Sorry if this kind of info. has been posted before, but there are hundreds of posts with "Battery" as the search word, and I don't have time to read all of them.

This is my first post under this identity, but I am not new to these forums and have owned a '07 GD (wrecked) and a new '09 that only has 13K on the odo.

I have always hated the fake battery in both cars, and in my GE, the little bullseye window that shows the battery condition has been showing the symbol indicating that it needs to be charged. However, hooking up a charger does not change that symbol. The other gripe I have about the stock battery is, there is a symbol that is supposed to indicate low water in the cells, but the cells do not have removable caps, so you can't add water even if the condition window tells you to. So I wanted a REAL battery.

A replacement OEM battery was quoted by the local dealer at $99.00. Interstate batteries are rated at among the top 5 on the Internet. Also among the top 5 rated batteries are the Kirkland brand auto batteries from Costco. The pro-rated warranty on the Kirkland brand is 100 months, with a three year free replacement if it fails. Also, the Kirkland battery has cell caps that can be pried off if it ever needs added water.

The Costco "Fitment" chart only shows the GD Fits, with a size 51R as the proper size of battery. No listing for the GE, but I bought the 51R knowing that it would fit anyway

The OEM battery from Honda produces 340 cold cranking amps. The Kirkland 51R size battery produces 500. To me the added power and much longer warranty makes the Kirkland brand a much better battery than the stock one. Oh, and the price is only $66.95. The OEM battery weighs 20.5 pounds, and the Kirkland weighs 27.5 pounds (probably from the extra lead and electrolyte needed to make the extra 160 amps).

This is only a FYI. It fits, even though it is 2" wider than the stock battery (stock = 5" deep X 7" wide X 8" tall, Kirkland = 5" deep X 9" wide X 8" tall), and it won't fit in the little thin plastic box that holds the stock battery. Big deal. You just have to keep the hold-down clamp tight to keep the battery from moving. To help with this, I bought a sheet of 1/8" thick rubber from Ace Hardware and cut it to the proper size to fit under the new battery to keep it from contacting the small steel battery platform.

I also used plastic zip ties to snug the positive cable to the side of the new battery, because the two factory plastic clips that keep the positive cable stationary no longer fit with the wider new battery. Also no big deal. If the battery does not move, then neither will the positive cable when it is fastened to the side of the battery with zip ties.

 

I didn't even know Costco sold that size battery. Every time I went there they never had anything that small. I'll have to check next time. Thanks for the info.

 

A new person with something worthwhile to say, let alone contribute?

Where can we find more of you?

Welcome!

 

Good FYI FWIW! Thanks!

 

Thanks! PM sent.

 

Wow- thanks this is great information. I go to Costco a few times a year, so will keep this in mind when my battery needs replacing.

 

Triskelion (Tau Gamma?),

I know the stock battery (at least on the GE8) says that it is maintenance free but if you look closely at the sticker on top of the battery, it can be peeled.

Once removed, you can see there are removable covers (I used quarters for removal) where you can fill it with distilled water.

About 2 yrs. ago I saw the indicator stating my battery needed charging (color red from the sight bubble). After filling it with water, the color is back to red dot with blue outter ring, indicating the battery is ok.

This might be of no use to you since you've already bought a new battery but I thought it was worth the FYI.

Another worth mentioning, I found it hard to read the water level on the battery while filling it up. I made a stupid mistake of putting water very close to overfilling each hole and resulted in the battery leaking some acid from the fill hole. I guess from fluids expanding while the car is in use/out gassing? It seems fine now though.

 

Thanks for the added comment. I took the "needs charge" symbol to mean that the battery might be on its way out, and never trusted it from the days I drove each of my new Fits home. Have read with interest all of the "early battery failure" posts for years.

So, I will keep the OEM Fit battery around, charge it periodically, and keep it as a back-up for my electric start generator and tree limb chipper. The Fit battery is about the same size as the one in the generator and wood chipper.

The extra weight of the new battery in the Fit doesn't slow it down much (wink-wink, nudge-nudge)

 

Even the batteries are different between JDM and USDM Fits. My battery weighs I believe it was 17lbs. Do the batteries there come with the regular size posts? Mine has the J size posts which are much narrower. The battery here is definitely a sealed type non-refillable as well. Actually, that is all I see on Hondas here, thought it would have been the same there as well.

 

Battery posts are somewhat smaller in diameter than the ones in the Ford truck I sold in '06 to buy my first Fit. I can't guess what is "standard" anymore. Never bothered to measure the battery posts, just noticed that they are smaller than I remember over the last 40 years.

 

XS Power D975 XS Power Batteries

I went with this..fits right it..got it for around $130 shipped a year or 2 ago..its great for a 1k system in the car.