How Long Can a Battery Last?

[pdub]

When i have more than one car per person, I run them till they die.

I did that with Silver Bullet, the 1990 Geo Prizm I ended up with after a divorce. Turned over 200K, still running like a top. I had the conscious desire to see how far it would go. It was paid for, paint peeling off of it, free ride, right?

Well, I never had the forethought to think, where will I be when it finally pukes bodily fluid and croaks? Answer: Pulling into the Charlotte airport, outbound. I had driven an hour in morning traffic to get there, it coulda happened anywhere along the way, but Bullet got me exactly there one last time. With a flight to catch.

I'm old enough now to where I won't do that again. The very concept of "where will I be when it dies?" didn't cross my mind. Sorta like a DF Roadkill adventure. But he's got a camera crew with him if/when anything really goes terminally wrong.

[oldsman496]

The one in the 57 seems to need replacing every 2-4 years... Same alt as in the 77 flatbed... Flatbed's got a screwed stud on top.. Group 31?... Got it out of the local International dealer's battery core box about 12 years ago..
I guess it " just depends"
The flatbed gets driven harder and more..

Most marine battery's have a screw terminal for positive and negative connections...

and I have a Yellow top Optima that is more than 10 yrs old... just quit takin' a charge a few months ago... i am gonna try and fix it according to Optima's insctructions... 1-888-8OPTIMA....

[Bill McGuire]

Most marine battery's have a screw terminal for positive and negative connections...

and I have a Yellow top Optima that is more than 10 yrs old... just quit takin' a charge a few months ago... i am gonna try and fix it according to Optima's insctructions... 1-888-8OPTIMA....

Should be very similar to this story I did at HOT ROD two years ago:

http://www.hotrod.com/techarticles/general/hrdp_1009_how_to_charge_a_agm_battery/viewall.html

What happens: AGM batteries tend to have very low internal resistance in their plates, enabling them to discharge more completely than conventional batteries. So when you hook up a battery charger, the charger's circuitry is unable to "see" the battery in the circuit and will refuse to charge.

The fix is to hook up a second, good battery in parallel with the charger/battery with a set of jumper cables. The second battery fools the charger into charging your first battery. Once the first battery's surface charge is up above 4.5 -5.0V or so, the charger will proceed normally.

By the way, this deep discharge can sometimes occur with conventional, non-AGM batteries as well. It's just far less common.

[Dan Barlow]

I did that with Silver Bullet, the 1990 Geo Prizm I ended up with after a divorce. Turned over 200K, still running like a top. I had the conscious desire to see how far it would go. It was paid for, paint peeling off of it, free ride, right?

Well, I never had the forethought to think, where will I be when it finally pukes bodily fluid and croaks? Answer: Pulling into the Charlotte airport, outbound. I had driven an hour in morning traffic to get there, it coulda happened anywhere along the way, but Bullet got me exactly there one last time. With a flight to catch.

I'm old enough now to where I won't do that again. The very concept of "where will I be when it dies?" didn't cross my mind. Sorta like a DF Roadkill adventure. But he's got a camera crew with him if/when anything really goes terminally wrong.

I work in a factory.......have 28 Pto days a year and a cell phone and I know how to use it. Lol

[Dan Barlow]

Anything else , I really don't mind a walk.

[Deaf Bob]

Most marine battery's have a screw terminal for positive and negative connections...

and I have a Yellow top Optima that is more than 10 yrs old... just quit takin' a charge a few months ago... i am gonna try and fix it according to Optima's insctructions... 1-888-8OPTIMA....

Nope not marine batteries... Semi truck batteries with nuts on them . Group 31