Same goes for most new batteries. Learned a long time ago to always test 'em before installation. You'd be shocked how far most are from a "full" charge.

 

I've had the same battery in my daily driver for 11 years and it's still going strong. It's a wonder marine deep cycle Delco battery. Why can't all batteries last this long?

 

Well he's right but I could build you a low-torque starter to turn the engine just fine. Its all in knowing what to do and ensuring you match the bushings up right with the armature. Of course I have a high torque starter on my Vette along with a 1045ca/950cca battery.

 

Basically the only difference in quality batteries and cheap junk is the quality of the insulators and the size of the lead connectors linking the cells.

Let me explain little more about batteries. When a battery is made and the acid is put into it they charge it up and then discharge it. They do this 3 times before its a finished product.

Sometimes during a hot summer or a super cold winter batteries are in big demand. Some factories will skip one cycle or maybe 2 to get the batteries to market. These are the times you should be Leary of batteries no matter where you get one at. When they do not cycle a battery properly its what I have always called a green battery.

If you were getting a quality battery (and a Die Hard is a pretty good quality battery) you have got a problem with something of yours. Could be just a slight drain that over a few months depletes the battery charge. Its not good on a battery to let them stay in a discharged state. After a while it will become what I call pickled and not ever become full power again. I have seen batteries lose 1/2 their power cause of this.

This was alot different in the old days of 100% lead batteries but now they use other properties such as selenium as a substitute for lead. It boost the CCA's but has a bad affect on the longevity of a battery thats getting run down alot. It seems to happen to batteries in the 2 yr old class. Make sure your battery is full charge all the time and you won't have any problems.

Woo! Long post!

 

And the reason for that is some places don't sell a lot of batteries so they set in stock for months. I have seen people come into my shop with what they thought was a new battery (and it was to them) but it was over 2 yrs old. The second they drop the acid in a battery they start to wear out. Hmmm acid is a corrosive go figure.

 

You sir are in for a big surprise one of these days. You'll have to rebuild your starter and alternator THEN buy a new battery. If you had a set of 40k tires on your car and had 120k on them would you drive with them with confidence? They would be bald of course and your battery has had to shed the majority of the lead from the plates. Your starter, alternator and regulator are working overtime. Get ready if you insist to stretch it over 4 yrs,

 

Ahh one other thing about batteries and longevity is where you live at. A battery in Florida will last a lot longer than a battery in Alaska. This is cause of the specific gravity of a battery. They use hotter acid up north and weaker acid down south. The acid also acts as a antifreeze so it needs to be hotter for use up north. Again acid is a corrosive the hotter it is the faster it will eat the battery alive.

 

Well, I am on my third Optima in 3 years.
When my Suburban killed its battery 3 years ago I took the AutoZone DuraLast out of my '74 and put it in the Sub, thinking I was buying a trick, low maintenance battery when I bought the Optima. The first one lasted about a year. The symptoms were that it would drain after a couple weeks of non-use, then only a week, etc. I exchanged it. Same thing again. I tested the alternator, which tested OK, but I changed it anyway, same problem again.
My car has no radio or AC or anything else that should drain the battery, just an MSD and a clock.
The third one is about 6 months old, but I blew the engine right after I installed it. I just started the engine for the first time tonight, after having the battery disconnected for 6 months, and it was able to crank several times (distributor 180 degrees out) and started the car.
Hopefully this one will last. If not, I'm going back to AutoZone for another Duralast. The one I took out of the Corvette to put in the Sub 3 years ago is still working great.
Jeff

 

Another good thing about Optimas: They don't gas up the interior like regular batteries do.

As far as replacing a good battery just because it's "old", why? If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Besides, even if it does kill the alternator it's still cheaper than replacing an expensive Optima

 

I dunno guys, for decades now, all I have been doing is buy the cheapest battery from an AZ type place that I can get my hands on, and use it for an average of 4 years, then get a new one....hell with it, I run them till they fail...shortest time was 2 years....if I have any symptoms of weak battery, first thing I do is check for current drain by inserting a MA or ampmeter in series with one lead....then check the alt for proper voltage....
after that, it's just obvious to me where/what the difficulties are.....

guess being an old ET with some experiences in battery back up design engineering problems is somewhat helpful....

