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Battery life

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beetle Enthusiast

beetle

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Posted

Some questions about battery longevity....what has been your experience and brand type? Way back in the day, I rarely replaced batteries, they seemed to last forever. Now your lucky to get 4-5 years.

KARNUT Senior Enthusiast

KARNUT

Posted
Posted (edited)
2 hours ago, beetle said:

Some questions about battery longevity....what has been your experience and brand type? Way back in the day, I rarely replaced batteries, they seemed to last forever. Now your lucky to get 4-5 years.

I’ve pondered that question a lot. One of the things they do at the dealership is test the battery while you’re getting service. It does no good. My wife’s car has had two. It’s 12 years old. The first lasted 4 years. The second is still going, identical brand. The car travels the identical route every day. I asked at the 4 year mark on this one. There’re answer it tests good. My wife’s never more than 8 miles away. At 400$ a pop I’ll wait it out. It’s in the trunk, a special battery. Just peachy. 

Edited by KARNUT
m3n00b Enthusiast

m3n00b

Posted
Posted

Bought my truck brand new.  First battery lasted 8 mos.  GM replaced under warranty.    Second battery lasted 4 years.  New battery is going on 2 years and is a Costco interstate AGM that I plan on replacing before the 3 year warranty is up.  

  • Like 1
rav3 Senior Enthusiast

rav3

Posted
Posted (edited)

I've seen post before on battery life & it seems to be a hit or miss. My '17 Silverado with a built date of 12-2016 original AC Delco battery lasted till Aug of this year, which was about 5 1/2 years, and it went DEAD, no warning. I replaced it with a Walmart EverStart Platinum AGM Battery, Group Size H7 12V, 850 CCA from WalMart $169.84 4 year replacement. Well see how the AGM does.

Our BMW '15 X5 came with (2) AGM batteries, a 90Ah & a 50aH, as BMW rates them by aH instead of CCA. They are going on 7 years old now & still check & function well. The reason for the (2) batteries is for add'l battery hungry options & the 'start/stop' feature that all cars/truck seem to be going to. When due, I'll replace them with AGM's.

I noticed that BMW is now gone to Lithium batteries on their high-end M cars. Replace ment on those are like $1400, out of my price range.

Our '05 330Ci convertibles original battery lasted about 8 years, the 2nd was an Everstart from walmart lasted about 5 years & I replaced it this year with a "special" from RockAuto FVP 94R AGM $113. I had to try it for that price & that's with shipping.

On my '01 540i, the last Everstart battery (Flooded Acid) from Walmart lasted 8 years...Go figure

 

With the ability to ship AGM batteries versus Flooded Acid batteries, you can now shop online for the AGM's & with some stores, shipping is free. (Walmart, Amazon prime) Rock Auto's shipping for a 50# battery isn't outrageous.

Edited by rav3
BearsFan315 New Member

BearsFan315

Posted
Posted

typical lead acid battery life is about 3-5 years depending on quality and idle time
AGM about 5-8 depending on quality and idle time

 

worst thing for a battery to do is sit around and do nothing, or be overloaded. 

mikeyk101 Senior Enthusiast

mikeyk101

Posted
Posted

I ended up picking up this tester recently because of issues on my motorcycle and the price wasn't bad. It told me right away that my battery was bad so it got replaced. I wanted something I could use as I have several different things that have batteries I need to keep an eye on. I replaced my Silverado battery last year as it was already 5 years old and had indications that it was starting to go bad. I replaced it with an Interstate AGM battery from Costco. I put the tester on this one and it showed that the battery was healthy.

 

KZYEE KS21 Battery Tester 12V 100-2000 CCA Auto Car Battery Load Test Digital Analyzer for Detect Health Faults, Cranking and Charging System https://a.co/heC6I2s

Ravenkeeper Senior Enthusiast

Ravenkeeper

Posted
Posted
6 hours ago, m3n00b said:

Bought my truck brand new.  First battery lasted 8 mos.  GM replaced under warranty.    Second battery lasted 4 years.  New battery is going on 2 years and is a Costco interstate AGM that I plan on replacing before the 3 year warranty is up.  

Between the time that I bought my 2015 and the day it was totaled, I've never replaced that battery.

 

With my 2018 (current), I had it 25 months (to the day) and the battery died on me, on my way home from work one night, and seemed fine the next morning, until it died again just a few blocks from the dealership.  Called AAA, they came out, jump started my truck, drove straight to the dealership, and they replaced it for FREE (under warranty).  Going on 4 years and 3 months (ownership) and just over 2 years on the battery, no other issues.  The temperature swing throughout the year, here in the desert, usually wrecks havoc on batteries, usually.  I've been lucky with most of them, lasting 4-6 years.

  • Like 1
CamGTP Senior Enthusiast

CamGTP

Posted
Posted

I replaced my OEM battery a little over a month ago, the build date on the truck is like 10/15 or 11/15 I think. So it lasted almost 7 years.

  • Like 1
Grumpy Bear Senior Enthusiast

Grumpy Bear

Posted
Posted (edited)

Build date on mine is 3/8/2015 and still has the OEM battery. 

