What Battery?

[Alacran]

My optima is dying and i figure its time to replace it. Should i get another optima red top or something else? I heard recently the quality has been bad. The battery i current have is old, over 5 years old.

BTW the charge at stat up is less than 11 volts and after driving for an hour at 14V the charge is still at 11V. Basically, the charge is low and not getting better with driving so i doubt its a vampire.

TIA

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[SuperDaveGSE]

I went to Vatozone and just picked up the highest cold cranking battery that would fit and had top and side posts on it. My Optima was about 12 years old I think before it finally bit the dust, it was brought back to life once or twice before it didnt want to live anymore lol. Make sure you run and extra cable from the Alt to the aux fuse post to give a little more juice to the accessories.

 

[Bob Kazamakis]

Diehard from sears. Search for the discount thread

 

[SleeperLS]

I just had the same thing happen a couple months ago in my Monte. I did what superdave did and got the best cold cranking battery from O'Reilly's. It actually works better than my red top at half the price.

edit: wish I would have though about the Sears discount...damnit

 

[ldyzluvdis06]

damn, i always just go to walmart and pick one up.

 

[SinisterSHO]

We sell Exide at Menards and you can catch them on sale.

However, I beleive there is a bag sale coming up, so if you find a bag it will be 20% off.

 

[Bob Kazamakis]

I get my batteries at farm and fleet. Same warranty as any chain auto parts store for half the price. I think mine was $60 and the autozone equivalent was $110 or something.

Same 5 year pro rated warranty and even has some free jump start thingy with it. Works just as good as my old red top did and it wasn't $170.

 

[nytebyte]

I've had bad luck with Die Hard. The one I have now started having problems in winter after only 1 year. It's now two years old and I have to keep it on a battery tender if I don't drive the car for more than two days, otherwise it gets very weak.

I've heard good things about the Farm and Fleet batteries.
Also Ford Motorcraft batteries are very good. Both my Motorcraft batteries lasted over 10 years.

 

[Alacran]

Looks like i found a suitable drycell option...from sears too...

DieHard Platinum Battery : Deals on Quick Ignition Battery at Sears

thoughts?

TCG sears dicount thread
http://www.thechicagogarage.com/for...official*-tcg-sears-auto-center-discount.html

 

[SMRTSS1]

Optimas had bad batches for what seemed to be forever and I know a lot of people were severely pissed about it. Pay all that cash for "the best" battery and it takes a shit a few months later. From what I hear they've gotten better but I personally won't buy another Optima, you can get the same battery for cheaper without the name.

IIRC the batteries from Farm and Fleet are made by the same company that makes Die Hards but I could be wrong.

Look into Interstate batteries. They're not that expensive and get good ratings and I've never had a problem with them nor has anyone I know with one.

 

[Intel]

I've had bad luck with Die Hard. The one I have now started having problems in winter after only 1 year. It's now two years old and I have to keep it on a battery tender if I don't drive the car for more than two days, otherwise it gets very weak.

I've heard good things about the Farm and Fleet batteries.
Also Ford Motorcraft batteries are very good. Both my Motorcraft batteries lasted over 10 years.

I would get it replaced then or you have a parasitic drain/power issues with the car it is in. Had a couple and they always started things up fine.

I always check consumer reports and bought a walmart battery for my daily driver when the diehard finally failed after 6 years. Ran great for the 2 years I had the car. Still have a die hard in the Z which has been run down more times than I can think and still goes strong.