replace that battery

I know. "another new battery" thread.
Seriously I suggest replacing your engine battery on a regular basis based on the environment that you live on a regular basis.
My wife has a CRV and has insisted to use dealer maintenance from day 1. She said it's her new car and she wanted a clear warranty history.
Well sure enough in our Canadian winter her original battery crapped out after 7 1/2 years.
Great life span.
I know I still should have been on that.
Anyway go her a battery from Costco and installed myself.
They make the installation connections super easy on current vehicles.
Anyway just a reminder fellow Taco's.

 

Wow, 7.5 years in Canada is impressive.

 

I'm a canadian tech and I start recommending customers think about batteries after 5 years.

The only batteries that test ok after 5 are the stupid japanese panasonic 4runner batteries, but basically anything else just doesnt last.

My rule for my own junk is 5 years or 2 boosts.

 

5-7 years Canadian?... impressive.

In Arizona every 2 years. Period. End of Story.

I got no time to wait on a jump in the middle of July with ice-cream in the car.
Been there done that, never again....

First week of June I'll be replacing 3 batteries in 3 vehicles.
Then I'll mark my spreadsheet to do it again in 2027.

 

7 years is pretty rare here in south Texas, average life here is 2-3 years. Pretty rare to see one over 5 years old here that's still good.

 

How many US years does 7 Canadian years equal?

 

People forget that heat is harder on batteries than cold.

The only difference is, when its cold the damn battery freezes so you cant even boost it.

 

And don't do what I did. Leave the booster at home charging, when you go out. You may need a boost!!!

 

My factory battery developed a bad cell at 33 months. Toyota gave me a new free battery under warranty. My replacement is 75 months old. I want to see when this one craps out so I can add to the TW discussion. Yes, I always carry a jump box in my truck.

 

I usually get 2-5 years on a battery in Phx. Hell i managed to get nearly 7 years on a battery several years ago, definitely the outlier.

 

Canadian hour has 22 minutes, so 7 Canadian years x22/60= 2.5 US years.

 

How long will the tag a long charge/jumping pack last without being topped off?

 

Mine is almost exactly 5 now but I do weekly runs on a noco maintainer while wfh a few days. Got it tested a few months ago and still measured 570 cca. Will definitely keep an eye on it though. I carry a booster during winter just in case.

 

depends on the model you get and the quality of the batteries within it.

generally, higher end models will last longer between charges, but all of them use lithium batteries that loose charge over time, so all of them need to be topped up regularly. i try to check mine every 2-3 months.


i got 10 years out of my cars battery, the last 3 were nursing it along with a harbor freight chargers 'recondition mode' at least once a year.

 

Impressed it lasted that long. We had a 2011 CRV. Less than a year old and we went away for 10 days in February. It was in our insulated garage and wouldn't start. Took it into Honda and no issues. The next winter we went away for a week. I purposely backed it into the garage expecting the same issue. Guess what, wouldn't start. Back to Honda and big surprise, no issues. I told them there obviously is issues. They said I should have left it with a battery tender. If we would have left it at the airport we would have come back to a vehicle that wouldn't start. As a goodwill gesture they offered to replace the battery but expected me to pay for labour since batteries are only covered for 2 years. After contacting Honda directly they replaced it at their cost. Never had any battery issues with any other vehicles but that experience has definitely made me more conscious about paying attention to my batteries.

 

really not that abnormal anymore with these newer vehicles and all their computer systems that have minor draws while the car is off. lots of minor draws become one large draw by the time everything is added up. we all want more and more smart gadgets, but no one seems to want to deal with the repercussions of those gadgets.

that's specifically why i keep jump starters in each of my vehicles, and they stay on trickle chargers if they're not going to be used for more than a few days.

 

Basically what Honda said. And I get that, but never had that issue with any of our other vehicles. And sometimes it's not possible to leave it on a trickle charger.

 

that's where the jump pack comes in.

ideally, one would remove the battery connections while the vehicle sits for extended times(beneficial also for all the remote-vehicle hacking going on, if the vehicle won't be monitored during it's hibernation), but most people don't carry tools with them anymore like nutjobs like me...

 

There is no such thing called Maintenance Free lead acid battery.

The acid solution gives out gas and boil off small amount of water when it's getting charged. That's why if the batteries are mounted in the cab or trunk, they have to use vent hoses.

Our electric fork trucks have fluid level monitor and water filler built into the batteries. We top them off every 2-3 months.

Check the acid concentration and fluid level every time you change the oil.

 

I never check fluid levels on any of my batteries and get at least 5-7 years from them. Good enough for me and no acid hands. I can see regular maintenance on fork trucks though. Different animal.