Battery lifespan

denat

I have a 99 corolla petrol. Battery has been sluggish since autumn 08 but always started the car without assistance, finally died this morning.

My dealer/mechanic (not a Toyota garage) assures me that the old battery was the factory-fitted one.

That's 11 years on the original battery - not too bad.

Any comparisons?

BrianD3

Depends on the type of use. In your case perhaps the original battery had long journeys for much of its life with the replacement having shorter journeys?

I know of batteries that have lasted as long as 9 or 10 years and others that have gone after 2 years. The battery in my Laguna is the original one after 6.5 years and 215k miles, this sort of high mileage/usage is good for a battery. I'd expect the battery to last many more years if the car continues doing that sort of mileage.

bazz26

I'd demand a replacement one from Toyota.

Longest I got out a battery was about 5 years.

mcmc

Im A4 is an 02 with 105000 miles on her and the battery died yesterday.

It to was a factory fitted battery.

My Dad has a 1999 Hyundai Accent from new, car only has 30 000 miles on it, mainly does a small spin (mile ish) or two a day. Original battery lasted until last January so it lasted nearly 10 years, the car was bought in Feb 99.

I wouldn't doubt the Corolla battery was original.

Carstuck

Had a 00 corolla & the battery did 8 years after 90000 miles.

denat

RoverJames wrote: »

My Dad has a 1999 Hyundai Accent from new, car only has 30 000 miles on it, mainly does a small spin (mile ish) or two a day. Original battery lasted until last January so it lasted nearly 10 years, the car was bought in Feb 99.

I wouldn't doubt the Corolla battery was original.

That's interesting. I bought this corolla with 30k odd miles on the clock about 5 years ago. It now has 75k. AFAIK it's had mainly short runs all of it's life apart from a couple of years when it did a regular commute of maybe 16 miles each way every second week. For the past 3 years it's been doing a regular maybe 5 miles per day,8 starts per day, with a rare 200 mile and return run.

Your Dad's experience and mine seem contrary to conventional wisdom. I'd have expected a battery used mainly for short trips to die much earlier.

The original corolla battery was unsealed, so you could top up with distilled water, if you ever remembered!

Gael23

I think anything over 9 years is good going. Mileage has to have an impact though.

Fishtits

I sell a little known OEM brand, have been factory fitted to several prominent German marques... VW Passats/all Porsche amongst others,

I tend to see these coming in tired after eight years or so

denat

denat wrote: »

The original corolla battery was unsealed, so you could top up with distilled water, if you ever remembered!

Toyota's from the 90s didn't require much cranking power to get them going, I presume the Hyundai are similar. Many (reputable) garages used to fit a really small battery to the petrol Carina E and Corolla of that era as the OEM one was above what was required.

CJhaughey

Fishtits wrote: »

I sell a little known OEM brand, have been factory fitted to several prominent German marques... VW Passats/all Porsche amongst others,

I tend to see these coming in tired after eight years or so

Are these Varta? I have had a few and they are good batteries.
The OE Toyota ones were Panasonic IIRC great batteries and very durable for their size.