Expected life of a car battery?

[Laney760]

My car has been tricky to start of late but I seem to have cracked it but this morning I could tell that it wasn't going to take a lot of cranking before the battery died so I didn't continue trying to start my 940, we went out iny partners car instead and I did get her started later in the day when it was warmer.

The battery is a Bosch Silver purchased in April 2017, it's done about 35K. To me this doesn't seem very old, the original battery in my Nissan lasted 13 years. The Bosch came from Euro Car Parts.

Any recommendations of a longer lasting battery than a Bosch Silver please!

[360beast]

I've got genuine Volvo ones on my 940 and 360 and they're brilliant.

[Clan]

Originally Posted by Laney760

My car has been tricky to start of late but I seem to have cracked it but this morning I could tell that it wasn't going to take a lot of cranking before the battery died so I didn't continue trying to start my 940, we went out iny partners car instead and I did get her started later in the day when it was warmer.

The battery is a Bosch Silver purchased in April 2017, it's done about 35K. To me this doesn't seem very old, the original battery in my Nissan lasted 13 years. The Bosch came from Euro Car Parts.

Any recommendations of a longer lasting battery than a Bosch Silver please!

have you not used the car much in the last year? if that is the case have you charged it every few weeks since ? It could be sulphated

[Whyman]

My Bosch S5 failed after only 4 years. 5 year warranty.

Replaced by Eurocarparts under warranty without a problem not even a test of the old battery just a check on the invoice.

[Laney760]

Clan, car is in use every day, daily commute 15 miles each way, a good run, no traffic. I do about 10 thou a year. Whyman, I will check my receipt, thanks.

[Clan]

Originally Posted by Laney760

Clan, car is in use every day, daily commute 15 miles each way, a good run, no traffic. I do about 10 thou a year. Whyman, I will check my receipt, thanks.

It is probably one of a small number which fail prematurely .
I bought a red Oddesy battery with a 2 year warranty ( £150 ) . It packed up on the 3rd year ..

https://www.tayna.co.uk/industrial-b...8aAhp1EALw_wcB

[Forrest]

Across my three 940s I’ve got 2x genuine Volvo batteries and 1x Yuasa. They are all more than five years old. The Yuasa dates from at least 2011 as it was already in the last one when I bought it.

In my experience battery problems are more usually down to some kind of constant drain or the alternator not charging properly.

I do maintain mine by periodic charging using a Ctek MXS 10 charger, particularly the cars I don’t use so often. This battery charger can seemingly bring batteries back from the dead and I have used it successfully on a battery registering just 2V. Not that I would advise anyone to let their battery get into that state ever.

[Laird Scooby]

Half the problem Ellie is that the Bosch Silver is Silver-Calcium technology. Without going into great detail, they normally need a higher charging voltage than the alternators on cars 20+ years old develop.
Many people are lucky and the battery performs quite well for a few years then the lack of voltage to charge it means it starts sulphating as Clan suggested although he was suggesting shorter journeys on a plain lead-acid battery. Your longer journeys have probably been the saviour that prolonged the life of it.

See how you get on with your receipt and ECP, if you get no joy, treat yourself (and your car!) to one of these :

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HB096-Lea...v/192434766703

It's the heavy duty version of what i suspect you have (027), fits nicely in the battery tray but more importantly, is plain lead-acid so is better matched to your alternator than a silver-calcium or calcium technology battery will be. They're fine for cars made after about 2000 with alternators that charge at a higher voltage and often have stop-start systems fitted but sadly not much good for our older cars.

Another member on here David aka 827roverman had similar troubles with his 940 and a Halfrauds supplied silver calcium battery (their own brand if memory serves, believed to be made by Bosch) and when he took it back and had it changed to a normal lead-acid battery his problems disappeared :

https://www.halfords.com/motoring/ba...ee-950618.html

That's the battery he now has, problem solved until recently when he was using the car less and had a piece of kit connected that was drawing an excessive amount of current.

Out of those two batteries i'd go for the ebay one for the extra capacity, i've had batteries from the same people without any problems except the last one which was a "cosmetic battery"* which turned out to be a calcium one. I added something to increase the charging voltage and problem solved.

Plenty of options out there but avoid anything that has "Silver" or "Calcium" on it.

* Cosmetic battery - sold cheap as labels have been removed due to minor damage like scratches or been fitted and returned because there was another problem on the vehicle and the terminals are scuffed - could be an option if Xmas has wiped you out and ECP don't honour the warranty for whatever reason.

[Laney760]

Cheers everyone, I'll see if I have a 5 year warranty and I'll get one of the batteries recommended by Dave.

[Laney760]

PS. Funny enough the previous Bosch Silver didn't last that long either but I had put that down to the fact that I'd ended up storing it from new for a couple of years immediately after purchase due to a change in circumstances!