My car is well over eight years old and coming into its ninth winter. It's a V8 with sunroof, electric, heated seats and all the other etc's that go with that. The trouble is the battery hasn't missed a beat, and I have this overwhelming need to see it to the end.
I should add that it's not at 100K yet, so it definitely has no right to survive another winter. If I buy a replacement now, it's going to cost almost $300 (verified), and I would be either chucking out a perfectly good battery or towing its replacement around in the boot. If I wait til it expires it's going to cost me $400 plus from RACV, or whoever. What would you do?
How long can a car battery last????
GOFYS on 04/06/2014 - 20:20
Comments
Put a voltmeter over the battery terminals on a cold car. From memory, 12.6V is healthy, less than 12.2 means you're going to need a new one soon.
You could also buy a car battery charger from SCA or wherever for <$100, and charge it up if you need assurance.
Not a good test. This will only tell you the voltage. A lot of other factors can affect this type of test.
To check a batteries health, what you would need to do is perform a load test on it. This will tell you the amps the battery is capable of. Amps is what the battery needs to sustain the starting and running of electrical systems.
Best way to do this is to visit a battery shop/auto electrician and have them load test it.
Putting a multimeter across battery terminals will tell you very little about a batteries storage capabilities.
edit: Holy reply to dead thread batman! Well, left this here because it has been revived and someone might read it again upon its resurrection…
was in the similar boat when my car had a flat battery once during last winter (car was 5 year old) but survived. It happened again couple of days ago.
Luckily I had NRMA membership which meant the guy came and jump started the car (after waiting for an hour) and I had to get the most expensive battery from battery world because the inconvenience was not worth it. I could have saved a good $30-$40 if I did it earlier.
Batteries don't cost $300 unless you are driving a truck or need a fancy AGM type battery, a century non maintenance battery for a normal passenger car can be bought from SCA for around $130 or $175 at battery world
If only. 300C. Check it out.
The last battery I replaced was over 10yrs old. Factory fitment in a Toyota camry. Like the op I hung in there just to see how long it would last and the first time it showed a sign of a slow start I replaced it. Seeing how some cars may only last 2-3 years getting 10 out of one is very good.
+1 for Century batteries.Go to Repco - SCA - BatteryWorld and get your battery tested for free. That way you'll get an idea of its current condition. To answer your question anything over 4-5 years is doing exceptionally well.
When a battery gets tired you can hear it by the engine cranking speed - if it becomes really noticeable then you'll be lucky to get another year out of it. Often less.
Have you considered buying a portable jumpstart and carrying that around? Those things are much safer to carry around in the boot and have an audible beep when they need re-charging.
That or get a secondary battery wired into the car with an auto sensing switch\charge circuit.Supercheap Auto will also do free battery testing.
Thanks folks. Never knew I could get a test.
And good news. I have a portable jumpstart.
Bad news. I have only used it once, and the 240V lead has disappeared. This should probably be another thread, but is there anywhere I can buy a generic replacement?
Depending on what the device end of the plug looks like, you could get one either from eBay or have a look at someone like Selby Acoustics (SE Melb). I just bought a couple of longer IEC 'kettle type' leads for my TVs!
Thanks. There's a 9V transformer on it with a single plugin like the old phone chargers. Millions of look alikes out there.
Have you considered buying a portable jumpstart and carrying that around? Those things are much safer to carry around in the boot and have an audible beep when they need re-charging.
I bought my Bro one of those a few years ago, he lives in the Blue Mtns so gets to travel off road etc a fair bit -has got him out of strife a couple of times (he was a bit sceptical till he needed it:)
If you've got a Chrysler 300C petrol V8, then the replacement battery in the Century brand should be a DIN65LMF, which is a reasonably common battery in a lot of bigger Euro cars! SCA has them listed on their site for $229, but I've seen it listed as low as $165 on a site like batteries direct. 10 years ago I would've been charging about $125 for one of these fitted, so I'd be thinking that $165-$180ish would be about right nowadays!
Ps. For some reason the OE battery always lasts a lot longer than the replacement!!!Thanks very much for all the help. I never did get the university degree in figuring out batteries.
Just dug this thread out as my car battery was failing me and was looking for battery bargains.
Well, I bought an $99.00 NRMA battery (with 12 months warranty) in 2009 that lasted 22 months. This one got replaced by a Powercrank (24 months warranty) battery that lasted a whopping 40 months. This one just died on me this morning and I've just got a blemished factory second (read: unused) Century (3 months warranty) to replace it. I expect it to last approximately two to three years.
I hope you bought it cheap enough… as their new batteries come with either a 2 or 3 year warranty! 3 months is a little short for something that should be no different internally to a brand new one!!!
$50 dollars for a NS40Z
Little car!!! ;)
Yeah, pretty good price. I would've done it!!!And old too… Didn't know how long it'll run till, is at 235k. Hence cheap solution. :-)
Don't think that it's just Winter that kills batteries in Australia… the Summer is almost worse due to the extreme heats that degrade the interiors.
Look on eBay for dry-cell car batteries. Take the part number to battery world and get one of those. They last longer and don't degrade in massive changes in temperature as readily.
You should charge your battery on a quality charger every 3 months this will help extend it's life.
$100 is too much for a shop bought charger check ebay for ctek chargers.Not sure why you need an extra charger when you already have one built into your car (altenator)!
Maybe if you don't drive the car much or only for very short trips!!!It should be in the care instructions with most batteries :)
300c batteries last for ages because they are located in the boot. My chrysler 300c went for 10 years without changing original battery. Then i sold it.
Coming into its eleventh winter, still ticking over like a watch.
How is the battery going lol
Over 13 years old now, coming up for 14 winters, and still hasn't missed a beat.
my battery is also getting close to the end, so I just carry a set of cables