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Some of you have had a battery last 7 or 8 years?! Inconceivable. Here in SW Florida batteries rarely last longer than 3 years.
I pulled a die hard out my 79 Malibu wagon(in 2004) that had the recept on it in a plastic sleve. It was 10 years old. It blew my mind to but sometimes it happens
It's a crap shoot. A new battery may last 3 months, 3 years, or much longer. Three or four years is about average. The exception is the original battery in your vehicle. They tend to last longer than replacements. At least, that's been my experience.
I've been guilty of running batteries to failure in the past because I have AAA. I wouldn't advise doing this on your wife or children's car since who wants that late night phone call saying they're stranded in a cold parking lot.
An important thing to consider is newer cars are packed with computers that depend on proper battery voltage.
I bought a brand new truck in October 2012, a 2013 1500 silverado and still have the same battery. It always shows 15 volts, or 13/14 when driving. But then I don't run the radio with the engine off, etc
So true about the orig battery lasting 10 yrs... that's what I experienced with my 94 Acura Integra and it was all in Texas heat.
The next one I got from Sears in 2003 and it was running fine for 9 yrs or so... Then I weht ahead and got another one when Advanced Auto had a sale that brought the price down to under $50 about 5 yrs ago. Don't know if the Sears one would have kept going and going.
Some of you have had a battery last 7 or 8 years?! Inconceivable. Here in SW Florida batteries rarely last longer than 3 years.
You just never know about batteries, the common wisdom, here in Florida (heat) is to change every 3 years. However, I recently redid a car I built years ago, and decided to change the battery. It is hidden way up underneath and hard to get to, so I never check it, and do not keep it on a battery tender. When I pulled the battery down, it had a manufactured date 9 years ago, and it was still cranking fine. I changed it just because.
my dad was a mechanic and he always told me to change the battery at 5 years.
My wife's sportage was just under 5 years when it failed to start at the end of the work day. The cheapo jumper cables we had in the car didn't work to jump the car and when the AAA guy showed up, he hooked up his portable battery charger and started it right up while explaining that the cheapo wires were too thin to get the car started.
I bought a new battery that same evening and now not sure if I should bother keeping the cheapo charging cables.
Car batteries will generally start giving you little warnings that they are on the way out. The car may crank slower than usual and, if you have a voltmeter on the dash, it may start showing a lower voltage, even when the motor is running. Batteries rarely work great one minute and die the next minute.
If you ignore those warnings, that is when it will get you.
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