Volvo battery dies at 10 years

[Buckeye]

I had to replace the battery in my 2002 Volvo S60 today. I was trying to remember how old my battery was and where I'd bought it. It wasn't until the Autozone guy took off the cover (my battery is in the trunk) that I realized it was the original Volvo battery. My car was manufactured and leased in late 2001 so the battery had a 10-year life. (I bought the car in 2005.)

It died catastrophically. The battery was operating normally the start prior to the one where it didn't. We jumped the car to get it running to get the car home from my mom's apartment and to go get the new battery. I'm guessing the last two years in hot FL weather and stop-and-go traffic was hard on it compared to the nice long drives in the OH cornfields for the first 8 years of its life.

 

[panacea]

Wow- isn't 6-7 years a pretty normal life for a car battery? It sounds like you did pretty well!

 

[Buckeye]

I guess it's possible the original owner replaced the battery but it's not likely given I bought the car in January 2005.

 

[Htown Harry]

I'm guessing the last two years in hot FL weather and stop-and-go traffic was hard on it compared to the nice long drives in the OH cornfields for the first 8 years of its life.

Yep. Keep the receipt on that new one.

I rarely get the advertised life out of a battery down here in [-]boiler room of hell[/-] our part of the sunny gulf coast.

 

[Buckeye]

I rarely get the advertised life out of a battery down here in [-]boiler room of hell[/-] our part of the sunny gulf coast.

This one has a very good warranty: 3-year full replacement, next 5 years is pro-rated. $125 plus tax. Free installation. AutoZones are everywhere.

 

[KingB]

I rarely get the advertised life out of a battery down here in [-]boiler room of hell[/-] our part of the sunny gulf coast.

I think the colder climate is harder for the batteries than a warmer climate.

Still, I got 7 years for my 1999 Subaru's battery. 8 years for the 2004 Subaru before I replaced its battery with the one from the 2006 Subaru.

I should have not replaced the 2004's battery as it caused me to fail the smog test (not ready).

 

[Buckeye]

I think the colder climate is harder for the batteries than a warmer climate.

I've heard that heat is hard on batteries and found this info:

Q5: Which is worse for a battery, hot weather or cold weather?
A: Hot weather. While most of us have grown up thinking that cold weather is the worst weather for a battery, the fact is that your car is simply harder to start on very cold days. This is primarily due to the thickening of the motor oil during extreme cold. Heat actually damages the battery. Studies indicate that the average battery lasts nearly twice as long in a cold weather climate vs. a hot weather climate

 

[SteveR]

Another thing very hard on batteries other than heat is salt. I used to live fairly close to the ocean on an island in the Caribbean. I had to replace my car battery about every 2 years and these were not cheap batteries.

Here in the sunny Southwest, heat kills a lot of things. Car batteries, tires, rubber hoses, rubber belts, paint and all other batteries too. We tend to keep the house around 80 degrees during the hot part of the year and in the low 70's in Winter. Anything in the garage is toast since it faces West. It can easily get well over 115 in there even with the doors partly open to vent it out. Flashlight batteries, power tool batteries, alarm batteries, etc. go pretty fast with the heat.

A major killer of car batteries in cold climates is not keeping them fully charged. The freezing point of a battery goes up proportionally to the charge on the battery. A frozen battery is a killer and few if any batteries will every recover.

 

[Meadbh]

Studies indicate that the average battery lasts nearly twice as long in a cold weather climate vs. a hot weather climate

I got 12 years out of my Honda's battery while living in Winnipeg, which is the coldest city on the planet with a population of over 600,000.

 

[rescueme]

'02 Mustang GT vert.

Everthing's original (even me )...

Only five more years until I can put classic plates on it...

 

[eytonxav]

I've heard that heat is hard on batteries and found this info:

Q5: Which is worse for a battery, hot weather or cold weather?
A: Hot weather. While most of us have grown up thinking that cold weather is the worst weather for a battery, the fact is that your car is simply harder to start on very cold days. This is primarily due to the thickening of the motor oil during extreme cold. Heat actually damages the battery. Studies indicate that the average battery lasts nearly twice as long in a cold weather climate vs. a hot weather climate

If you get more than 4 years from your battery here in Texas, your doin good.

