OEM battery life expectancy

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[REDCXL]

Batteries are designed to last X months.  There will be, of course, outlayers that die way too soon and some that may be closet everready bunny batteries.
Does anyone know of the design life of the OEM battery?
My 08 (delivered Novemeber 07) is doing fine, although I have low mileage.
My practice in the past has been if I have a dead battery, and it is near its warranted life, I replace without messing about with recharging.  Just a jump to get home or whatever. I would like to be prepared with knowledge about the E battery.

[JerseyDevil]

If you still have the original OEM battery you are doing well.  My experience with OEM batteries, especially DELCO is that they usually fail at about 4 years.  Since I do't want to get stranded, or worse, my wife, I will replace an OEM battery at about 4 years with a top of line battery.  I have had very good luck with Interstate MTP batteries. 

[deacon_blues]

There are 2 '08s in my garage. One was purchased new, the other was bought used in January of 2011 after the car spent some 94 days sitting on a dealer's lot. While I was concerned about the used vehicle's battery, and after a suggestion by a member here, I had it checked and it was fine. Both of the OEM batteries are still good. One car has 62k, the other about 57k and they are both garaged overnight.

Whenever one begins to exhibit signs of being weak, I will just replace it right away, and let you know.

[MRBUICK]

My OEM battery failed 1 month before the 4 year/50000 mile warranty expired (May 2011), and was replaced no charge under warranty. This was a good time to fail as I got a free battery good for I hope another 4 years.
The mileage at the time was approx 14000.
My 2008 Enclave was built April 2007, and delivered June 2007.

MRBUICK

[GoldEnclave]

My OEM battery failed 1 month before the 4 year/50000 mile warranty expired (May 2011), and was replaced no charge under warranty. This was a good time to fail as I got a free battery good for I hope another 4 years.
The mileage at the time was approx 14000.
My 2008 Enclave was built April 2007, and delivered June 2007.

MRBUICK

Did you mean 41,000 miles?

[jacko]

My '08's battery failed a couple of months before the 4 yr. mark. It was replaced under warranty. Mileage has less effect on a battery than either very cold or very hot environments. In my 45 years of experience owning an automobile I very rarely had a battery last more than 4 yrs. Considering the cost vs. inconvenience of a dead battery, I replace my batteries before the 4th winter of ownership. If you run a "battery" search on the forum you'll find a ton of anecdotal data on batteries in the Enclave.

[GoldEnclave]

I have never had a car battery fail before 5 years. The timing of failure has tended to be closely tied to the durability rating of the battery. For example, my Olds Intrigue's 60 month factory battery failed within days of 60 months of owning the car. My Plymouth Duster's battery died very close to its rating, too. My Subaru Tribeca's battery has been in service for about 68 months, but I think that it is rated for only 60, so it may be on borrowed time.

[john 070]

imho 5 yrs. seems to be a golden and magic number, but on the other hand, it is all about science.  At any time, a battery load tester can be put up to the battery to see what condition it's in.  The way I look at it is if you divide the cost of a battery by 5, it's actually not a big loss if you replace it 1 yr. early.  If you push it to its limit and it fails on you unexpectedly, how much does it cost you when you're 1 hr. late for work or miss 1/2 day changing it?  Far more than the total cost of the battery itself....

[GoldEnclave]

In the past, I had experienced some weakening of the battery for a while prior to failure. Unfortunately, I was too lazy to react to the warning signs and proactively change the battery before it failed. Is there anything different about the way the Enclave's battery dies? Will it give some warning, or will it fail catastrophically like some newer battery designs?

[kidsenclave]

I know it's not a Lambda, (and I apologize for repeating this) but our 2004 Bonneville is still on it's original battery, going on 8 years old.  Here's the update: I had it checked recently and it's still at 32%.    It's cranking power is at 100%, and it passed all the other "tests".  Now, it's at 32%...what does that really mean?  32% of what? LOL  That battery is under the back seat, so it's pretty protected as is the Enclave's battery, being under the floor.  When I hear people saying that 4 or 5 years is "the life expectancy", that seems too early.  BUT, I know there's more electronics on the Enclave, and our Bonneville doesn't have Onstar, which I know uses battery power pretty much all the time, to say on.  Guess I would not replace a battery till it goes.  I'm going to get thru this winter (on the Bonneville) and see how the summer goes.  "Probably" will replace the battery before next winter, just because we mind as well have some use out of the new battery before we get rid of the car, most likely in 2014.  So, that would be two winters on the new battery.  However, I have to question my decision here...because of the old saying "if it aint broke, don't fix it".  Would kind of suck if we get a new battery, THEN start having issues with the new one.

