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I run em' until they die....they I charge them up, and if they take the charge, I run em' a little longer. We have jumper cables in each car and I've yet to have either me or my wife stranded by a dead battery. I also have a jump starter that is kept charged and ready for vehicles, lawn mower, or generator.

BTW, the battery in my wife's Miata lasted 8 years.....then I trickle charged it and got another 2 years out of it.

I run them till they die and then if they happen to be under warranty, I'll get them replaced at the dealership. If they are out of warranty, I pick one up at Walmart or Auto-Zone. Maybe I've just had really bad luck, but dealer batteries stink and I've yet to have a new car in the past 15 years or so whose batter lasted much more than a year. It doesn't seem to be single car manufacturer either. I've had dealer batteries go bad inside or shortly after a year in four Ford's, two Honda's, one Pontiac and one Toyota. Replace the factory battery with one from Auto-Zone or Walmart and the things seem to last forever (or at least until I get rid of the car after 4 or 5 years).

I don't think I've ever had a battery that didn't last at least 5 years.

jmra wrote:I don't think I've ever had a battery that didn't last at least 5 years.

Walmart brand neverstart last 2-3yrs. I only buy the factory motorcraft brand for my fords.

nightmare69 wrote:

jmra wrote:I don't think I've ever had a battery that didn't last at least 5 years.

Walmart brand neverstart last 2-3yrs. I only buy the factory motorcraft brand for my fords.

Sorry to burst your Motorcraft bubble, but the "factory Motorcraft brand" isn't made by Ford...they are manufactured by Johnson Controls, as are most of the other auto manufacturer's OEM batteries. Johnson Controls also makes batteries for other retail brands sold under various names such as Interstate, Everstart, Diehard, Energizer, and so on. There are only 3 or 4 battery manufacturers that produce them for everyone else but 80% are made by Johnson Controls or Exide. Johnson Controls is the biggest, second is Exide...GM used to make it's own under the Delco brand. but they sold it to Johnson Controls several years ago. Both Johnson Controls and Exide produce batteries sold by Walmart under their Everstart store label.

I basically log when they are purchased and then replace at 4years. I keep a solar powered trickle charger on the lawn tractor because the factory battery lasted less than 2 years.