Replaced my optima battery today

[Chris142]

It was 7 yrs old. I have been keeping an eye on it. It started losing voltage of not used. 12.3x volts in 1 day and down to 12.0 if parked 2 days.

Still started the jeep fine but I saw the end was near.

Local battery place had a special on a Deka Intimidator so I got one.

$101+tax.Came out to $109.12.

 

[4WD]

Owned many cars/trucks/SUV - never got more than 5 years and only on the factory battery.
Why no Optima this time ?

 

[Chris142]

Originally Posted By: 4WD
Owned many cars/trucks/SUV - never got more than 5 years and only on the factory battery.
Why no Optima this time ?
price mainly. I got 90 months out of an Exide orbital

 

[4WD]

Good stuff - will look at those and should become a shelf item in more places ... Thanks

 

[901Memphis]

The USA made optimas used to be good for about 10 years if not abused and charged full regularly, but the Mexican ones are your typical 2-5 years depending on climate

 

[Chris142]

Originally Posted By: 901Memphis
The USA made optimas used to be good for about 10 years if not abused and charged full regularly, but the Mexican ones are your typical 2-5 years depending on climate
mine was made in mexico

 

[zeng]

Originally Posted By: 901Memphis
The USA made optimas used to be good for about 10 years if not abused and charged full regularly, but the Mexican ones are your typical 2-5 years depending on climate

Heck, the Thai/Korean/local made here works 1.5- 3 years.... sigh.

 

[crazyoildude]

I always go for the auto zone duralast gold good battery with good cca's

 

[Chris142]

Originally Posted By: crazyoildude
I always go for the auto zone duralast gold good battery with good cca's
the flooded batteries do not work on our dirt roads and trails.the acid splashes out and the cables corrode. It's a non stop fight.

 

[Tomioka]

Meanwhile I bought a used Optima yellowtop battery to be used in a project vehicle. My local Interstate sells and test used batteries and came across this gem for $45 which appeared to be less than a year old. Used my battery tester on it and it would test ~1200 CCA fully charged. We'll see how long this one will last.

 

[cronk]

Deka makes a very good battery. The best as far as a daily driver battery IMO.

 

[901Memphis]

Originally Posted By: Chris142
Originally Posted By: 901Memphis
The USA made optimas used to be good for about 10 years if not abused and charged full regularly, but the Mexican ones are your typical 2-5 years depending on climate
mine was made in mexico


There was a transitional period where they moved to Mexico and then started to try to cut costs afterwards. You must have gotten one before they started cutting more corners.

From my understanding they had a perfect product and they wanted to re engineer the electrolyte paste to save money as well as using non virgin lead, these changes alone made a huge difference in how long some of the people were reporting the batteries lasting it seems.

The Optima plant in Mexico started production in January 2009, so I'm assuming that the earlier years were better than what we see now.