Back in the good old days of ammeter gauge in a car, you had some indication that the battery was going bad. I remember when I was a kid and we were on a trip in a 1949 Dodge. The ammeter read near the top of the scale indicating that the generator was charging the battery at a very high rate. Sure enough, the next morning, the battery was completely dead. After we had been home a couple of weeks, the generator went out. I think the three hundred mile trip where it was charging the battery at a very high rate did it in.
@asemaster. Temperatures are subjective. Here we peak at 95F or so in the summer and in the winter it gets to about -32 on cold spells with the odd -40. Both extremes are hard on batteries. We always install heavy duty batteries with the maximum Cold Cranking amps (CCA). My V8 Caprice had a 1000 CCA battery.
Seattle temperatures are very mild indeed by comparison and batteries love that.
I agree that a poor condition battery will wear out your alternator quicker. That happened to me once. Batteries are cheap compared to alternators.
@Joe Guy, a “good” charge status only measures the charge voltage LEVEL you can get the battery to, it doesn’t measure how MUCH energy the battery holds. You could charge a battery to the proper voltage but there isn’t enough energy to start the car twice. On a cold day, you might need to crank the car twice to get it to start. The battery might show OK on your meter before you try to start the car but once you try and it fails to start, it may no longer show “OK.”
I carry a “jump pack battery” in my car with the most questionable battery so once it dies, I can jump it and head straight to the auto parts store for a new battery.
Consider this; very often cars that aren’t well maintained have battery problems because the owner is cranking the heck out of the car to start it and killing the battery. You obviously don’t have that problem because your battery has lasted 9 years!
Probaly wouldnt hurt to replace the batttery,I usually get a lot more life out of a OEM battery then a replacement battery,if your battery shows less then 12 volts,replace it, the voltage is usually a good indication of battery health and if you have a battery that is starting to swell up-replace it’
You never know when an Alberta clipper will come in,so dont take chances-Kevin