Anyone have reccomendations OTHER than Optimas. I know, I may regret not getting the Optimas later on down the road (is that a pun?) but I'm just looking for a decent battery. How about the stuff at Autozone and Advance Auto Parts, they're made by Johnson Controls.

I'm just looking for a good group 78 battery to replace the (I imagine original) Delcos, which have no glow in the eyes anymore. Hahaha. I'd see how long they last, but with my luck, I'd be in BFE when they finally went.

Have a good one!!

Dan

I'll probably just end up going to Sears and pick up some DieHard Golds.

Have a good one!!

Dan

I've always had good luck with interstate batteries

I've had good luck with ADVANCE top line batteries. Have yet to get a good Dirhard battery and always wondered why the majority of bad batteris in the Sears back room are Diehards. Red top Optimas at SAMS don't cost much more than 84 month lead /acid batteries at parts houses.

OK, I have another question. What do the eyes on the stock Delco batteries mean? Before I started taking the cables off, the eyes were black. When I got the cables off, the eyes turned green. There were also ground wires on each negative post going to the frame. Here's a picture of one.

http://img172.imageshack.us/img172/9949/imag00253nf.jpg

What could these possibly be for? I have no idea. As of now, I hooked the Delco's back up, and drove it around for a while. The eyes are still green.

Stupid Delco crap. Arrg. Oh well. I'm happy for now, I didn't have to shell out some cash for new batteries.

Have a good one!!

Dan

Over the past 6 vehicles and 3 boats I think I have used about every brand of battery around. All high end batteries have lasted well past their warrentee period. I lean toward Trojan for deep cycles now and whatever SAMS has for most other applications. I sometimes suspect there are only two manufactures (Gould and Exide) out there and they brand them for everybody else.
I would suspect the reason there are more DieHards in the Sears dead bin is just because folks go back there to buy their batterys. If they went somewhere else because they were unhappy Sears wouldn't be getting their old Diehards back. :D

I have been buying Diehards for the last 20 years and have had excellent luck with them. The Gold batteries have a 3 year full replacement warranty and 100 month pro-rated warranty. I got one replaced last year that was 2 1/2 years old and didn't even have the receipt. They can look up the manufacture date from the number on the battery. They did an even exchange and now I have another 3 years, so actually they last forever.

Optima's are overrated IMO. I replaced both of mine with Duralast Gold's from Autozone. No problems so far. I got 145,000 miles out of the Delco's. I have been through 3 red top Optima's in my Honda over the last two years. Not good.-:t

I have owned GM products since 1964. Probably 20 + vehicles, 6 of them Corvettes starting in 1968. Had a 92 GMC with a small block in Fairbanks, AK and a couple of times at 20 below and colder forgot left a light on and ran the battery down. Jumped it and it started and recharged itself. Sold it in 1999 with the original AC Delco in it. Finally replaced my 92 Corvette's battery with Diehard Gold in 2003. I have never in all these years had one problem with the AC Delco's in my vehicles.
I may be wrong (I know, pretty hard to believe) but once upon a time Diehard Golds were made by AC Delco. Maybe someone knows fur shure one way or the other. If/when I need to replace the batteries in my DMax, they will be Diehards or AC Delco's depending on which is cheaper.

Just an FYI on my recent Optima experience. Two weeks ago, found my last original Delco had a dead cell. Dealer had replaced other (leaker) within the past year. Decided to to replace both with red top Optimas from Sams. After replacing, truck started right up, like it used to; no more slow starting, as it had been for the previous week. Good to go, right? No! Truck would not start that night. Jumped it, drove it for a while to get a good charge, and then parked it for the night. Good to go, right? No! Truck would not start in the morning. Jumped it, and headed to work. Thirty mile drive, so I figure, allright, plenty charged now. Good to go, right? No! Come out at lunch, and truck barely starts. Got home that night, and started backtracking everything else I had done to the truck over the weekend, trying to figure out what I could have done that might have caused some kind of drain. Struck out. I also monitored voltage and watched as voltage steadly went down; did not get below 12.0 volts, though. Left it on the trickle charger overnight. Started up great in the morning. Would not start when I tried to go home that night. Jumped it again. That night, I hooked an ampmeter in series, to monitor drain, and started pullin fuses. Found nothing. Did notice that once the truck went into its computer shut off mode, I was getting under a tenth of an amp draw. Not enough to cause the batteries to drain down. OK, now what? I now conclude that I have something going on with the batteries. Pulled one of the Optimas, and replaced it with the one good Delco I had left. For once, I got lucky the first time and didn't have to change out the second battery before I found my problem; problem went away. Drove it like this for the next week. Took both Optimas back to Sam's, and had them swap them out the day after I figured out the problem. Sams gave me no hassle. Guy also said he had never had an Optima come back immediately. Morale; even Optima has a problem every now and then.

Live and learn. I have messed around with vehicles quite some time, and the way this problem acted was very unique. Some kind of minor short inside one of the batteries.

The late model Delco batteries are known to be leakers. Every one I have had in the last 6 years has done it (all were new with vehicle or replaced under warranty). Also, anyone who gets full life out of a battery doesn't live in Phoenix. I have yet to have an acid battery last longer than 2 years.

OCDUNE

I have had three leakers replaced under warranty,bad because they always cut the paint off.

Guy also said he had never had an Optima come back immediately. Morale; even Optima has a problem every now and then.
HD, hate to hear about your problems...but glad Sam's stands behind their products. Early failures are why there are warranties.

I'm still running my factory Delco's now for 3 1/2 years. I check them for leaks every couple of weeks and so far so good. But when they do bite the bullet...I'm going for Red Tops!

MaxRock

I have had a couple of power strokes and now a D'max. I had to replace batteries in the power strokes and found that John Deere makes a good battery and had good performance from them.

John Deere makes a good battery and had good performance from them.

John Deere sells a good battery. The question is, who makes John Deere batteries.

Newbie here, wanted to say thanks for all of the great info on the board. Just bought a Duramax this summer and finally have something to add to a thread.

Caterpillar has a great battery too, they have a 5 year free replacement warranty and some dealers will go 6. Mine have all outlasted the warranty period. I have CAT batteries in all of my cars, people laugh when they see one under the hood of my Camaro and Impala SS, when it comes time to replace the AC Delcos in the D-Max at least they'll look like they belong there :P

Although most on this forum love their optima's, I have always had good luck and service with Interstates.