Battery Life

[mlschultz]

I had to replace the battery in The Mark this past weekend. Seems I can get about 36 months out of a 65 month battery. The last 2 batteries were Interstate MTP 65's. The second one was under prorated warranty, and I paid $94 for the $150 battery.

This time, I went with a Motorcraft BXT 65 for $150 instead of the Interstate, because of a customer satisfaction issue I have with the local Interstate Battery store. The Motorcraft has a 3 Year Free Replacement and up to 100 Months Prorated Warranty from O'Reilly.

Some background for those not in the know... The Mark spends most of it's days under cover in the garage without a trickle charger. It comes out to play on the weekends. During the winter, it may sit for a couple months depending on the weather conditions.

How many months do you get out of your battery?

 

[steve]

5 to 6 years on average. Get them at Costco. My Vette battery lasted about 7 years and sat a lot but i used a battery tender on it, they help a lot.

 

[tixer]

I generally feel like I'm living right when I get four years out of a 1000+ CCA battery. In this environment, brand doesn't seem to matter so much, but they all have warranties similar to your Motorcraft one. I usually end up with some sort of pro-rated discount on the replacement.

Lately I've been getting them from Fleet Farm, mostly due to the superior customer service of their competent and accessible staff. There's always a person at the automotive counter, and they always know how to run the tester. The exchanges are a quick in-and-out, and they don't second-guess me for getting the "big" battery. I don't know how the product quality compares to the big guys, but the service certainly makes the difference.

 

[Roadboss]

Mike: "Whiner" only comes out in nice weather also. I gave up trying to keep up with the battery issues, and disconnect the battery when the car is going to set longer than 2-3 weeks. I have 1 new spare battery that I keep ready to go if needed. They are both Advance Auto's Auto Craft Gold, 850 CCA. I may have some electrical issues with the alarm system (short) as the batteries definitely loose their charge if left longer unattended. One of these days we may dig into it. But for now it is just a case of adapting to the situation as it has been going on for many years. I also run one of the PA heavy duty alternators.

 

[redn8]

I had my Mark for 3 years and never changed the battery.

 

[LSC HUNTER]

With any car that sits batteries will not last long if they keep getting drained down to their lowest before boost required.

I bought a brand new battery for my Magnum this summer and it crapped out after 5 months. I always felt it was weak but the Polar Vortex temps proved it for me. When I tool it back I ended up getting the new Ultra Flat AGM battery that has a 60 month replacement warranty and then pro rated for another 60 after that.

 

[driller]

I would rate the batteries I have had in the following descending order:

Odyssey AGM (5 years +)
MotorCraft (~4 years)
Sears Die Hard Gold (3 years and counting)
Wal-Mart (~2 years)
Auto Craft Auto Gold (1 year +)

 

[Meister]

My Mark is only driven on weekends and out of town trips. I try to run it at least one a week, but sometimes it doesn't move for a month. I use Motorcraft batteries in it. The last one lasted 7 years, and I currently have 4 years on the one in there.

Doug

 

[mlschultz]

Did some web searching and found this:

There are three major manufactures of lead acid batteries sold in the USA.

Exide: makes Champion, Exide, Napa, and some EverStart batteries.


Johnson Controls: makes Diehard (Sears), Duralast (AutoZone), Interstate, Kirkland (Costco), Motorcraft (Ford), ACDelco, Optima, and some EverStart (Wal-Mart) models.


East Penn: makes Carquest, DEKA, Daimler Trucks North America, Deere & Company, Harley-Davidson and several private labels.

There is another manufacturer, Enersys, that sells their batteries under the Odyssey and Diehard Platinum brand labels. Consumer Reports has high ratings for these two brands of batteries.

 

[Lvnmarks]

I've been running mostly Interstate and seeing only 3-4 years on the, weather it was in my daily driver or the mark. I now buy based on warranty.

 

[tixer]

An interesting observation from this thread so far though: It seems like the AGM batteries have become more common, and it seems like they may be worth it? Who else is running one of these?

 

[SCTBIRD1173]

Mike you overpaid for that Motorcraft battery... they list for $119.95 from the dealer.

I run Motorcraft batteries in everything I own. I truly believe you can't beat them for the money.

