How long do your batteries tend to last? I know mine is an ultra low mileage car but the factory battery still works great and tests good on a load tester at 16 years old.

 

A load test is the way to go. I know an aunt's BMW 330i has the original battery, and it was produced fall 2005, so that's going on 12.

I've had aftermarket top of the line batteries fail in as little as 39 mos. Never had them fail under a free replacement period. My wife's OEM failed at 53 mos., and it's a huge battery, I think 94R or something like that.

Since this car costed like $83 for an Interstate 24F from Costco, I decided to simply replace, when the battery in the car said 10/12. In other words, what fraction of $83, am I wasting, by replacing it proactively, is what I asked myself. If a battery should have lasted 6 yrs., and you replaced at 4, imho divide $83/6 and multiply by 2. I say if one gets stranded just one time, the amount of time/money wasted is more than the battery.

They do go suddenly--maybe someone else can answer. Is load testing good/bad (one extreme or the other), or can you really capture a battery failing gradually, by observing that it goes from green, to yellow, to red? My hunch is based on the price, be it $83 or $250, not that many are going to load test their battery so frequently that they can see this effect.

These are my thoughts....

 

Wow, this one might belong in the hall of fame. I would replace it, as you just don't know when a cell may short out at that age.

Cheap insurance.

 

The OE batteries (Panasonic) had an incredibly long life. 16 years is world record territory.

 

I've owned my car since it was new and I'm on my 2nd battery. OEM lasted about 8 years so I've got 6 now on the current one, which is a Sears DieHard. My wife tends to leave things on in the car and ran both batteries to dead a couple times, that is one of the things that will shorten a batteries life (as well as heat vibration and extreme temps).

 

I am a Sears fan and it's a shame what's happened to them (selling the Craftsman name, wanting to sell DieHard and Kenmore names). I guess I'll never know, I had a base DieHard go just after 3 years, and they finagled it so I would pay only $40 for an upgraded one (I did the math and the prorata didn't make any sense, I calculated I should pay about $75). That one is 4.5 yrs. old but the car isn't being driven. Now, I would buy the battery based on warranty only, so Costco seems to be one of the best alternatives.

I have a 1/4" USA Craftsman ratchet that went bad, but I don't want to replace it with the China made one, weird I guess....(wouldn't you rather have one that works, that doesn't say U.S.A.). My Snap Ons, except the old S936's, are too pretty to actually use. They stay in the tool box. Weird.

 

I recall a similar topic from a few years ago where I posted my sister's experience with a long-life OEM battery that totalled her car.

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/gs-...ery-on-cl.html

 

I'd replace it, it could be putting extra stress on your alternator.

That is an incredible record, are you sure it has never been replaced since new and not just a battery that was replaced with another Lexus battery?

Here in hot Arizona, I get around 2.5 years on a battery and I then get a free replacement. They go out like clockwork. Brand doesn't seem to matter, so I just use Interstate from Costco now. I actually had bad luck with Lexus batteries from the dealer.

 

Living in AZ, I agree with Brad. Lexus batteries would just suddenly go dead at about a 2 year life, failing to crank with no prior indication. I'd jump the car, drive to my Lexus dealer and they would replace it for free. That would continue and I would receive a new battery every two years with Lexus installing a new Lexuss and checking the system at no charge. That changed when it suddenly went dead after gassing up on a trip in a Texas town at 8 pm on a Friday night. I bought a cheap battery and didn't have room to take the Lexus battery back home with me. I have since used Costco batteries. I just take it out after two years, return it to Costco, and they give me a new battery with a new warranty. How can you beat that?

 

On my 1998 Maxima, the front corner of the left fender is rusted out. The right is mint. My uncle said probably battery acid. He didn't even know which side the battery was on, it is there on the left side.

The original battery had filler caps and a collar. I did not use the collar on subsequent batteries. That's why when people here said should they use it on the LS430, I say yes. Otherwise what's the purpose of the plastic sleeve, it wasn't there for no reason.

 

Really depends on how you treat the things. My personal record is 22 years on the original Panasonic AGM in my 91 Miata. What I credit this to is the car is driven ~80 miles a day 5 days a week in the summer, and is hooked up to a tender when being stored for the winter. Keeping the things charged up seems to help.

The batteries in the seldom driven 87 Corvette and 12 Camaro are 16 and 8 now, have always been on tenders when not being driven, and both just load tested fine.

Of course the 13 RX 450h did need a new battery on 3/3/2020, making it around 7 years old. Given the nature of the hybrid, I never put this one on a tender. Was kind of interesting to see it only putting out 9V when I tested it with no load, but given what it actually does in the hybrid system I guess you can let the thing get pretty bad before you have to replace it. If it were in a 350, it would have failed to turn the thing over a long time ago, and long before it got down to a 9V no load measurement.