My battery was 4 nearly 5 years old

Neil79 · 25 Jan 2008 at 14:10

Been using my mr2 turbo every so often but it couldn't hold a charge beyond two days , if it was cold it'd be dead overnight so i would have to recharge it. Took the battery in to have it tested and i had a bad negative cell!

Looked at my warranty for the reciept and the battery was 4 nearly 5 years old!

Would this affect my car's performance being that old and with a bad negative cell? ( recharged )

a1ex2001 · 25 Jan 2008 at 14:46

The only thing it will effect is your ability to start the car, when running all the power comes from the alternator with the excess being used to re-charge the battery. Otherwise you'd have to plug you car in periodically to re-charge it!

4-5 yers old is nothing for a battery I'd be disapointed if mine died that quickly assuming it was a reasonable quality one.

Sone · 25 Jan 2008 at 14:54

a1ex2001 said:
The only thing it will effect is your ability to start the car, when running all the power comes from the alternator with the excess being used to re-charge the battery. Otherwise you'd have to plug you car in periodically to re-charge it!

4-5 yers old is nothing for a battery I'd be disapointed if mine died that quickly assuming it was a reasonable quality one.

my last boss told me this was a common misconseption, all power comes from the battery and the alternator constantly charges this when the engine is running. He was a bit of a 'tard though so it could be wronf.

Neil79 · 25 Jan 2008 at 14:56

a1ex2001 said:
4-5 yers old is nothing for a battery I'd be disapointed if mine died that quickly assuming it was a reasonable quality one.

A good rule of thumb is a good battery should last 5 years maximum

Guess it the age wasn't bad then

Needed changing anyway

Dureth · 25 Jan 2008 at 14:59

Where did you get that quote on the battery life of 5 years from?

The battery on my Ducati is only just on its way out now and is 12 years old. The one on my Mondeo is 13 years old and still going strong, no sign of being hard to start. Even leaving it for a month without use it started on the first turn of the key.

TripleT · 25 Jan 2008 at 15:09

Gonna say mine had the original battery in when I changed it, was 7.5 years old.

GeX · 25 Jan 2008 at 16:00

Sone said:
my last boss told me this was a common misconseption, all power comes from the battery and the alternator constantly charges this when the engine is running. He was a bit of a 'tard though so it could be wronf.

power comes out the alternator, to the battery +ve terminal. any +ve feed on the car splints off there, so it'll come from whereever really.

BigglesPiP · 25 Jan 2008 at 16:02

I've used older, much older.

Hawk Tuah · 25 Jan 2008 at 16:11

My Rover Coupe battery was 10 years old when I changed it.

monkeyspank · 25 Jan 2008 at 16:22

mr2 turbo needs a battery with a fair bit of charge to get started.
Mine goes too flat if I leave it for over a week, and needs a couple hours charge. There's still enough to light the headlights etc but the solenoid just clicks away for a bit instead of cranking the engine.

Wicksta · 25 Jan 2008 at 16:39

A lot of it depends on how well the battery has been treated. I had some audio issues in my BMW which drained the battery a few times. The battery then failed with an internal short circuit and only about 4 years old. I have no doubt me running it dead flat a few times caused this.

Dogbreath · 25 Jan 2008 at 21:39

Sone said:
my last boss told me this was a common misconseption, all power comes from the battery and the alternator constantly charges this when the engine is running. He was a bit of a 'tard though so it could be wronf.

Nope, under normal conditions with the engine running all electrical energy comes from the alternator. You don't actually need a battery to keep an engine running, it will run from the alternator (though it's quite a bad idea to do this).