Seven Years on a Battery

addo · Unread post by **addo** » 28 Jan 2010, 15:27

Not bad, eh?

And - yes, it did.

Unread post by **Paul-R** » 28 Jan 2010, 16:37

Still original batteries on my 2003 C5 (7 years) and 2001 Xsara (9 years).

I'm not sure the C5 will last another winter though, maybe a new one in the autumn.

HDI · Unread post by **HDI** » 28 Jan 2010, 18:03

The battery on my Xantia is around that age , it is good going ! Lets compare brands , mine is Fiamm.

addo · Unread post by **addo** » 29 Jan 2010, 08:48

Departed battery was a motorists' association unit, Calcium type.

I bought an AC Delco one to replace it; £66 at trade price to the workshop door.

KP · Unread post by KP » 29 Jan 2010, 10:09

The ones fitted to Kia's should last that long considering their offered warranties now

HDI · Unread post by **HDI** » 29 Jan 2010, 10:31

Consumables are excluded from warranties

addo · Unread post by **addo** » 29 Jan 2010, 19:28

ROFL, the first battery warranty that excludes the car.

Unread post by **CitroJim** » 29 Jan 2010, 19:53

addo wrote:Calcium type.

Do you have to top those up with milk Adam

lexi · Unread post by **lexi** » 29 Jan 2010, 21:34

Very often the original battery is the best and lasts longest. Many reasons.

I like Unipart Samson batterys. They are made by Yuasa of Japan according to my parts man at Partco. They aint silly price either.

Citroenmad · Unread post by **Citroenmad** » 29 Jan 2010, 21:46

There was me thinking a battery is a battery!

In my expereince batteries usually start to fail at around 7 years onwards, i guess it depends how often the car is used etc.

HDI · Unread post by **HDI** » 29 Jan 2010, 22:59

Car batteries are far from a simple subject !
Longer life will be obtained from a battery that is in daily use on the vehicle and when that vehicle is driven long enough after a cold start to fully recharge it.
7 years is very good going though , I've had them fail in as little as 2-3 years. I'm very impressed with this Fiamm battery in my Xantia , it was bought new for another car from which I salvaged it. It's labeled as OEM quality , when it eventually fails I'll replace with another as it only cost £39 from a local vehicle electrical specialist. If they're still there that is , 7 years is a long time !

addo · Unread post by **addo** » 30 Jan 2010, 08:57

Jim, I topped the old one up with milk of magnesia.

I'll be interested to see how this "forced change" to a new battery affects error code generation.

Seven years is about the best I've managed; considering this was on an autobox car, it's not too bad! Could tell it was going; central locking "note" was changing, engine faltered when fans kicked onto high, starter was marginally slower. All of this has been noticeable for some weeks.

Edit to add...

The "failure to proceed" meant I had to take Paris the 405 Mi16 out as a daily driver for some errands. Aside from the lack of aircon on a rather toasty and humid day, it was mostly fun. The motorkhana challenge was running some twisty roads with a carful of wheels and tyres; every left turn I had to steer with my right hand and use my left to bat away a teetering pile of shod 14" rims the seatbelt refused to secure. Bit of a shame; I'd have liked some more time to really wind it out with no handicapping.

Unread post by **xantia_v6** » 30 Jan 2010, 14:40

HDI wrote:Car batteries are far from a simple subject !
Longer life will be obtained from a battery that is in daily use on the vehicle and when that vehicle is driven long enough after a cold start to fully recharge it.

Some time in the mid 90s I put a Bosch battery in my XJ-S (they are hard on batteries because the battery is in the boot and the V12 takes a lot of amps when cold). Due to other interests, the car sat without being driven for a couple of years. When I went to recommission the car in 1998, the battery would not take a charge, so I went to buy another one. The man at the shop saw that the old battery was also a Bosch and gave a completely free replacement under warranty (a nice surprise)

. I drove the car regularly for about 6 months, then the water pump failed, and I was too busy restoring the E-type to fix the XJ-S, so it sat for about 6 months.
When I got the E-type running, I transferred over the battery from the XJ-S, and drove it regularly for 3 weeks, at this time the engine was both tight and very difficult to start due to fuelling problems. Then I moved country, leaving the E-type sitting in a barn for a year. Then it was moved to professional storage where the battery was probably looked after for a few months, then the car was shipped to the UK, which meant another couple of months sitting flat, I jump started it and drove it home. It then sat for 5 months while the car had some work done.
After all tha abuse and sitting for at least 2 months every winter, the battery continued to start the V12 until the end of 2007

I never have got around to buying a charger in the UK.

Unread post by **Dommo** » 31 Jan 2010, 00:45

My dad's V reg/2000 vectra is still on it's original battery! And it never fails to start, pretty impressive really.