Battery time

[zerosoma]

Had the lovely sputtering this afternoon after letting it sit in 1 degree weather overnight.

Who makes a good battery these days? Last one I bought was an Auto Craft Silver from Advance and 2 years later, it's dead.

Looking at Duracell Ultra (Batteries Plus)
or Everstart MAXX (Wal-Mart) Batteries.

Who makes what nowadays?
Thanks

 

[Quattro Pete]

My Everstart maxx is made by Johnson Controls.

 

[Donald]

Remember large companies like Walmart or Sears can change suppliers when a contract runs out and/or have different supplier in north vs south.

What I have seen is Walmart MAXX are made by JCI. Interstate is always made by JCI. You can tell a JCI battery with cell cap covers as the corners are at 45 degrees, not rounded.

 

[Trav]

I have stopped buying MAXX, Auto Craft and Duralast, Too many failures, I just had a MAXX fail after 3 mo and 9 mo in a different vehicle.
Now its DieHard Gold, Bosch, Motorcraft, DEKA, Varta, Yuasa or AC Delco, no idea bout Interstate anymore they were good batteries.

 

[Nate1979]

Costco Interstate.

 

[RooflessVW]

Use NAPA "The Legend," or DEKA.

Both are extremely high-quality and made in the USA by East Penn.

 

[volk06]

Originally Posted By: zerosoma
Had the lovely sputtering this afternoon after letting it sit in 1 degree weather overnight.

Who makes a good battery these days? Last one I bought was an Auto Craft Silver from Advance and 2 years later, it's dead.

Looking at Duracell Ultra (Batteries Plus)
or Everstart MAXX (Wal-Mart) Batteries.

Who makes what nowadays?
Thanks


Hey zerosoma, where the heck have ya been?

everstartMaxx is always a decent option as there are walmarts everywhere that are open 24/7 if you ever have an issue at night. I believe they are still a johnson control battery. At AAP gotta get the gold battery for best results.

I always use motorcrafts fwiw. We have gotten 8-12 years out of them. Have 2 in the fleet right now with 4 and 5 years and they still test at their rated CCA.

 

[Ramblejam]

Opinions about batteries are the same as anything else -- entirely subjective, and highly variable depending upon who you ask (or in this case, who replies in the thread).

What matters? Warranty, acquisition cost, CCA.

Around here, that brings it down to either EverStart Maxx (Walmart) or AutoCraft Gold (Advance).

 

[901Memphis]

Get the batteries plus Duracell it's made by east Penn they are never have corrosion issues like Bosch or JCI.

The warranty is better too. In addition to that they maintain their batteries and charge them regularly if they don't sell which is a plus.

Around here they test the battery before putting it inside the car also incase there's any rare defects.

 

[MNgopher]

These days I'm usually looking at an East Penn - Deka battery (believe the O'reilly battery in my F150 is one) or a Motorcraft battery. Everything else I've bought has failed before the warranty was up, these haven't.

 

[itguy08]

My vote is Motorcraft. Just replaced the regular Motorcraft 84-month in the SHO after 2.5 years. Cost me $40 with installation at the dealer. Yeah it sucks that it died but for the price ($99) you can't beat the warranty.

 

[Ramblejam]

Originally Posted By: itguy08
My vote is Motorcraft. Just replaced the regular Motorcraft 84-month in the SHO after 2.5 years. Cost me $40 with installation at the dealer. Yeah it sucks that it died but for the price ($99) you can't beat the warranty.


The AutoCraft Gold for your car (65-2) is $106 (after using discount code), is rated significantly higher (O.E. - 650 CCA vs. 850 CCA), and would have been replaced for free (three-year warranty).

 

[mehullica]

Originally Posted By: Nate1979
Costco Interstate.

 

[Donald]

Originally Posted By: Ramblejam
Originally Posted By: itguy08
My vote is Motorcraft. Just replaced the regular Motorcraft 84-month in the SHO after 2.5 years. Cost me $40 with installation at the dealer. Yeah it sucks that it died but for the price ($99) you can't beat the warranty.


The AutoCraft Gold for your car (65-2) is $106 (after using discount code), is rated significantly higher (O.E. - 650 CCA vs. 850 CCA), and would have been replaced for free (three-year warranty).


More CCA is same size means weaker and thinner plates. No need to get more CCA than vehicle shipped with. More CCA is NOT better in same size.

 

[itguy08]

Originally Posted By: Donald
Originally Posted By: Ramblejam
Originally Posted By: itguy08
My vote is Motorcraft. Just replaced the regular Motorcraft 84-month in the SHO after 2.5 years. Cost me $40 with installation at the dealer. Yeah it sucks that it died but for the price ($99) you can't beat the warranty.


The AutoCraft Gold for your car (65-2) is $106 (after using discount code), is rated significantly higher (O.E. - 650 CCA vs. 850 CCA), and would have been replaced for free (three-year warranty).


More CCA is same size means weaker and thinner plates. No need to get more CCA than vehicle shipped with. More CCA is NOT better in same size.


Yeah - I have a feeling that the car and I am hard on batteries. Twin Turbo V6 with a cramped engine bay and parked in a garage means that battery cooks in the summer.

Dealer did the battery in 5/2013 so I figured for $40 it was on them.

 

[Ramblejam]

Originally Posted By: Donald
Originally Posted By: Ramblejam
Originally Posted By: itguy08
My vote is Motorcraft. Just replaced the regular Motorcraft 84-month in the SHO after 2.5 years. Cost me $40 with installation at the dealer. Yeah it sucks that it died but for the price ($99) you can't beat the warranty.


The AutoCraft Gold for your car (65-2) is $106 (after using discount code), is rated significantly higher (O.E. - 650 CCA vs. 850 CCA), and would have been replaced for free (three-year warranty).


More CCA is same size means weaker and thinner plates. No need to get more CCA than vehicle shipped with. More CCA is NOT better in same size.


It'd be an intelligent thing to understand how these AutoCraft batteries are built (JCI PowerFrame) before spreading falsehoods.

Motorcraft is "expanded metal" construction.

SAE J240 results are out there if you'd like the read further...

 

[Toaster_Jer]

I usually find it helpful to refer to Consumer Reports per battery size.

 

[zrxkawboy]

Originally Posted By: rooflessVW
Use NAPA "The Legend," or DEKA.

Both are extremely high-quality and made in the USA by East Penn.


I agree! These are great batteries.

 

[zrxkawboy]

Originally Posted By: volk06
Hey zerosoma, where the heck have ya been?


I was just wondering the same thing!

 

[69GTX]

I was going to buy 2 Die Hard golds last year and then found out they eliminated the cell inspection covers. Ended up going up with the AC Delco Professional Gold (group 75 size) for $105 + 42 month warranty. That was $25 cheaper than the same size Die Hard at Sears. Considering only 2-3 manufacturers make all the batteries, the names on them are more an advertising gimmick. They are all very similar. Comes down to the distributor standing behind the 36-42 month warranty.