Replace battery every five years?

[01rangerxl]

Considering that batteries are not all that expensive, I do not see the harm in replacing every five years. My truck's original battery made it to six years with no problems (never had to jump it, but it jumped plenty of other cars). I just replaced it because I was doing a lot of maintenence on my truck before going off to school. Hopefully the Autocraft Silver I have in it now will last as long as the Motorcraft did...

 

[Doc8404]

thanks...never knew it would cause the alternator to fail...might be good insurance.

 

[Patman]

The OEM battery in my wife's 2000 Civic lasted 5 years and one month, and we replaced it with an Energizer battery from Walmart. Hopefully it lasts 5 years also.

 

[Cutehumor]

my 96 sunfire autozone duralast non gold battery will be seven years old in July. I just used my black and decker car battery charger and it fully charged in less than a minute. I charge it every year and check/add water. I just tossed out the oem battery bolts, th past month the rock salt corroded them badly

 

[Cutehumor]

With batteries it's luck of the draw, I had a two year old duralast gold battery last only 2.5 years. same for a walmart everstart battery. but I bet it was failing alternators in those cases.

 

[cousincletus]

I've only had one battery die w/o warning from a dead cell. That was a 2 1/2 year old Mopar battery that came with my 2001 Dodge Ram 1500. So even if I replaced every 5 yrs it still would have left me walking. Was replaced under warranty in Sept 2003 and so far so good. Every other battery has given me plenty of advance notice that it was getting weak. I suppose it's a matter of personal preference if you want to replace every five years or so, but I've had ACDelco batteries in my GM cars and trucks go for over 8 years before they're a little weak on a cold morning. When that happens, I replace right away. I've had good luck with Carquest (Deka) replacement batteries.

 

[mazduh30]

I just had to replace my wife's Saturn battery. This is the second battery in her car since new. The orginal one lasted 5 years, the second one lasted 7 years.

 

[Chris Meutsch]

I replace mine every 4-5 years regardless. Being on the highway in the rain with lights/wipers/AC/rear defroster on is not a good place to lose power.
On another topic, do you think that alternators (good ones, anyway) could last forever if batteries were properly maintained/changed out before going flat?

 

[obbop]

Math!!!!!! Cipherin'!!!!!! Juggling numbers!!!!!!

Do the ol' "cost/benefit analysis" thing.

Hmmmmmmm........ got some doubts about the battery. Replacement cost somewhere around 50 to 80 bucks or so.

Decide to forego new battery. Dern' thing quits working and I'm 25 miles from home and it's late at night and the wind chill is 300 below zero and I'm in a bad part of town retrieving my errant daughter and I left my armament at home and I wish the car would start and why the heck didn't I replace that battery last summer?

Feel free to replace the above scenario with anything that enters thine imagination.

Hmmmmmm.......... radio blares that the Yellowstone caldera just erupted, sending 150 billion tons of soil, rocks, ash and sundry ejecta into the atmosphere. Predictions o 20-foot ash falls on your locale; we gotta' get outta' here!!!!! Grind grind grind.... silence. Whoops. Need a battery.

Or, NASA just spotted a 5-mile-wide asteroid headed for an impact with whatever planet you reside upon. Projections place it atop your head. Yep, gotta hitch a ride with your neighbor..... IF there's room in their car, because your battery died.

Get the battery.

 

[JHZR2]

Quote:

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Alot of people have it all wrong. Just because a battery cranks over the engine doesn't mean its good.

Get a load test and see if it passes.

When a battery gets older it looses its capacity. The alternator detects this and will cycle on more frequently presuming the battery is "low". So basically if you have a weak battery you will put more stress on the alternators regulator.

My wifes CRV's OE battery is 5yrs old and I just throw them out and put an Interstate battery in even if they pass marginally. I sell them at my shop and come backs are next to none. Interstate uses a similar product like the SnapOn miniVat to test batteries.

If you own a chevrolet I'd highly suggest getting your battery checked every other oil change or at least twice a year. The chev alternators are one of the weakest points on most of those cars.

