Average life of an OEM battery here in the Northwest is 5-7 years according to Exide's research. No real temperature extremes, just normal wear and tear.

 

What year is your Mini? I have a 2005 Mini 'S'. What model number is your Sears Battery? I was told that the sears Diehard International model # 33347 should fit in my Cooper. Any thoughts?
thanks
evensteven

 

My 02 Cooper still has it's original battery, with almost 70,000 miles on it. Over the winter, car is stored in a heated garage with a trickle charger on the battery.

 

I still have the original one in my '05 MCS

 

so do I! '06 MCS

 

Yup that's what I had consistently a few weeks before battery on my '02 MC died @ 85k miles (6 yrs)...

 

I'm on the original battery in my 2002 MCS. However I only have 12,900 miles on the car. Always garaged with a trickle charger - not really a good comparision to Coopers used as daily drivers

 

Not necessarily, the needles are driven by servo motors and they have been known to initialize them selves from time to time, thus causing the shaking that you witnessed.

 

To answer my own question, replaced mine at about 59,000 miles and almost five years of service. Installed an Optima Red Top 34R. The OEM battery was still working fine, I just didn't want to take the chance of going through another winter with it. I'm a firm believer in Murphy's Law.

 

From my experience with all cars.... after 5yrs I think you can expect them to go at any time.

 

Not with my Honda 97 CRV (Japan Made). The original Panasonic Battery lasted 10 years. <Yes, it is not a typo.> Even my Honda dealer was amazed it lasted that long.

 

I replaced my original battery at about 2 to 2.5 years.
It was still working. Some of the 2003 OEM batteries got replaced under warranty.

Got a 12 lb braille battery. Lasted about 3 years and was very weak at the end and had no reserve capacity- maybe 5 minutes then went dead. I used to charge it up each night. If I left the car for 3 days the battery would be dead from being drained by accessories/stereo.

Got a new braille of the same size and it's fine now.

 

Quick question. Just before the battery dies, did that have an effect on your idle? Thanks.

 

Wow, I guess I'm really lucky! It's been doing this for most of the year now.

Maybe it's the battery and something else?

 

I still have the OEM battery in my '02 MCS - 52K. Never any problems. I don't use any charger but it is garaged daily - not heated garage however
(I wish!!). Service manager says not to use the radio or lights for long periods of time without running the engine.

 

I too have my needles spaz out when starting, but it has done that for years. never predictably, I too am on the OE battery in my 03 with 55k

 

'02 MC with a 02/02 build date (not sure of the date on the battery itself) and 70k miles -- still on original OEM battery and generally running OK.

However, it did sit for about a month here recently. Started up fine, but then started up/shut down about 4 times quickly moving cars around in the garage. Last time, it didn't start up very well. Putting the trickle charger on now to see if I can salvage it a while longer.

Really glad to see the other anecdotal evidence for the '02 batteries lasting as long as ours has.

 

MY OE battery lasted 4 1/2 years and 77,000 miles. I hadn't driven the car in several weeks and had to jump start it, then even after charging it for an extended period of time the 'eye' would not show green. It would still start the car if driven every day (rather than sitting) but I decided to replace it rather than take any chances.

 

Still on the OEM, 56000 mi. since 9/04 no issues or funk built up on the terminals.

 

mines on the original June03 build battery. been using a battery manager when not in use for more than a few days.

those can be had on amazon for like $30

 

Well, 11 months later, and now with 102,215 miles, my 03 MC's OE battery is still going strong.

The Cabrio is gone, we now have an 08 Clubman S, which is still on it's OE battery

Mark

 

My battery is about to start its 6th year. I should probably replace it before another winter eventhough I think it has a lot more in it.

 

03 MCS 46K miles, still on OE battery. Not garaged since first 2 years in New England and has sat as long as 3 months without use.

Thinking it may be high time to replace just to keep from being stranded, but there sure are a lot so far reported to have gone longer.

 

gasses? I want to replace w/ a braille battery soon. is this something that could be an issue MCS btw

 

Spoke too soon.

Let the car sit in the garage for 5 days while out of town for T-giving. Came back and the battery was dead again. Given that winter has now arrived in the Great Plains, I yanked it and replaced it with the NAPA 7547.

I probably could have charged it up and got another couple months, but I chose not to wait since it was inevitable.

Not sure if anyone here has tried the NAPA 7547. Dimensionally, it fits the battery box pretty well. However, the tie-down bracket doesn't fit over the battery.

Any one have any solutions for a new bracket or modification to the old one? It does not appear that a simple re-shaping of the OEM bracket is going to be an adequate solution.

In the meantime, I'm just letting the battery sit in the tray un-secured. It sits in such a deep tray that I'm not worried about it causing a problem for now.

By the way, the old battery had 04 02 stamped on the negative terminal, so I'm assuming that was the build date. 6 years 7 months is pretty good for am OEM battery in the harsh climate of the Midwest in my book.