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I have the Optima Red which is expensive about $150 at Autozone. Another one I like that is not easy to find is Interstate. The Optima is gel cell and has 7 year replacement warranty.
 
Anything but an Optima.

Nothing but trouble with many of them over the past couple years.:mad:
 
battery

:biggrin: I have an AC Delco stock replacement, since Oct, 2001. Still in perfect shape. I use a small battery tender when the car is idle and for winter storage. Never any battery problems. My deal was keep my GM car GM. :biggrin:
 
I'm with you on that Nick. I went through 2 Redtop's before I got 1 that worked for more than 2 month's.

I got burned by my 1st optima. I had an electrical problem with my Syclone, I thought that I got it handled, but my battery was bad, so I bought an Optima & installed it, the truck ran fine, but I kept waking up to a dead battery. I'd put the meter on the car & couldn't find anything drawing down the battery, but @ $200 a pop for the Optima I never figured that the battery could bad. Well in the end, I had the truck fixed, but the Optima battery was screwing me over.
 
Wow, I hadnt seen many Optima failures but glad I saw this thread. I had 2 red tops, and then tried a yellow top. I just couldnt keep any reserve power with those batteries. The yellow top I had on my daily driver, if I left the engine off/key on with stereo (amps drawing power too) for 5 minutes it would either start slowly, or need to be jumped. I just had bad luck with them. I went to Sears one day, bought a Diehard Gold, gave them my collection of fancy looking colorful top batteries, and problem was solved.
 
I have nothing but good things to say about optima red top batteries. i have had one on my car for over a year now with no problems. maybe its because i always hook it up to a battery tender when its in the garage. The only other battery i have had good luck with was a HEATBEATER not sure who makes it but its still in my garage.
 
One more to add to the list of Optima haters! :mad: After extensive troubleshooting of the charging system (which was new at the time), and two red tops, I got my money back and went back to my good old Die Hard Gold.
Magically my charge system turned out to be working properly with a good battery, as it was before the Optima saga.
 
I think you''ll find there is a pretty wide split of opinions on the subject of batteries. This subject has been discussed in several other threads. Based on my personal experience, I'd go with Optima. I've been running them in all my vehicles for years now with not one single problem. I also know several guys that swear by Interstate, but I've only had one of those many years ago. It was fine, but I didn't own that vehicle very long. There are tons of posts about people having problems with Optima batteries, but I've never had any problems.

There are also guys that swear by AC Delco. IMO, AC Delco batteries are junk. I've had numerous problmes with them so now if I buy a new vehicle and it has an AC Delco battery, I'll swap it out ASAP. Funny thing was, my father swore by AC Delco, but like I said, based on my own experiences, they're junk.
 
i think it just comes down to luck. sometimes you get a good one sometimes you dont. so far i have been lucky all the batteries i have bought over the years only 1 has been junk.
 
9 years on my Yellow Top Optima in my WE4. :smile:

Driven all year even the cold winters.

Gn driven 3 seasons also has a Yellow Top Optima. :cool:

Good batteries. :smile:

All the Delcos and Sears I have had didn't last half as long, not even close. :frown:

I did have a blue top go bad however, (boat) , one bad cell in that one. Someday I'll try to take it apart. :eek: ;)
 
i have optimas in my 89 gmc s15 jimmy and in my 84 gn no problems. thare just if the vehicle sits for a while you need to put it on a battery tender overnight. thats why everybody says that these are junk as they never charge them.

and dont put a regular charger on them as they will go bad. i sell these batteries and i always sell a battery tender along with them. most are for sump pumps in houses but a few for vehicles.
 
i got a brand new lime green interstate off my shelf at work, and threw it in, and it wouldnt hold a charge for more than 2 days. granted it was kinda cold out in the garage but still. My plain old Meijers battery in my bmw daily driver never failed me once. not in many cold, un garaged years. I had bad luck with my interstate. I think its just hit or miss to be honest. Maybe I got a dud who knows. I say a battery tender is just cheap insurance, and is always a good idea now.
 
