7 years and 150k and still on original battery …

I’m old too….having bdays are a good thing considering the other option, lol.
We have the climate conditions in NV that are conducive to a happy battery. A rare very cold winter night(near zero) finally killed my Mopar batteries in my diesel after 10yrs.

 

That's some pretty good life. My 19' Camry (albeit only 35K miles) is on the original battery. I haven't touched the water. I've been thinking I probably should check it, but at this point I was considering preemptively replacing it at the 5 year mark anyway (Jan).

 

Mine was good for 4 years, could possibly gone more but i like to replace early. Went with a AGM battery and now noting but problems.

 

optima’s have proven to be a waste for me and many others. The premium for their agm is all branding with no real difference than everyone else.

a solid agm like interstate or even everstart (Johnson controls private label at Walmart) and upping the frame size will give you great results.

 

The original battery in my 2005 Tacoma lasted 7 years 4 months. Replaced it with the same exact battery from Toyota, that one lasted 9 years. Replaced that one with the same battery again, this one has been in the truck for 2 years now. In my 50 years of driving these batteries have lasted longer than any battery I have ever had in a vehicle and I have had many.When my 4runner battery dies I will replace it with a Toyota battery.

 

I think the Panasonic batteries are very well made batteries but it’s a shame we can’t buy them here. Whenever I had a Toyota with a Panasonic battery it would last around 8-10 years.

Most of the batteries are re-branded Johnson Controls batteries which are garbage. They leak, sulfate, and go dead in 3 years.

 

Just an FYI on Johnson Control battery division, they sold out several years ago, so Johnson Control doesn't make batteries any longer!!

I used to buy Wal-mart Everstart batteries and had great longevity with them but noticed on my last 2 (both died prematurely, the second one was a warranty replacement for the first one)it no longer said Johnson Control on them, so I did a little searching on the internet and saw where they had sold their battery division a couple of years earlier.

 

I always replaced batteries by years versus mileage. My 03' Malibu had it's original battery for 7 years when I traded it in for a new 10' FJ Crusier. The original battery in the FJ would have probably gone 7 years. But I got nervous and changed it after 6 years. Battery in current 21' 4R is only 2 years old. Works good.
Optima batteries seem to get get high marks with many enthusiasts.
Auto Zone's so called top of the line battery seems popular. It seems they have the best warrenty by far in my experience.

 

do a little digging, many disappointed customers with yellow tops.

 

It's tricky to judge. An engine that always starts easy can disguise a failing battery. Sometimes you don't know when you lost that 10 seconds of extra cranking because you haven't had to use it in a while.

 

Get a Duracell, made by East Penn, at Batteries Plus Bulbs.

 

My 2010 4R had the original battery when I traded it in @ 9.5 years old. (140,000 miles) I sure wish that we could buy Panasonic batteries here in the states.

 

Same! My '03 had a Panasonic that lasted around 8-9 years and 170-180K, IIRC. It was on the second battery (Toyota dealer replacement, not Panasonic) when traded in '17 at 257K miles.

The battery in my '19 was replaced after after only ~3 years and 70-75K miles. I wonder if the quality of the batteries has gone down, or is it due to more parasitic draw on newer vehicles?

 

My 21' 4R original battery just died this morning..2 years 2 months old.

Any recommendations for a replacement guys? I don't trust OEM anymore

 

What sort of climate do you live in?

 

Pacific North West, we don't get extreme winters or summers just shit ton of rain.

 

I've been happy with my Walmart EverStart so far.

It tested really good and is a reasonable price.

https://youtu.be/h7rTcBanpMk

 

Panasonic, from my experience, have performed very well as an OEM battery.
During the week while in my Tundra, the 4Runner is on a battery tender in the garage.

 

That video comparing/testing batteries is not up to date, well over 3 years old.

As I posted earlier the Walmart EverStart batteries are no longer being made by Johnson control and aren't as good as they were when they were still being produced by Johnson Control before they sold off their battery division several years ago.

Also just to point out how out of date the video is, 5 of the 8 batteries tested were made by Johnson Control, none of the 5 are made by Johnson Control now, so that only leaves.....maybe.....the other 3 still being made by the company that made them when that video was done.

 

Here's a little article on what happened after Johnson Control sold off it's battery division, which happened in 2019.

https://www.jsonline.com/story/mone...division-clarios-plans-stock-sale/4978492001/

 

How are the current Costco Kirkland Signature compared to the Napa Legend Premium battery? Is the Napa one worth the $100CAD premium more than the Costco ones?

 

nothing Napa is worth more than a used Burger King napkin.

they consistently have the highest prices for the lowest quality products (this did not used to be the case).

 

My next battery will be Exide which is sold at Home Depot. I think Exide batteries are better than Johnson Controls.

 

I'm not sure how good Exide batteries are now-a-days, I know a long time ago they used to be a good battery....BUT they have filed for bankruptcy at least 3 times in the last 20 or so years, the last time they filed bankruptcy was in 2020 and as a condition of the bankruptcy they sold off most if not all of their North American assets to Atlas Holdings.

That being said the Exide name is still out there on batteries but who exactly makes them in North American I'm not sure, but it is for sure that the same company that used to make them no longer does.

Now with that being said the company has a long history of environmental damage via pollution and other discharge from many of their factories, and also they were taken to court and at least two of their executive officers were charged with fraud and put in prison for selling "used" and defective batteries to Sears (probably why the Die-Hard brand is no longer respected as it once was), there's other info as well at the following link.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exide

 

Dang, from the Ford world in the midwest...IF a battery makes it 3 years here we buy a lotto ticket and replace it immediately. Crazy to hear of batteries lasting that long! Props to Panisonic!

 

I have a Duralast battery going strong (knock on wood) after 7 years in cold weather state. I'd recommend them, but make sure you get the newest date code possible (for any brand), that makes a difference.

I know another person why has a 7 year battery with the Toyota brand TrueStart. I'm sure those are more expensive than the Duralasts. Panasonic is a brand that I consistently have good experiences with, I'd buy their batteries based on that (but I cant).

I wouldn't buy an Optima, they were good a long time ago (over a decade ago), then they were bought by Johnson Controls and it was cheapened. Now they aren't even made in America anymore, so your not even paying to support jobs here. They'd have to last substantially longer to be worth it, everything I've read says they don't. So just don't buy them.

So get Toyota TrueStart or Duralast. Those are recommendations based on my experience.

 

Had a 2000 Camry who’s battery was first changed in 2019. Granted the car had about 70K miles because it served as a “commute to work” car but still 19 years! The guy at the local Advanced Auto Parts didn’t believe me until I brought it back to recycle. It was a Panasonic containing about half the writing in Japanese.