advocate of replacing the battery earlier than needed I'm guilty of not following my own advice, and am still happily cranking away on the original 151r. The cost of a prophylactic replacement 151r is discouraging for what should be a less expensive battery, but I can't bring myself to shoehorn a 51r in there.

 

my 09 is still on factory battery and cranks well. been through 5winters in some -5F days. no issue. hope it lasts another year so that i dont have to replace the battery before we replace the entire car.

 

sorry Steve, but as my signature line indicates, I have a 2007 Fit, not a GE. I know on the first gen Fit, the 51R narrowly squeezes in just fine between our air filter box and fuse box, but does require the $3 malleable metal caps (available at any parts store) to put over the 51R battery posts to allow the + and - connections to fit properly. As for pictures, that's way above my brain capacity

 

Our '09 has the original battery, too, after five rural Illinois winters and 71,000 miles. I think I would replace it with an identical battery if I could find one.

Cheers.

 

Ive put 95000 miles on my 2011 Honda Fit which includes at least 10 starts/stops of the engine per day. I got the car in May of 2011 so the car is about 2.5 years old.

Recently, the car is starting to hesitate slightly when starting up. A few weeks ago I had fallen asleep in a parking lot with the lights on/engine off. I dozed off for about 30 minutes and when I tried to crank the car it was real slow, but finally started.

So the 151R has been very good to me so far and with normal use it will probably last at least the full warranty life of 3 years. However, for someone like myself who uses the car daily for business purposes getting stranded because of a bad battery can cost me hundreds to thousands of dollars. In my lifetime, there were two instances where my battery went out completely on me. One time I was in some odd parking lot and I remember walking to a parts store to buy a new battery back in the 1990s. Another time my car was in my driveway and the battery went out on me. At autobody shops its common to see batteries go out because suddenly the car is sitting and not getting started daily which is deadly to old worn batteries. Batteries today are built more solidly then back several years ago and usually can go for 3 years with regular use.

The installation of the 51R into the engine compartment is ugly as you are removing the battery tray and the other items which make for an organized looking engine compartment. My plan is to keep this Honda for the life of the car and to add at least another 100,000 miles over the next 2-4 years. By that time, I dont think anyone is going to care about how good looking the engine compartment is. If I had to sell the car I dont think anyone is going to notice or care. They will just care the car starts, runs and drives well.

So my research reveals there are two 51R batteries out there which are made by Johnson Controls. The first version is 425 cold cranking amps which usually comes with a 2 year warranty and this is the battery to avoid. The second version is 500 cold cranking amps that has the 3 year replacement warranty which is the one to get. Autozone Duralast, Sears Diehard, Walmart Everstart, Interstate Megatron, Advance Autoparts Autocraft and Costcos Kirkland are all the SAME battery just a different label and price. The cheapest of the bunch (and best warranty) is Costcos Kirkland battery at $70. The next cheapest is Walmarts Everstart at $84. The Interstate version is nearly twice as expensive and only comes with a 2 year replacement warranty. Costco and Autozone have a 3 year replacement warranty. Costco Kirkland is the best deal in the group with a 3 year replacement warranty and 100 month limited warranty.

I purchased the Costco Kirkland 51R for $70 and will be installing this weekend. Ill provide pictures. I dont expect the installation to be pretty and organized looking like it was stock, but Ill have piece of mind there is a new battery under the hood and some extra capacity in the event I need it in emergency situations. Like I said, the 151R has served me well and more then likely Im replacing it a bit earlier then it should. However, its all about peace of mind and avoiding that low probability situation where you get stranded in the middle of nowhere or where you might need to have the hazard lights on for an extended time. Id rather pay $70 to have that secure feeling rather then wondering if tomorrow might be that day where I will be stranded somewhere.

One thing I appreciate about Costco is how they put a manufacturing date label on their batteries. There were quite a few produced in July and I finally found that one produced this month.

If you dont have a Costco Membership, Walmart is your best and cheapest bet:
http://www.walmart.com/ip/EverStart-...ttery/16795230

Other alternative 51R and 151R sources are the following:

Pep Boys Bosch battery made by Bosch

Batteries Plus Duracell Pro battery made by East Penn. East Penn is a smaller battery company which makes batteries for Carquest and Harley Davidson

NAPA battery made by Exide

The original 151R battery is probably made by YUASA, but who knows who Honda uses right now to make their batteries.

I think I would stick with Walmart or Costco as there is just about one on every corner over here should something go wrong.

 

aren't you the same guy who drove with bald tires in snow?

