I just had to put a new battery in my moms 2 year old equinox a few weeks ago. An old timer told me that the new battery’s are trash now a days too much recycled lead in them

 

It may depend on a lot of conditions as to how long a battery will last. Short driving trips, hot +90F to 105F summer temperatures, leaving the truck sit for days or weeks at times which drains the juice.
But even if all that doesn't apply, batteries use much thinner plates in recent years to save weight. I've replaced the battery in our last 5 new vehicles from 2005 onward every 4 to 5 years. Not worth going into winter and finding the battery near dead when it is -10F outside.
Also, it is not worth the gremlins that a dead or weak battery cell can cause in sensitive vehicle electronics. A weak battery can actually lead to damage of some components in today's vehicles.
At least. . that has been my experience and info from good sources.

 

Interesting...
I am involved in an ongoing experiment using Battery Minder units.

First test subject, 1995 Isuzu NPR, truck bought new that year. It has dual AC Delco AGM batteries. The batteries are still going strong after all these years (23). They get B.M. session during long sitting periods that "desulfide" the lead plates with pulses from the B.M. unit.


VW TDI, 2000 with OEM Varta battery went 10 years before failure, cells maintained annually with distilled water to inner ring and BM sessions.


2017 GMC Canyon, 2.8L Duramax with OEM Delco AGM battery. Strategic B.M. sessions of at least 48 hr. when possible.
How long will this AC Delco battery go? Guess we will find out if those thin plates can go the time!

 

Interesting...
I am involved in an ongoing experiment using Battery Minder units.

Agree. . I have 4 Battery tender maintainers I use on two other vehicles as well, plus the lawn tractor. They do a good job keeping the battery healthy throughout the winter.

Also put one on the boat battery which is deep cycle and going on 7

or 8 years old. But that's no AGM or light duty OEM battery like in many cars and trucks these days.
Not all batteries have thin plates. . . but many OEM batteries do. And can last to varying degrees,

 

Even though you're two months over your warranty, if you are under the 36K miles, talk to your dealer, they might cover it under 'customer relations'.

 

Mine lasted a whole 11 months. Was caught out of town when it died. Happen to have a big chevy dealership in town and they said I just got a bad battery. Nothing else was wrong per the dealership. I am glad I was not up in the mountains when it died.

 

The real danger with a failing battery, besides being left stranded, is that unlike vehicles of the past with a failing battery, damage can occur to the alternator and other electronics.

On another forum, some have had batteries where one cell starts to go bad so the battery voltage drops. The alternator in today's vehicles is monitored by the ECM/BCM combination in many cases. When these modules see a low battery voltage they instruct the alternator (via its regulator circuitry) to charge at a higher voltage in order to compensate and also recharge the battery.

But if a battery cell is going out or shorted, no amount of charging will bring it back. Sometimes the cell goes intermittent good/bad for awhile. There have been incidents of owners continuing to use the vehicle when this happens and it stresses and damages the alternator. They ignore warning signs of the radio display, DIC or other electronics going wonky. They finally replace the battery only to find that the alternator is now bad and stuck on a charge voltage of 14 to 14.8 or even +15 volts! This then can cook the new battery eventually, and the cycle repeats. It becomes sort of a chain reaction.

Many times the new battery is not quite up to full charge (from sitting in storage) so service people assume the high alternator charge voltage is due to the battery needing to charge up. However, the problem really is a damaged regulator in the alternator.

So service people are now told to do a more complete systems check and some even have a customer come back a few days later to verify the alternator is not over charging due to previous regulator damage.

 

I had to change my battery a month and two weeks after I bought my Colorado. Dealer replaced it no problem

 

Here's a bit of great timing: I picked up the latest issue of Consumer's Reports and they have a blurb inside about car batteries. Their Best of the Bunch is the Super Start Platinum at a score of 91 points (the highest number of those tested out of 100) and a price of $190. Longest warranty (48 months) was Interstate MT&-65, also with 91 points and a price of $280. Deal for warmer climates (whatever that means) was EverStart Maxx-655(South) with a score of 80 and a price of $95.

So there! :grin2:

 

My experience with GM factory batteries have not been good. They sell have failed 3-4 years going back to 2004.

Driven, parked, tendered etc made no difference.

Other family members have had similar experience too

Also when they failed it was all at once and there was no saving them. One was not at home. We got the car started and it had system shut downs as we drove it home. Speedo quit, radio, dash, ac, etc all shut down on the way home. The power management systems in today's cars will control what works and what will not to get you home. The demands on today's batteries are far beyond what it used to be. Some MFG are going past the 12 volt systems now.

I am expecting I will need batteries in a year or so. I am making plans now what to buy.

The old Freedom batteries used to be very good. I used them and worked where we were a dealer for them. That all changed around 2000. The old Delcos used to go no less than 10-12 years for me some even more.

 

I have seen original batteries go anywhere from 2 -7 years. I just replaced the Camaro's battery, it was 6 years old. It was still fine but every once in a while it would crank slow. It was giving me a sign, especially with winter coming. I don't like getting that call from the wife or kids that the car won't start.

