Battery longevity opinions

**frailer5** · 16-12-2016 08:59 PM

Bought 2.4 Accord (US market model, made in Thailand), in March 2013. Wife got stuck in basement car parking at the in-laws'. Luckily, Assist, in form of NRMA, diagnosed a dud battery; FIL suggested not taking their battery, so she was jump started and went to our local guy who was in the next suburb. New battery fitted there. (Lion, FWIW).
My questions are..has anyone else experienced short battery life on Thai-built Accords. FIL was ranting a bit about the 'brand being let down by using inferior batteries' etc.

OK, usage; we don't really do many short trips, They are usually trips of an hour or so..having said that, car sits in drive 2~3 days a week, so driven reasonable trip lengths for average 5 days/week.

I agreed with FIL that a letter to Honda about this might be a reasonable thing to do. NRMA guy told wife that he has encountered a lot of Hondas with this issue.

Would value others' experiences, if any.

**Hondarally** · 17-12-2016 06:16 AM

Any car I've kept longer than 3 years has usually needed a new battery before 4 years are up. I don't think that 3.5 years for a new car battery is unusual. Probably not what I'd call good, but not out of the norm. Modern cars put a lot of load on batteries.

When I lived in NSW I found that the colder weather seemed to affect them more and a couple didn't even make 3 years.

Is FIL a mechanic / auto lecky? What does he base his advice on?

**beeza** · 17-12-2016 08:21 PM

Put a battery charger on it that desulfurises the battery. Brings em' back from the dead and you get twice as much life out of them.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DX1OaMYp6Kw

C-tec make the best ones.I used a repco one on a heap of batterys,worked a treat.Only had them on for the length of the cycle,not 3 wks like in the video. Must have been badly caked up.

**frailer5** · 18-12-2016 08:29 AM

Thanks for the replies.
Hondarally, FIL isn't a mech,. he's just had a lifetime obsession with cars. Having said that, such an opinion is in-character; a spot of grumpy old man, I suspect. He had recent experience with putting a new-fangled-tech gel battery (USA made, I believe), in a 1930s Packard, which he'd just sold to a NZer. Had to be got to the shipping point. He was suggesting putting one of those in, but my wife just needed one in and to keep going.
Yes, it seems to be the average life of conventional batteries. I'll post back here when I find out the brand of battery mentioned above.

**Martin77** · 18-12-2016 02:16 PM

If you take your car to Nrma motor serve, they will be able to charge and test it for free for you. Then toll know if the battery is dead or accidentally discharged.
What to look for is a battery with high cold cranking amp (CCA). The more the battery is discharged, the shorter its life will be. Higher CCA battery withstand the discharge better. Usually the higher CCA battery has 36 to 40 months warranty (instead of 24-30 months). They usually cost more (about $30 more).
You can install battery such as optima (yellow) but its very expensive and I wouldn't go that far for your car.

Standard sized exide extreme or supercharge gold or century ultra hi performance should be good.