Longest battery life

[begreen]

Must be spring, the Ranger is calling for attention. I got in yesterday morning, turned the key and saw dim lights in the dash. No starter cranking, just click. Oh, oh. I'm kind of bummed, but not for why you may think. This truck has the original, factory Motorcraft battery still in it. That is almost 20yrs old. I have never heard of such a thing. When I bought the truck in 2007 from the original owner he warned me that the battery was the original and could go any day now. Every winter I have expected it to die, and yet it is like the Eveready bunny, just keeps going and going.

I pulled the battery and put it on my camper charger to see if this is just sulfation. Dang it, I want to make it to 20 with this classic!

 

[charly]

I bought my Kubota tractor used, was 3 years old at the time,, I've owned it for 11 years, so the battery is 14 years old and still starts all the time.. I charged it once since I've owned it.. Amazing.. I have battery tender leads off of the battery that a plug in once in a while during the winter, maybe once or twice over the winter for say a day.. I guess it gets run enough that it never sulfates from sitting..

 

[Wildo]

Wow those are both numbers I could only dream of. I have crap luck with batteries just like everything else.

 

[PapaDave]

Wow begreen, that's a long time.
The Jeep still has the original, but it's only an '03. It's acting like it's on the downhill slide.

 

[heat seeker]

My battery tender seems to have breathed new life into both of my 6 volt tractor batteries. I guess they like a slow steady charge, with any sulfation removed.

 

[jeff_t]

My Excursion went ten years on the original battery, but the last six months or so was touchy. If I didn't drive it every few days, I had to jump it. Probably why I had to replace the alternator a few months later

I thought ten years was good, but yours is better.

 

[begreen]

We'll see. It dropped off pretty suddenly so I'm hoping there isn't a shorted cell. I'm leaving it on the charger for 72 hrs so that it can go through the full conditioning cycle. If it is just sulfation then I have hope of rejuvenation. Has anyone tried epsom salts for this?

 

[ironpony]

BG it would do you good to take a hot bath with epson salts to relieve some of the stress this has caused you.

 

[jharkin]

Holy (*#$&*(#$ that's impressive for a starting battery (5yr is typical). I think even deep cycle storage batteries for backup systems/etc rarely see lifetimes over 10 years... Maybe 20 at the high end for stuff like telco float batteries.

I wouldn't even bother trying to save it, just replace. That battery has more than done its duty.

 

[jharkin]

Lots of great info on lead acid batteries BG:

http://www.batteryfaq.org/

 

[begreen]

Nah, now it is a challenge. I want to see how long it will last. I should write to Ford and Motorcraft to tell them in jest that I want a replacement for this defective battery.

 

[jharkin]

I should write to Ford and Motorcraft to tell them in jest that I want a replacement for this defective battery.

You never know, motorcraft give you a new one for the chance to to take that battery apart and figure out how it lasted so long.... like when Honda gave a new car to the million mile Accord guy.



(woohoo 2k posts!)