Let's see. Cliff notes version. Bought new MPV in October 2005, replaced battery in the spring of 2008, and again in the fall of 2011. Car normally sees daily use, but due to weather and kids out of school, it has been sitting since Monday. Went to start this evening, and I got a sloooooooooow crank. No start.
MPV is pretty normal vehicle, except that it has power sliding doors. From what I gather, the price for owing such doors is that they eat batteries every two and a half years.
So what do I do? Suck it up and buy another cheap battery? Or try a better battery? What say ye?
I am a big fan of the gel cell Hawker odyssey batteries. They pack a lot of punch into a small package, their only downside is they do not like heat.. so if the mount is anywhere near the exhaust, do not use them
Hmm, maybe a dual purpose marine battery would work better?
For $300, you could put 4 Zippy LiFePO4 4s2p batteries in parallel. That's 34 amp-hours and around 2000 CCA.
Sam's Club has the group 35 in the Optima Yellow Top for about exactly twice what they sell the "Duracell" brand conventional lead-acid battery. I have a Red Top in the RX-7 and it seems to do much better than a conventional battery with infrequent use. Anybody use the Optima in DD duty? I'm wondering if we can arrive at a consensus on Optima batteries in general?
I put the old battery on a charger and it fired right up today and did fine while we were out and about. I'm tempted to believe that if it warms up a bit, I can postpone this purchase for at least several months.
I've had pretty lousy luck with my yellowtops in the past 4 or 5 years, since Optima was bought by Johnson Controls.. I think I've done 4 warranty replacements? I'm going to be boned when the battery dies again next year and I'm outta warranty now.
On my other other yellowtop, I replaced it two months ago (wouldn't take a charge again..), and the guy at Advance said, "You want this xxx brand one, it's an AGM as well." "Who makes it?" "Eh, Johnson, just like everyone else. It'll fail just as fast, but at least it's $20 cheaper!"
Optima's have gone to crap since the moved production to Mexico, I had one die on me just over a year. The previous 2 I had lasted 4 years and 5 years respectively.
That's why when I replaced the battery in my Liberty (diesel) I got a Sears Die Hard platinum. WAY better reviews and it's a rebranded Odessy for less $$. All new virgin lead and killer warranty.
I never go special. I understand there is a size issue and I didn't deal with that. I always get the biggest Advanced Auto battery I can and drop it in. the 850cca is still holding strong in the F150. It got the big engine over without a problem in the -10 temperature.
I know you can't fit a big boy like that under there, but I'd do what I could with the cheaper battery.
Maybe your battery problem is a brand issue?
I've also had lousy luck with the Optima yellowtops. I had one in my CRX that was a year or two old and it would slowly loose charge where a conventional battery wouldn't. After a few months it got to the point where it wouldn't charge on a conventional charger and I just replaced it with a sealed motorcycle battery, which was about 1/4 the cost, 1/4 the weight and didn't give me any problems.
We had a yellowtop in one of the Wreck Racing cars and had the exact same issue.
If you drive it every day, maybe the yellowtops hold up all right (I don't know), but I don't see any advantage since they're really expensive and don't shed much weight, if any, compared to a parts-store special. I guess if you just really need a sealed battery...
In my opinion Motorcraft batteries are the best bang for the buck traditional lead/acid.
I've had good optimas in years past, but it's been awhile since they didn't suck.
It's a sad thing, but Optima is not the quality battery it once was. I used to be an Optima only guy, but have recently warrantied three of their batteries. The guy at the parts store says he replaces them all the time.
My next battery will be a Deka or Motorcraft.
N Sperlo wrote:
Maybe your battery problem is a brand issue?
Well, the OEM battery lasted 2.5 years, the first Sam's replacement ($65.) lasted 2.5 years, and the warranty replacement (free warranty replacement) for the Sam's battery lasted 2.5 years.
Based on what I'm hearing, I think I'll go with another cheap battery. If I pay twice as much, I'm going to expect more, and it sounds like I'll probably be disappointed. 
