Battery Replacement?

[salem]

I have a 2016 Chevy 2500 diesel with 20,000 miles. That means the batteries are five years old. Should I replace them before they go bad? How long do they usually last? Any recommendations as to brand?

[Grit_dog]

Devo the dog wrote:

Grit dog wrote:
OP, as you see by the responses...

You’ve asked a crystal ball question that is frankly pretty silly.
...
Given you have a high $ truck that is a garage queen, I’ll presume you’re an older person.
...

In other words, Grit Dog thinks you're old, he has an issue with you owning an expensive truck that's a garage queen, and he thinks your question was stupid to ask. His words were "frankly pretty silly."

Typical of Grit dog. It appears that he doesn't like older people, especially when they ask questions that he doesn't like. And it's obvious from this and many other posts that he doesn't like people who can afford expensive trucks. Furthermore, it really rubs him the wrong way if you can garage the truck.

I've only had batteries go bad at the worst time, primarily because there's never a good time. They aren't expensive and not difficult to replace, if you want to do it yourself. Also, if you have AAA, their prices to replace batteries are very reasonable. So if you have AAA, it's not much of a gamble unless you end up in a situation that's time sensitive. Also, if you have a shop that you take it to for regular maintenance, the next time it's there, ask them to check the battery.

Buddy, your infatuation with me and 12V is a little creepy......
Correction, alot creepy.

PS, you profess to know alot about me. Are you psychic or the other word that is very similar in pronunciation?

[Devo_the_dog]

Cummins12V98 wrote:
Understand this.......we are MANLY MEN.

Behind a keyboard. LOL.

[salem]

You guys are great. Thanks for the comments.

[Huntindog]

To the OP.

First off I am old and have an expensive truck that is used mainly for towing duty, otherwise it is in the garage.. I have other things to drive day to day.
That said. It really depends on how big a deal an unplanned battery failure is to you. At 5 years, your batterys best days are likely behind it, so each day forward means an ever increasing probability
of failure.

On my last expensive truck, the dealer noticed a slight leak on one of my batteries terminals, and swapped it out for me under warranty, while it was being serviced (without telling me first). I like to keep my batteries matched age wise, and told them so. They said that the warranty would only cover the faulty part.... After getting nowhere talking , I was faced with a decission. Risk the batteries almost 3 years different in age causing a failure, or bite the bullet and buy another matched battery.

Since I can afford expensive trucks, the cost of a battery will not cause me miss any meals..... And I am usually camped in remote locations without cell phone service, the decission was easy. I bought another battery.

Your circumstances are not my circumstances, so your decission may well be diiferent.
I will just note, that generally a failure will not happen at a good time.... At least in my experience.

As always, your money, you choice.

[StirCrazy]

I'll agree with the testing of the batteries before you make a disision to buy new ones. a load test isn't jusrt a pass or fail, it shows you if there good, then has a range for week and a fail. so you can see when they are starting to not provide full cranking amps, which may be fine in the summer but for winter it may not be. I bought my own tester just so I could check batterys on my vehicles, and the wife and kids vehicles. a little pricy for the one I bought but it was worth it. it has helped me diagnose a whole bunch of things on vehicles that I thought were the battery and turned out to be something else.

Steve

[Cummins12V98]

Devo the dog wrote:

Grit dog wrote:
OP, as you see by the responses...

You’ve asked a crystal ball question that is frankly pretty silly.
...
Given you have a high $ truck that is a garage queen, I’ll presume you’re an older person.
...

In other words, Grit Dog thinks you're old, he has an issue with you owning an expensive truck that's a garage queen, and he thinks your question was stupid to ask. His words were "frankly pretty silly."

Typical of Grit dog. It appears that he doesn't like older people, especially when they ask questions that he doesn't like. And it's obvious from this and many other posts that he doesn't like people who can afford expensive trucks. Furthermore, it really rubs him the wrong way if you can garage the truck.

I've only had batteries go bad at the worst time, primarily because there's never a good time. They aren't expensive and not difficult to replace, if you want to do it yourself. Also, if you have AAA, their prices to replace batteries are very reasonable. So if you have AAA, it's not much of a gamble unless you end up in a situation that's time sensitive. Also, if you have a shop that you take it to for regular maintenance, the next time it's there, ask them to check the battery.

Understand this.......we are MANLY MEN.

[Cummins12V98]

Ron3rd wrote:

Cummins12V98 wrote:

Ron3rd wrote:
I'm still running the J.C PENNY battery with the lifetime warranty from 1972. 🙂

How many times has it been replaced?

Cummins, you must be as old as I am if you remember the infamous "J.C.PENNEY BATTERY" with the lifetime warranty!

Must be!

[Devo_the_dog]

Grit dog wrote:
OP, as you see by the responses...

You’ve asked a crystal ball question that is frankly pretty silly.
...
Given you have a high $ truck that is a garage queen, I’ll presume you’re an older person.
...

In other words, Grit Dog thinks you're old, he has an issue with you owning an expensive truck that's a garage queen, and he thinks your question was stupid to ask. His words were "frankly pretty silly."

Typical of Grit dog. It appears that he doesn't like older people, especially when they ask questions that he doesn't like. And it's obvious from this and many other posts that he doesn't like people who can afford expensive trucks. Furthermore, it really rubs him the wrong way if you can garage the truck.

I've only had batteries go bad at the worst time, primarily because there's never a good time. They aren't expensive and not difficult to replace, if you want to do it yourself. Also, if you have AAA, their prices to replace batteries are very reasonable. So if you have AAA, it's not much of a gamble unless you end up in a situation that's time sensitive. Also, if you have a shop that you take it to for regular maintenance, the next time it's there, ask them to check the battery.

[Ron3rd]

Cummins12V98 wrote:

Ron3rd wrote:
I'm still running the J.C PENNY battery with the lifetime warranty from 1972. 🙂

How many times has it been replaced?

Cummins, you must be as old as I am if you remember the infamous "J.C.PENNEY BATTERY" with the lifetime warranty!

[Groover]

I replaced the battery for the Cummins 6.7 in my motorhome last year for the first time. I was installed in the chassis in late 2012. It was still working but I replaced it just to be on the safe side. I only use one battery for the Cummins since I replaced the other with capacitors that should last forever and actually produce a better starting jolt. The truck battery that I put in only cost $75 from the Kenworth dealer, seemed like a real bargain to me. I didn't mind running that the old battery a little longer than normal since I have a big set off house batteries already wired in for backup if needed.

I had a KMart lifetime battery in my 1970 Impala. I think that I got it replaced 4 times before some idiot stole it not knowing that it was already getting weak. He should have waited a few more weeks. I averaged right around 4 years per battery.

I had a lifetime battery from Honey's auto parts but on the third replacement they gave me a choice of a full refund or a non-warranted replacement, ending he warrantee either way.

[Cummins12V98]

Ron3rd wrote:
I'm still running the J.C PENNY battery with the lifetime warranty from 1972. 🙂

How many times has it been replaced?

[Ron3rd]

I'm still running the J.C PENNY battery with the lifetime warranty from 1972. 🙂

[salem]

Thanks everyone. May be going to Phoenix in a month or so. Maybe better safe than sorry so I'll have the batteries tested and go from there. Thanks again for the comments.

[pianotuna]

What is worse is the dozens of small parasitic loads that make modern cars convenient. On my Elantra that amounts to 2.7 amp-hours per day. When I leave it behind I have a small charger that operates for one hour per day. Otherwise I'd come home to a dead battery.