My '05 Explorer still has it's original Motorcraft battery in it with 79K on the clock. My wife's old '96 Mustang is at 187K and on it's second Motorcraft battery since new. I have a BXT-65-650 from my '95 Taurus that is 11 years old and still chugging along. These are just a few examples...

 

[driller]

My '05 Explorer still has it's original Motorcraft battery in it with 79K on the clock. My wife's old '96 Mustang is at 187K and on it's second Motorcraft battery since new. I have a BXT-65-650 from my '95 Taurus that is 11 years old and still chugging along. These are just a few examples...

The OEM Motorcraft battery in the '06 Town car lasted 6 years to 2012. In all likelihood it was 7 years old. Pretty good in my book.

 

[chris2523]

the motorcraft in the LS was replaced just a few years ago. and its an '00 model year car. probably got 10 years out of it. but not sitting and being inside probably helped as well.

 

[beerdog]

I now work for this company http://www.midtronics.com. No one globally knows more about how batteries perform than this company. I am not kidding. When automotive OEM's or battery manufacturers want to understand what is happening with their batteries they come to us. Virtually every battery tester used in OEM dealers and within battery mfg retail networks is designed by us. The battery engineers here think about batteries the way we think about Mark8's. I have learned quite a bit over the last 6 months. Mike is right, there are only 3 primary battery makers. There are some construction differences, but basically a flooded lead-acid battery is a flooded lead acid battery. The big differences are in plate construction, plate quantities, and quantity of lead. Heat is what degrades your battery and they typically fail in the winter. I would expect mike's batteries to never last as long as the rating regardless of the brand. Lots of heat exposure, heavy start load, drag racing temps, drag racing launch G's, long sitting periods, lots of start cycles, short trips....Man you are beating that poor battery to Death! The experts here say to simply buy a battery with the rating in the car manual. Then give it a good charge 1-2 times a year. A guy here uses a motorcycle battery in his car hooked up to a solar maintainer. Maintainers are a must for long periods of sitting. AGM's are not an advantage unless you need more reserve capacity or your vehicle is subjected to lots of abrupt movements like off-roading, road racing, excessive drag racing since the glass mat construction keeps the electrolyte from sloshing around. I can definitely get some inside scoop on which batteries are the better ones to buy.

 

[Roadboss]

Nice input "Dog". I knew that Johnson Controls made many of the private label brands and Auto Craft Gold (also Johnson Controls) was available to me as I worked for Advance part time for a couple of years (good discount). My DD 96 has the same battery in it and it's been 6 years with no problems, and the alternators was changed 9 years ago. The key as "Dog" pointed out is not to totally drain these batteries down as they also can take out an alternator as well.

 

[beerdog]

Another thing to understand is the same battery will not last as long in different parts of the country. Also, your driving habits are the biggest factor. A nice long daily commute is the best thing for your battery.

 

[mlschultz]

Thanks for the info Mike! Makes sense.

Good point too, Charlie. I also believe a weak battery can put a strain on the alternator. I have never used jumper cables to start the car.

When I had the motor built, there were no issues with the original alternator that had around 100k miles on it. I decided to replace it with a new Motorcraft one and continue to be trouble free for the last 20k miles.

 

[Lownslowlsc]

I had a group 34 Duralast Gold rated @ 800/1000 in it up until last June, lasted 2.5 years. The majority of my trips are pretty short. It got warrantied and was upgraded to a group 65 900/1000 (New warranty ) and it's doing well so far.

Speaking of warranties, I haven't paid for a single battery from Autozone in 12 years / 4 cars, I just transfer battery from car to car. Every time one dies and they don't have the identical battery (sp/dp) or it's out of stock you can get a similar battery (in the case I upgraded to the correct size) and a fresh 3yr/5yr. I'll just say that i've taken full advantage of said warranty

 

[steve]

I get the Costco brand, I know they are Johnson Controls, 3 year 100% replacement and 100 months or maybe more pro rated. Since I used a battery tender on my vette I swear by them. The battery in my turbo flex with the tow package has insulation around it. Maybe to protect it from the heat? We were trying to figure that out on the Flex forum.

My great uncle worked here in NJ at the GM Delco battery plant before it closed down. He said there were very few factories left in the US when it closed down and they would also make batteries for Ford.