I think the information that heat kills batteries is outdated.
According the following article…while batteries heat resistance has improved…it still shortens their life.
Just going by my personal experience here Mike. Eight to eleven years per battery is pretty good in my book, but average summer daytime highs in this area are 92°F but it can and does get into triple digits on at least a couple days each year, in a bad year, for a whole month.
It gets that hot here also. We’ve already seen 90 degrees here in NH. I’m sure it has it’s toll on batteries. But in the south where triple digits are norm…and you don’t get much respite during the winter months - seems like it’ll have more of an impact on battery life.
Fresh acid won’t help. Once they sulfate, they are done…Today the people who sell batteries are demanding $20 core charges so don’t sell it for $3 scrap…You will need it when you buy a new battery…
In my experience, sealed car batteries seem to last me almost exactly four years before they start showing signs of age in cold weather. Now that I’ve moved south from Jacksonville, I just don’t notice them going bad as soon because the weather never seems to drop below 50 degrees, but compared to how much longer these batteries seem to last for people who live up north, I’m pretty sure heat is still a factor.
I don’t try to get the most out of my batteries. If they hit four years I just replace them. I don’t want to come back to a weak battery when its been sitting for a couple weeks in below zero temps. That’s just me.
@Bing, yeah, I’m at the point where I don’t need to get the batteries tested anymore. I can tell when I hear the engine start to crank a little slower during start-up. That’s when I check the date on the battery and realize it’s been about four years. Fortunately, I always notice the slow cranking before I get stranded (although I’m never really stranded because I have jumper cables and the car has a manual transmission).
Original Equipment batteries are quite good in North America. Our 1994 Sentra had it last 7 years through our very cold winters. My Proton Waja in Malaysia had a battery that packed it in in only 9 months.
I would venture that in Seattle, which has a mild climate, an OEM battery might last 10 years.