I have a Sears Die Hard Gold AGM battery (rated at 775 CCA) that's about 3 years old. I took it to Autozone for a free health check.
The test result was "12.56V charge 91%"
Is this healthy for a 3 year old battery?
My experience has been that Sears batteries have declined in quality since they quit using Odyssey for their Platinum series. I got a couple of Golds free when they failed in the warranty period:
So I'm a bit weary of this Sears Gold battery, now out of warranty, and which is not made by Odyssey.
I have a Sears Die Hard Gold AGM battery (rated at 775 CCA) that's about 3 years old. I took it to Autozone for a free health check.
The test result was "12.56V charge 91%"
Is this healthy for a 3 year old battery?
My experience has been that Sears batteries have declined in quality since they quit using Odyssey for their Platinum series. I got a couple of Golds free when they failed in the warranty period:
So I'm a bit weary of this Sears Gold battery, now out of warranty, and which is not made by Odyssey.
Does the vehicle start okay? If yes, leave the battery alone. If no, get a new battery. There's no reason to overcomplicate it and throw away working parts.
You can if you're worried, that'd be a better use of funds since a battery could fail due to a defect at any time. I carry jumper cables and I have BCAA, but I've only had two batteries actually fail and both were in my driveway. The old battery that came with my WK that had been showing signs of failure for months and the replacement which had some kind of defect and died 4 months later. Apart from that all the random batteries I've had in the vehicles I've owned haven't had an issue. We recently traded in my wifes car with a 10 year old battery from a brand I've never heard of, and it never skipped a beat in the 5 years we owned the thing.
Considering how millions of people drive around with all kinds of corroded batteries from who knows where with no issues, I wouldn't even blink at a 3 year old, high end battery that tested at 91%.
You can if you're worried, that'd be a better use of funds since a battery could fail due to a defect at any time. Yeah, they are also useful as torches, for charging phones, and helping other people I carry jumper cables and I have BCAA What's BCAA please, but I've only had two batteries actually fail and both were in my driveway. The old battery that came with my WK that had been showing signs of failure for months and the replacement which had some kind of defect and died 4 months later. Apart from that all the random batteries I've had in the vehicles I've owned haven't had an issue. We recently traded in my wifes car with a 10 year old battery from a brand I've never heard of, and it never skipped a beat in the 5 years we owned the thing.
Considering how millions of people drive around with all kinds of corroded batteries from who knows where with no issues, I wouldn't even blink at a 3 year old, high end battery that tested at 91%.
Yeah, well you know my view on voltage tests.
Apart from what I've already said, you have to wait 24hrs to do any sort of / kind of useful voltage.
Drive up test results aren't worth the air they are spoken on.
Yeah, batteries on their knee nobs will often struggle on for years.
The problems that come from old batteries stem from 3 camps.
Camp 1
Dwindling number of starts.
With a new battery, lets say you can make 10 starts back to back.
As time goes by, you get down to 5 starts back to back.
Eventually, you're keeping your fingers crossed that it starts first time.
Effectively, you are running on empty.
Then one frosty morning it's out with your jump cables, and a quick dash to the battery shop.
Camp 2
Hidden costs
Old batteries are more difficult to charge than new ones.
Old batteries mean hidden expenses: -
You use more fuel / gas.
Wear your starter out faster.
Wear your alternator out faster.
Wear the belt tensioner out faster,
Wear your alternator belt out faster.
Camp 3
Stress
Let's face it, lots of people find having an iffy battery downright stressful.
I'm going to go ahead and say-if you are not running into any issues, your battery holds charge and starts the rig, voltage is normal when running and 24 hours later, your terminals are clean and tight (and NOT the emergency crap things that clamp around a bare cable!), I would not even blink at continuing to use a 3 year old battery. Wet cell or AGM.
Don't go crazy chasing someone's percentages. How is it working?
I have owned ALOT of vehicles over the years, and every battery I have replaced showed signs of deterioration before it failed(actual starting problems, like slow cranking). And I have never had to walk because one failed unexpectedly. You will know when its time, but 3 years might be only half of that battery's working lifetime. Pretend that you dont know what you know about voltages and percentages...does it start easily every time? Run it till it doesn't....
Load testing the battery is the only solid method of knowing.
I just retired a Platinum that was 12 years old,performed perfectly, but it was long in the tooth and wasn't willing to trust it this season
I kept the AGM battery in place as it was working.
I noticed a bit of fluctuation on the dash "voltage indicator" during idle this week. So I took it to AutoZone for another free test. On Monday, the Autozone tester read "Bad Battery 12.39V Charge 69%". I came back on Tuesday for another test and it read "Bad Battery 12.51V Charge 76%"
You may have read about Sears closing down most of their locations. Advanced Auto picked up the Die Hard brand. The AGM battery was under warranty, so I swung by Advanced Auto and they gave me a free replacement Die Hard battery (a traditional flooded battery as they didn't have AGM in stock).
I've driven with the free replacement battery for a couple of days, so I swung back by Autozone for another free test. Their tester is able to test the alternator as well.
With the new battery, the test results: "Good Battery 12.72V Charge 100%"
But here is where it gets interesting: The alternator test reads: "Voltage Regulator Failed. Diodes Passed."
So the alternator is clearly charging the new battery to 100%. What is the impact of a failed voltage regulator? Do I need to replace the alternator?
I kept the AGM battery in place as it was working.
I noticed a bit of fluctuation on the dash "voltage indicator" during idle this week. So I took it to AutoZone for another free test. On Monday, the Autozone tester read "Bad Battery 12.39V Charge 69%". I came back on Tuesday for another test and it read "Bad Battery 12.51V Charge 76%"
You may have read about Sears closing down most of their locations. Advanced Auto picked up the Die Hard brand. The AGM battery was under warranty, so I swung by Advanced Auto and they gave me a free replacement Die Hard battery (a traditional flooded battery as they didn't have AGM in stock).
I've driven with the free replacement battery for a couple of days, so I swung back by Autozone for another free test. Their tester is able to test the alternator as well.
With the new battery, the test results: "Good Battery 12.72V Charge 100%"
But here is where it gets interesting: The alternator test reads: "Voltage Regulator Failed. Diodes Passed."
So the alternator is clearly charging the new battery to 100%. What is the impact of a failed voltage regulator? Do I need to replace the alternator?
Even the best battery testers aren't 100%.
Then there's human error.
Now throw in that there are 2 types of regulator.
The old fashioned, chuck 14.4v at the battery sort.
And the new fangled "Smart" ones that do a 100 sums a second to work out what voltage the battery needs.
I expect your set up is smarter than Autozone's tester realised.
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