Battery Longevity

[Donald]

Probably time.

Hi folks,

Time for a battery replacement and would like to know how long does a car battery usually last? I'm sure there's factors like climate, Short trips and other issues that can shorten a batteries life.

My Acura MDX has been sitting and I haven't started the SUV in a few months and notice there's no crank, Start or power. the battery that was installed was a genuine Acura battery and the date of the battery was September 2019 so that's a seven year old battery, Looks like I need to replace the battery.

What you guys think?

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Probably time. But I would still fully charge with plug-in charger and then test it.

You could have left a light on or have a parasitic current draw.

 

[Donald]

I’ve got jump packs in all 3 of my cars, so I’m going to see how long I can ride these out with the charging theory applied. I do test them once a month, so barring a straight up failure, I should have a good idea when it’s time.

Test them how?

 

[50yr Street Mech]

I replace every 4-5 years, often in the fall. Winter starts below zero will reveal any weakness in your battery and it's the worst time to have a no-start situation. If I lived in a hotter climate I bet battery life would be shortened by the constant heat. I've experienced many battery failures around the 4-5 year mark. Better to replace early than to be stranded somewhere. Think of it as a regular maintenance item.

I'm also in NY. Never had much luck with batteries nearing the 5yr mark, even with maintainers & topping off. I'm blaming it on the insane temp swings here. You can have 0 degrees weeks with wind chills in the negatives, then go to 100 degree days for weeks. Too much stress on a battery IMO.

 

[D1dad]

Test them how?

I’ve got a load tester but don’t use it unless I have to. Outside of that I have an ancel that’s very accurate as well as a few other options.

 

[dfarr67]

270k km, 2019 silverado oe battery. In my experiance tough to beat oem- too bad they are so $$

 

[mrvmax]

Heat seems to kill them in South Texas, I get 3 years on average. The factory battery in my wife’s 2019 4Runner lasted 6 years and that was a record for me.

 

[ATex7239]

I replace batteries every 3-5 years depending on type and use because 1) it’s really not that expensive or hard for most vehicles and 2) I hate being stuck when I have somewhere to be. If I’m getting in the vehicle and starting it that means I have somewhere I need to be. Dead batteries and flat tires always happen at the worst possible time.

 

[JeffKeryk]

I’ve got jump packs in all 3 of my cars, so I’m going to see how long I can ride these out with the charging theory applied. I do test them once a month, so barring a straight up failure, I should have a good idea when it’s time.

I love jump packs. Don't think I've used one on my cars, but I have jumped a bunch of other stranded cars.
I've carried jumper cables forever, but try using them on a CA freeway... Oops!

 

[Donald]

I'm also in NY. Never had much luck with batteries nearing the 5yr mark, even with maintainers & topping off. I'm blaming it on the insane temp swings here. You can have 0 degrees weeks with wind chills in the negatives, then go to 100 degree days for weeks. Too much stress on a battery IMO.

The stress in NY is from your taxes. Glad I moved a few states south to Delaware.

In NY the batteries from Walmart should be East Penn at least. That's a plus when looking for a normal priced battery (not the $400 AGMs).

 

[Donald]

Heat seems to kill them in South Texas, I get 3 years on average. The factory battery in my wife’s 2019 4Runner lasted 6 years and that was a record for me.

Short battery life in Texas would be reason to move!!

 

[Donald]

I’ve got a load tester but don’t use it unless I have to. Outside of that I have an ancel that’s very accurate as well as a few other options.

A carbon pile load tester is the "gold standard" of battery testing. The Ancel is good. A carbon pile load tester is better. With a carbon pile load tester you can smell your battery being tested.

 

[skyactiv]

Some assume an auto battery with more CCA's is better, but that's usually not the case. The lower CCA battery the auto makers use often live longer than whatever replaces it. The plates on OE batteries are often thicker and fewer while aftermarket high CCA seeking dumb Joe gets more plates that are thinner and more fragile.

