Optima poll

[stefang]

Just curious how many people had to replace theirs in an untimely fashion. Mine just went after a year and upon reading some of the lore it seems like this is a common occurrance.

Stef

[RANDY P]

Was 6 mos old when I bought my car 7/2002. It's a Yellow top and it's been flawless.

[RickM]

Stef, Did you try using a high amp charge to wake it up? Seems they go into hibernation mode.

[jtratza]

I've had one for several years and it has performed without flaw. Can't say that about the starter motor which I finally had replaced after push starting the car a few times.

[widebody911]

I've been using them for several years in my VW's, and in my 911 until I recently switched to a lightweight battery.

There's a special ritual involved in charging these, see the Necronomicon for the how-to.

[stefang]

I read some prior threads and tripped over the charging thing. Brought it to the gas station to have it hit with the 40amp charger, but that failed to cure it as well. It just looses charge over night.

To make things worse I had mailordered it, so I get to pay UPS to send the thing back - and the car is sitting. Not to thrilled at the moment.

Stef

[Mysterytrain]

Sears seems to be selling them these days. Lots of different colors so which one do I want?

[tobluforu]

I had one in the 72 for about 5 years. I then took it out and put it into the viper. It's been in there for 1.5 years. With a batteryminder hooked up, that battery just still keeps on "keeping on". And it's much harder to crank the viper with a paxton blower then it is mu old porsche. Optima's rock!

[JsGracey]

Originally posted by stefang


To make things worse I had mailordered it, so I get to pay UPS to send the thing back - and the car is sitting. Not to thrilled at the moment.

Stef

Bad time to tell you this now, but any Optima dealer should have replaced it for you. The warranty is with Optima not with who you bought it. I had one go bad on the road from being overcharged, stopped at an autozone they checked it said it was bad and replaced it, No questions.

[stefang]

Originally posted by JsGracey
Bad time to tell you this now, but any Optima dealer should have replaced it for you.

Well I tried that. Both Sears and Autozone said no when I asked them. Perhaps I should have just shown up without a receipt.

Stef

[Steve87-911]

Red top, 2 yrs old, works great. I even ran it nearly dead once (left a light on) so I jumped it and drove for a while to charge it (I know, bad way to charge it) but, it came back to full charge and cranks strong all the time.

[rudy]

I have the yellow topped Marine type battery. It's around 6 years old. Sat for almost a year in the garage then put it back in my car 2 months ago. No problems yet.

[azasadny]

My red-top Optima has been flawless for 1 1/2 years so far....

[dmarv]

I was an Opitma dealer for 10 years. Very first one I ever tried went into my 911. Car had problems starting after that. Almost decided to change the starter before I checked the battery. Checked the battery, 9.5 volts. Charged it and the battery never got above 10 volts. Put back regular parallel cell battery and never looked back. I sold alot of them, my warranty rate was about 15%. That's about 5% higher than my regular battery line. Those numbers are somewhat misleading because of Optima's warranty policy, I'm sure I was warranting batteries I never sold to begin with. Only major problem I saw was using yellow tops in regular battery environments (i.e. always being connected to an alternator or generator.) Yellow tops didn't seem to last as long in these environments as Red tops. Optima rep said it was do to the battery design. Yellow tops are best in a true Deep Cycle environment. These are applications that do not have a supplemental charging system (RV, marine without alternator or generator, etc). Just my 2 cents.

[vash]

i trust my interstate in the 911 more than my optima in my truck. if i dont drive either for a long time, the truck will need a jump. and the optima is half the age. having said that, i have a 10+ year old optima, taken from our early bronco restoration, and put into my mom's benz. that thing is kicking butt. gotta be some kinda freak record. i think once the optima showed up for sale at sam's clubs and costco's....it went downhill a bit.

[dmarv]

Vash,

I agree with your statement. That is why I am no longer a dealer.

[Formerly Steve Wilkinson]

I have a Red Top in a 911 track-and-street car that I don't drive all that often, so I have a Bosch kill switch and always shut off the battery unless I know I'm gonna be driving it again right away. the Optima is in the car because it's what fits best in the smuggler's box.

Stephan

[911pcars]

My Optima died earlier this year after 9 years. Damnit. Got another.

If one is in your area, Costco sells them. If it goes bad within the replacement time period, take it back. They have no way of verifying and will simply replace it.

FWIW,
Sherwood

[widebody911]

Originally posted by vash
i trust my interstate in the 911 more than my optima in my truck.

Doesn't Interstate own Optima?

if i dont drive either for a long time, the truck will need a jump.

The two reasons I use Optimas in my VW are the non-leakage and that they would hold a charge for a long time. Some of my buses don't get driven for several months at a time, yet they start right up. I even had a 6v Optima in one of my buses.

I did have a problem with the Optima in the 911 - it would go flat if I didn't drive it for a while. I also found that I had some funky current drain issues due to hacked wiring. When I fixed the wiring, the Optima issue went away.

Maybe the deep cycle (yellow top) is more appropriate for 911 use.

[vash]

damn thom.

and my brother just called and told me sam's club sell interstate.