When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
My car will be 5 years old in November. The battery seems to be in great condition. I drive the car about three times a week so the battery should stay charged properly.
I usually get 4-5 years out of them. Two battery enemies are hot and cold. They will both kill batteries.
I was thinking around ~5 years on a 997.1 battery. I have the normal service scheduled in early November on its fifth birthday. My experience is that the warning of a battery replacement is not easily recognized. It could get me stranded if I push the replacement. I think that I will just buy a new battery this year.
That said, I have owned many two-battery early air-cooled cars (Porsche placed two smaller batteries in each front wheel wells to win races).. These cars seem to be a little quirky in that the age of the wiring system with the technology of a long ago era can cause a situation with quicker replacements. I replace these every 3 years. You said one battery can kill the other one. I mostly agree.
Cold is a problem when trying to start a car, it will not kill a battery. I store batteries in cold to prolong battery life. I have lipos that have held their charge for 3 years, in moderate cold temperatures (50s). Also, size matters. A larger battery will retain a charge longer than a small battery. If you don't lock your car, your battery will die sooner, too. In any case, I tend to replace car batteries every 5 years. So many cars have sensors that give goofy readings when the battery starts to go. I don't know why they haven't switched to 36 volts yet.
I realize this is the 997 forum but my 993 has eaten yet another battery. Knock on wood the used 2010 997.2 C2S I recently purchased doesn't eat it's battery because neither one of the two 911s I presently own is driven daily though lately the 997 has been driven more than the 993 was driven. Anyway a little over a month ago the 993 was inspected by a respected shop and the battery came back from this shop's inspection report as "good" and yet last week it began showing signs that it was under duress when I started the 993 a few times. Then when the 993 was taken into a Porsche dealership in the middle of last week for some other work, Porsche told me they needed to boost the battery while it was in their possession and that the battery was on it's last legs and needed to be replaced.
So what happened?
I can only speculate except to say that a month ago the 993 was taken into a paint shop to have the stone chips on the front bumper repainted. The 993 has not been in an accident, I have the CarFax to prove this. But it did have considerable stone chip damage to the front bumper as well as some chips to the front hood I wanted repaired since I am thinking of selling the 993. Once again only speculating here, but the paint shop had the car for 2 weeks and I suspect the car was not started in this time nor do I suspect that the battery was disconnected from the terminals. Plus I suspect that the car was unlocked meaning if what was said above that an unlocked car eats up the battery faster than a locked car, it sounds like the perfect storm. When I took delivery of the car back from the paint shop a few weeks ago, I noticed the car's radio was disabled (meaning it lost power and needed the code to reset it). But the car started fine. So I did not think much about it. The paint shop must have boosted the car prior to giving it back to me, but since it wasn't driven much between this time and was not plugged into a battery tender, the battery's power must have been drained to the point of no return. Once again this is all pure speculation, the paint shop did a fantastic job on the repairs to the bumper and front hood so I can't go back to them claiming that they destroyed my battery. Oh and the battery was about 2 years old and it is rather frustrating to go from a car that appears healthy one week to a car that is showing signs of a drained battery the next week.
Lesson learned moving forward is that I need to keep the 993 plugged in when I am not driving it because it's not the first time this car has eat a battery. But in the past we are talking about a longer time frame of inactivity. This time we are only talking about one week of inactivity plus the 2 weeks the paint shop had the car.
I bought my C2S in March and after getting it home, the battery was dead after leaving it sit for a week unlocked. I recharged the battery and made it a practice to lock it after every use. I have not had another dead battery, even after sitting for two weeks. I don't know how old the battery is. I would replace it, but my voltmeter shows it's still performing well. It takes a good charge, retains most of the charge over time, and doesn't show heat loss. That's about all you can ask.
It depends. If you use it regularly and use a charger on the garage, it will last till 7-8 years. Regularly meaning driving long trips.
But a battery is so cheap, I just mostly replace them every 5 years for preventive maintenance. I once drove to a gasoline station with my garage queen then it wont start to return back home.
It's because, like all other mfg.'s, the gasoline engine is being phased out. Sorry ,but 32 volt systems will not happen
Old thread and a lot of variables in battery life as pointed out. That said and worth repeating, when these batteries run out of life they often do so without much if any warning. Between my three 997's I've had four batteries fail. All four cranked as if they were new and then the next crank, just clicking and it was over. I've been amazingly lucky in that all four failed in my garage overnight. No.....no lights or anything else draining the battery left on overnight. Just blind luck but it can't be emphasized enough how sudden these failures seem to be more often than not.
The batteries in my 69 911 are 10+ years old, but I always put them on a battery tender when not driving. I have a new battery in my 997.2 and I do the same (using the Porsche battery tender).
Good luck with trickle charge. Had sandwedge issue few weeks ago. No issues. Drive car often. Started fine and drove to airport on a monday. Parking company called and said battery dead. Picked it up on thur and scheduled service with dealer to check it. Sure enough dead. Less than 2 yrs old.
No electrical mods to car (except DCS). No parasitic drains. Just pos battery.
Original battery lasted 7 yrs.
08-11-2018, 04:03 PM
How long should the battery keep its charge?
