well i guess dodge got two things right......1) having a Cummins power plant and 2) they seem to have some great batteries, hahaha!

2003 here and still have stockers in the truck. though, i have only had the truck 8 months!

 

I have the stock batterys in mine. Was built on oct 2002. Just starting to get hard to start and over long weekends are almost dead flat. Going to put in the odyssey PC 1700/65 Design.

 

The batteries in mine are 4 years old and have 57K on them. Still starts like new.

 

I bought mine with 92k on it, now at about 122k and on what I am sure are the original batteries.

 

had 210k befor one battery started to leak, and leak real bad during one cold am. covered the inside of compartment. 2 new batteries and 10 year battery warranty from canadian tire.

 

On '01 diesel, had original batteries when I traded truck in, 6.5 years, still running strong.

 

Too bad that fuel/lift pumps don't last as long as the batteries, eh?!

 

6 year 100k

 

i had my passenger side battery blow the caps off with 12000 miles on it.

 

Coming up on 5yrs in jan, I'll change them when they wear out. I'm still on my factory brakes too, with 103,000 miles.

 

heat is the real killer of batteries-not the cold

 

Yea my factory brakes are doing real well also.

85k on the stock brakes and still running the same batteries from the factory.

My lift pump and tranny are starting to show their age though. I guess we can't have our cake and eat it to.

 

Optima's will be especially advantageous for people up north- they discharge slower in cold temps versus regular batteries-even those with higher cold cranking amps. So, at -30 celsius a standard battery with higher CCA's than the Optima will still be less effective. They use similar type batteries in some applications in the Canadian Army. Much better in the cold.

 

Kinda bogarding this 3rd gen site but thought I'd share. My '98 12 valve was on the dealer lot 12 months before I bought it. I drove it almost exactly 6 years before the batteries began to fail. Never failed to start but the CEL was coming on for low voltage when I replaced them.

Dan

 

But I think I am going to have to replace them soon, I have had to jump start it 2x now after sitting a while (2-3 wks)