This just an observation, so I will put it in the General Chat forum. I have a 2001 SSEi Bonneville with 180,000 miles that I have owned since it was new in May of 2001. In all of that time, I never had to replace the battery. Normally, I expect to get 4 to 5 years out of a battery. It must have something to do with the battery being located inside the passenger compartment under the rear seat, which protects it from the extremes of temperature and vibration most batteries experience in the engine bay.

I have at one time or another fixed all the problems that seem to plague our cars (window regulators, water leaks, front motor mount, rear shock mounts, steering wheel intermediate shaft, wheel speed sensors, fuel level sender, etc.) so its nice to think there is something on our cars that actually performs better than expected in terms of maintenance issues.

What is everyone else experiencing with their batteries?

> What is everyone else experiencing with their batteries?

Nothing unusual to report with the battery in mine... but I'm on alternator #4, and I suspect #5 is just around the corner, as the battery that was new last year is acting pretty lethargic.

All my alternators are OEM AC-Delco, not Chinese, but I think there'* something in the design that'* hard on them -- maybe engine vibration or something. I've seen other early-to-mid-1990s Pontiacs with the same alternator problems, so at least mine is not alone...

I have only gone through a couple of batteries and no alternators. But we don't have harsh winters here either.