John,
My wife's '94 Miata is also still running the original battery and it shows no
sign of failing anytime soon. I just recently replaced the one in our '93
Toyota van after 10 years and 178k miles, so clearly OEM batteries are not
necessarily crapola. However, the OEM battery in my '97 Chevy pickup failed in
under three years, just like nearly every other component on that POS.
John Peak
'59 BN7
"John P. New" <jnew@hazelden.ca> wrote:
Bob and List,
OEM batteries are not always bad. The _original_ battery on my 1990
Miata just gave up this year. Yes, that's 14 years in service! It was a
Panasonic AGM (absorbed/absorption glass mat) battery. From what I
gather, these Panasonics regularly last 7 years or more and are, as one
person I talked to put it, "bullet-proof".
I took care of mine, not storing it with the car in winter (here in
Canada) and keeping it charged.
Granted, I could tell it was getting weaker in the last two years, but
it never once let me down.
Unfortunately, I don't think there is an AGM type battery with enough
CCAmps for Healeys. This is too bad because many of them are completely
sealed, which is a great advantage because, like the Miata, our cars
have the battery in the trunk, where an acid spill or fumes can ruin
things. The OEM Miata battery (and the one I just bought from East
Penn/Power Battery) are vented to the outside of the trunk with small
tubes.
For more info on AGM batteries see
http://www.miata.net/garage/battery.html. This is specific for the
Miata, but some applies to our Healeys as well.
John P. New
London, Ontario, Canada
On Sat, 2004-08-21 at 19:45, OFG Racing wrote:
> The OEM stuff is crapola and that's just what the car companies want and pay
>for.
>
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