The Lemon Fool

The battery in our shopping trolley just died.
No start, not even a click. Showed 12.2V on the meter.
The battery is seven years old almost to the day.

There's no leaching electronics to bleed it dry, not even a radio, basic car 31 years old.
We used it just a week ago.

Put the charger on for a few hours and whizz! away it went.
But that was enough warning.
So just ordered a new Bosch from Tayna. It will be here Tuesday, I'm pretty sure.

In my yoof, three years was par for a battery. Now this nothing special never-heard-of-the-make jobby lasts seven years.
A bettery as one might say.

Is this typical?
How long do you get out of a battery?

V8

88V8 wrote:The battery is seven years old almost to the day.

There's no leaching electronics to bleed it dry, not even a radio, basic car 31 years old....

I've just replaced the battery on my 1960s classic Mini (no electronics there, and a dynamo to charge it). It gets regular use in the summer, then if I'm lucky a good run every 3-4 weeks in the winter (only on salt-free days). That battery was 11 years old - not bad for a cheap Halford one with only a 3-year guarantee. I've replaced it with the same again

Come to think of it, my 'day car' (2010 VW Polo) is still on its original factory-fitted battery (which shows no signs of failing yet). That's now 11 years old too....

Breelander wrote:

88V8 wrote:The battery is seven years old almost to the day.

There's no leaching electronics to bleed it dry, not even a radio, basic car 31 years old....

I've just replaced the battery on my 1960s classic Mini (no electronics there, and a dynamo to charge it). It gets regular use in the summer, then if I'm lucky a good run every 3-4 weeks in the winter (only on salt-free days). That battery was 11 years old - not bad for a cheap Halford one with only a 3-year guarantee. I've replaced it with the same again

Come to think of it, my 'day car' (2010 VW Polo) is still on its original factory-fitted battery (which shows no signs of failing yet). That's now 11 years old too....

Similarly here, I've just replaced the battery on my 10 year old Mercedes Vito van, on the recommendation of the garage that maintains it. It was working fine and their recommendation was based purely on the fact is was the original Mercedes-branded battery in the van from new, and ten years old.

88V8 wrote:In my yoof, three years was par for a battery. Now this nothing special never-heard-of-the-make jobby lasts seven years.
A bettery as one might say.

Is this typical?
How long do you get out of a battery?

3 years seems short for typical, but maybe your "yoof" was before the 1980s when I first got a car.

Typical is hard to estimate. If you only keep a car for 3 years I wouldn't expect you to see many battery failures.

On my last car, a Skoda Octavia, the battery it came with lasted 2 weeks. Assuming that was the original battery, it was 3.5 years old. The replacement lasted 2 years. That was replaced with a battery that lasted at least until I sold the car, 6 years later and may, or may not have lasted the 4 years that the car survived after I sold it.

The car before that was a Honda Civic and I assume it came with the original battery, which would have been 3.5 years old when I bought the car. I never replaced that battery, so it was probably 11.5 years old when I sold the Civic.

From that small sample, my last 4 batteries lasted

1. 8-14 years
2. 0-3.5 years
3. 2 years
4. 6-10 years

Anyone that can figure out typical from that is smarter than me.

My wife's car has had two, original lasted 3 years, the replacement lasted 6. Her previous car was sold at 11 years with the original battery.

My last car but two had one replaced after 7 years. Its predecessor was sold after 7 years with the original. The last had it's original after 6 years when it was written off after an accident.

TJH

I think it depends on:
* The car.....Some vehicles have a high current draw when parked up.
* The usage..... Lots of people are suffering from flat batteries over the last 12 months due to very, very infrequent use or lots of very short trips that take more out than the charging system puts in.

My last battery was killed by a short-circuiting alternator at the tender age of ten months. But that wasn't its fault, so it doesn't count.

The two previous ones were both changed at six years, although they would probably have gone on (a) for another two or three years, or (b) until some heavy overnight frost stranded me on the drive without warning. Heck, when a £70 battery lasts for six years, why would I want to risk trying to get seven or eight out of it? Best value in the whole car!

BJ

A good few years ago, we had a Peugeot 405 turbo diesel. The first battery lasted a little over three years. The second battery, an unknown make supplied by my local garage with a three year warranty lasted 3 years & 3 months. The third battery, an Exide I believe, or at least a recognised make, with a 4 year warranty was still in use, just about, at 6 years old. We then sold the car as it was 12 years old.

Our current car, Toyota Avensis 1.8 petrol, had a battery change at just over 3 years. It's replacement was a Bosch with a 5 year warranty. The car is now 8 years old and that Bosch battery is still performing. (probably means it'll fail tomorrow!)

As an aside, I have had very poor results from so-called leisure batteries, and have formed the opinion that a) salesmen don't know what they are talking about; and b) it is best to buy a well known make. True, it will cost more, but the chances are that it will outlast by a large margin those of inferior/unknown makes.

ten0rman

Depends on which car - the Maserati has just gad its 3rd battery in 8 years, but it has an intermittent fault that drains it completely. The Carina is on either its 2nd or third battery, but it is 31 years old.

The Z4 hasn't had one since we bought the car 4 or 5 years ago, but I did let it drop to 10.8V last month when I forgot to plug the conditioner in so who knows how long that will last.

I don't remember replacing the Camry battery in the 10 years I had it.

I reckon if you use the cars, the batteries last a lot longer.

Paul

My previous BMW was on its original battery at 3 years old when I bought it and still on the same battery at 11 years when I sold it. Fairly long daily commutes probably offset its extensive electricity consumers as BMWs are pretty quick to complain if the battery gets low. Modern AGM type batteries do last much better than the old flooded types without the plates disintegrating.

.

nissan qashqai.

on my third battery at 37000 miles.

Well, from accounts here, batteries have certainly improved.
And no doubt it's also down to the car and how it's used.

I was surprised to be surprised. It went straight from no symptoms to no start.
In the old days, one had plenty of warning. Slow cranking, slower as the days went by. Then the fatal click! as the solenoid engages but the starter doesn't.

The trolley however, no warning at all. It did this to me seven years ago; a mile down the road at a local shop. No start. I walked home and left it there, went back next day with a fresh battery from a local shop, the one that's just died.
I preferred it in the old days, when one got some warning.

Anyway, the new battery ordered from Tayna on Saturday arrived Monday morning.
No worries about radio codes - no radio - nor ecu - no ecu.
So that's us for another seven years.
I'll try and remember this thread

V8

I tend to keep my cars until they're 8-10 years old. All have been on the original batteries when I got rid.

I've just replaced the original battery on my 11 year old campervan, but it had electrical issues which meant it was flattened a few times.

Scott.