 

[grumpy]

I can't swear that this is the case, but DW drove her 1970 VW Beetle for 17 years. About 15 years into this, when the car was not starting reliably, I asked her when she had last added water to the battery. She said she never had. I said, "lets take a look" and lifted up the back seat. She said "I never knew there was a battery under there".

I suppose that the battery could have been changed when the car was serviced and I didn't know about it. However, as rugged, dependable and indestructible as that Bug was, I like to think the battery lasted 15 years.

 

[FinanceDude]

I had to replace the battery in my 2002 Volvo S60 today. I was trying to remember how old my battery was and where I'd bought it. It wasn't until the Autozone guy took off the cover (my battery is in the trunk) that I realized it was the original Volvo battery. My car was manufactured and leased in late 2001 so the battery had a 10-year life. (I bought the car in 2005.)

It died catastrophically. The battery was operating normally the start prior to the one where it didn't. We jumped the car to get it running to get the car home from my mom's apartment and to go get the new battery. I'm guessing the last two years in hot FL weather and stop-and-go traffic was hard on it compared to the nice long drives in the OH cornfields for the first 8 years of its life.

How do you like your Volvo? Is it reliable? I like the look of Volvos, particularly the V50 wagon.........

 

[Dawg52]

How do you like your Volvo? Is it reliable? I like the look of Volvos, particularly the V50 wagon.........

I bought one new in the early 90's(240) and it turned out to be a maintenance nightmare. Did OK the first 3-4 years, but electrical problems galore after that. I could be driving along and it would just go dead. Finally had to get rid of it due to maintenance cost and unreliability.

What I experienced may have been a fluke and it was the opposite of what I thought I would get out of the car.

 

[Texas Proud]

I bought one new in the early 90's(240) and it turned out to be a maintenance nightmare. Did OK the first 3-4 years, but electrical problems galore after that. I could be driving along and it would just go dead. Finally had to get rid of it due to maintenance cost and unreliability.

What I experienced may have been a fluke and it was the opposite of what I thought I would get out of the car.

From two people who I knew had Volvos around the same time it was not a fluke...

 

[Buckeye]

How do you like your Volvo? Is it reliable? I like the look of Volvos, particularly the V50 wagon.........

I absolutely love my 2002 S60 and I hope to drive it for at least another 10 years! It has been a great car. I've only had to do routine maintenance on it since I bought it although I have two maintenance items that have been left unaddressed - the light behind the odometer burned out and one of the headlight wipers wouldn't stop operating. I can read the mileage in just the right light so I can keep track for oil changes but it's not worth going in after one light bulb at $130 an hour. I'll wait until a couple of them burn out! I just pulled the fuse on the headlight wipers. Don't need them.

We purchased our first Volvo in about 1995 and it cost us quite a bit of money in repairs during the early years of the 6 years we owned it. It was a used 760 GLE and come to find out, it had been in a bad accident. We learned our lesson to only purchase one-owner cars from their owners who you almost have to pry the keys out of their hands because they love their cars so much (a Saab 9000 and an Acura RL).

We broke half the rule when we bought the S60 in our little town in OH. It was a one-owner car but we bought it from the local used car dealer who had purchased it at auction. We took a chance because he had been in business for many years and was trusted by the community. You sell people crappy cars in a small town and you will soon be out of business! I assumed since the car was a lease vehicle and under warranty during the lease that early early problems would have been addressed. I probably just got lucky but the car has been great for the last 6.5 years.

We also owned a 1993 850 that we purchased in 2001 with 111,000 miles. The AC was pooping out (now in FL) so we gave it to my BIL in 2009 with 160,000 miles on it. That car was reliable and we put very little money into it other than oil changes and tires. DH still misses that car but his 2006 Hyundai Sonata is growing on him.

 

[BigNick]

I spent a year in Bahrain (Arabian Gulf) and my Sri Lankan mechanics told me that 18 months was a good life for a battery there.

