We'd like to know how long your last two batteries have survived.

Don't hazard any guesses. If you know when you bought them and you know when they failed...........average the time between your last two batteries.

If you don't have the data, kindly avoid the poll.

the last few batteries I've bought for vehicles are Still in them and working normally. the batt in my D-350 is over 5 years old and Despite being drained several times by a short and a glove box light etc staying on it still Cranks over the truck like no tomorrow.

__________________
hum.....
1987 300TD 311,000M Stolen. Presumed destroyed

I use commercial grade sprinter batteries, you can't buy them directly from an auto parts store, you have to buy them from a 3rd party distributor, 120min, 1,300CCA, correct group size too.

the car can sit for ages, then be cold started after a double glow in well below 0 weather with these batteries, terrific.

__________________
1992 850i 6 speed
1991 M3 S54B32 swap
2007 328iT/6 RWD sport wagon
1987 325E 330iZHP engine swap
2004 Vespa 200GT
1976 W115 240D getting a much bigger engine. 5.5L
1997 R129 SL600 5AT

Great idea for a survey!
I am looking forward to showing the results to the local indi who sells us batteries & asking him to please explain?
We all need to be mindful that these hybrid things are full of batteries. Its going to be more than the car is worth to replace them when they fail.

__________________
Grumpy Old Diesel Owners Club group

I no longer question authority, I annoy authority. More effect, less effort....

1967 230-6 auto parts car. rust bucket.
1980 300D now parts car 800k miles
1984 300D 500k miles
1987 250td 160k miles English import
2001 jeep turbo diesel 130k miles
1998 jeep tdi ~ followed me home. Needs a turbo.
1968 Ford F750 truck. 6-354 diesel conversion.
Other toys ~J.D.,Cat & GM ~ mainly earth moving

Do we want this restricted to Diesels, gassers, or mixing the two?

I know I've had different results between all my cars, especially if I find that something else in the charging system has been playing havoc with the battery.
(My most recent find, an alternator that had managed to peel off 1/3 of one of the commutator rings and wouldn't charge reliably. That killed one battery in 12 months and ran another flat in 5 hours, even though barely starting to make the charging system indicator flicker.)

__________________
-Josh
Testing the cheap Mercedes axiom, one bolt at a time...

Wow, thats even higher than the OEM MB battery, which is 1,100 CCA.....I've never had even a remote issue with mine so far however, and it is just about 3 years old. Today it fired my 617 easily in 10F weather, took about 2-3 seconds of cranking after a 25 second glow.

__________________
-diesel is not just a fuel, its a way of life-
'15 GLK250 Bluetec 118k - mine - (OC-123,800)
'17 Metris(VITO!) - 37k - wifes (OC-41k)
'09 Sprinter 3500 Winnebago View - 62k (OC - 67k)
'13 ML350 Bluetec - 95k - dad's (OC-98k)
'01 SL500 - 103k(km) - dad's (OC-110,000km)
'16 E400 4matic Sedan - 148k - Brothers (OC-155k)

I don't have the dates, so I didn't take the poll. My current 6 month old battery seems to be acting up (low capacity) in cold weather; I think I distroyed it by driving with a charging issue last summer. I let it go completely dead a few times befor fixing my charging problem. Now my charging system is doing fine but the battery capacity seems to be way down. I'll probably just have to replace it again.

I haven't bought a battery in years and years

__________________
Closing the store
Benzbonz.biz on your smart phone or tablet.

i will decline to answer the poll since i don't know how long the previous battery was in there however i can say that the battery that is currently in my 240D was installed 2 days after i turned 16 (im 29 now) and still does a serviceable job in starting the car

You are in Mississippi, I see. I am in Pennsylvania. I am wondering if a battery lasts longer in the south than in the north. Thirteen years for a battery up here is unheard of. I just put a new battery in my Toyota van last fall, replacing the original from 2000. I could tell it was getting weak and did not think it would make it through the winter. It was 9 years old.

__________________
85 300D 75K Anthracite Grey 0-60 in 13 seconds **For Sale**
84 300D 333K Black (The Velveteen Rabbit) 0-60 in 14 seconds
00 Toyota Sienna 208K (Sold)
15 Subaru Outback 43K
11 Subaru Outback 67K
98 Ford Taurus 100K (Gertie - Was Grandma's - drove it to church and shopping - really) Daughter's car now.
30 Model A Ford 2 Door Sedan (Sold) 0-60 in . . . Never reached 60

Everything last longer in the south......batteries, cars, wives, houses, daylight, summer, dinner.

I didn't respond to the poll because I have no data. Instead of buying batteries, I buy cars with new batteries. The PO installed a brand new battery in Coda right before I bought her in February, 2008.

__________________
daw_two
Germantown, TN

Links:
Sold last car --- 05/2012 1984 300D Light Ivory, Red interior
Cluster Needles Paint
New Old Stock (NOS) parts

Past:
3/2008 1986 300SDL "Coda"
04/2010 1965 190D(c) "Ben"
& many more

I don't think so (regarding batteries). Heat has killed my batteries in just 3 years.

__________________
'81 MB 300SD, '82 MB 300D Turbo (sold/RIP), '04 Lincoln Town Car Ultimate

Sooner or later every car falls apart, ours does it later!
-German Narrator in a MB Promotion Film about the then brand new W123.

That sounds like a country song in there somewhere - and since I lived in Memphis, Tennessee five years - I know whatcha mean.


To the OP:
A lot of the variable battery-life depends on what model year you have, to name one variable. The MB brand batteries lasted longer in my W126, than the MB brand batteries last in my W210. Might have something to do with the newer models always drawing on the battery keeping on-board electronics working 24/7 - that is, unless one fashioned a kill-switch of some sort to totally disconnect the feed on the newer models. The later model SLs for instance utilize two batteries.

"Texas" though use to be technically classified in the west.

__________________
daw_two
Germantown, TN

Links:
Sold last car --- 05/2012 1984 300D Light Ivory, Red interior
Cluster Needles Paint
New Old Stock (NOS) parts

Past:
3/2008 1986 300SDL "Coda"
04/2010 1965 190D(c) "Ben"
& many more

The original battery was installed in my TDI for 4.5 years (VW uses the same battery supplier as Mercedes). It went on to live another half a year in my friend's car. The Exxide Orbital battery that replaced it in 2004 was replaced in 2009 by another OEM battery, and the Orbital now powers my pickup truck.

My SDL has an OEM battery from 2005, and it seems to be in tip top shape. I leave it on a float charger as the car sits. I think the mounting position behind the fake firewall makes it get less hot in the summertime, which is why it's lasted so long.

-Jason

__________________
1991 350SDL. 230,000 miles (new motor @ 150,000). Blown head gasket

Tesla Model 3. 205,000 miles. Been to 48 states!
Past: A fleet of VW TDIs.... including a V10,a Dieselgate Passat, and 2 ECOdiesels.
2014 Cadillac ELR
2013 Fiat 500E.