When to replace original battery?

I just checked my OEM battery (5-6 years old) last week, multimeter showed a constant 12.53, .07 below the "recommended". I'll try to eek another winter out of it.

 

An old friend of mine was an on the road copier repairman. For him I said the same thing, just change it between that and the fact that he lived alone.

 

The original battery in my 2007 lasted 11 years and 4 months. the truck never failed to start till the day I had to replace it. added water once a few years ago.
took the cables off to clean them and it was dead after that. checked voltage with the meter was reading 12V. put the charger on, it started. shut it off wouldn't start again . took to napa to get tested. cells were completely worn out. i say don't replace it till it won't hold a charge anymore.

 

My 2012 In service 2/2012 is still on original battery. I keep the terminals clean and tight, check the water level in the summer. I live in New England and we have had some cold winters. I do carry a set of jumper cables "just in case". OP your battery load test is good and you may be able to get some more use out of it, but you are on the edge of go/no go but I would still run it.

 

I'm not a gambler so if it were me, I'd just replace it and have that peace of mind. Keep in mind that usually when batteries have failed me, it was in the worst possible weather. Working outside in nasty weather isn't fun.....

 

I disagree. A standard toaster style tester with a person that knows how to use it absolutely would be able to tell if the battery were down by a couple hundred cranking amps. That plus a multi meter will tell you if you have a bad cell. Lead acid battery tech hasn't changed wildly in some time, and those style of load testers have been used almost as long because they are a perfectly acceptable diagnostic tool. Somehow all the same diagnostics got done before computers were invented. But I'll never convince somebody that knows the only way to do things is with the newest and most expensive tech.

Does no one else find it a little coincidental that whenever you take a battery to a place that sells batteries to get it tested (assuming that place doesn't have to honor a warranty on that battery that is), it fails?

Anyway, people prioritize different things based on their knowledge, experience, abilities, and resources. I probably don't consider an older but working battery a big issue because I have the resources and knowledge such that it's never going to leave me stranded. I'd grab the jump-n-carry out of the truck box, start up, and grab a new battery when I next had a chance.

 

drive it till it dies. you drive a 6spd, just push start it when it dies

 

My battery died around December of 2016. A couple months prior I had tires rotated and the tire shop did an Interstate health check and it read like 580cca or something.

Struggled to crank a couple times when it got colder. Decided to bring my jumper with me a day later and sure enough it died. Went to leave from work and it wouldn’t start. Jumped myself and went and got a new battery.

Personally I wanted something that would be easy to warranty/replace if needed locally so I went with a 27f Duracell from batteriesplus.

Not sure what you’d do if a north star crapped out aside from getting a temporary spare and sending the Northstar back? Not too many, if any, dealers around.

 

Dude I'm a mechanic and have used both many many many times. I can prove you wrong. I threw out my old toaster tester because it's not as good as the smart testers. Do they work yes they do but they have their downsides same with the computer tech stuff. You won't find a mechanic or shop worth their salt using the toaster testers anymore unless they don't want to get with the times or don't want to spend the $$$$. These comments were all the rage back when computers were just starting to be in cars too.

I bet you typed that on your cell phone which you can go get a land line and a prepaid flip cell phone which are perfectly acceptable forms of communication but you choose to have the better newer technology.

 

One of the largest things so many owners of any type of Car, truck or what have you miss is the very basic of taking care of the Damn battery! in the picture I see a battery that needs to be cleaned all that white powdery crusty crap around the Negative terminal Should never be then the top of the battery is oily wet and the battery hold down clamp you can see the white stuff starting around that.

What that says is electricity is crossing over the top of the battery to ground all the time draining the battery down shorting the life of that battery day and night..... if you were to put a volt meter on DC and put the positive probe on the Positive terminal and touch the top of that battery anywhere but the negative terminal you will see a reading and that is how your battery is wearing out.

The Battery in my 2000 Tacoma is 14 years old and still as good as day one simple care of washing it clean with Baking Soda and Vinegar solution once a month is all it takes. plus I installed the little oiled felt rings like pictured below

 

I replaced my OeM battery at 5 years on my 2010. Almost time to replace the replacement!

 

I don't have time to wash my battery once a month, haha. Ordered a Northstar AGM.

 

I do spray my battery terminals with a NAPA brand sealer/protectant every oil change.

 

Thats fine do you not wash your rig ever? all it takes is to pop the hood and clean with the pressure sprayer .... if you fail to take care of the AGM battery it will fail for the same reason

 

I replaced the origional battery on my 2008 last year....
It still has the origional wiper blades...
Garage kept I suppose is the reason..

 

That so? It will leak acid and gas causing this buildup on the terminals? Or will it not because AGM?

 

I Just replaced my original battery at 6 years and 100,000 miles. I bought the same one from the dealer for $124 that included a $20 core charge. We will see how long this one lasts. BTW batteries like the environment I live in.

 

But you have a 2012

 

I never said they are as good. They catch the problems about 90-95 % of the time. I'm saying that's good enough for homeowners and shade trees like myself. I'm saying that a standard $20 load tester ABSOLUTELY would have diagnosed OP's battery as weak. If I were a pro mechanic or a shop I'd absolutely have a computerized tester. I'm not against quality battery testers for anyone as some sort of philosophical stance. I'm not anti computer in any way. In fact I'm a computer programmer that does raspberry pi and arduino stuff for fun.

What I'm saying is that this issue and the majority of battery issues with conventional lead acid batteries can be diagnosed with a regular toaster style load tester and a multi meter. Saying that an inexpensive load tester is useless simply because smart testers are available, is a lot like saying hammers are useless because nail guns and compressors exist.