 

[D1dad]

A carbon pile load tester is the "gold standard" of battery testing. The Ancel is good. A carbon pile load tester is better. With a carbon pile load tester you can smell your battery being tested.

That’s why I don’t use it unless I’ve got a battery that I need to verify is going bad. I get some numbers when the batteries are new and track them as time goes on. So far at 18 months, there’s been no drop off in CCAs or voltage.

 

[D1dad]

I love jump packs. Don't think I've used one on my cars, but I have jumped a bunch of other stranded cars.
I've carried jumper cables forever, but try using them on a CA freeway... Oops!

I haven’t had to use one outside of helping a guy at a Michigan game last year. He was running his crock pots off of his Silverado and starting it periodically until it didn’t. It’s only a 1000 amp but it fired up his truck like a new battery.

 

[AuthorEditor]

I keep a little jump pack in my car. Jumped a guy's diesel truck a few weeks ago. I think he was skeptical, but the little guy did the job. Also provides a decent backup battery to charge the phone if the power is out.

 

[JHZR2]

That battery looks horrible, OP. I can get 10 years out of many batteries, but were careful to avoid drawing from them with the engine off. Batteries sulfate and lose capacity as soon as they go below 100% state of charge. And cars don’t do good at topping them up.

Get a decent battery, east Penn is good, clean it with pledge, clean and coat the base of the terminals with silicone dielectric or better yet conductive grease, and torque your cleaned terminals to spec.

 

[Drifter]

Lucky to get 2 years out of one here in the desert

Central Texas here. Generally 3 years maybe 4

 

[Dave9]

Forum needs a search feature because I am certain that many many years ago, someone posted a similar topic.

Then it happened again a dozen more times.

Don't leave a vehicle sitting for weeks, let alone months with the battery connected unless it's on a float charger. Anything PCM controlled plus minor other amenities like a radio that stores clock and station memory is going to average tens of mA constant current draw, which adds up over time. Disconnecting the battery can make a big difference due to that, but I still wouldn't leave a flooded lead acid starter battery sitting without a top-off charge for more than ~3 months at a time.

Lifespan and environment isn't the factor in this topic as much as that, although the OP did have a 7 y/o battery so factor for that as well. Short trips aren't so much either, unless talking about quite a few per day. Healthy battery, starter, and engine that fires right up in ~4 seconds will have put the current it drew out of the battery to start the engine, put back into the battery within single digit minutes, at least up to the level the vehicle manufacturer set it to maintain based on the smart or lack thereof charging designed into the vehicle, but it is still a little wear every time you start the engine, yet it is easier to start an engine that is already warm from the past trip driven, and the battery is nearer peak voltage the more recently it was driven vs sitting for days or more. Many different variables.

I currently have a float charger hooked up to an old vehicle that is seldom driven, and it's not even in my garage. I used about 40ft of reclaimed CAT5 ethernet cable, long enough to reach the trickle charger in the garage. It's wired to a cigarette lighter outlet plug, and fused at both ends. Actually triple fused if you count the lighter outlet fuse too.

You might wonder if it's low enough gauge for that, but with 8 conductors, 4 in parallel for positive and 4 for negative, it does fine supplying the tens of mA to float charge. The resistance of it isn't significant at a current that low. I'm more concerned about UV damaging the insulation over time, but I have a pile of old cable and can just build a new one in 5 minutes if that day comes.

 

[buck91]

A trickle charger will extend battery life by several years. I would add that to the shopping list along with the battery replacement.

Yeah I think I replaced my Mustang battery in 2014 or 2015 last! It lives on a battery tender 24/7

 

[GSCJR]

Don't leave a vehicle sitting for weeks, let alone months with the battery connected.

I need to buy a Powerball ticket. I did this for 5 years in SoFlo with a Kirkland battery and then replaced it preemptively with a WM Value battery. 18 months was the longest interval it sat untouched during Rona and it still fired right up. The alternator on the other hand seized; go figure. Technically it was disconnected every time within those five years, but still without a charger.