What is battery size / group code for 300m ???

Steve <no.RemoveThis@spam.thanks> writes:

> MoPar Man wrote:
>
> > We're almost done with this brutal winter, and I still have the
> > factory original battery in my '00 300M (8.3 years so far).
>
>
> Winters are EASY on batteries. Its hot summers that eat the life out
> of them.
>
> I've never gotten more than 2.5 years out of an OEM battery in any
> car, and about 5 years is the record even with high-end
> batteries. That's the difference when you have ~100 degrees F ambient
> every afternoon every summer, and on the order of 200 degrees under
> the hood in traffic.

Very true, but a battery can also be farther from optimal condition
down here and still start the car -- when it's -20F out, a marginal
battery won't be good enough.

When I lived in Seattle, it was battery heaven. It seemed like they
lasted forever.
 >> Stay informed about: What is battery size / group code for 300m ??? 

Steve wrote:
> MoPar Man wrote:
>
>>
>> We're almost done with this brutal winter, and I still have the
>> factory original battery in my '00 300M (8.3 years so far).
>
>
> Winters are EASY on batteries. Its hot summers that eat the life out of
> them.

My understanding is that heat is hard on the battery on a long-term
basis (longevity), but cold weather will cause acute (short term, but
recoverable) problems (on a weak battery).

> I've never gotten more than 2.5 years out of an OEM battery in any car,
> and about 5 years is the record even with high-end batteries. That's
> the difference when you have ~100 degrees F ambient every afternoon
> every summer, and on the order of 200 degrees under the hood in traffic.

Apparently they put good batteries in at the factory on the LH cars (2nd
gen anyway. People on the 300M Club routinely get 6 to 8 years out of
them. It's commented on every once in a while out of the blue.

Bill Putney
(To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my
address with the letter 'x')
 >> Stay informed about: What is battery size / group code for 300m ??? 

On 03/19/08 12:02 pm Percival P. Cassidy wrote:

>> I've never gotten more than 2.5 years out of an OEM battery in any
>> car, and about 5 years is the record even with high-end batteries.
>> That's the difference when you have ~100 degrees F ambient every
>> afternoon every summer, and on the order of 200 degrees under the hood
>> in traffic.

> When I had our car serviced a couple days ago, I asked about battery
> life. They said 2-3 years, BUT our '96 Stratus went at least 5 years
> (first in Michigan, then in NY) on its original battery. Our '02 300M
> (first in NY, now in Michigan) is close to 6 years on its original battery.


.... and that means that the replacement battery on our '96 Stratus
(vehicle purchased 11/95) is also 5 or 6 years old. The replacement
battery came from Costco, IIRC.

Perce
 >> Stay informed about: What is battery size / group code for 300m ??? 

Bill Putney wrote:
> Steve wrote:
>> MoPar Man wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> We're almost done with this brutal winter, and I still have the
>>> factory original battery in my '00 300M (8.3 years so far).
>>
>>
>> Winters are EASY on batteries. Its hot summers that eat the life out
>> of them.
>
> My understanding is that heat is hard on the battery on a long-term
> basis (longevity), but cold weather will cause acute (short term, but
> recoverable) problems (on a weak battery).

Correct. Which means that batteries last much longer in cold climates
than in hot climates, but people erroneously get the impression that
cold weather does them in because the final failure *usually* shows up
on a blistering-cold night. In a hot climate, the battery can show up
dead as a post any time of year and often without the slightest warning.

>
> Apparently they put good batteries in at the factory on the LH cars (2nd
> gen anyway. People on the 300M Club routinely get 6 to 8 years out of
> them. It's commented on every once in a while out of the blue.

I give more credit to the comparatively cool (though painful to get at)
location on that vehicle. That location has to knock at least 50 degrees
F off the average temperature of the battery compared to putting it up
in the top of the engine compartment as usual.
 >> Stay informed about: What is battery size / group code for 300m ??? 

Joe Pfeiffer wrote:

>>
>> I've never gotten more than 2.5 years out of an OEM battery in any
>> car, and about 5 years is the record even with high-end
>> batteries. That's the difference when you have ~100 degrees F ambient
>> every afternoon every summer, and on the order of 200 degrees under
>> the hood in traffic.
>
> Very true, but a battery can also be farther from optimal condition
> down here and still start the car -- when it's -20F out, a marginal
> battery won't be good enough.

When its -20F out, I wouldn't be going out to start the car anyway. I'd
be loading the truck to move south... :-p

>
> When I lived in Seattle, it was battery heaven. It seemed like they
> lasted forever.

When I was in Seattle (Keyport/Poulsbo/Bremerton, actually) last year,
it seemed to be old car heaven in general. I've never seen so many older
vehicles in daily use. The one that took the prize was a (formerly)
white '69 Charger covered in green moss and tree sap humming happily
down the road. It passed me in about the same spot several days in a
row. Same for a circa-1955 International pickup truck- except it was a
little (ok, a lot) cleaner.
 >> Stay informed about: What is battery size / group code for 300m ??? 

Steve wrote:

> > My understanding is that heat is hard on the battery
>
> but people erroneously get the impression that cold weather
> does them

Heat, vibration and deep-cycling kills batteries.

In summer you have heat.

In winter you have deep cycling, and you have way more vibration if
you drive on hard-packed snow that doesn't get cleared, and you also
have more pot holes.

You generally also have more use of electrical accessories in winter
(glass defoggers, seat heaters, etc) and more use of headlights
(because of reduced daylight in the winter). All that extra use
promotes deep cycling.

I've already replaced my front sway bar bushings once, and they need
to be done again. That tells you how much vibration I've experienced
in 8 years of driving my 300M.

I live in a climate where the daytime temp doesn't go above 40f for 4
months of the year. I doubt that's the primary reason my battery has
lasted 8.3 years.
 >> Stay informed about: What is battery size / group code for 300m ???