Battery expected life

Why bother? Go for the record.

 

The Odyssey in my Mustang went over 11 years before l swapped it out, still use it for bench testing stuff in the garage.

 

just get a jumper box and wait for it to go out naturally ....its good to have around anyway

do you eat 1/2 of a steak and throw the rest away ?

 

My wife's garage kept/low mileage 2017 Elantra (bought new) had its battery replaced at 5 years.

It crapped out/would not turn over the engine in the garage one day in 2022.

It happened suddenly as the last time I cranked it, engine fired up.

It's good to have the portable battery jumper...and I do have one--have to remember to charge it every 30 days.

 

I've almost been left stranded with a dead battery once. I happened to be at a friends house who had a noco booster. I bought myself a noco booster at the same time as I bought the replacement battery. Now that I have the noco in the truck, the battery will last indefinitely!

 

I'd say 5 years is a good average. But 2+8=10. Ten divided by 2 is an average of 5 so realistically anywhere between 2 years and 8 years. It's almost impossible to predict.

BTW, it's HOT weather that kills batteries. They tend to last longer in the north than in the south. It's just that you find out it's dead when using them in cold weather. A weak, dying battery will still start your engine in warm weather but as soon as it has to do so in cold weather it dies.

If I were in a situation where a dead battery would be a major issue I'd replace sooner. I'd also have a GOOD jump box that I kept charged and in the truck.

 

Why replace a working battery?

Several years ago I was a 6 hour drive from home, 10 miles down a dirt road right at sundown on a Sunday night. My truck battery was 5 years old and had shown no signs of problems, but it was DEAD. It wouldn't even turn over with jumper cables from another truck. I'd planned to replace it proactively next payday but waited too long.

We got on the phone and found an AutoZone 30 minutes away that was closing in 30 minutes. They said they would stay open until we got there. I stayed with the truck and took the old battery out while our friends gave my wife a ride to AutoZone.

We had planned to drive home that night and arrive a little after midnight. Replacing the battery cost me a night in a motel.

 

Mine is only 2.5 years old and it’s been struggling lately, sometimes barely able to start. However, it does sit for a period of time though as I only drive once per week. I’m starting to think that’s doing more harm than good, honestly.

 

I don't drive my truck daily. I might move it daily, but not really really drive it. My tale is posted earlier in this thread. What I will add here, is, that I bought a battery tester, which provides instructions on what to do with the vehicle to get good results from the battery test and the charging system test.

The charging system always passed the tests.

The battery (original 6+ year old battery) got mixed results, depending if:
1. I had just taken a long trip.
2. I had just left a charger on it for a few hours.
3. I kept a solar battery charger maintainer on the dashboard.

The last test result showed voltage dropping below 8V while cranking, and told me to replace the battery... There were other test results that indicated it was time to recycle it. The last very slow crank told me it was time. The original battery wasn't holding the charge that is used to, just like my cell phone batteries.

I am going on year 4 of ownership. I've put maybe 20k miles on it. Years 1 and 2, I had no observed slow crank. This fall / winter, I did observe slow cranking.

I'd rather not get stuck somewhere, and then have to deal with it, even though I do keep a jumper pack under the rear seat.

Have your battery tested. It might just need a charge.
Get yourself a solar battery maintainer. That might offset your reduced amount of driving. You might need to find an "always on" way of connecting it, which now tells me it's time to add something and make a contribution to the "What have you done today" thread.

 

Yep.... Mine was telling me it needed to be replaced. I had no intent of dealing with it at a most inconvenient time.

 

2017 Tacoma, 50k miles

My battery died this past Saturday, no real warning. I tried boosting it with my portable jump pack, nogo. Jumped it with a friend's F350 and it reluctantly started. Once I started driving, I realized the truck was in limp mode. Replaced battery and all is well.