I drive my newly acquired '03 LS w/65k on very short trips (a 5 to 10 minute commute) and worry about properly recharging the battery during the cold winter. Has anyone used an AGM battery with good results? My old '02 LS UL was prone to discharging if not driven regularly and I wondered if anyone has successfully used an AGM battery to minimize this issue. Thank you.

 

I never got a chance to use an AGM battery.
But things to conceder, AGM can be discharged to a lower voltage than normal led acid batteries, but it needs to be charged eventually. So if you don't get it charged it will die. It's is just delaying the inevitable.
I suggest to use a normal battery and get a solar charger that you keep incide the care to keep the battery toped up.

 

I run optima yellow top in my car. only time had an issue was leaving dome light on and ran the battery down but the car still started where a normal battery would have left me stranded.

 

LS430s do like to eat batteries... get the best battery you can find at the best price and change it every 3 years the most... Here in Florida, I do this and I'm good. Why wait for it to fail and you are stranded? Yes the southern states with the heat are hardest on batteries, but I do play it safe and replace all my car's batteries before the 3 year mark. There was one instant that I had an appt to change my battery on my G35 at that 3 year time... and my car wouldn't start the day I was scheduled to bring it in!!!!!!!!!!!!! lol lol...One lesson I learned quickly.

 

Seems overkill to me, granted my car's in California and garaged. In 13 years of owning this car I'm on my 2nd battery, and it still cranks like it did new. When it starts to show some problems I'll have it replaced (with the best one I can buy, but not an AGM as I don't think our charging systems have the proper charging profile to keep the current batch of AGM's happy). If it fails all of a sudden and it won't start the car I have a lithium jump-starter for that time.

 

Diehard Platinum series batteries are consistently rated the best by Consumer Reports. I personally don't think they are worth the money. Red and Yellow tops are pretty good. Honestly, I replace my battery about every 3 years anyway so I just pick up Interstate units at Costco. Hard to beat the price / warranty. Evertstart Maxx at Walmart are actually really good batteries as well.

 

. +1. Here in Florida the heat kills batteries. I change my battery every 2-3 years before it fails. Walmart or Costco is fine however most batteries come from the same source with different names. Check the date the battery was manufactured. You don't want anything older than 3 months. Batteries are expensive these days so plan on spending close to $100. Easy install.

 

That's true. Johnson Controls makes a majority of them. Interstate, Optima, Everstart Maxx, some of the Diehard line, among others. I replaced the OEM battery in my Outback (also Johnson Control) with a Interstate a few weeks ago because the OEM batteries that Subaru put in were pretty lousy. Small group 25's and not much CCA's. Group 34's with 800 CCA at Costco are only $82

 

Campisi is right. AG batteries have a different profile needing a higher charging voltage. You can put in an AGM battery but it will be unhappy needing more voltage to keep it topped off. It will run around at 80% to 90% and probably last some years but it's not a good fit. These cars have a lot of draw and if you park it for weeks a trickle charger is a good idea - or just throw a charger on it when you come home. I hear turning off the smart key beacon under the dash could help. I haven't tried it.
There are just a few manufacturers of lead batteries in the country: Johnson Controls, East Penn and perhaps one other. They are made to spec for the retailers. I just replaced our battery with a group 24 from Costco made for them by Interstate which is made by Johnson Controls. The old battery was in the car when we bought it almost 4 years ago so it was due. I used an old motorcycle battery and a couple pigtails from it to the terminals before disconnecting the old battery to avoid all the resets that would have been necessary. I put a smart charger (a Vector) on the battery as soon as it was installed. Batteries sitting around lose charge and I want to start with a topped off battery. As a note, the old battery after resting read 12.2 volts which is less than a half charge. The new one read 12.6 volts when I installed it. After charging it read 12.74 volts

 

I have always replaced my battery proactively, but will admit, this wastes money. One can always load test the battery, if it has issues, it will fail, before there is any hint from driving the car.

I replaced my BMW battery at age 5. I paid the dealer $280, which included registration, but I also asked for the old one back. To the dealer's credit, they asked me, why do you want to replace the battery, it doesn't need to be replaced yet. Now some on the forum, depending on location, paid the dealer as much as $450 at the time. This was 2011.
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My aunt has a BMW 1 year older, and she still has her original battery, today. btw, the battery I took out still passes a load test today, I charge it and use it to run a 12v inverter.

The Lexus battery seems very straightforward to replace. From my experience, bad batteries give a hint when they are beginning to fail, at least my Maxima has.

Still, if a battery costs $82, and lasts 4 to 8 or even 10 yrs, and you replace it early, what are you wasting? rough estimate, maybe $40, probably less than that. So yes, wasting $40 and not getting stranded, I can understand that too. My battery is stickered 10/12, so 4 y.o. But the Lexus checked off on the multi-point that it's good....so I think I will leave it alone....

 

The here in the desert is a killer on batteries. I personally don't think you can beat the Costco battery. Free replacement in the first 3 years. Since they won't last that long I just replace the Costco battery every two years. They don't check the battery to see if it has failed, just give you new one unquestioned. How can you beat that.

 

just shows you how huge their margins are. This is a co. Who told Amex they are willing to pay a 0% interchange rate. Amex said no can do, citi said yes. Citi got burned as they offer 2% and other visas offer 5%, so few use the citi Costco card. I once threatened to cancel my membership for a full refund of $110, they told me that's fine (no effort to solve the problem or show empathy to the member).

free batteries, good to know lol