Hi Scotty, I have a 2018 Nissan Rogue AWD with 71k miles. I have no issue with the vehicle. Should I change my OEM battery just as preventive maintenance or wait until it dies? I live in North East. Thanks.
have it load tested for free at the battery store to check it's condition.
I personally wait until base signs of needing it to be changed. I’ve had a battery go 10+ years without needing to be changed.
Not a smart move with everything being computerized. My '79 Pontiac you can get away with that, because it's all mechanical.
Interesting.
I do the same and haven't had any issues. Computer faults would certainly fall under the "signs" which Kaizen mentioned, but they'll go away when the battery is replaced.
I just test my car batteries twice a year with $65 Autool BT460 scanner. It'll show battery life in percentage and other information such as voltage, current CCA and resistance.
I normally change it when battery life gets down to 60%. Weak battery will also shorten the lifespan of the alternator and can get you stranded somewhere, so why take a chance?
I just test my car batteries twice a year with $65 Autool BT460 scanner.
I have the same battery tester, Scotty demonstrated it in a video some time ago. There are many similar ones on the market. However all of the inexpensive testers of that type only give an approximation of battery life based on voltage and internal resistance, which is not always accurate. So I use the BT640 along with a traditional old-school load tester to see what the battery output actually is under actual load conditions. Between the two of them you can get a pretty good idea of the battery's overall condition. (A really good electronic tester is very expensive.)
We used to commonly test with a hydrometer that checked specific gravity of the acid in each cell (easy to spot weak cells that way), but of course that won't work on sealed batteries.