Wow, I hadnt seen many Optima failures but glad I saw this thread. I had 2 red tops, and then tried a yellow top. I just couldnt keep any reserve power with those batteries. The yellow top I had on my daily driver, if I left the engine off/key on with stereo (amps drawing power too) for 5 minutes it would either start slowly, or need to be jumped. I just had bad luck with them. I went to Sears one day, bought a Diehard Gold, gave them my collection of fancy looking colorful top batteries, and problem was solved.


My $200 yellow top is doing the same thing to me right now. :mad:
No more POS optima batteries for me....
 
wow alot of bad reviews on these optima's hell the only reason there is one in my car is it was free. never have had a problem with it. I keep a battery tender on all my vehicles except my daily driver. never had a battery problem since.
 
i have optimas in my 89 gmc s15 jimmy and in my 84 gn no problems. thare just if the vehicle sits for a while you need to put it on a battery tender overnight. thats why everybody says that these are junk as they never charge them.

and dont put a regular charger on them as they will go bad. i sell these batteries and i always sell a battery tender along with them. most are for sump pumps in houses but a few for vehicles.

Which is precisely why I went back to my Die Hards. No battery tender needed. One less pain in butt to deal with. My 86 sits for a couple weeks at a time, and hasn't failed to fire right up. My 87 sits for a month at a time, again, never fails to start. My 84 Z28 sits even longer that either of those.
All start when required no extra bs like battery tenders, etc. Except for the fairly new one in the 86 that replaced the optimas (plural, I gave them two chances), the other Die Hards I have are at least 5 and more years old.
 
There is a battery store by my shop that sell blem's along with name brand ones. I picked up a 750 CCA blemished one for $25 bucks several months ago. The car has been sitting in the garage with a dead trans for about 2 months. I try and start it on the weekends and let it idle for 30 or so. This battery spins it over fast every time! Wish I could tell you what brand it is but it has no markings except "BLEM" hot stamped in it. Have another one like it in my Tacoma and I went on a bus. trip and it sat in the parking garage for 3 full days with the interior lights on. Still spun it over with gusto!
 
if you like acid leaks, corroded battery cables,rusty battery trays,stained/ruined shirts and if you like the fact that if a lead acid battery ever goes completly dead where a dome light wont even come on ,even if its only a day old ,it looses 50% of its capacity,a traditional battery is for you.

optima batteries have been the best battery for me and my customers hands down for years.sure every manufacture has defects, but ive personally never had a optima battery problem. the battery in my tuuck (red top) is almost 10 years old now. i thought it was on its way out because my starter was dragging,then one day last week i got that dreaded click instead of the starter ingaging,"well its about time for a new optima" i told myeslf. then went to replace it and realized the battery bolt (pos) was loose!!! now its still goin. remember,if your optima goes dead,it takes longer to recharge at higher amps at first for a longer period, then a long slow charge up to days depending on how long the car/vehicle has been down.but the good news is the battery is 100% as good as the day you bought it.
if anyone has a "bad" optima battery,please send it to me and ill discard it properly.;)

interstate batteries have been good for me too. i was a gm service tech and i replaced about four to five delco batteries a day myself ( there were 10 techs working there) eek.
 
I am surprised to hear all the horror stories about Optima. My brother 1st recommended to me about 7yrs ago when he put an monster sound system in his truck. He said that was what everyone used because of the quality. This is my second Optima, my first one I had for 2 yrs and then sold the car. It would sit all winter and then start in the spring no problem. That is why I put one in my Buick. It sounds like their quality control is inconsistant. I guess I'm in luck again because I'm 2 for 2 having good Optima batteries. I also like Interstate. We use them in all our construction trucks. They just plain crank! One thing I do like about Optima is that it's sealed maintenance free, no leaking!!!
 
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