Had my battery checked recently during an oil change and the cold cranking amps are going south, so it is time to replace the stock battery.

I've had my truck in storage at various times when I was in the military and during winter months, so that is why the stock battery has lasted all this time,.. just for those that may wonder.

My question is what are your sort of experiences and choices on batteries for your L, good and bad?

 

Dave, I just replaced my 01 L' battery last month, not because I had to but because I was getting paranoid about a 7 year old battery in the truck, IMO the OEM piece is a winner and not one time left me swinging, track dates with the fan running, long new england winters in storage and only driven a few times a month in the summer and not once failed to start, I did replace the OEM piece with a Braille sealed unit to give it a shot at a 20lb weight savings, so far so good, no issues, as for Optima they have there fans but do some searching theirs a lot of failures, there are others Oddessy, Interstate ect... but if this battery fails to live up to expectations it's out and back to Autolite, I'll eat the 20lbs for the reliability.

 

Thanks for the reply.

I had looked into Optima, they are carried through Advance Auto, but the guy there actually recommended a sealed Autolite battery with 850 CCA. The warranties were exactly the same for either one but the Optima was $160.00 and the Autolite was $90.00.

The guy was upfront with me about it. He said "If you want to spend your money, I'll take it, but I recommend the Autolite."

I spent some time afterwards on the web looking for reviews on the Optima and did run into some negative ones from folks, so your point is valid. I'm not out to bash their product, I just don't think I should spend additional money on an item that doesn't have a greater warranty than another.

 

I am running an optima and I love it, never left me stranded and has even started up the truck after i left the radio on for way too long.

I sell odyssey and they are GREAT batteries.

 

I'm not trying to bash anything either, just from my experance the OEM piece was rock solid and so far so good on the Braille unit.

 

I took a look at the Odyssey batteries and I was quite impressed. They seemed to be a true maintenance free battery that is completely sealed up, from what I can tell.

The model that seemed to replace the Lightning battery was the 65-PC1750T. It looked like it would fit exactly in place of my OEM battery and I would be able to use the supplied stock equipment to mount it in the truck. I'm want to retain some of my stock look and use what items that came with the truck.

Quite impressive.

 

Over 8 years and 81K miles on my original stock battery and still going strong. 4 six to eight month deployments during that time, never disconnected it and it started up each time. That kind of reliability is hard to beat at any price.

 

Looked up places that sell those Odyssey batteries, Summit sells them but wow,.. $350.00?

Quite steep there.

 

Optima yellow top

 

Braille is 1/2 that price.

 

For ease of maintenance, Ford Motorcraft/Autolite. Good rule of thumb, lead acid never go longer than 42 months then replace anyway, insurance.

I have Optima yellow top. The thing about the core wound battery/deep cycle is, once they get low, you should put a full charge back on with a regular battery charger. An alternator will not put a thorough charge in place for several continuous miles (100+)

I use a battery tender which exercises and keeps it charged when it sits for long periods, i.e. 30 days or more. So far, three years, no sign of failure, but in one year I will replace it anyway just because I don't trust batteries of any kind, burned once too many, even with brand new ones.

Now, for you very lucky people out there who get more than 4 years out of a stock battery, hurray for you. Just realize that everyday your battery exists, the lead plates are getting thinner and soon will eventually fail, usually at the most inopportune time, maybe while you are bragging to someone about that extra year you got from your baby.

 

Fireguy, Batteries do wear down, I think we all get that but IMO what more could you want from a battery, regardless of who makes it, pulled at 7 years without ever seeing a charger or jump not because it tanked but because I just kept thinking about it, a post about about 8 years, there are others, again nothing is perfect everything fails at some point, but OEM or aftermarket I'll take 7 BS free years, ask around and see how many Optima owners can make the claim that there battery has never been charged and still works perfect after 7 years, my guess is the list is pretty small.

 

We haven't seen any issues with the OE.

Dennis

 

I just replaced my stock battery this spring

If not a Ford batter there is only one other choise, but not sure if they make one that fits the Lightning

http://www.eastpenn-deka.com/assets/base/1143.pdf

Optimas are junk in my opinion

Get a origional equipment battery or the Deka Intimidator

I also have heard good thing about the Odyssey batteries

Those are the only two I would concider other than the motorcraft

 

Finally got my battery today after looking around a bit online and calling quite a few places. NAPA had a replacement battery that is made by Deka. It is called their Legend series, and it has 880 cold cranking amps and 1042 cranking amps. It has a one year free replacement and pro-rated after that for up to 3 years I believe. It cost 89.00 before tax with a 10.00 rebate for my old one. It is a maintenance free sealed unit and it fit right in the old slot using the original equipment, the only thing missing is the viewport, but I'm not complaining.

I appreciate everyones input. I did look into all the ones mentioned.