Low 5+ yr old batteries commonly are the cause of alternator failures.

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while I can see that this is true, given our examples - toyota previa that had the original panasonic battery through 10 years old - and eve now, at 12 years old and 202k still has the original alternator that works great... and our 97 plymouth breeze, which gets 4-6 5 block to 1 mile trips a day, still has its OE battery and alternator after 10 years, and it all tests out fine.

we do drive very gently and are anal about PM, but have not seen any reason to change these batteries... I cant imagine we are especially luck or are doing anything especially right either. We get very hot summers, and relatively cold winters. DOesnt seem to be an issue at all, forunately.

JMH

 

[JustinH]

I have a 98 f150 battery with a build date of 1997 on it, its still in service.

I'm getting nervous about it, but i've never had a problem with it.

I'm about to sell the car, so thats why I don't spend the 50 bucks on another battery.

 

[1sttruck]

We seem to get 7 to 8 years out of a battery, be it OEM Ford, Die Hard, or Interstate, but it requires checking water levels at least monthly in the summer. With three vehicles, and a fourth needed soon, we don't change batteries 'in case they might fail at some time', instead we wait until symptoms suggest a change.

 

[m2200b]

In California I figure if I get through winter with my current battery then
the next time I check the battery or it tells me with a slow crank to check it is the following late November when cold weather returns. You can check them free at Autozone- why dispose of a battery prematurely.

 

[alanu]

When you get a new rebuilt alternator theres usually a big WARNING ticket on it. Usually it'll say something along the lines like "Warranty void if battery is not fully charged"

On average I see batteries lasting 5yrs +. As I said my wifes battery still passed the battery load test but I tossed it and put in a new one.

I do find that Toyota's and honda's take alot of abuse in the alternator department. Nissan's are alot of $$$$ when they need to be replaced. Chevs fry very easily compared to fords. Chryslers are not that bad suprisingly.

New batteries assures less cycling of the alternators.

The way I look at it is that my wife and I can spend more money on 1 dinner outing. The likelihood of an interstate battery frying before 5 yrs is very very slim. Very inexpensive piece of mind.

Just remember an alternator is a battery "MAINTAINER" not a "charger". The alternator is meant to maintain the battery level not recharge it from a low state. Ask your mechanic and he'll tell you the same. If he/she says its meant for charging and just drive around with a dead battery I'd suggest gettting a new mechanic with more theoretical schooled background.

This is why jumping a car and driving it to "charge" the battery is the worst thing to do. Sometimes you have no alternative but buying intelligent trickle charger is a good thing to do and take the car home immediately. Perhaps a tad extreme but something will give and its usually the regulator and accelerated worn brushes.

 

[Quest]

alanu-

IMHO alternator does charge up your battery esp. after you finished cranking your engine (battery is partially discharged at that stage). An alternator's responsibility is to supply the bulk of the power needed to keep a vehicle running, and the rest of the remaining "juice" goes to maintaining/recharge the battery.

Battery's primary function is to provide the power/energy to crank over your engine first thing in the morning, and from that point onwards, it takes on a passive, "standby" mode until it's being called for during the next "crank".


IMHO I do not see alternator "cycling", but more like voltage sensing during battery recharge, so "cycling" is not a good term.

I do agree though that a dead battery (to be specific: a battery that failed to take a charge) is something that kills an alternator in no time, and regrettably, most vehicle owners do not understand this part and then they typically came back to the parts dept and complain bitterly about their newly purchased alternator when in fact, it's their battery's fault.

That's why I typically recommend a proper load test check twice a year by knowledgeable technician to determine the state of the battery and the alternator. A battery that has weakened plates and/or sulphated plates that won't hold/take a charge shall be replaced right away (and a proper alternator load testing shall commence to ensure that it's capable of providing enough currents to power the vehicle + recharge the battery).

Most Japanese brands of alternators (Nippon-Denso, Mitsubishi, Hitachi OE, etc.) are of excellent quality and reliability. I have my original Mitsubishi alternator (65amp) on my Mazda B6 for 16+yrs until I sold it, and I have replaced my battery only once (after the original Panasonic died after 7 yrs of faithful service).

