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Old Sep 29, 2009 | 10:14 AM
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onehundred80
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Joined: Apr 2006
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From: Ontario
Default Re: Can our BATTERY age be verified?

Originally Posted by Crossfireone
I think we've all wondered if our original battery (if you bought your car new) was really the original one, since most later Xfires from mid 2005 to 2008 sat on a pier on the East coast for approx. 1 1/2 yrs. Does anyone know if by writing down all of the numbers from the battery itself weather a "dealer or? " could look up the production date of that particular battery? My car by production date will be 4 yrs old this Nov., but the spec. gravity in all 6 cells is right at the same level exactly (1250) This is not a usual reading for a four yr. battery especially is it sat the first 1 1/2 yrs dormant. One or two cells should have started to drop off noticeably by now. I bought the car in Apr. 2007 & kind of feel this might have been a new install to get the sale going.!!
The original batteries were VARTA's, with white cases. Because some cars sat for so long they had the batteries replaced with newer ones, these all appear to be black cases of varying brands.
The age of the battery can be determined because they all have the date of manufacture on them. This is either molded into the lip around the top side somewhere or it has a sticker on it. Some have two stickers, one with the date of manufacture and one with the date it was recharged on.

Buy a fresh battery, one manufactured for less than six months. Batteries are stamped with a date code or have a sticker attached with the manufacture date, most codes start with the letter indicating the month: A for January, B for February, and so on. The digit denotes the year: 0 for 2000, say. For example, B8 stands for February 2008. A sticker on a stamped battery or a second sticker on the battery with a similar code indicates it was recharged at that date and is not the manufacturing date. Batteries on sale could be old stock. The time the battery has sat prior to purchase affects the length of life that can be expected after purchase, we want everything else we buy to be fresh so why not batteries?
 
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