[BadAV]

Did you mean 41,000 miles?

Gold, maybe he's like some of the Vette guys are - the E just sits in the garage, under a car cover. He removes the cover once a week, stares admiringly at it, and waxes it! 

And the same thought crossed my mind when I saw the 14k miles.

[BadAV]

I've posted in other battery threads before that I haven't had much luck with OEM Delco batteries prior to the Enclave. 94 Sonoma - 2-1/2 years; 02 Avalanche 2-1/2 years; 03 Vette - 2-1/2 years, although I suspect this one was from the car not being driven by the previous owner. Knock on wood, we are still on the original battery on the E at 4+ years and counting.

I only drive the Avalanche about twice a month - about 8 k miles a year on average - so I keep the battery on a Ctek battery tender. It's got an Optima Red Top in it that's about 7 years old now. I really expect to get at least 10 years out of it.

Regarding the question of how a battery fails today, it simply depends on the failure mode. I don't believe they are any more prone to sudden failure today than they used to be. Part of that perception may be due to the reliability and ease of starting vehicles today. You don't have to crank them nearly as long as you used to when cars had carburetors and points so you may not notice the signs of the battery weakening.....

[MRBUICK]

Did you mean 41,000 miles?

YES, 14000 miles (at that time)
Now approx, 18000 miles.

[MRBUICK]

Gold, maybe he's like some of the Vette guys are - the E just sits in the garage, under a car cover. He removes the cover once a week, stares admiringly at it, and waxes it!  

And the same thought crossed my mind when I saw the 14k miles.

Yes, I am a little car crazy.......the Enclave is really MRS Buick's, and she travels to Manhattan every day by bus.
I try to use is at least one day a week, and she uses it on the weekends.

The car I am really crazy for is my 1972 Monte Carlo, and ironically, it has "41,000" miles on it.
Mrs Buick's "play car" is a 1990 Cadillac Brougham d'Elegance.

For those of you who have not seen it, here is my "Buick Wish List"  http://www.enclaveforum.net/index.php?topic=1687.0

MRBUICK

[shogun95]

When I traded our 07 Acadia for the 12 Enclave it was still on it's original OEM battery and had 109k miles on it. I certainly had no complaint about that.

[MRBUICK]

It could be that the lack of use shortens the battery life.

[Grimm]

I've had good experience with OEM batteries. I won't count my 3rd car because it was 5 years old, so I don't know if it was original.  But if it was the original, it would have been 8 years old when I traded it in. The battery in my '96 Cutlass was around 7-8 years old when it was replaced.  I think the battery in my wife's old '94 Sunbird was only 5-6 years old, but the alternator ended up being bad, so I'm not certain the battery was even bad (it and the alternator were replaced at the same time).  The one in our 2000 Mountaineer was around 8 years old, but I killed that one leaving lights on.  The battery in my Bonneville died 2 months shy of 8 years old last winter.  Our E's battery, assuming it's original, would be around 4 years and 4 months old.

[rbarrios]

4 yrs for factory OEM batteries seems to be the magic number.
Also see plenty of post about factory batts failing around this time (multiple auto threads)

[kidsenclave]

4 yrs for factory OEM batteries seems to be the magic number.
Also see plenty of post about factory batts failing around this time (multiple auto threads)

Well I'm  jumping for joy then  for our Bonneville's battery being twice that "magic number".  I realize we are on borrowed time, and I've already purchased a battery jump box and am ready in case something happens before we get a new one...I just want to squeeze as much time out of this one, it's working great now.  Again, this is on a 2004 car without Onstar, and without some of the Enclave's electronic "gizmos" so by all means, I'm not saying the Enclave's will last this long....just stating for comparison purposes.  If we get 8+ years for the Bonnie, and only 4 for the Enclave....that's still an average of 6 years, which is over that "magic number", so either way....we are within the norm.  (but I hope we get longer than 4 years on the Enclave, it's garage kept....and I try and drive it enough on the freeway to bring that battery up to charge....if that even helps....I hate the short trips, I just know that's not good for it....but IF I do short trips, I try and not start it more than necessary, might use more gas....but the fewer times I crank the engine, I feel I'm helping the battery just a bit).

[MRBUICK]

The battery was dead in my 1990 Cadillac Brougham after not being started for 4 weeks in a heated garage.
The NAPA battery in it had a date code of 2000. I was quite amazed that a battery lasted 13 years.
(I have owned this car for only 2 years)
With the new battery I was amazed how fast it cranks!

MRBUICK