Battery life and maintenance

[my8950]

How many years do you get from battery?
How many mile driven in that battery lifetime?
Do you still have original battery tray and aluminum heat shield?

The original battery tray from my car was gone, a number of years ago I install a new type of tray for the battery.
I have since also put the original aluminum heat shield back on the car.

It seems like the car goes through battery maybe once every 3yrs?
I’ve had duralast gold’s for a while, Autozone would warranty them out after a couple years.
In 2023 I got an Interstate Costco battery, which failed this year, 3yrs 5 months, meaning 5 months out of warranty.

I put tender on it over winter, or when it is not going to be used for a while.

I’m wondering if this is just what it is, or if there is something else going on.

[Ed Lijewski]

Considerations:

Quality of battery purchased: higher tier (from Walmart e.g.) are longer-lived at higher cost.

My experience owning three battery maintainers has been to use them throughout the year. On infrequently used cars, but also even monthly or so (over night e.g.) on daily drivers since shorter trips likely don't fully charge batteries (depending on current draws e.g.). Maintainers with desulfation cycles are particularly beneficial both on daily drivers as well as stored vehicles.

IME these practices meaningfully extend useful battery life but exactly how much is mostly guess work.

YMMV

[brokencase]

I get good service life with AGM batteries.

The AGM in the Scorpio is going on 7+ years. I don't put a tender on the Scorpio. But if it should happen to sit for a while (like more than 2 weeks - which is rare), then I may throw the charger on it. But keep in mind I have that 150 amp Titan alternator swap. I think that the alternator makes a big difference, I think it tops off the battery quicker on short trips, whereas the Bosch is substandard in this regard.

The 2019 Ford Ranger came stock with an AGM. It was replaced this Spring...so that was 7 years. I replaced it with a slightly larger battery size that they put in the Lariet version (easy swap, as suggested on the Ranger forum). Interestingly the auto start/stop feature stopped working three years before the battery finally died. The truck has a sophisticated battery monitoring circuit and the auto start/stop won't work unless the battery is in really good condition.

The best AGMs are the Optima brand. But they are expensive. I had one in the Sprite and I think it lasted about 15 years. But this car has no parasitic drain when the key is turned off. No clock, computer, etc.. With the AGM, the car can sit unused all Winter and will start right up in the Spring.

[DPDISXR4Ti]

I think with the XR, the big killer is the heat if you've still got the battery in the stock location. I've run my XR batteries in the rear for years.

With the Scorpio I think the big killer is the parasitic drain. I still need to figure out if mine is greater than "normal". Right now I've got a Duratec AGM battery in the Scorpio and if it sits for more than a week I put the charger on it.