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Battery Life

Chadgervais

Chadgervais

Former GP Owner
Hi all,

Just wondering what the average user can expect out of the original battery in a grand prix. My GP is a 2004 made in 7/2003 and now has over 220k. I still have the original AC Delco battery. I work in an auto parts store and I have people come in daily with a variety of makes/models with failed batteries as little as 3 years old. We sell Exide and our longest warranteed battery is 9 years.

As a side note, Im not having any charging/starting problems right now, but the northeast is expecting a cold winter, would it be wise of me to get a new battery now to be on the safe side, considering my battery is almost 9 years old and is only rated for 680 CCA? (The one im looking at at the store is rated 770 CCA.)
 


Wouldn't trust the mid range exides.

Cheapest or most expensive lines only.

What I would do is test your battery, you sell them, so you should have a tester.

770 CCA sounds like the mid range line, I'd suggest avoiding them.
 
Seem to warranty more of those than the cheaper ones.

Heard that the Exide rep mention they were worse in terms of durability because they sacrificed that, for cranking power. Note the batteries in the next line up have the same or less CCA.

Their latest flat cell AGM looks interesting.
 


Original AC Delco batteries are typically the AGM (glass matt) they tend to last much longer then aftermarket liquid style.

We build all the local police and sheriff vehicles majority of them run 2 yellow top optimas because of the abuse. But they are pricey and ive seen those come back after just a few months..

I just finally replaced my agm factory battery and just opted to go with a Everstart Maxx its 800cca.

From my past experience I've seen new batteries go bad and I've seen batteries last for years. there istt really much rhyme or reason just kinda hit or miss.

You can take your car up and have a load test done on it to check it out. But my factory batt was testing about 50-75ca lower then spec so I wasnt waiting for a snowy freezing Michigan morning to have a no start condition

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rperry435 said:
Original AC Delco batteries are typically the AGM (glass matt) they tend to last much longer then aftermarket liquid style.

We build all the local police and sheriff vehicles majority of them run 2 yellow top optimas because of the abuse. But they are pricey and ive seen those come back after just a few months..

I just finally replaced my agm factory battery and just opted to go with a Everstart Maxx its 800cca.

From my past experience I've seen new batteries go bad and I've seen batteries last for years. there istt really much rhyme or reason just kinda hit or miss.

You can take your car up and have a load test done on it to check it out. But my factory batt was testing about 50-75ca lower then spec so I wasnt waiting for a snowy freezing Michigan morning to have a no start condition

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Click to expand...

For the 04+, that is correct.

For the 97-03, not so much.

I replaced my factory battery (2002) last fall after not having driven or started the vehicle for a week. It wouldn't start. Tried charging, still wouldn't start.

The previous winter it was a little slower to crank over, but it always started.
 
I bought an optima red top and love it. Can't get the thing to die no matter what i do.

Sent from my Droid
 
As a follow up to the original question. Assume this battery is in fair/good condition. How long can i safely run the radio with the engine off before the battery is drained to the point of not starting?


I was going to load test it at work but our tester is broken right now.
 
matt5112 said:
For the 04+, that is correct.

For the 97-03, not so much.

I replaced my factory battery (2002) last fall after not having driven or started the vehicle for a week. It wouldn't start. Tried charging, still wouldn't start.

The previous winter it was a little slower to crank over, but it always started.
Click to expand...

Yeah I always forgetz when responding not everyone owns a 04+ :cool:

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Im my experience if you drive the car each day for say 15 minutes or so, the battery can go well past it's expected life. If you drive the car occasionally or infrequently, you will find the battery life is much shorter.
 


BillBoost37 said:
Im my experience if you drive the car each day for say 15 minutes or so, the battery can go well past it's expected life. If you drive the car occasionally or infrequently, you will find the battery life is much shorter.
Click to expand...

Thats exactly right too. Its rather amusing when someone says.. well I drive the car one every couple of weeks....I just bought that battery x number of year(s) ago I dont know why its no good :D

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