Team-BHP - Car battery life - How long did your battery last?

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How does one test for a weak battery, other than a voltmeter if you can get hold of one?
The car starts on the first crank, but it displays Airbag failure message just after, which is reportedly one of the symptoms of weak battery, around 2.6 years aged.

Fiat Uno-
Exide- Lasted for 4.5 years

Maruti Alto-
Exide- Sold the vehicle after 3.3 years with the original battery.

Toyota Etios-
Tata Battery- 2 years and still counting.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ricci (Post 3146426)

Get it checked from a nearby battery shop and the person will test for a possible weak or dead cell.

Friend's Swift VDi - 2 yrs 6 months.

Quote:

Originally Posted by a4anurag (Post 3143744)

You got the battery exchanged, right? Did you go back to dealer to find out the status of the battery?

May be the battery was not able to hold the charging that was done by keeping it overnight. The central locking our any accessory does not consume much battery but the starter motor drains the juice to nil on a single crank.

My battery is also behaving same. Cranking its taking longer so when the car had gone for its 90K kms service the SA told it has a little life left and more over I have a daily running of 118 kms so it gets charged a bit which is enough for cranking the next time.

I have the torque pro app and a OBD 2 reader. Kept the car on ignition and checked it was reading a voltage of 11.9v without any accessory on. Switched on the head light and stereo the voltage went down to 11.8v. Switched off all accessories and cranked the engine, the voltage dropped to 4.6v.

Cheers,
Anurag.

Yup that's right. The battery was not holding any charge. did not go back to the fella after the exchange was done. But when buying the new battery the thought did occur to me that this is a nice trick to make customers buy a new battery- charge the battery for a few hours so that cranking the engine drains it out again. :Shockked:
It was a small shop and he did not have any fancy voltage measurement tools.
Anyway it had served a healthy 3+ years so went ahead and bought a new one.

My Vista Qjd's OE battery(Exide) died on sunday evening after serving for 4 years (38800 km). Called up exide bat mobile and found that 3rd cell went kaput.

Now looking for replacement - probably amaron.

after more than 6.5yrs of loyal service, the Exide Freedom in my Getz 1.3 died yesterday. never once in 6.5yrs did it give any trouble.

RIP.

Quote:

Originally Posted by IronH4WK (Post 3205375)

after more than 6.5yrs of loyal service, the Exide Freedom in my Getz 1.3 died yesterday. never once in 6.5yrs did it give any trouble.

RIP.

False alarm! It was a loose connection :D

Clock reset, many more miles to go ;)

My OEM Exide battery in my swift vdi was giving problems while starting, clocked 45 months, and running of 20k , based on the suggestion from MAS had to ultimately change it , though it had not died completely. Replaced with amaron DIN 65 GO for 4760/- ( was through some one in amaron ) with old battery buy back. Smal problem though - observed today. The head lamps are not as power ful as they used to be. Am not sure if there will be any difference with make as compared to OEM

The Exide on my Scorpio lasted 5 years and a couple of months. It had done 80,000 Kms. Must add that the electrical accessories were just the music system and the central locking system. Minimal usage of the airconditioner.

The Standard Furukawa on my Bolero was going strong even after 3 yrs 8 Months (115K kms) . I had replaced as a precautionary step before my Ladakh trip.

The 4th cell was a bit weak. But it always started even on the coldest mornings with a half-crank. But before the big trip just for a peace of mind i had it replaced with Exide Express 700 (65Ah) costing Rs4500/-

The electrical loads were the AC blower, a basic music system and 90/100 head-lamps. Most of the highway runs were only in the night with headlamps, AC and music on. The battery was always topped with distilled water once in 3 months. There were no leakages or acid spill overs. Impressive battery life for a Standard Furukawa.

Went for Exide Express just because the dealer was a long time known fellow. Otherwise always feel Amaron is a better battery (based on a previous experience on Omni).

OEM Exide freedom battery in Innova lasted little over 5 years. Innova had 500Kms+ run on sunday, but refused to crank on monday evening.
Last week, it was cranking bit lethargically, so I was sure that battery would need to be replaced but didn't expect it to die so soon.

I replaced with Exide express MHD700L (stock replacement for Innova from Exide) for Rs. 6200 after deducting old battery rebate, discount.
I wanted to buy Amaron (Go 95D26L) for Rs. 6300 but door-step service was an issue with Amaron reseller.

The Amaron, OE in my 2005 Swift Vxi is going to complete Eight very long years of absolutely trouble free service in four days time. That is by December 8.

Quote:

Originally Posted by rajeev k (Post 3311108)

The Amaron, OE in my 2005 Swift Vxi is going to complete Eight very long years of absolutely trouble free service in four days time. That is by December 8.

Wow, this lasts long really long. How many kms have the car run? What is the daily start stop pattern? I mean is it more of city or highway?

Quote:

Originally Posted by thoma (Post 3311168)

Wow, this lasts long really long. How many kms have the car run? What is the daily start stop pattern? I mean is it more of city or highway?

The car has crossed 49K and nearing 50K. I am not using this as my daily commute but is being used for longer drives and for city runs also. There were times when I have not started the car for over 15 days. The car is in fine nick and starts in second kick from cold condition, the first being a purposeful half kick. This being practiced from day one of this car. Of late I have noticed sulphate accumulation in terminals which I have cleaned off couple of times and this is the only change I have noticed. I feel it is in the last lap and I am also waiting to see how far it goes.
In the past an SF had clocked 6 years in my Omni and an Exide Freedom 6.5 years in an my 800. I also had an experience of only close to 4 years with an OE Exide in a 2007 model Alto.