I finally had to replace the battery in my 2000 Lincoln LS (manual transmission). Can anyone say how often a battery in a new car lasts for 16 years? The battery is in the trunk so it isn’t exposed to the under hood heat and stays clean. Never in having a number of cars over 55 years has this happened. Eight years tops maybe.
My experience is the battery lasts one month past the warranty.
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I think you have a point about trunk-located batteries lasting longer. The battery in our 2009 Cobalt LT is in the trunk. It has lasted 7 years, and looks like it’s new. The terminals are also clean as a whistle. Our other batteries last about 4 years, even the OEM batteries. I think the environment makes a big difference.
Our Acura battery went 3 1/2 years. Still under warranty but they aren’t open on Sundays. A battery is not something I try to get longevity out of. I tend to just replace at four years. I think the record was one year though on a Walmart battery but the car just sat most of the time. Batteries never seem to fail at opportune times or places.
It seems to me that when Checker redesigned its cabs for 1956, the battery was placed in the trunk. This was to keep excessive heat from the battery. My 1950 Chevrolet pickup has the battery located under the passenger floorboard. When I went to look at the truck, it hadn’t been startws in a year. The seller jumped the 6 volt battery from his 12 volt truck and it started right up. I bought the truck. The battery looked ancient, but in the four years I owned the truck, I never replaced the battery and I could start the truck when the temperature was zero degrees outside.
Bell curve. 16 years is near the X axis on the far right side. A few months is on the far left side. 3-6 years is the hump in the middle, centered on the Y axis.
Being away from the engine heating-cooling extremes probably is a factor.
Miatas have (had?) the battery in the trunk and mine has lasted a very long time. I will have to look at it to see how old it is. It helps to live in a mild climate.
Regular batteries rarely last that long and yes, heat is a BIG factor. There are better batteries, though. I installed an Optima yellow top spiral cell AGM battery in a car I owned for 9 years and sold with that very same battery. And the battery was in the engine compartment and spent the last 3 years I owned it in hot sunny SW Florida. I would put that type battery in everything I owned if Optima offered it in more sizes!
I have the original battery in my '03 Camry.
Mine routinely last at least 10 years.
Geographic location, usage profile, battery quality, application demands etc all play a role in the longevity so it’s all relative…
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Batteries biggest killer is heat. The warmer the climate you live in the shorter the lifespan of the battery.
Many factors can contribute. Another is infrequent use and then only very short trips when it is used.
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Mine tend to average 6-7 years. I’ve never had one last less than five years, but I’ve never had one last more than eight either.
The battery in my Corolla seems to last about 6-8 years; but the one in my truck is 14 years and still going strong. Besides the obvious like ambient temperature where you live (hot is bad for batteries), I guess it depends on how often you drive the vehicle. While driving the battery is constantly being charged and discharged, which likely shortens its life a bit.
I firmly believe some brands simply last longer than others, in vehicles that get used on a daily basis
So I’m clearly not talking about batteries in trailer-queen vehicles or spare cars that only get used a few days every year
Another factor in battery life is your definition of “worn out”. I worked with one guy who would milk nearly another year out of a tired battery, jumping the car a lot or putting it on a charger during the day, putting new battery acid in it and stuff like that.
We joked that the Grand Canyon was formed when he dropped a nickel down a gopher hole.
As for me, I think life is too short to put up with a tired old battery.
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I’ve got to agree with that. For $100-150 you get a brand spanking new battery with a 3-4 year warranty. What’s that $2 a month? What does a beer cost these days? Can’t forgo one beer a month for a battery?
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@bing “Can’t forego one beer a month for a. battery?”. Think about how many more beers one could drink if a battery would last 16 years.
Personally, I just hate wasting money. So I let them go until they show signs or croak outright. Knock on wood, in 50+ years, I’ve never been stranded due to a battery…
The original battery in my car failed to start the car for me once. Fortunately, I was parked on a hill and I have a manual transmission. I let the hill get my car rolling and then I let out the clutch and had a running engine.
But I got a new battery right afterward.
My original was 3 1/2 years old. It was Sunday noon and I stopped at a gas station before heading out 200 miles to a funeral home visitation. Luckily the truck got there pretty fast to start it and NAPA had a battery in stock. So about an hour delay and we were on the way but who needs the aggravation.