Battery installation steps & recs

[POW]

Had Autozone run a battery test for me & told me it is no good. Still starts up every time but figure I will swap it out now as I have owned the truck for 4 yrs & never switched it.

I have read about battery swap causing issues with the HVAC actuators. Should I buy some sort of memory saver? Any recs for a reasonably cheap one off Amazon?

I know a battery swap isn't hard but I am still the type who wants to make sure I know exactly each step to take before I do something. I have read they can be a little more complicated with the Voy/TB? Can anyone link me to a step by step guide or list it out for me?

Also, any recs on new battery? Have Costco, Sams, Autozone, Walmart around me or order can order one. I don't need the best one out there but don't want to get the cheapest either... I know you generally get what you pay for with batteries.

2005 Envoy 4.2l v6 w/ just shy of 120K miles.

TIA!

 

[Mooseman]

The issue with the actuators is that the battery swap will make the system go into a relearn. If the actuator was marginal to begin with, it would have died eventually anyway when you least expect it regardless of the battery swap. You can help it by shutting the system off prior to the swap but may not prevent the inevitable.

 

[kickass audio]

Also for the swap, clean your throttle body before you reconnect the battery.

If you want, you could just hookup a battery charger to the little terminals that are on the front fuse block for the + and - but you need to be extra careful that you don't let the positive wires short out to ground on the fender or anything when you do that. For a battery swap I would just do it live with a battery charger hooked up to the front fuse box but for an alternator change, i would disconnect the battery all together because it is really easy to short out the alternators + stud on the engine when you wiggle it up and out of the engine.

 

[Sparky]

Duralast Gold from Autozone and Autocraft Gold from Advance Auto look to be the same battery. I've had both. My Duralast survived a fairly long time and started without fail even in stupid subzero temps for a few winters.

I wouldn't worry about the actuators personally. As said, if pulling the battery causes the actuator to die, it was going to die anyway. Mine survived battery swaps and disconnects when working on stuff just fine even when the one was already clicking on occasion.

 

[Trkdrvremt]

+1 on the throttle body cleaning...

 

[Matt]

Walmart Everstart Maxx is actually a decent battery with a 3 year warranty. Keep your receipt and take it back to a Walmart that doesn't do tyre and lube just before the 3 year mark, them them it's cactus and get a replacement for nothing.

 

[Daniel644]

I swapped my battery with zero issues when I got the truck, the old one was smoking and had a huge bulge on the side, but hey it helped me get the price down when I bought the truck and using a coupon code I got the advance battery for like 75-80 bucks for the GOLD one.

I eventually did the throttle body cleaning and spark plugs for which I also disconnected the battery. and again disconnected the battery when I pulled the alternator to do the thermostat.

just to be on the safe side I turned off the AC before doing it, just incase that made a difference.

 

[Tiggerr]

Definitely clean Throttle body. Replacing my battery is how I found out about that, and this forum. I'll only buy interstate or NAPA batteries(NAPA are made by Deka in Philly) never had any luck with any others. Deka are some of the best on the market IMHO..

 

[Mounce]

If you directly swap the batteries and do it in under 10-15 minutes, there is no reason to clean the throttle body like everyone is making it seem. Only reason they're recommending it is because when the battery is disconnected for 30ish minutes, the pcm resets and it causes the engine to die when the AC is on due to it losing its learned tune for the dirty TB. A quick swap won't make it lose it's tune and will actually cause you trouble if you do clean the TB without the pcm reseting.

It's generally a good thing to clean your TB so if you do, leave the battery disconnected for 30 minutes.

 

[c good]

I used jumper cables from another battery and connected to the battery cables of my Envoy while removing and replacing the battery. I've had to change one actuator and it was a PITA. Didn't want to risk blowing up another one. It's common enough of a problem to take the extra time and keep power to avoid reset/recalibration phase IMHO. HTH c good