when replace battery?

[Robertslowpoke]

Good morning! i have a 2008 Cadillac DTS, which i got in July 2008. i assume,, but do not know, that the car was released in fall of 2007.

that would make the battery 4 yrs old this fall
should I replace it? live in Massachusetts, tough winters.

i hear that interstate batteries are good. do you agree?

THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!!!

have a great day!




Bob

 

[Quattro Pete]

Most auto shops and auto part stores should be able to perform a battery test to determine whether you need a new battery or not. It's hard to tell otherwise. Some batteries last longer than others. No point in buying a brand new battery if yours still has a few years of life left in it.

 

[mongo161]

Wait until it gives you problems. The battery in my Toyota 4Runner, OEM Panasonic, lasted over 9 years before it developed a crack in the housing. Then I replaced it with a interstate.

 

[Maximus1966]

I guess replacement at this time might be a "safe" thing to do, but then again new batteries fail too. I generally wait until I get some sign (most of the time...slow cranking) to get a new one, although you take the chance of being stranded.

Amazingly, my 1998 Mustang GT (22,000 miles), a garage queen that stays on a Battery Tender most of the time is still on it's original Motorcraft battery and working well. My 2006 Toyota Tundra battery is still going strong also.

In short, I think it's a guessing game.

 

[Eddie]

Get the battery load tested in the late fall as Quattro Pete suggested.

 

[Turk]

When the Load Test shows the Cranking Amps are trailing off from it's nominal.

 

[toyota62]

I ALWAYS REPLACE MY BATTERIES EVERY 5 YEARS IF NOT FAIL BEFORE.

 

[ekpolk]

Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Most auto shops and auto part stores should be able to perform a battery test to determine whether you need a new battery or not. It's hard to tell otherwise. Some batteries last longer than others. No point in buying a brand new battery if yours still has a few years of life left in it.


The problem is that batteries can (but not always of course) fail very quickly, even if they had been showing normal indications on a checker. Yes, I have a tester and I use it. We had this happen on the Avalon about a year ago. A month or so after I had tested it, mostly out of arrogant boredom, figuring that since it was Toyota OEM Panasonic, it would last forever, well it was dead.

I had been previously thinking about this, but now I'm convinced. I think we should look at batteries the same way we look at oil, just with different time intervals involved. None of us would leave oil in our engines until it fails, leaving someone stranded. So why do so many take this approach with batteries??? Batteries aren't THAT expensive. Why not just pop a new one in every 2-3 years (you choose the interval of course) and never worry about your wife being stranded at a seedy outlet mall at closing time again?

 

[bullwinkle]

Originally Posted By: Robertslowpoke
Good morning! i have a 2008 Cadillac DTS, which i got in July 2008. i assume,, but do not know, that the car was released in fall of 2007.

that would make the battery 4 yrs old this fall
should I replace it? live in Massachusetts, tough winters.

i hear that interstate batteries are good. do you agree?

THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!!!

have a great day!




Bob
Interstate, Maxxstart from Wal-Mart, Autocraft Gold from AAP are all made by Johnson Controls and are equally good. The Delco/Delphi Freedom batteries are some of the worst batteries I've had.

 

[brianl703]

Batteries can fail suddenly when enough stuff falls off the plates that it builds up to where it touches and shorts them out (there is built in room below the plates to collect this stuff). This is how you get a shorted cell. Until this happens, the battery can test good.

I'd also suggest replacing them if the battery is ever run completely dead.

 

[brianl703]

Originally Posted By: bullwinkle
The Delco/Delphi Freedom batteries are some of the worst batteries I've had.


Most of those Delco batteries are now made by Johnson Controls. Delphi sold their battery business to them several years ago. Johnson Controls scrapped the Delphi battery design and replaced it with their own.

 

[The_Jeff]

Is your battery under the hood or somewhere else?

Winters aren't that hard on batteries; heat is. My in-laws Lesabre has it under the rear seat and it's doing great.

I'd go five years if not longer.

 

[SteveSRT8]

In my experience about 5 or 6 years and you will need one soon anyway. If I remember the 6 year anniversary I will buy one for sure.

Most seem ti give a subtle hint that they're failing, then you know to get moving on it!

 

[fdcg27]

I've bought three batteries from AAP in the past year.
Both of the Accords got new ones in early winter, and the BMW got one in the spring.
I guess Johnson Controls makes decent batteries.
You can also usually get 40% off from AAP, and they'll install it for free.
I allowed them to do the two Accords, while I did the BMW myself.
It was quite cold when the Accords had theirs' replaced, so I was just as happy to leave the R&R to someone else, while I watched.
The '97 Accord was on the battery that came in the car when we bought it in May 2003.
It was an Interstate, and would probably have continued a bit longer.

 

[rslifkin]

Last battery that failed was a 5.5 year old Interstate in my mom's Jeep. It showed no signs of weakness, still cranked great, etc, until one day, after sitting for about 2 hours, it developed a dead cell and was showing about 10 volts. I'd gone to move the Jeep in the driveway, and then put it back in the garage. I got it started once, but it wouldn't restart. Let it sit overnight, and it cranked very slowly and fired up in the morning to go get a new battery.

 

[Robertslowpoke]

GREAT RESPONSE EVERYONE!!!! thank you!!!!

the battery is under the back seat. i found this out, when i tried to jump start a stranded woman, and could NOT find my battery!!! (what a dummy!!!!)

seems to me that paying $150 for an interstate battery at 4 years (fall 2011) is cheap insurance.

best

bob

 

[ltslimjim]

To me, if you develop the problems early on, can test the battery, and aren't experienced at trying to charge it correctly(not just any old cook the battery and end it's life early for sure method)...then go ahead and replace it.

Even if the new battery goes out in 2 years, most are covered by free replacement, and you don't risk gambling that your alternator is constantly working on a fully discharged battery.

As for some other comments, some batteries(regardless of 'label') will have issues just sitting in a vehicle, especially in the summer. I imagine some dealers often inspect the batteries of each car every couple of weeks. If they didn't and a dud arose, how could they get average joe or jane to buy into investing thousands into a new car that showed signs(albeit battery related) or not wanting to start!?

I'm developing a bad cell in my current 2008 date stamped Die Hard 51. The vehicle typically uses 51R, and I'm looking at replacing it.

Why? It's a 1992 with an alternator that I don't know how long has been in service, but it costs $200.

So, do I pay $60-$135 for any range of batteries, or shave 1-2 years off of the alternator by being cheap?

Granted, some folks are really in a bind and have to make do. That is where properly knowing how to manually charge a battery and service it comes into play. If done wrong, the battery is worse off, if sulfation levels can be addressed without cooking the battery in the 'bad' way then perhaps you can squeeze more life out of it before any 1 cell becomes useless. That is a skill in of itself.

 

[jkhawaii]

around here in hawaii, battery's are usually week after 2-3 years. this is my experience with GM vehicles using mostly delco battery's. a much easier test method than load testing uses a small hand held device mostly made by a company midtronics that is very accurate at showing the condition of a battery. many batteries in vehicles are well below there optimal performance and are usually not replaced until the car will not crank, so replacing the battery before it fails would be a good thing

 

[Turk]

I got 7.5 years out of my Delco battery........

 

[ekpolk]

Originally Posted By: tpitcher
I got 7.5 years out of my Delco battery........



In my last GM car, a 98 Regal GS, the OEM Delco did not make it to two years. Sure, it's hot down here, but still...