OEM Battery Life - How Many Years?

[Patrickgault]

Does anyone have an estimate on the number of years for the average OEM battery life? I'm wondering when I should begin to start monitoring voltage for a possible replacement. Thanks!

Sponsored

 

[RagnarKon]

5-8 years generally speaking. Depends on the environment you live in really and how well the battery is cared for. (Continually depleting the battery, for example, reduces battery life.)

In my experience it's about 70-80% longer than the old school lead acid batteries

 

[dadjoke]

No idea, but watch it if you take a lot of short trips. I bought a $25ish trickle charger off amazon because my (...year old? at the time?) was giving me warnings in the app and dash. It works great and the battery is okay more than a year later, only having hooked it up about 1 night/week.


Hey guy, define lots of short trips: sure why not My kid's school is ~5 unwalkable minutes away, same with the grocery store. Gym, food, bank, home depot, costco, my inlaws...all just over that. I mean I take almost exclusively sub 10 minute trips.

 

[Johnkn]

The correct answer for recent Motorcraft OEM batteries is 2 months to 7 years lifespan.... (leaning toward the low end of that range).


.

 

[gwp]

Does anyone have an estimate on the number of years for the average OEM battery life? I'm wondering when I should begin to start monitoring voltage for a possible replacement. Thanks!

Mine only lasted two years. Failed at ~26K miles. Replaced under warranty. My driving is sporadic, usually very short trips, with the occasional long road trip or off-road day.

 

[Patrickgault]

Thanks all!

 

[Brian_B]

Voltage alone won’t be a good indicator of when to replace. The BMS system causes the alternator to go all over the place when running and it doesn’t take much deviation at all from engine-off voltage to cause havoc with the electrical system

The first good indicator that your battery is going bad is that ASS stops working - but that’s sometimes hard to pick up on. The next indicator is that the Bronco will go into “deep sleep” mode repeatedly.

Sometimes that’s the BMS system being overly protective and a trickle charge over night fixes things right up. Sometimes is just the battery going bad and it’s done.

Apart from that, you need an actual battery load tester to see if your battery is any good. Just looking at volts won’t cut it

 

[Brian_B]

No idea, but watch it if you take a lot of short trips. I bought a $25ish trickle charger off amazon because my (...year old? at the time?) was giving me warnings in the app and dash. It works great and the battery is okay more than a year later, only having hooked it up about 1 night/week.


Hey guy, define lots of short trips: sure why not My kid's school is ~5 unwalkable minutes away, same with the grocery store. Gym, food, bank, home depot, costco, my inlaws...all just over that. I mean I take almost exclusively sub 10 minute trips.

My wife is the same way with her Sport. Most of her trips are just a few miles, and every 3-4 months we have to put it on the trickle charger. And for her the first sign we need to do that is that Auto Start Stop stops kicking in. If we ignore it it starts to deep sleep - but a trickle charge over night seems to fix it right up and she’s still on the factory battery.

My work keeps me on long trips - rarely am I on a drive less than 25 miles, with most well over 50, and I’ve not had it happen to me at all (yet)

 

[adam1991]

it doesn’t take much deviation at all from engine-off voltage to cause havoc with the electrical system

especially on these rolling iPhones.

True story: 12 days ago on Saturday 8/24 we drove home our new OBX. Three days later I discovered that Advanced 4x4 wasn't working properly. Two days later (last Thursday) I dropped it off at the shop, where it sits today.

They started looking at it on Friday, and the first step of their troubleshooting involved looking at the battery.

The battery on my then 6 day old (built 12/23 and delivered almost 9 months later) OBX was bad. I forget if it was over voltage or undervoltage, but they replaced it immediately at the beginning of this troubleshooting process.

My guess is, sitting on the lot did it no favors.

They tell me I might have it back as early as tomorrow. I'm curious to see what the repair order shows.

It looks like a big battery, but the car is constantly connected to cellular. So there's that. Also, I believe stop/start takes a toll. (I'm disabling that when I get the truck back.)

On the other hand, my two Mk7 GTI had factory batteries that lasted just over 6 years each. But those are simpler cars.

So I agree, 2 months to 6 years.

 

[akturbo]

I replaced mine at 32 months, it was dying well before that. My Duramax OEMs lasted 11 years, so who knows.

 

[MNBigfoot]

Run a battery dead dead in the winter a couple times is a sure way to skew the average.

 

[PSUTE]

2012 Sierra still on the original battery. (No Onstar or other constant drain things)...

 

[[DELETED MEMBER 27901]]

especially on these rolling iPhones.

True story: 12 days ago on Saturday 8/24 we drove home our new OBX. Three days later I discovered that Advanced 4x4 wasn't working properly. Two days later (last Thursday) I dropped it off at the shop, where it sits today.

They started looking at it on Friday, and the first step of their troubleshooting involved looking at the battery.

The battery on my then 6 day old (built 12/23 and delivered almost 9 months later) OBX was bad. I forget if it was over voltage or undervoltage, but they replaced it immediately at the beginning of this troubleshooting process.

My guess is, sitting on the lot did it no favors.

They tell me I might have it back as early as tomorrow. I'm curious to see what the repair order shows.

It looks like a big battery, but the car is constantly connected to cellular. So there's that. Also, I believe stop/start takes a toll. (I'm disabling that when I get the truck back.)

On the other hand, my two Mk7 GTI had factory batteries that lasted just over 6 years each. But those are simpler cars.

So I agree, 2 months to 6 years.

6 months on my ‘22 OBX. Bronco does awful with a week or two of short trip errands. I’ll start seeing deep sleep notifications a day or so before it just won’t turn over anymore.

 

[thesocalexplorer]

I periodically check my resting voltage within the dash (ACC mode and engine off)... 2.5 years old and it still rests around 12.7 volts after sitting for 5-7 days. I'll start considering a replacement when my resting voltage drops down to the lower 12's in the same 5-7 day timeframe.

 

[broadicustomworks]

I had to buy one just yesterday for my Daughter's Cobra.
I guess time really does fly and sticker shock gets me every now and then.
When I used to work PT at an auto parts store, the batteries were roughly $59 for the 2 yr warranty ones, $79 for the 3, and $99 for the "gold series" that had the 5 yr. The red and yellow top Optimas were like $130 or so.

The basic 2 yr battery I bought was $220 with tax out the door. (she will more than likely sell it within 2 yrs.) I might have let a little pee out once my dizziness passed and my soul returned from 1998.

Sponsored