 

Mine just said the same message tonight after 25 months and 13,400 miles. I do a lot of short trips (under 5 miles). The earliest the dealership can get me in is next Thursday and I have to travel on Christmas, so I guess we'll see what happens.

 

I would never buy a battery from a dealer for fear they wouldn't be very high volume--and with batteries age matters. I knew someone with a Volvo who did buy at a dealer and he was getting a new battery every 2-3 years.

I don't think I ever owned a car of any make where the stock battery lasted more than 3 years. I always replaced with Die-Hards and never had to replace again.

I bought a Dodge years ago, and I was asking about the battery being up in the wheel well in front of the tire. He claimed changing it wouldn't be a problem because the batteries lasted forever! I thought right. But the damn thing did last over 7 years--I almost started to believe him. I think maybe being out of the engine compartment helped the lifespan. And changing it out wasn't that bad. The main issue was it was difficult to keep an eye on the connections.

 

I don't think I ever owned a car of any make where the stock battery lasted more than 3 years. I always replaced with Die-Hards and never had to replace again.

 

If I get 36 months out of a battery, it’s gone. I consider that good enough, and not worry about getting stranded. As cheap as batteries are, I cannot see getting stranded. I will not consider buying batteries anywhere but Sam’s Club. They sell really good batteries. Last one I bought was $92. I write the purchase date on top with a paint stick and look at it at maintenance time. If I see it is 36 mo. It it gone, going to get one now. Works great for me. Yes, I have a battery tender on my 2002 Trans Am that rarely gets driven, but it is a headache to try to use one on a driven car. They do work well though. Will NOT buy Duralast, EverStart, or Die Hard. Witnessed too many problems. I have had real good luck with Duracell batteries. The strange thing is that Sam’s Club and Walmart are the same, but Sam’s Club sells a completely different line of batteries than you see at a Walmart store.

 

those name brand batteries Duralast , Die hard , Everstart , Duracell , Autocraft ETC. are made by 2 battery companies Jonhson or Exide , If you look on the battery in small print some will have Johnson Control or Exide I had Good & Bad batteries from both companies & i have seen Walmart Everstart batteries made by Johnson & Exide
batteries with removable caps i seen are Johnson & batteries with complete flat top no caps are Exide

 

thats right, batteries for the mass marketers/retailers are made by only 2 companies and can be found online. 5yrs is about the life limit in the usa

 

batteries last exactly 5 years

 

I have a Walmart Lawn Battery (Johnson) in my riding mower i bought spring of 2007 and it still cranks the mower sometimes you get a very good one !

 

Sorry to hear. Not funny but my truck 2017 with 28k sat for two weeks in garage. I just got back from 12hr flights to have it completely dead. The dealer is not open til Wednesday. I jumped it with wife’s car, then put a tender on overnight. Yes, I should have used the tender over the two weeks. Plan to take to Autzone when open to charge. Hopefully little gremlins wil not show up when it is all connected back.
Merry Christmas to all!

 

In my Nissan Frontier I found out the hard way not to fool around trying to get a few extra days out of a weak battery. I started noticing it dragging a little from time to time when I would get in to go to work in the morning. It wasn’t every morning but maybe twice a week. Being busy as a bee, I never went and had it checked. After a couple weeks, I noticed my gas gauge wasn’t working. That grabbed my attention and started trying to figure out why. Had truck put on machine said bad battery and the electronics on top of the fuel pump, fuel sending unit, was bad. Pump was good but electronics fried all because of weak battery.

I’ve been contemplating a new one on my 15 Canyon even though this one seems to be okay currently. I do keep an eye on the voltage meter in the dic though.

My suggestion...Get a new battery!

 

Batteries die mostly in two ways -

Sulfation - the formation of lead sulfate crystals, which do not revert back to lead and sulfuric acid with normal charging. This leads to reduced battery capacity over time. Some battery maintainers provide a slightly higher voltage spike while charging which breaks down the lead sulfate crystals.

Flaking - the lead electrodes are sitting in sulfuric acid and will be corroded over time. Chunks of lead fall off and drop to the bottom of the battery case. The reduction in amount of lead in the plates leads to a reduction in ability to hold charge. A build up of lead chunks can short a cell. AGM batteries with the matting between the plates can reduce failure through shorting.

However, AGM doesn't like underhood heat and unlike conventional lead acid batteries, they can not be conveniently topped off with distilled water.

 

FWIW, I buy all my batteries from Advance Auto...they're a re-branded "Deka" made in PA and are very durable. Already have one in riding mower, son's Kia & Daughter's Kia. Also, son's OEM Kia (2011 / 8-yrs-old) just crapped the bed so whatever those Asians put in his car was pretty decent.

 

Well, if you could use a deep cycle battery for something else (camper, trolling motor,boat, fridge, etc), just buy 1 & bring it with you & a pair of jumper cables. If it does die, you can jump yourself & then have battery replaced.

 

That's a good idea. Hadn't even considered jump starting myself. I will keep that in mind. Thanks!