Mine wouldn't hold a charge and was replaced under warranty at about 18 months, ~15K miles.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Elistan
[B]I simply went to Sears.

 

Did any of you perform any maintenance on your OEM batteries? I haven't looked at mine, but I assume there are removable caps where distilled water can be added.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by gernby
[B]Did any of you perform any maintenance on your OEM batteries?

 

I knew someone would.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by xviper
[B]
It is a maintenance free battery.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by gernby
[B]

I knew someone would.

 

Yes, there are caps that can be unscrewed under the sticker. Adding distilled water did not help the longevity of mine. I bought the only available battery in the right size at the closest auto parts store when mine crapped out. It is a $45 'maintenance free' no-name that works fine and has a 75 month guarantee that is probably meaningless. IMO these things are too cheap and easy to replace to worry about.

 

I have experienced 2 instances where a dying battery took out the alternator. I wonder if it would not be prudent to just replace it every 24 months

 

If you use a battery tender when you aren't driving the car, to keep the charge up, you will get way longer life. For some reason, even if I have just driven 100 miles, the battery tender will stay in the charge mode for an hour before changing to float. This means that the battery is sulfating. I always plug mine in when the car is back in the garage. These are small batteries to begin with, and they need all the help they can get.

 

No offense, but is this something that you know from experience? Looking at your S2KI age, it doesn't look like you have had an S2000 battery for longer than 30 months. Even still, I would much rather replace my battery every couple years, than to hook cables up to the car every night.