Car batteries, how long does your last?

[brett]

The battery that came with our Honda lasted five years. The Honda battery that the dealer installed in late 2010 just died. Same battery specs.

 

[38Chevy454]

Ironically, 3 days ago the battery in our 3.5 year old Explorer failed. It must have had an internal plate come loose, failed when out driving. Got a jump and then once home checked voltage after shutting off was 10.5 volts. Took battery out and went to Costco for replacement, $107 later new battery.

 

[NateW]

A lot depends on the quality/warranty level you purchase (if it's a replacement battery), or that the car manufacturer uses. Better quality batteries use thicker plate material that gives longer times between battery failure.

The original battery in my '04 Volkswagen Jetta TDI (a diesel) lasted over 9 years. It is a big battery, weighing in at about 55 pounds. Varta was the manufacturer. The 2014 Toyota RAV4 we bought new still has its original battery. This car is driven only a few times a week. I suspect battery life is also related to the number of engine starts and charging cycles it is subjected to (fewer equates to longer life). It's also related to the under hood temperatures it is subjected to (higher lowers battery life).

 

[gerntz]

Till the lease is up.

 

[NateW]

Wow, your battery must have lasted a long time. I haven’t seen a open battery in decades. Typical batteries sold today are sealed and cannot be checked for water level.

The OEM Volkswagen batteries made by Varta AG have cells with removable caps, at least up until 2010 when I bought one from the VW dealer. But looking at the battery it appears it's sealed. The cell caps are under the heavy plastic battery label across the top of the battery and the label must be slit with a razor knife to access the flat circular caps. They have a flat blade screwdriver slot and unscrew. This battery is technically maintenance free, as the plate chemistry is designed to produce very little hydrogen and oxygen (decoposition products of water) and thus almost never need topping up with water. In the 8 years this second battery lasted, I added at most a tablespoon of water to each cell.

I replaced this battery because of slow cranking that began a couple years earlier and a rebuilt starter did not solve the slow cranking. I replaced the battery with a top of the line absorbent glass matt (AGM) battery from Advance Auto (their brand, was over $200, it's a 55 pounder) and the car starts with just a bump of the key and the starter sounds like a turbine spooling up. Difference of night and day. I am quite impressed with it's performance. This is in a VW TDI (diesel), a very high current draw occures when starting this engine. AGM batteries by their design give much higher bursts of starting current. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/VRLA_battery

 

[GTFan]

If you want to go cheap, I've seen some stuff that says that Walmart ValuePower batteries (made by Johnson Controls) are the same battery as the more expensive ones, just with less warranty and CCA that you don't need anyway. And therefore last about as long for less money - these batteries are in the $50 range. Obviously, YMMV.

Also if you can find a local dealer that carries blemished batteries (Interstate is one that has these) you can save 50% or more on the cost.

Here in the ATL I get about 6-8 years out of a battery assuming it doesn't die prematurely with a dead cell (had one or two of those, they just die with no warning). That's pretty good IMO, especially given that I don't do any maintenance on them and we have hot summers with a lot of short trips.

Have a precautionary tale about mower batteries left on smart chargers over time - had one of mine blow out the caps (with a loud gunshot bang) when I tried to start the mower one day. It had been in my mower for at least 7 years and I never added water to it, so it must have shorted out at startup. Scared the ever-living crap outta me and I'm lucky I didn't have acid sprayed on me. Always check your small engine batteries at the beginning of a season if they're on maintenance chargers, because they might need water.

 

[GravitySucks]

The car hardly turned over the other day when it was 5 degrees that over night.
So 6 years, one month this time.

 

[Out of Steam]

The battery on my 2015 Subaru failed on the first cold day in October, just about three months past four years.

 

[HI Bill]

Japanese OEM: 6-7 years
Everything else: 3-4 years

 

[Aus_E_Expat]

My Citroen is 13 years old and still has the original battery.
It sits idle for many weeks but still starts first time every time.

The car has only done 35,000 km in 13 years!

 

[HI Bill]

My Citroen is 13 years old and still has the original battery.
It sits idle for many weeks but still starts first time every time.

How is that even possible? Are you sure someone didn't sneak into your engine compartment and replace the battery?