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I have had my Civic for 4 years with the original battery. The green light is still on, but we get severe winters here. Should I play it safe and get a new battery this fall, or are these batteries good for 5 years? Has anyone changed or had to change their battery yet? Thanks.

 
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batteries last untill they die. Some people have had batteries last for 5 years. Others have had to replace there battery after 1 year. No one can tell you your battery will last 5 years because they dont know.

If the battery is performing up to standards, but you are concerned, have it load tested. Now the green light only tells you the condition of one cell in the battery. there are 6 cells in a battery. So that one cell could be good and the others failing or getting weak. Best bet is to load test the battery.

Also if the battery is a add water battery or partially maintanence free, get a hydrometer and test each cell of the battery. this will test the electrolite in each cell and give you the state of charge in that cell.

Now I have had to replace my battery last year, and I had it only 2 years. My mom had her battery replaced before 1 year. They all vary.

 
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my battery onlylasted three years

 
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A dead battery can have a voltage of 12V, just when a load is applied it will drop, hence the reason autozone load checks them.

Anyway, yeah, just use it till it dies. You can tell when they are about to go out, when it gets cold out, it will have trouble starting, when it does this a couple of times in a row time for a new battery. I know people here in Ohio (we get some bad winters too) who have had there battery for over 10 years without a problem.

 
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hey does giving people jump starts reduce the battery life

 
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it puts a hell of a load on your charging system, i would say it more likely may reduce the life of your alternator [diodes/voltage regulator] because of the voltage spike, the more dead the other guys/girls battery is, the more it is the load on your system

 
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yeah i guess ill stop helping people out when they need a boost unless they contribute to buying a new one