Prophet_MX

Amen I love my red top!

xcmountain80

If anyone knows me I don't do stuck a 12 year build life even at 1/2 that I would be happy for the price. Yeah cheap is one thing but reliable is another, My yota wasn't cheap but damn she's reliable.


Aaron

FredTJ

Until you put her on her side and spill battery juice all over everything in the engine compartment.





Fred

deserttoy84

Optimas are pretty good batteries. Ive got a couple blues, yellows and reds. They all work good but are a bit pricey. I found good deals on every optima i purchased. I would just get a normal interstate battery. I did talk to a guy that is a manager of a huge battery supply place thats local to me and he said optima is mass producing these batteries so fast that there quality control went way down and there constantly shipping out bad batteries. For the price there asking these days its just not worth it. Look around for a deal on a used one if your considering a optima. I see them all the time for like 60-100 bucks.

yabedude

Info on Odyssey Batteries can be found here:
http://www.odysseyfactory.com/

nieuwendyk-25

I see your point, but if I put her on her side, it will probably be totaled anyway....

I would buy an Optima in a New York minute if they would last 3 times as long...from what I have read on this forum, the majority of them fail just like any other battery...2-3 years, it's just not worth paying 3 times the amount and still getting stuck somewhere.

The best battery I've ever had was the Panasonic battery that came in my 4Runner.

I can't find them anywhere.

FredTJ

I'm not suggesting the Optima, I'm suggesting the Odyssey's..




Fred

xcmountain80

Talked to my local Odyssey guys and they said maybe a 1750 instead of a 1500. But I'm certain the 1500 is the way to go. I've have learned that I'm after CCA and the good ole amp hours.

Aaron

CJM

Just be carefull the draw is decent, like lights and winch and stuff. If you throw a large cold cranking amp battery in with a lower rated alternator the alt will eventually fry itself recharging the battery.

This is why you should upgrade to a higher powered alt.

nieuwendyk-25

Sorry, I misunderstood.....but, $200 for a battery? What do you do for a living? It will have to last at least 12 years to be worth it.

I don't plan on owning my 4Runner that long...but maybe for my Jeep??

xcmountain80

Have you ever known a toyota alternator to fry itself? These are pretty powerful little alternators. The amp hours are important for the freezer fridge, while it doesn't draw much it needs power. The lights are only on when running otherwise I just use the regular head lights. And after the last truck o need for the big lights and winch at the same time, have learned to be power conscious. And I have no problem spending $250 for a 8 year battery.


Aaron

Georgiadave

Walmart sells a good 800 CCA battery for $68. It has a three year full replacement warranty. If price is a concern, thats hard to beat.

CJM

It is possible to make them work to hard and fry them. I know plenty who have done it. Parts get old and wear out, take that into account too. My build is getting a GM alternator out of a caprice interceptor, cant beat them!

paxil4x4

I worked at a shop many years ago that sold Optimas and the failure rate was like a 50 pound turd in a wet paper sack. It got to the point we stopped carrying them

RAD4Runner

What battery for First-Gen 4Runner and have you found to give best year to dollar ratio? Where did you buy it?
Found my batttery steaming After 2-hour Drive, Normal Charging Voltage. Also dies overnight easily. Approx 3 years old, so looks like it needs replacing soon.
It's an Interstate. Found Costco to have the best deal, but battery only lasted 3 years.
I do not need an upgrade because I have a house battery (dual-battery setup), and have mostly LED lights.light

old87yota

Given that there are only a few battery manufacturers around, I am not sure that brand makes much of a difference anymore.

I see mixed reviews for AGM type of batteries.

I would avoid Optima batteries after seeing Slacker's Trekker catch fire due to an Optima battery: https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f114...y-fire-300877/

I have a Toyota "True Start" battery in my truck that is 7 years old from my local dealership, but I have seen posts on other forums where people complain that they don't last very long.

It seems that the climate in which you live, what vehicle you drive, and how often / how long you drive play a greater role into how long a battery will last than the brand of battery.

If a battery is not a maintenance-free battery, you can check the electrolyte level and add distilled water to the cells to replace the water that will evaporate over time, if needed. That should help a standard automotive battery last longer.

emsvitil

Costco has a 36 month (no prorating) warranty on their batteries. You get full purchase price back and core value ( because you won't have a core when you get a new battery).

So if you keep track, your battery is going to fail at exactly 34-35 months...

If you have some other old batteries laying around, you can then use them as a core too, to get a discount on the new battery.......


The only problem is Costco has a limited selection and they don't want to sell you a battery unless it was the original group type (like what they do with tire sizes). So figure out what group size you want from Costco, and then what vehicle that battery fits in. When purchasing the battery, tell them that's the car you have.

Group 24 would be a 78 Toyota Celica

Discombobulated

I’m going on 11 years with my optima red top…..I have never had an issue with them, but maybe I’m lucky I guess….While they have gone up in price I personally do not have a reason to not buy another one.

emsvitil

A steaming battery is usually a sign of a shorted cell. Battery voltage then drops to 10v instead of 12v.

So the remaining cells get cooked from overvoltage (2.88v instead of 2.4v, assuming 14.4v charging voltage)

Batteries seem to only last about 3 years now. Costco had a 42 month warranty before they dropped it to 36 months. So they were probably only lasting 40 months max before............(and still)

2ToyGuy

I'm very fond of the Optima gel-cell type, myself. You don't need to worry about checking the water level, which was a huge plus in Yuma, Az., where 110° F was not that unusual a temperature. It evaporated the water out of the batteries pretty quick, whether they're driven or not. Not a problem with the Optima.

They also have virtually no corrosion caused by vented battery acid, either. It's not only a big problem on the terminals themselves, but it gets down inside the insulation of unprotected wires and cables, corroding the strands of copper, with no visual indication outside the insulation. Very sneaky corrosion, that can cause all kinds of weird electrical problems.
No more scrubbing terminals with baking soda and water to remove acid buildup either. Just a little differential metal corrosion. Especially if you switch to the Marine type terminals. They're lead, the same composition as the terminals on the battery, so no differential metal corrosion. No problems with cranking, no more need to carry a terminal cleaning tool in the truck, like with lead-acid batteries.
All I need to do once a year, or two, is pull the wires off the screw post, and hit them with a brass scrub brush to polish them up pretty again. A very small amount of differential metal corrosion between the copper ring terminals on the cables, and the marine terminal's lead. Takes me a good 10-12 second to get rid of it.

Last, the Optima's don't corrode the various parts and pieces of the battery tray, or the holder that goes across the battery. The regular lead-acid batteries corrode that whole area badly, especially in a humid environment.

Have fun, all!
Pat☺