GENE

 

You must not of read what I wrote. As a battery wears out (and they DO wear out) your elect system is taking a beating. The alt charges for longer periods of time getting hotter than designed. The starter with a weak battery will still get the cranking amps it needs to start (even seems like its not laboring too) but the voltage will drop below the 12 min and slowly burn it out. After you hammer your starter, alt or both then you'll have to replace the battery or it will start all over again but much sooner if you just fix/replace the bad starter/alt and leave an old wore out battery (over 4 yrs old) in your car.

Owning a rebuilding shop I cringe when people insist on running an old weak battery. When I ask a customer how old their battery is when they buy something from me and they say its 5-6+ yrs old I tell them I don't have anything to sell them if they don't listen to common sense about a battery and age. I'd rather lose a sale than to have someone that doesn't have a clue give me a bad name when they burn my unit out because of THEIR stupidity.


P.S. Why do you change your oil? I bet when you change it everything is working good. Just leave it in there till something breaks. Remember if it ain't broke don't fix it. Eh?

 

In fact I did read what you wrote. Maybe I should have been more clear & I apologize if you were offended. If a battery is working fine with no leakage & it passes all of the routine shop tests why should it be replaced? I understand the requirement for preventitive maintenance, but you really can't compare it with oil changes.
Think about it, if you took your car to the dealer for a service check &
they recommended changing the headlight bulbs because they were old but still worked, would you do it?
I would replace a battery if it failed a load test or if the static voltage was too high or too low.

Good luck with your battery business

 

iI'm gonna weigh in here. I maintan an 800 vehicle fleet (including some dedicated electric vehicles) and we go through a ton of batteries. BatManFire know of what he speaks here. The typical sedan or light truck goes 3 years no matter what brand battery it has. We get the occasional 'miracle battery', but they're rare. With our electrics, we find that cycling them as many as four or five times when new gives us twenty percent better life, so I cycle all my own new batteries at least twice before I use them.

As for the brand we use: Interstate - best darn batteries we've ever used, with the Optimas among the worst. We tried them because they were gel batteries and much safer (as in an accident) and are less likely to explode. Warranty was fine, but the labor hours to constantly replace them was killing me, and having a bunch of cars dead every Monday was less than optimum customer service, shall we say.

Hans

 

Wrencher knows what I'm talking about. Yeah I have seen multiple batteries of mine come back after 6-7-8-9 yrs of use. We just don't think its a wise practice to get into to tell someone to use it for anything with a charging system or starter.

The lead WILL fall off and be of no use, ACID EATS IT UP. I'd be smarter (but dishonest) to tell my patrons to yeah use it forever as long as your starting alright go ahead. I would sell twice as many alt or starters.

I look at my business like this. When a customer comes to my small shop instead of some parts house they come there because we fix their problem the 1st time. They got stranded once and maybe lost a days pay cause there car was broke down. I can't let it happen again.

I try to fix everyones problem so they DON'T have to come back(with that unit). From my 30+ yrs of experience of only working on starting and charging systems I know for a FACT that an old battery WILL screw up the electrical system.

Like I said if anyone insists on trying to stretch it out I want to thank you for the Elect rebuilder in you area.

 

Thanks for your advise my battery is going on 6 years - guess I got a good one (can't say enough about Optimas, got one in my wife's car too). Will I replace the battery even though it's still working good? Probably not.

If my alternator implodes I'll be sure to post some pics of it

 

There was a battery in the late 70s and early 80 that was the cats meow and it was called the Torque Starter battery. The funny thing about this battery is it didn't gas cause it regenerated the hyd gas. The battery wouldn't leak even if you took a hammer and caved the side in.

I seen a demo of a guy with a Lincoln pull up and stop take his battery out and cut it in half with a band saw and reinstall it. The battery didn't leak and started the car fine and he pulls away.

We sold a ton of these batteries I mean a TON of them. The only problem or its actual down fall was the battery had to use virgin lead. Virgin lead is very expensive and after a while the company iirc started trying to introduce more reclaimed lead into it. Well after that brain fart of trying to cut a corner and make more money the batteries went down hill. It got to the point where I had to stop selling the battery.

The company from what I heard gambled doing this and it cost them the whole business and they went down. Once a business starts thinking more about themselves than whats best for the customer you usually can kiss them good bye.

 

I just put one in my 70 454 and noticed the car cranked over right away and real sharp. Now, the old battery was suspect, but the Optima really seemed to make a difference. I'm no battery expert but that's my opinion. My Sears battery will hang out on the shelf for now.