My mechanic installed a battery in June 2018. It has a 3-year warranty, so the warranty expired 10 months ago. But in the past two years (since the pandemic) I’ve rarely driven the car – maybe 500 miles during that time. Does the fact that I’ve driven the car so rarely mean that the battery will continue to work, or should I replace it now since it’s well past its normal life?
Most vehicles and parts live well past the warranty period. I don’t understand why you think because the warranty is up the battery is going to fail. If in doubt then have it tested.
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It’s not really past its normal lifespan, although having driven only 500 miles in 10 months could well have led to a sulfation build-up that will kill the battery. But, instead of just going ahead immediately with replacement, I suggest that you have the battery tested. Auto parts stores (Auto Zone, Advance, O’Reilly, maybe Napa) will do this without charge.
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Thank you, that’s very good information.
Generally the fewer times the battery goes through the discharge/charge cycle the better. So you got that going for you. On the other hand a rarely used battery can go dead, and dead, no charge remaining, is very bad for a battery. So you got that going against you.
I guess what I’d do is just drive the car on a regular basis to keep the battery fully charged, and note if there’s any electrical system problems beginning. If not, the battery is likely good to go.
If you have a charger and have driven so little, put it on a long slow charge. It’s probably going to be fine even if you don’t, but that is something you can do that might help and will not hurt.
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Others of course will disagree but I usually replace batteries in the 3-4 year period. I don’t push batteries because I don’t like to have them fail on me. I don’t even know what the warranty is on mine-at least 3 maybe 5 years. Batteries like to have their charge maintained so driving them maintains their charge. Not driving means that they are discharging week after week.
Saying that though, I test my batteries at least a couple times a year and compare the readings to the baseline when new. When they become significantly less powerful than new, I just replace them. During the shut downs though, I would often put the charger on them to keep them charged.
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I have a 2012 Camry that I bought in the fall of 2011. Driving a lot less these days and the car sits outside because we are in an assisted living facility and the car did not get driven even once a week this past winter/ Still starts every time with the 2011 battery. At this point I am just curious how long it will last.