Optima batteries are ABSOLUTELY not worth the money!!!!

in my wife's 93 mustang 5.0 gt, i bought a brand new optima battery for it when we first got the car about 3 years ago. the battery in it was the factory one and was dead within a week of buying the car.

i bought the yellow optima battery that is 750 Cold cranking amps and the 32 degree amps is like 875. well i went to start the car today to go to the tire store to take off the studded winter tires and put on the low profile summer tires. well the car wouldn't start and no electrical componenets working at all.

the battery had no volutage at all and was completely dead. well i took it to the hobby shop on base and they charged it for 3.5 hours on low and it could only go to 11.5 volts and wouldn't not handle a load test at all.

i went to the shoppette (air force/army auto store) and priced out a battery and had them check the battery out. they said it might be ok if they charged the battery all weekend long. i went ahead and got the new battery and have them charge the old optima. the battery the mustang was calling for was a 750ca and 600cca. i was like thats kinda small and got the 1000ca and 900cca battery that was the same size and SAME price.

i just called at the shoppette and they said that the battery still won't handle a load test and won't go past 11.5 volts. and its been charging there for a total of 5 hours. not to mention the 3.5 hours at the hobby shop.

so i will NOT ABSOLUTELY NOT buy another optima that cost 150 dollars. i'm going to buy a plain jane batteries with 3 year free replacement warranties and its only 60 bucks.

thing that pisses me off, optima has a 3 year warranty and i just went out that 3 years 10 days ago. so i don't know why it couldn't ie on me 2 weeks ago instead of now. and besides, i would of had to go to a auto port (navy base auto store) to get the warranty which i'm nowhere near a navy base.




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<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: keylesschuck on 3/13/05 1:29pm ]</font>

How long did you let the car sit? Any battery will do that if let to sit for a long time, especially if you have an alarm. If you get a constant current charger, you can probably bring it back to life, just at a lesser life. I pumped 10 amps into a battery I killed for over 4 hours and finally got the sulfates off and it would hold a charge again.
[addsig]

Man Ollie! I paid $99 for my red top, it's been dead at least 10 times in cars that wouldn't start. Put it in the race car a week ago &amp; it started it 6 times today, it's 4 years olk. Maybe ya got a bad one. Hope you're ok otherwise!
[addsig]

I've had EXCELLENT luck with Optima batteries.

My red top sat through eight winters without going bad. It finally started to die once it was around nine years old, and had spent a lot of time sitting. (which is the worst thing you can do to a battery)

Spiral cell batteries seem to be very tolerant of sitting. A friend had one of those small spiral cell motorcycle batteries that sat for long periods and still lasted a very long time.

I have nothing but praise for Optima.

You must have gotten a bad one.

Advance has them for either $99 or $109... can't remember which.

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<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: n2omike on 3/13/05 7:27am ]</font>

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: n2omike on 3/13/05 7:28am ]</font>

well it only sat for 6 days. i started up sunday evening and i go to start the thing saturday bright early morning and nothing. so it didn't sit for a long time. and i do not have an alarm.

however, if somehow the battery finds a way to be good, it'll serve as a spare battery for when the 460 mach is here. between two older mustangs, i'm sure a spare battery will be need sometime.

i'll be getting a 6amp battery charger for whenever this kind of case raises again. i also bought jumper cables just in case.

but yea, i'll never buy an expensive battery again. and i think the red top ones are now 119. and the blue top ones are 139. the yellow one are 149.

however, i got a stronger battery than the optima is rated at so i'm happy. its rated 750cca and the one i got are 900cca. hope it last a while.
[addsig]

If memory serves me right, Optima's are deep cycle batteries. These take much longer to charge than normal ones, however, on the reverse side, they are also supposed to take much longer to dis-charge. Maybe place on slow charge for 12+ hours?
[addsig]

I have never used one but I noticed you said the factory bat was dead in a week?Maybe something wrong with the cars electrical system?
[addsig]

Sorry to hear you've had some bad luck with your Optima. I've had a red top in my mustang for nearly 3 years and I've never had any trouble with it. I've ran it dead several times, and I've even let it sit dead for a month or so. I've definitely been hard on it, but it still holds a charge. I've got nothing but good things to say about mine. Mine was $89 well spent. Maybe you just got a bad one or something.
[addsig]

Ive had very good luck with my red top..it sits all winter ..i put a charge on it in the spring and it goes all summer.Ive had it 3 years now.Sorry about the bad luck dude...
[addsig]

I've had a Optima Red Top (34R) in my truck for about 4 years now and it has been good. It sits for weeks without discharging. Ran it dead once, loose alternator belt at night, but it charged up enough to start again after sitting with lights off for 15 minutes and I didn't even need a jump start.
I paid $55 because I'm a Johnson Controls Inc. employee and JCI owns Optima.
JCI also manufactures Interstate, Die Hard, Eveready, Everstart, Energizer, Mopar, Autolight, Motorcraft, Mitsubishi, Mazda, Honda, Autocraft, Power Connection, Kirkland Signature, ProStart, TrueStart, and Globe Union.
I think they are all made at the same factories except Optima which is only made in Colorado.
[addsig]