What's Your's and Why?

 

My stock Motorcraft is still going strong after 5 years. When it goes I will get another one just step up to the biggest size.

 

For $80+tax, you can't beat it (same as Sears DieHard Gold).

 

Optima Yellow Top

 

Looks like my battery died after truck sat for 3 days. That's not normal, right?
I figure it's a battery problem if it's just loosing charge.

With Optimas, is there a certain model or are they just sold based on "top" color?

Thanks in advance.

 

I'm guessing one of your amps isn't shutting off. And Optimas are sold by their colors. Yellow - Deep Cycle/Starting. Red - Starting. Blue - Marine/RV Deep Cycle.

 

Really? I would find that very strange. No wiring has changed and it's sat for over a week before with no issues. I'll check today and see if the amp is warm before I start the truck when I leave work.

It did start last night after jumping off. I ran it for about 20 minutes to charge the battery. It held charge through the night and started fine this morning.

 

Read the specs published by Optima. They have less CCA, CA, reserve minutes, & warranty than a normal battery that costs 1/2 as much, and they respond WORSE to deep cycling. They are NOT good batteries - it's all hype.

But if you get one: yes, they make different sizes, just like other brands. Check the group number on your current battery & try to get a replacement that's the same group. On a Motorcraft battery, the 1st set of numbers in the PN is the group. In my photo above, it's group 65.

 

Interesting. My Optima red top is 900 CCA and 1000 hot cranking amps....stock battery was only 650 CCA. The red top is 120 minutes reserve capacity and the stock one was 100. The red top is 36 months 100 % free replacement and the stock battery is pro rated for 36 months. The current one in my truck is three years old and 50 k miles on it with no problems. The last one I had lasted EIGHT YEARS and 150k miles between the two vehicles it was in. It was still going strong when I sold the Jeep. You will NOT go wrong with the Optima.

 

I've never owned an Optima myself, my dad and brother have red tops. I find that in my brother's daily car, it runs fine because it's started and run daily. If you leave it for a few days or a week and no start, it's dead. He blames the alarm draining it, which brings me to his Mustang. It is started once in a while and driven a bit, if you leave it too long, same thing, with nothing like an alarm on it mostly. My dad's old street rod, again same deal. If you don't run it alot and want it to start after sitting a little while, count on a jump. It just seems they are sensitive that way vs. a regular battery. Even my dad's old car, we needed to move it, charged an old Motorcraft that was yanked from grandpa's 01 Taurus and bang, ran it home. 3-4 weeks later, goes to start it, fires right up. The Optima's would have always been dead by then. I'm looking for anything good from Optima user's myself for my old car, but since I won't drive it everyday, I may just get a "regular" battery and be happy that way.

Just as a side here, my original truck batt lasted till this past december so 7 yrs roughly and 170k km's, and was only 540 CCA's, seemed small and underpowered, but worked. Got a Ford 750 CCA now.

 

You didn't mention what group size your red-top is, but even if you had, I wouldn't look up the current specs for it. The last time I checked, they were rated FAR below the MotorCraft/Diehard. But I know you're wrong about the warranty - look at my photo above.

Also, Optima specifically voids the red-top warranty if you have ANY non-stock electrical accessories on the vehicle (even a radio). They specify a yellow-top, the last time I checked.

 

I like big batteries that are not maintenance free.

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