vicpick58
New member
Hi all, my 2012 will be two years old soon, and I was just wondering how long can I reasonably expect the factory supplied battery to last?
I had not bought a brand new vehicle since 1998 and in the old days a factory battery would last four or more years depending on how many times it happened to get discharged.
But in the last 10 years or so it seems that various aftermarket batteries that I have had only seem to last a couple years. I even had one fail exactly two years to the day from when it was bought, warranty replaced it, then the warranty one failed two years later.
I use a label maker and mark the install date on all my vehicles batteries so I know how long they have been in service. I also look at the date code on the battery when buying one to make sure it is no more than 30 days old because I have heard that sitting around on the shelf with out being charged can shorten their life.
I hate to have a battery failure in the middle nowhere in the middle of the night in the rain. So I have been changing them out every two years for a while now to keep that unexpected failure from happening. But that was in Jeeps, Dodges and a Lincoln, I have a 4Runner now and the wife now has a used 2012 Avalon that I bought a couple months ago.
So do these factory batteries last a while or should I be looking into replacing both the 4Runner and Avalon batteries soon?
Actually after thinking about it, I probably should replace the Avalon one since I don't know if it has ever been discharged, but I KNOW the 4runner battery has not been discharged since I bought the vehicle new.
I had not bought a brand new vehicle since 1998 and in the old days a factory battery would last four or more years depending on how many times it happened to get discharged.
But in the last 10 years or so it seems that various aftermarket batteries that I have had only seem to last a couple years. I even had one fail exactly two years to the day from when it was bought, warranty replaced it, then the warranty one failed two years later.
I use a label maker and mark the install date on all my vehicles batteries so I know how long they have been in service. I also look at the date code on the battery when buying one to make sure it is no more than 30 days old because I have heard that sitting around on the shelf with out being charged can shorten their life.
I hate to have a battery failure in the middle nowhere in the middle of the night in the rain. So I have been changing them out every two years for a while now to keep that unexpected failure from happening. But that was in Jeeps, Dodges and a Lincoln, I have a 4Runner now and the wife now has a used 2012 Avalon that I bought a couple months ago.
So do these factory batteries last a while or should I be looking into replacing both the 4Runner and Avalon batteries soon?
Actually after thinking about it, I probably should replace the Avalon one since I don't know if it has ever been discharged, but I KNOW the 4runner battery has not been discharged since I bought the vehicle new.
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