OEM Battery Life

From what I've read, & personal experience they tend to crap out at about 70k

 

Mine died at 5 years and 110k miles

 

Mine's going strong at 7.5 years and 65k.

 

So is it best to go by mileage or years with battery life? The reason i ask is mines 6 years old (bought new in April of 07) but the truck only has 20,000 miles.

 

Age and temperature.

Lower miles is going to be a negative because the battery will be spending more of it's life in a lower state of charge.

6 years in the high desert? I'd replace it before summer.... and I plan to do the same on my '08 unless I can find documentation or a sticker somewhere indicating that it is not original.

 

I replaced my 3 year old oem battery as a precaution.... Last thing I need is to be stuck somewhere at an inoportune time with kids

 

Replaced the stock battery when it was 7 years old with an interstate megatron.

It started the truck up just fine, but replaced it as a precaution to avoid a bad situation.

A good thing about replacing a battery before its totally dead is it gives you time to shop around and find a good deal on a new one. Got the Interstate 27F battery for $89 after looking for a few weeks.

 

If you get your batteries from Interstate (and why wouldn't you?), ask if they have any blems. Much cheaper, you just don't get as good a warranty. Only one year.

Regular battery: $112 + tax.
Blem: $40, tax included.

 

that is what my 2009 did a few days before it died prematurely. It was only 3 years old. I had a Ford battery crap out the first year. Fortunately I had the boat with me and just pulled one out of it.

 

This just dawned on me on what we used to do back in 'the day'. I am rarely off road or in remote locations anymore so having a battery die isn't that much of a deal. Get a jump, go get a new battery, not that big of a deal. But way back in the olden days when I had tons of room under the hood of my 74 F-100, I installed a second battery with a knife switch. Other Ford and Chevy drivers did the same. This was mostly so we can run steroes for hours and hours and hours while camping but the security measure was there too. Had a small tool box bolted in under the hood too. Aaaaah, those were the days

 

7 years and 150,000 miles on my original OEM battery. I've drained it below the point of starting at least 4 or 5 times now, and at least 3 of those times even the dome light wouldn't come on.

Each time I've put it on an automatic charger for a few hours, or jumped it and drove 30-45 minutes to work and put it on the charger when I got home. I credit the charger with maintaining it this long. It has a "desulfinate" cycle, and switches over to trickle charge once it's fully charged.

 

6 years... Still on my 3rd one for the last 16 years....

 

Elkhound, run it until it (almost) dies.
I have always had some indication that the battery is starting to go.
For example, draining by leaving the dome light on, a little slower to start, etc.
The main thing is to listen to your truck. It will tell you what you need to do.
When that happens I do a trickle charge, and always seem to get another year or two.
After a few "issues", but not to the point of getting or going to get stuck, I replace with a high quality battery. Your time will come. Probably in the fall, and just in time for your harsh New England winter. Good Luck.

 

That's what I do. Throw it on the charger all day or over night if I leave the heated mirrors or anything else on that causes a struggle to start or no indicator lights. I've done that 4-5 times now, and still have the same battery the truck came with in 2006.

 

3 years, 10 months, and 64,000 miles.

very surprised.

near a park reading a book, i charged my phone and listened to Pandora thru the AUX for 1 hour a few days ago. the next day, it took 3 turns/cranks to start. first rain of the season, first cold of the season, so i just said, "that was weird."

next day, 5 turns/cranks to start. drove to Autozone. they checked it and said it's bad. it would not start again - not even close, and i had to buy a battery at the store.

very surprised.

 

I'd say very lucky 2 B at Auozone and not in a park when it would not start again - couldn't have worked out better.

 

VERY lucky that he had a warning.
Any time I've lost a battery, it's been in the middle of the day, no warning, just get back in after making a stop to buy something and nothing.

Happened once at Pep Boys, and happened once about a block away from Walmart.

 

09, 22K miles...last week it was starting to be hard to start and
the starter relay would chatter upon an attempt to start.

Took it to the parts place, they checked the battery and it would
only deliver about 400cca....

My OEM battery had the GRN/YEL/RED indicators...was still showing
GRN....so as somebody on here said and even Toyo service,
don't trust the indicators.

Put in a new battery, all good now. Snappy starts like it used
to be. Relatively cheap insurance, why chance it?

PC

 

400cca is plenty. Rule of thumb back in the day was one cca per cubic inch.

They are correct on the indicator. It is a hydrometer, but it is only showing the status of one of the six cells in the battery. It is a decent indicator of the overall state of charge on a healthy battery, but it can't tell you if you have one or more sulfated or shorted cells.

 

Sounds like U were lucky 2. I've got a 08 so 5years old. Haven't had any problems but after reading about batteries just crapping out with no warning I am thinking of replacing the battery just so I don't get caught.