Most mechanics nowadays are pretty "old schooled" and cannot handle or properly diagnose any electronically controlled components inside a car. Heck! You need an industrial electrical/electronic technician to deal with some of the testings for crying out loud!

That's why you cannot trust your vehicles to Raul or Carlos whose been working on your neighbourhood's vehicle for the past 30+ yrs....the most they can do for you is to change the motor oil and/or replace the shocks... (no offense, I too, find it difficult to keep up with automotive technologies these days).

alanu- you work for a dealership in Vanc? or you own your own shop?

 

[Quest]

Oh and BTW: the other day I was over at #@$%! tires checking on brake rotor pricing for dad's 7th gen civic, it shocked me as nothing short of devistating(or disappointing) that the parts counter monkey (kid, late teens, early 20s, not very motivated and looks dull by comparison) couldn't even locate/answer my questions properly....no wonder the automotive industry is filled with "half-nots" and "parts monkeys".....

And for that you trust some of the shop guys that can honestly tell you what's wrong with your battery/alternator??

*shaking my heads as I type*

Q.

 

[PT1]

Any Walmart service center will check your battery & alternator free of charge.

 

[Gary Allan]

I'll go on the 5 year rule as a semi-given. Maybe OEM batteries have improved in the past 30 years. Most only have a 12 month warranty on them ..or did. I just had to replace my wife's battery because she killed it one too many times. We got 6 year and about 8 months ..if I did the math right - May 99 to about a month ago. I think it could have made 7+ easy enough if she hadn't left the lights on about 3 times in the last year (she had me defeat the door jam switch fuse ..which also takes out the headlight alarm. One crank and a 25 mile drive doesn't do much to a battery. That's her main usage.

I replaced it with an Interstate Megatron.

 

[Craig in Canada]

One should combine load testing with a test of the specific gravity. You can use a hydrometer to measure the specific gravity of the electrolyte in each cell. If you think the battery is fully charged (ie. from a plug in charger) by the hydrometer says 50%, you're battery is in trouble. I replaced the battery in my '98 BMW when it was about 5 years old and the hydrometer read in this fashion. I kept it topped up with an occasional trickle charge and checked on it now and then - within four months it had a shorted cell. (ie. a terminal voltage of 10.x volts due to a whisker filament short)

Also, keep the electrolyte topped up with distilled water so that the plates are fully covered at all times. Yes, even "maintenance free" batteries.

Craig.

 

[alanu]

Quote:

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alanu- you work for a dealership in Vanc? or you own your own shop?

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Quest,

Nice to see some technical smarts regarding the charging system.

I guess "cycling" is not the best term. Regurgitating stuff from my mind sometimes isn't the easiest thing

Not all regulators are designed the same way but I recall some used the threshold of a Zener diode to start "maintaining" the battery's state. A battery in bad condition just puts that much more strain on the charging system.

Even though I have a diploma in electronics and licensed mechanic/journeyman ticket, chasing even a ground issue can drive me nuts!!!

Brother and I run an independant shop in Burnaby, BC. An honest mechanic doesn't make a killing. The misconception of a mechanic raping and making a tonne of money makes me sick because sleeping well at night with moral values is more important to me than raping people.

I sell batteries as much as I can because of no hidden agenda. Probability of a shorting cell in an INTERSTATE battery in a 5 year period is very slim. Price of those units are just as competitive as alot of other brands. Having a reliable battery is priceless. My wife and 4mth old deserves a reliable ride and so do all of my customers. Not pimping my "shop" just pimping my pride in what I do. There isn't a great deal of money selling batteries either.

In Canada (not sure about US) you can get ECONO batteries from Interstate. They are brand new batteries (NOT BLEM) these batteries are units that have been sitting on a shelf for a period of time. Interstate will remove them off the shelf, charge them and test them accordingly and relabel them as ECONO. Absolutely perfect new batteries but not as fresh as the newest fresh batch from the manufacturing plant. Ballpark 30+ % inexpensive as a new unit but with 1 year warranty and Interstate reliability.