 

Last year we had Hurricane Sandy here and the power was out in most places for weeks. I am an independent insurance adjuster by trade so I had to keep the car going. For a while there was quite a bit of hard driving and no place to get my car serviced. We had a small snowstorm later on and yes I had some bald tires.

This year I will not be making the same mistake. Going into storm season my tires are replaced, my brakes are replaced, oil changed, tranny fluid drain/refill, wipers changed, etc. Whatever happens the car will run right.

 

HEY BUDDY!!!!!!! I MISSED YOU AND YOUR WORDS OF ENLIGHTENMENT AND WISDOM.

I don't know what kind of crap you're spewing above about batteries not lasting more than 3 years but every battery I've ever owned in ANY car has lasted me at least 4 years. My FIT battery was just replaced at a hair under the 4 year mark while my GSR battery lasted me more than 7. The Ridgeline was swapped out this year at around the 8 year mark and I never replaced a battery in the Prelude, Civic, Altima, or Integra GS (5,5,2,&2 years respectively) Battery warranties are 3 years minimum (usually pro-rated) and logically (Cough Cough...) the manufacturer would expect them to last at least 50% longer than what they slap a warranty on.

Stop Posting "DEFINITIVE" posts as if the information you provide is the Be-All, End-All and that there is some over-arching greatness to your information. Find an already existing battery post and add that you've had a good experience with a new battery that you found. Fortunately, these posts tend to die off quickly, but unfortunately, newer members don't realize the damage these posts can do when they read them and actually trust some of the information in them.

Missed me didn't you?

~SB

 

I dont even know who you are. Im a little bit older and dont have any knowledge of how the high school set uses these message boards nor do I care.

Ive worked on and looked at cars my entire life. I started as a vehicle mechanic in the Army, worked at different car dealerships and body shops, worked for different insurance companies and now I look at cars on a daily basis. Im past those younger years where I worked on cars. So cars and trucks have been my life for 40 years. Im sure there is something I missed over the last 40 years but I generally think I have some formal knowledge of all this.

You are correct in stating the battery will probably last 3-4 years, however, when the battery does go out you and the car are basically stranded. You oftentimes see people in this condition on the road and they are those people with the jumper cables standing over the open hood. Im not sure if anyone wants to get to that point and I certainly dont. So I get ahead of the game and replace the battery with the Costco special every 2.5 years. If I waste a little money so be it. Id rather waste a little cash then get stuck somewhere hoping someone has some cables or waiting for the tow truck or walking it out to the parts store.

 

LMAO!!!

 

my other car has a 9yr old original factory battery. still cranks hard.

i know honda's batteries are maintenance free, but on my other car that uses non-maintenace free type batteries, i add distilled water after a full charge every other year and keep it charged when the car is not in use using a battery manager.

generally stating that batteries only last 3-4yrs is non-sense... cause my 09 has a 5yr old battery and no issue. including short trips to pick up kids after school, and all.

 

One day when you get a job you will find yourself in my shoes.

 

My experience (I've kept 3 cars for average of more than ten years each) has been that batteries last 5-7 years. And usually, though not always, you get an indication there's a problem- hard to crank, etc. So there's time to shop.

And you're rarely stranded on the side of the road, because batteries don't usually die when you're driving. You're stranded in your driveway or a parking lot somewhere. Although I will admit that a while back I was in a parking lot with jumper cables and had to ask over a dozen people before I found someone willing to help. One person asked if I were performing an experiment. What kind? The hidden camera kind, to see if people would help.

With jumper cables and AAA I'm willing to wait until there's a sign of a problem. But then I'm not an emergency worker, etc. so most of the time when I'm going somewhere it's not urgent.

 

that's exactly right Brain. With the OEM Honda battery in our Fit however, the reserve capacity is so low that, as other's have reported, if you leave the key in the accessory position for 30 minutes, you will run down the battery to the point where it is very hard to start again. I too, added distilled water in each of the chambers. As long as my OEM battery is started every other day or so, the battery still has life left in it and charges back up just fine. But just by me not paying attention one day when I was cleaning out the car, I learned that there is only one gerbil running around inside our tiny OEM batteries storing reserve power. I was lucky I was only in my driveway when I learned that lesson. Come this winter, I'll be buying the 51R which comes with a larger rodent and wheel inside; one that doesn't require so much fresh lettuce and water as the OEM battery.

 

if you guys are ever letting the battery power your accessories while the engine is off for more than a couple of min, you should really hook it up to a charger. even a 1A or 2A is fine. keeps the battery awake.

otherwise, waste of gas, but keep the engine running. much cheaper in the long run.