On the other hand, back in Europe, my 2000 Miata's battery lasted until last Christmas, 10 years and 7 months.

 

[Koolau]

In the vast midwest, I could reliably get 5 or 6 years from a new battery. The cost didn't seem to be much of an issue (never had any better luck with Die Hards than cheap batteries).

Here in Paradise, I've given up on buying new batteries for $120 or more. The sun load seems to cook batteries rather quickly. With 12 years (average) on our cars, it seems silly to invest big money in them. Instead, I go to "Battery Bills" and buy used for $30 (installed). They warrant for 1 month (yep, 30 long days!). So far, I've gotten at least a year out of each $30 battery, so I think I'm ahead. At the first sign of a battery issue, I throw my "jumper battery" in the trunk and call Bill. Usually, within a few days, he will have one that fits (maybe not the "correct" one, but one that can be bolted in place.) As always, YMMV.

It seems that every other car on the road here is a Prius. It's a good spot for them because most driving is "in town" with lots of stop and go. It will be interesting to see if the issues of heat and salt have a similar effect on their Li ion batteries.

 

[travelover]

..........
It seems that every other car on the road here is a Prius. It's a good spot for them because most driving is "in town" with lots of stop and go. It will be interesting to see if the issues of heat and salt have a similar effect on their Li ion batteries.

I think that they are NiMh. Not sure how Prius handles it , but in my Escape hybrid the battery has it's own AC loop and well as a blower to maintain the battery temperature in a relatively narrow band. I guess if you parked the vehicle in the Arizona sun it could get pretty hot.

 

[youbet]

'02 Mustang GT vert.

Everthing's original (even me )...

Only five more years until I can put classic plates on it...

You're kidding, right? A 15 yr old car gets classic plates?

All three of my cars will qualify in five yrs. A 96 Sable, a 99 F150 and a 2000 Civic. I guess I'm just a classic car owner.

 

[youbet]

In the vast midwest, I could reliably get 5 or 6 years from a new battery. The cost didn't seem to be much of an issue (never had any better luck with Die Hards than cheap batteries).


It seems that every other car on the road here is a Prius.

Here folks seem to prefer the Pius over the Prius. We have a smog problem and the Pius replaces smog with smug.

 

[M Paquette]

I suspect some of the longest lived batteries are the ones not in the engine compartment. The VW battery under the seat, and the Volvo and Miata batteries in the trunk might benefit from a bit less heat and vibration while in use.

My Miata battery is 11 years old and still working. I live in one of those areas where water is in its molten form year round, though.

 

[veremchuka]

I got 12 years out of my Honda's battery while living in Winnipeg, which is the coldest city on the planet with a population of over 600,000.

Do you have a link for that? I find it hard to believe Winnipeg is colder than many cities especially in northern Europe.

You're kidding, right? A 15 yr old car gets classic plates?

Not here, it has to be 25 years to get antique/classic plates.

I bought a 60 month battery 15 years ago and had to replace it this spring. Not bad for 5 year battery.

 

[Meadbh]

Do you have a link for that? I find it hard to believe Winnipeg is colder than many cities especially in northern Europe.

Sure. I don't usually make statements like that without checking the references first. I didn't say it was the coldest city. I said it was the coldest city with over 600,000 people.

Weather Winners WebSite

Geography and climate of Winnipeg - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[SteveR]

Back to the Volvo as a car comments.

My late wife owned Volvo cars most of her adult life. She was T-boned in an intersection by a car doing 60+MPH and she walked away...unlike the over driver who was no in a Volvo and was dead at the scene.

After she died I had one two many cars and a son who needed one to replace his old car. A year later he was hit broadside. It totaled the car but we escaped with only minor bruises and this was after leaving the highway after the impact and hitting a brick building.

We had mostly good luck with maintenance...a bit more than most Japanese cars but it was built for cold weather and had the feeling of safety and solid construction. I don't own one now because my 11 year old car is still running fine. Not sure about the current stock of cars since the last one I had was a 1999 940 R (not sure about the year but close).