How Long Should an Original Battery Last?

[auxmike]

Are these usually in stock and do you have a price?
THX

[RedRide]

BTW..... contrary to popular belief, heat is a bigger killer of batteries than cold,
So, in very hot climates a battery might have a shorter life span than in cooler climates with everthing else being equal.

[red 5 door]

Remember the battery was installed before your car came out,2011 cars have 2010batterys,4-5 yr is about all i would trust.all alternators say (in the box),this is a battery matainer not a charger,i charge all my batteries once a month,habit from motorcycles,i just through a tender on it overnight.just my 2cts,if unsure,after charged,do a load test.

[ROCKLAND TOYOTA]

07 with 50k and still going.....

[nemelek]

I find that if a battery ever goes dead the life is shortened. My Dodge diesel has 2 batteries. I am going to hate to replace them.

[devinlamothe]

I have 215,150km on my battery and it's not dead. I just had it checked and it was still fine.

These batteries are good!

[ROCKLAND TOYOTA]

over the past 5 years ive had to jumpstart at least a 1/2 dozen times.....

[N9QGS]

I believe my artery was in bad shape after about 3 1/2 years / 130K miles

[barryware]

My 2007 LB which I have had since September of 2006...

It was at the airport for 4 days. I got back, and went to start it.. It did start but cranked VERY slow. So slow, I considered myself lucky that it even started.

A couple of days later, I stopped at a local parts store and they tested the battery. The OEM battery is supposed to have a 500 CCA capacity. Mine tested out at 128 so I replaced the battery. The new battery is rated at 640 CCA.

I'm not sure how the new instruments for testing batteries work. It took about a minute for the results to display on the screen of the tester. The wires that connect to the battery sure didn't look big enough to put any type of real load on the battery.

Back in the day, I used a gizmo that was a big resister box with an analog meter on it. The cables that connected to the battery looked like jumper cables.

I live in the midwest.. The summers are hot and the winters are cold. I got 5+ years out of the OEM battery.

[goliath1812]

'07 sedan with 90,000 miles. I replaced OEM battery for a smaller Deka 15 LB. Never had any problems with OEM though, living in Florida. Heat here must not have had any effect on mine. I have it sitting in my garage in case anything happens to the Deka.

[RedRide]

Originally Posted by N9QGS

I believe my artery was in bad shape after about 3 1/2 years / 130K miles

WTF have you been eating the past 3 1/2 years that clogged your arteries? Are you hitting MIcky D's frequently while driving?

Sorry, I could not resist......

[Kaotic Lazagna]

Originally Posted by RedRide

WTF have you been eating the past 3 1/2 years that clogged your arteries? Are you hitting MIcky D's frequently while driving?

Sorry, I could not resist......

[Split]

Originally Posted by victorddr

Better option will be AGM battery (Spiral cell) since it could last much longer (10 yrs maybe), the drawn back is the price around twice as much as the OEM.

link to a part? wife's yaris wouldn't start this morning. what's the best battery i can fit in it? I'm not concerned about price or weight, just the most cold cranking amps possible. If i recall correctly, last year i tried an optima red top and it didnt fit properly.

[othater]

My battery started acting up recently 78K.
Since I have a automatic I figure I better get a replacement.
Went with a Costco Kirkland.
Slightly taller, had to bend the hold down bracket to make it work.

[auxmike]

Yeah, the stock battery is about 1/4 inch shorter. I just bent the bracket and it fits fine now:)

[Split]

i cant fit a tall battery because of an aftermarket strut bar above it. it has to be the same height or shorter

[nookandcrannycar]

My original battery from the factory lasted 138,000 miles and 35 months (from October of 2006 to September of 2009). I originally thought I would trade my Yaris in for a new one in June of 2010, so in September of 2009 I bought the cheapest battery that offered a convenient 1 year guarantee and would also fit -- this ended up being the Sears Plus Start - Size 26R. I paid 49 dollars and change for it and the test (to make sure it was the battery that was failing)/install was 12.00 and the tax was about 8.00. The total was under 71 dollars. I just hit 80,000 miles on this battery (I decided to keep this Yaris -- see how many 'economically efficient' miles I can get out of it ), but given the heat (as an earlier poster on this thread pointed out) and lower expected quality ('a 1yr') I don't expect to get as many miles as the original. I haven't traveled more than 300 miles or so away from the Gulf Coast during the last two SUMMERS (2010 and 2011), so it is certainly possible that this heat exposure (especially during August 2011) shortened the life of the battery. I'm pretty happy with the cost vs lifespan re the Sears Plus Start -- and over 2.5 years later the price is still the same. I'll probably replace the battery in my Yaris with another Sears Plus Start 'when the time comes'.

[DARKSCOPE001]

it all depends. Making sure you never leave your lights on or allow the battery to go completely dead will greatly increase its life span. When I was still in A&P school we had a "battery class" and "battery care lab" now granted the batteries I worked on were not sealed because the teacher wanted us to learn the most about servicing them. but none the less they were still lead acid batteries.

So you could always tell which batteries were well maintained and which wernt. The ones that were still had good cranking power and high level of accidity (whatever I dont remember I dont care either all I remember is you checked it with a hydrometer )

The students that would let the batteries die and be neglected on the other hand would fail miserably and generally needed replaced at the end of a few quarters of light(ish) use.

Also I had a car that had a good battery in it when i started driving it. Left my lights on all the time (no door dinger for lights left on) and that good battery quickly became a bad battery after about the 10th time doing that.

If you think your battery is failing just go have it load checked that will give you a good idea. but those things cant see into the future. if it acts up just replace it. The little batteries in these cars are cheep, and being stuck somewhere with no way to start the car sucks.

Thanks
Sean Scott