My 2014 C7 battery is now over 3 years old and is always on the Battery Tender in the garage. No problems yet but I wonder if it would be worth while to replace it now.

 

While there are always exceptions, batteries “generally” last 3-5 years. If properly maintained, the battery life “typically” can be closer to 5. If it’s charging properly, and maintaining its charge, then I’d say you “should” be able to get another year or two

 

Your battery should be fine for at least another year. You could have it load tested or for the small dollar amount and peace of mind just replace it.

 

I replaced the battery on my 2014 and was surprised to find that the factory battery was only a Silver series battery rated for 30 months. I just replaced mine with a ACDelco gold series 72 month battery with 40 month free replacement.
Anything over 3 years on the factory battery is living on borrowed time.

 

Build date: 03 Feb, 2014 (one month on the showroom floor), and now a DD. Never on a tender, because I drive it all the time, however, I did leave it for a week, last week, and it fired up just fine.

Still going strong. Mine's old (as far as these things go), and there is very little data before us, so it will be interesting to see how long batteries last, and when they go south what kind of "interesting" funky behavior may happen.

I don't see any evidence of the C7 being a battery eater like the C6 is, at this point.

 

^Agreed.

Just because a battery is labeled 30-, 42-, 72-month does not mean it's done when reaching that point. That's a warranty rating.

Unless it has history of being depleted, it's likely to last much longer, and charging it by driving every day or keeping it on a battery tender can keep them healthy for up to double their warrantied lifetime.

 

My experience with OEM new car batteries is all over the ballpark. My C5 when new got barely 2 years as a daily driver, no less. My friend's went four under the same conditions. My 05 Ram was 11 years old and still going strong when it was totaled. I've gotten 7 to 10 years on Optimas. So... imho, it's a total crap-shoot. If in doubt... sure, get a new one and hope it was the right decision.

(and, yes, I'm a firm believer and user of Battery Tenders on all my toys.)

 

Also depends on where you live. Living in AZ, I've noticed battery life is less than when I lived in Illinois. Overall battery life for all my vehicles in Arizona has been about three years +/-.

My C6's were the worse. Averaged about two years on the 06 and 10.

A couple of mechanics also told me it depends on where the battery is located. I wanted to change a perfectly good three year old battery in my 2011 Jeep GC to avoid a surprise. The battery tested fine, and they pointed out it is located under the passenger seat. A cooler location than under the hood.

Since my battery is in the trunk, thinking that might apply. Although my 10 GS was in the trunk and still failed every two years!! Okay... C6's do seem to be battery drainers....

 

I replaced my the battery in my September 2013 built C7 after 3 years since it had a low voltage since it was new. Never had a problem and was on vacation several times for 2 to 2 1/2 weeks. Started fine. Never used a charger as it was my DD. But thought I might keep the car for my usual 5 years and did not want to have to replace it last winter! It is a PIA to replace and best done when you want and have time. Turns out I decided to buy a Grand Sport this past Spring! The new owner got a new AGM quality battery!

Now my street rod is always on a charger! That Yellow Top Optima is now 7 years old. Been considering getting a new battery since it has electric doors and windows and the battery is inside the car! When at car shows I leave a window open in case I need a jump! Keeping it charged does increase battery life.

If you intend to keep the car get an AGM (Absorbed Glass Matt) battery. I bought a DieHard for <$150; wait for a sale if not in a rush! Changing batteries is not easy and if your not careful you can rip the carpet getting access! Several posters reported a dealer ripping the carpet and an AAA person surly will! This is a PDF of how I installed with a way to avoid ripping the carpet: http://netwelding.com/Battery_Issues.pdf

 

Agree. your typical battery should last 5yrs. Mine too is oem from 2014. I check it every other month and it always reads fully charged. You should notice it slow to crank for the most part as it gets week.

 

Does your charger have float mode? If yes, you should be good to go for the next coupe of years.

No need to replace the battery if it isn't broken or stops holding a charge. If you are really worried, have it checked every few months at an auto store. They should check it for free.

 

If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Sounds like your properly maintaining your battery. No need to prematurely replace it. Normally, it will start to exhibit sings of failure, that's when you replace it.

 

Take the time to get it tested for peace of mind. Mine lasted for about 3 years and was on the CTEC nearly all the time when not being driven. Mine lost a cell and the max voltage it would hold when charged was around 10V. The Duralast I replaced it with has been fine.

 

It all depends upon the service environment the battery has seen and depending upon how the C7 is driven it can have a very long battery life. A big thing in the C7's favor is the battery is located away from the engine bay so it doesn't get cooked.

Most batteries that have a short life have been heavily discharged numerous times and standard automotive batteries are damaged by every deep discharge; so called "deep discharge" batteries are also impacted by this treatment but they will live longer under this rough treatment than regular batteries. Short trips (insufficient to charge the battery) coupled with long periods of inactivity between trips is a reason for the short lifetime of some Corvette batteries.

The C7, and Z06 in particular, direct injected engines have somewhat longer cranking time than previous port injected engines because the camshaft driven high pressure fuel pump has to build fuel rail pressure to the required point before the injectors are commanded to fire. This means that each start, particularly a cold start where the oil is cold, draws heavily from the battery and it takes some time to replenish this energy through the charge process. Two to four mile trips don't provide sufficient charge time so if your C7 is a short trip mainly car a battery tender is helpful even when it isn't in hibernation.

The longest battery life I have gotten is in my diesel pickups and my current one got 8 years out of the factory batteries. Although the pickup has very high starting current needs because the battery is turning over a large displacement very high compression engine (and powering a heater in the air intake and 8 glowplugs during cold starts) the two batteries are recharged quickly and the pickup never sees short distance runs and rarely runs less than 30 minutes between starts so its batteries stay fully charged.

 

My 14 Z41 battery died at the 2 year mark for whatever reason. Luckily the car was in the garage rather than me being out on the road somewhere. Replaced for free under warranty of the car. Those 14's have THE best warranty of any of the C7's.


I did have a 2001 Ram Diesel with 2 batteries. I replaced them at 12 years simply because I did not want to get stranded and could not believe the oem batteries in my truck could be that old and still going strong. I'm a firm believer in preventive maintenance but it would have been interesting to see just how long they would have gone!

 

I replaced my 2006’s battery after 8 years because I noticed that the idle voltage had dropped a bit. I only used a Battery Tender when it would be left unused for 3 or more weeks. That car never experienced the typical C6 battery drain

Replace the battery when it needs to be replaced. If it ain’t broke…

 

The modern batteries tend to fail without warning.
I have driven mine and it started normally, and the next morning ...nothing.


It is a lot easier to replace the battery in your garage than it is to have it fail in a parking lot on on the road.

 

This is the ticket. All batteries are based on amps. With this you simply measure how many amps are left in your battery. If its to low you need a new one.

 

Does it also measure volts?
What if you have a dead cell?

 

Yes

It measures volts and tells you if you have a dead cell. It works the same as the large devices they use to test your battery. Like at auto zone. They cost about 50 dollars on ebay