5thGenRams Forums
Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!
Dead battery would have left me stranded...
- Thread starter killerformula
- Start date
Idahoktm
Spends too much time on here
I'm sorry, positive posts like this will not be tolerated. Please edit your post to say that you're angry that your battery took a dump at 4 years or delete your post entirely.
Last edited:
I got 3 yrs out of mine. No complaints. In the past 10 years we've only gone through 3 batteries but my wife trades cars in before she even needs tires. I'm not kidding. Since 2016 she had a new 2016 CRV, then traded in on a new 2019 CRV then traded that on a new 2022 Telluride. No tires yet. I drove a 98 trans am for 20 years then bought my truck.
6of36
Spends too much time on here
6of36 is because this is the sixth Ram out of 36 cars. In 16 I was driving my 15 Ram, but since then, an 18 Ram, a 20 Ram, a 21 Durango, and ordered my 24. I think most people don't drive vehicles long anymore.
BowDown
Spends too much time on here
Mine lasted 3.5 years, 10 months of which it sat on a dealers lot doing nothing but draining. I too have no real complaints other than the inconvenience of when it died. 3 years from a battery is good IMO, more is just extra icing
BowDown
Spends too much time on here
Not me, F those car payments.
73 Charger from 86-89
89 Dodge Daytona Shelby till 89-97
96 Z28 till 2003 when I bought the Ram and Z06
2003 Ram till 2020
2003 Z06 still here
I bought a 7year/Unlimited warranty for the Ram with the intent to drive it at least 2-3 years after its paid off.
Holy sheet! Thats a lot of vehicles. Always wondered what 6of36 meant.
6of36
Spends too much time on here
Before 2020, lease payments were cheap. Cost wasn't much higher than repairs on older cars. My first lease was less than $100 a month. Now they have skyrocketed, due to the 25% inflation, so I am buying again. Next year the price will have a huge jump again, due to the UAW wanting a 10% raise per year, to try to keep up with inflation.
Ten months is too long. Lead acid batteries need to be charged at least every six months on the shelf, and even that isn't good for them. That's why the ones at the auto parts store are hit and miss, there's no telling how long they've been there. You used to be able to buy "dry charged" batteries that came with a jug of sulphuric acid solution that you add when installing, but those don't seem to exist anymore. And why new car batteries seem like better quality, they went straight from the maker to the assembly line still fresh. I replaced the battery in my '02 Dakota in the Spring of '18, you do the math. No I'm not kidding, and it wasn't dead, just cranking slower. I don't expect that kind of life from the Ram, given all the electrical drains, but hope for more than three years.
- Joined
- Jul 25, 2020
- Messages
- 9,944
- Reaction score
- 9,775
FWIW, i only got two years out of the factory batter in my 99 Dakota. And it wasn't one of those where it started cranking slower. Started it up and left my house without issue. Stopped at the rec center on base for lunch, and when I went to leave, all I got was a clock from starter solenoid. Barely started with jumper cables. Had it tested and it had a cell go bad.
BowDown
Spends too much time on here
I'm aware, the battery in my 96 Z28 was never replaced, 96 till 04 when I bought the Z06. The Z06's OEM battery lasted from 03-12 before it started dragging when starting. Since 2012, I've put 4 batteries in it including a red top junktima.
My 2003 Rams OEM battery lasted until 2013
IMO those were outliers as I've only seen most batteries last 2-4 years. The real question is did those batteries, and yours, really last that long or were they dropping cells all along and finally lose enough that it negatively impacted the vehicle? Of the vehicles I listed, only the Z06 was "electronically complex" and would act erratically when the voltage was low. The Z28 nor the Ram cared about a low voltage battery and only ran gave me problems when the battery was alpha mike foxtrot.
That said, I dont really care as long as the Z06's or my trucks battery die inside the next 3 years. Sams Club has a 3 year replacement warranty on their batteries, no pro rated BS, just bring in the dead battery and the receipt, which they can look up using your sams card, and they give you a new battery.
Duracell Automotive Battery, Group Size 49 (H8) - Sam's Club
Buy Duracell Automotive Battery, Group Size 49 (H8) : Automotive Batteries at SamsClub.com
www.samsclub.com
Last edited:
My battery just abruptly died 2 weeks ago. Parked it in the evening and the next morning and nothing - no lights or anything (it was at 4V when I measured it). There was no warning just one day to the next. And I did check to see if I had left anything on and nada. Plenty of evidence on these forums that the OEM batteries may be junk so I ran to the store and grabbed a new AGM.
BowDown
Spends too much time on here
I don't know if I'd call them junk as a "good" battery isn't going to last you more than 3-3.5 years. That's the same way mine died and my observation is that the amount of electrical draw in modern cars with 2 and 3 computers is far greater than it used to be . I suspect had I placed my dead battery in my old truck, it may have had enough active cells left to give me an indication of it going bad.
Modern cars have such a current draw that batteries are light switching now rather than slowly showing you that they are going bad.