Or 7 years, 8 months, 20 days, 6 hours, 6 seconds

163,000 miles

Edited by Grumpy Bear
  • Like 1
  • 2 weeks later...
poconojoe Enthusiast

poconojoe

Posted
Posted

I got an email stating my battery was in a "low state of charge". That I should drive it or use a battery charger. 

 

Truck is 2019 Silverado LD 4x4 double cab with 5.3L. Has 15,000 miles on the clock. 

I bought it new in January 2020. 

 

I drove it a few times after the warning and it seemed fine. When I start it the volt meter in the dash is slightly past the center (center is 14 volts) and after driving for 10-15 minutes the needle centers to 14 volts. Does this seem normal? 

 

Is my battery dying already? 

Should I get a new battery and not take a chance with winter already here in Pennsylvania?

LDM Enthusiast

LDM

Posted
Posted
10 minutes ago, poconojoe said:

I got an email stating my battery was in a "low state of charge". That I should drive it or use a battery charger. 

 

Truck is 2019 Silverado LD 4x4 double cab with 5.3L. Has 15,000 miles on the clock. 

I bought it new in January 2020. 

 

I drove it a few times after the warning and it seemed fine. When I start it the volt meter in the dash is slightly past the center (center is 14 volts) and after driving for 10-15 minutes the needle centers to 14 volts. Does this seem normal? 

 

Is my battery dying already? 

Should I get a new battery and not take a chance with winter already here in Pennsylvania?

Charge it up and test it is the only way to know for sure.  The volt meter in the dash doesn't tell you much, you need to measure the cranking amps to be sure.  Unfortunately lead acid battery quality is very hit or miss these days.  AGM batteries do seem to last longer, if they don't fail before the warranty is up.  I just had to replace the batteries in both my Camaros last year, one of them failed in about 8 months after I bought it and was replaced under warranty (AC Delco batteries that I bought at Menards) and then replaced the battery in my truck earlier this year.  It was less than half its rating even after letting it charge more than 24 hours.  The batteries in my Camaros lasted over 9 years but they also spend most of their time in a garage with battery maintainers connected to them.  Truck battery was maybe 4 years old, I went with an AGM for a replacement due to the weight and all the extra stuff you have to remove to get the battery out.  Hopefully it will last a lot longer than the original lead acid battery did.

poconojoe Enthusiast

poconojoe

Posted
Posted (edited)
57 minutes ago, LDM said:

Charge it up and test it is the only way to know for sure.  The volt meter in the dash doesn't tell you much, you need to measure the cranking amps to be sure.  Unfortunately lead acid battery quality is very hit or miss these days.  AGM batteries do seem to last longer, if they don't fail before the warranty is up.  I just had to replace the batteries in both my Camaros last year, one of them failed in about 8 months after I bought it and was replaced under warranty (AC Delco batteries that I bought at Menards) and then replaced the battery in my truck earlier this year.  It was less than half its rating even after letting it charge more than 24 hours.  The batteries in my Camaros lasted over 9 years but they also spend most of their time in a garage with battery maintainers connected to them.  Truck battery was maybe 4 years old, I went with an AGM for a replacement due to the weight and all the extra stuff you have to remove to get the battery out.  Hopefully it will last a lot longer than the original lead acid battery did.

Thanks for the reply. 

 

I know...I shouldn't procrastinate. 

 

As soon as we get a dry day, I'll hook up a charger. Its snowing out right now. 

 

I'm just surprised this battery is having issues already. I have to look for the build date of my truck. I think it may be on the door jamb, but I'm not sure. And since it's a 2019 LD, it was probably built in 2018. So it's coming up on 5 years, so that's not really unheard of for the end life of a battery, I guess. 

 

Thank goodness for the email warning from GM though. That was a surprising plus. And I'm not even paying for any onstar plans. It's just the standard maintenance you get when you buy the truck. 

Edited by poconojoe
poconojoe Enthusiast

poconojoe

Posted
Posted

Is my original battery covered under the 3 year 36,000 mile warranty? 

I have less than a month left! 

I'll have to call the dealer tomorrow. 

JimCost2014 Senior Enthusiast

JimCost2014

Posted
Posted
15 hours ago, poconojoe said:

Is my original battery covered under the 3 year 36,000 mile warranty? 

I have less than a month left! 

I'll have to call the dealer tomorrow. 

Should be, had the battery in my 14 replaced under warranty, same with our 16 Tahoe.

 

Just put a new AC Delco Gold in my 18, runs like a new truck again. Amazing how much these trucks like a fresh battery.

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    • nfisherman
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      By nfisherman · Posted

      Thanks for the reply. All settings were correct and the engine was off, as it was supposed to be. It turned out to be something simple. I took a drive for about an hour. I must have had a low battery without knowing it. The voltage gauge on the display looked ok. At the end of my drive, I shut off the engine and the update prompt came up and it updated normally. It’s ironic because one of the features of the update is a reduction of battery drain. 

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