Zap!

It has been my experience that the original equipment battery in a vehicle lasts much longer then anything you put in thereafter.Also whats the wierdest battery trouble you have had? Any comments or anecdotes on this subject?-Kevin

It depends - I had very poor luck with the Delco battery in my '96 Suburban, at least the warranty covered replacement (several times). Others have been good, but I haven’t noticed a major difference.

For me it’s hard to say. I keep a car for about 10 to 12 years and the original battery on the cars I have now are 8 and 7 years old respectively. Continuing that trend, I will never know. When cars are quite old and I may sell them in a year or two, I tend to buy cheaper and less then stellar battery. My guess is that it’s good merchandizing and cheap customer appeasement to put a decent battery in a new car. I doubt that replacements, like tires are bought at the dealer as much and IMO, batteries are really over priced retail for what you get. For the dealer, it’s a no brainer.

I myself have never had a problem with replacement batteries. Or new batteries. Every time a battery has needed replacement for me it’s had a good number of years of service under its belt. Or the alternator was toast.

I get about 4 or 5 years out of the battery whether it’s OEM or aftermarket. The exception is Bosch batteries. We were away from home when the battery went up, and my tow insurance had to take me to a place where I could only get Bosch batteries. The first one lasted a couple of months and the second didn’t last that long. The 3rd one is still in the car and is approaching 5 years old. The aftermarket batteries in the other 2 cars are on a 4 to 5 year failure rate.

You know on Ford vehicles,its been my experience that the first motorcraft would last 6-7 years and the same with Mack trucks,6-7 years,On replacement batteries for the Macks.would be lucky to get 3 years out of them.One of the best replacement aftermarket batteries for trucks I ever seen were the frieghtliner brand had a set of those that went 7 or so years,havent had such good with Napa batteries or Caterpillar for that matter-Kevin

Interestingly, the best batteries I have had were the cheapest batteries available. Because of my good luck with them, I keep buying them. I buy the $35 (used to be $27) refurbished batteries from Interstate Battery Center. The last one of those I replaced I only replaced due to age. It was 11 years old, which made me nervous, but it would still start the car in -20 degree weather. Granted, the replacement battery was able to crank the engine faster at -20 degrees than the 11 year old one, but who knows how long it would have lasted had I not replaced it.

mark9207 that was exceptional,sometimes the old batteries would swell up and get hard as a rock,Uncle had a brand new 78 Ford pickup that the battery exploded in,made quite a mess-Kevin

The positive plates in a battery expand as they age…In many cases you can see the ends of the battery case bulging out…At some point, the separators crush and the plates short out…Cheaper batteries have fewer plates so there is more room in the case for expansion without causing damage…This swelling phenomenon is very noticeable in deep-cycle batteries…

Good info Caddyman,thanks,now I know-Kevin

Fords change the battery every 4 years and your good to go. its the temp. extrems that kill a battery, more in the cold

Heat kills batteries, cold buries them.

I got almost 8 years out of the last battery I had in my car. This was a record for me. I got it replaced in February of last year, when it would still start the car in cold temps, but the engine was cranking pretty slow. It was tested and found to have 2! dead cells. The rest were giving their all I guess. I live in a climate where temps range from sub-zero in winter to 95 or more in summer. The battery came from a local company that sells a house brand of battery. The one I had was their mid-range as far as warranty goes. I believe their batteries are manufactured by Deka, and I’ve had other batteries from Deka that have been very good as well. I also never once ran it dead and drove the car daily, so that is probably a contributing factor.

The weirdest battery stories? When I was a kid, my dad had intermittent episodes where the battery in his car would apparently be dead, then inexplicably revive. He took it in to the dealer and they determined it was bad. As the tech was carrying the bad battery away from the car, it suddenly exploded with no warning. Fortunately (as far as I remember), the tech was very shaken but not injured. I think he needed a new pair of pants, both from the acid and possibly sudden soiling of them.

I sold my friend my old battery for $15 when I got a new one. It was a decent battery but I’d gotten it second hand and it wasn’t really up to snuff for cranking the big-block V8 I had. We went to a “pull it yourself” junkyard in his car, I don’t remember what for after all these years. When we came out, the old guy by the gate said "Your car is steamin’ " We popped the hood and saw what was going on: My friend had tied down the battery by cutting up a couple of wire coat hangers and tying it down with these. The battery had shifted so that the wire hanger was touching the positive terminal and making a poor but effective ground through the frame. We watched the white hot coat hanger burn like a fuse and finally melt in two. It also melted halfway down the battery case exposing the plates. The battery still had enough liquid and charge left to start the car and get us home. My friend wanted a refund on the battery but couldn’t argue against it being his own stupidity that caused the problem, and that the battery had still performed well, even after the little mishap.

Oblivion you gotta respect what those 100’s of amps will do,that explosive battery was pretty scary-Kevin