ok, i think i got the words record going on here for batteries. Every 3rd gen i've owned has chewed up and spit out it's battery about every 5 years. Well, I had my 'beater' car in the shop the other day, and the battery died on it (hey, it's ONLY been in the single digits/below 0 of late!) Gotta admire a car that dies in the shops parking lot instead of your own. Anyway, they went to change the batter, and found out it was the ORIGINAL battery. In an 89 olds with 125k on the odometer! Now battery life is a function of cycles, age and load, so can anyone top an 18 year old battery in an EFI car????

 

I don't think it was 18 years old. It was probably just owned by an old lady who always took it to the dealer and they replaced it with the exact replacement proper battery at some point...probably more than once. Or was there some sort of date on the battery or sticker that showed it was from 1989? Forgive the cynisism, I just find it hard to believe is all knowing about batteries what you said about them getting chewed up and spit out...which is always been true for me too. Not to mention that the acid would have long dried up, the plates would have been desintegrated, and the corrosion around the terminals and such would have made this impossible.

I suppose you also believe that "the check's in the mail", and the Easter Bunny and Santa Clause are real.

 

I guess you don't know about "preventative maintenance"? lmao.

I would say anything is possible with preventative maintenance. Not sure about the acid and all, but the corrosion can be controlled and eliminated before it ever gets started.

I am curious though to see how they know it is the original battery though. Was it dated from 89?

 

If you put distilled water or battery acid in a bat to fill it, it will last much longer. And at 130,000. I have more than that on my 96 silverado.
So long as it never died/kept a good charge. It's entirely possible.
You can beat on almost anything so long as you take care of it.

 

Yeah, 5 years is an automotive battery's typical life cycle. It's easily possible to extend that through proper care, keeping it fully charged & never going completely dead, removing and preventing corrosion and avoiding harsh winter temperatures, but 18 years pretty much pushes the believable envelope. But anythings possible and I can't see the battery and it's date code to say it's not true.