Optima Batteries

warp2diesel · **Posted:** Fri Jan 18, 2008 9:46 pm

After having my Chrysler Red Top Optima battery go to low to start requiring a jump in the Midway Airport Economy Parking Garage, I called the local Jeep Dealer River Front Chrysler Jeep. They checked their parts department and no Red Top Optima batteries in stock. :shock:

I stopped at Naperville Jeep and they had none either, he called Joliet and none to be found. All they could do was have me come in next week, test the battery and then replace it with a Chrysler 700 CCA battery. :shock:

Since I do want my Liberty CRD to start and go to work Monday morning, I went to Blaine's Farm and Fleet and paid $132.99 plus tax and a $7 core. When I installed the replacement I had to massage (bend) the ground cable to get the clamp to reach the negative post, the rest was a normal swap. I have my photos posted at: http://picasaweb.google.com/warp2diesel ... tzOGX0h4XQ Notice the metric tape measure in the background so you can see how much the top posts are not in the same places.
Here are the specs of the two Batteries:
Chrysler Optima: 715 Cranking Amps 700 cold cranking amps.
Optima OT34R : 1000 cranking amps 800 cold cranking amps. Better size battery :!:

When I tested my charging system I got 14.5V - 14.7 V.
My starter draw was 330 amps.
Tested for drain and found normal draw to keep memory in radio.

I will remove my lift pump fuse and then bring in my Liberty CRD in with the Old Chrysler Optima battery reinstalled, let them do the Chrysler Wantabee Lawyer/Bean Counter Approved Test. Tape the print out onto the battery, Stick Chrysler LLC for the battery plus 45 min of labor, let them install the Chrysler 700 CCA battery. Then I will go home and put my new Optima OT34R back in and stick the other battery into another car. :idea:

Steve

Cowcatcher · **Posted:** Sat Jan 19, 2008 12:26 am

You don't need to bother with Jeep, the battery warranty is 3 year free replacement from Optima. Any Optima dealer should cover it under warranty.

warp2diesel · **Posted:** Sat Jan 19, 2008 12:56 pm

I called Optima on their 800 number and they told me that it was a custom built battery for Jeep and only a Jeep dealer can Warranty it :!:

My new battery is an Optima that can be warrantied anywhere

Sorry I did not state this in my first posting

Steve

Cowcatcher · **Posted:** Sat Jan 19, 2008 2:21 pm

Hummmmm, my Red Top looks like any other. The posts are centered on the ends of the battery rather than being staggered or on one side. It looked just like the Red Top's on the Optima site.

There was a time when Jeep started using their own MOPAR battery and replacing defunct Red Tops with this battery. Perhaps that is what you have and it is made by Optima for Chrysler. Mine has both a MOPAR and an Optima number on it but more than one here has had a Red Top replaced under warranty by Optima dealers rather than Jeep, particularly when the dealers tried to sub the MOPAR.

BlackLibertyCRD · **Posted:** Sat Jan 19, 2008 5:07 pm

My Optima red top battery also has Daimler Chrysler written on the label. I was surprised to see that and custom made sounds right. Check the label close and it's in small print.

warp2diesel · **Posted:** Sat Jan 19, 2008 8:51 pm

I put in the new Optima Red top and it got down to -7 f (-22c) over night, the CRD started up ok with out plugging it in. Since it did not start at Midway Airport at 18 f (-8c) my diagnosis of having a weak battery looks to be correct.

Steve

nursecosmo · **Posted:** Sun Jan 20, 2008 10:23 pm

Had to replace mine last month. The little lady left the fuzzbuster plugged in for a couple of days, after that it would not hold a charge overnight. The new one has a better rating though

Sir Sam · **Posted:** Sun Jan 20, 2008 10:43 pm

nursecosmo wrote:

Had to replace mine last month. The little lady left the fuzzbuster plugged in for a couple of days, after that it would not hold a charge overnight. The new one has a better rating though

optimas dont take well to being discharged.

scrambledKJ · **Posted:** Mon Jan 21, 2008 8:20 pm

It seems that most red tops are either great or trash. There is very little in the middle. I went through 3 in 2 months a few years ago. They would just die out overnight. I finally got a good one. Rolled my jeep 6 times and it flew out on the trail with the battery cables still attached. I through it in the back and it fired up the next day after reattaching the cables. Yellow tops seem to be much more relaible. I have never had a bad yellow or blue myself. I left a yellow on 6 amp charge all weekend once at the shop. On monday, it was really super hot and swelled out a bit. I unplugged the charger and stayed away for a while. it never went back to shape, but worked great for a couple of years afterwards.

Travis

retmil46 · **Posted:** Tue Jan 22, 2008 1:55 pm

scrambledKJ wrote:

It seems that most red tops are either great or trash. There is very little in the middle. I went through 3 in 2 months a few years ago. They would just die out overnight. I finally got a good one. Rolled my jeep 6 times and it flew out on the trail with the battery cables still attached. I through it in the back and it fired up the next day after reattaching the cables. Yellow tops seem to be much more relaible. I have never had a bad yellow or blue myself. I left a yellow on 6 amp charge all weekend once at the shop. On monday, it was really super hot and swelled out a bit. I unplugged the charger and stayed away for a while. it never went back to shape, but worked great for a couple of years afterwards.

Agreed. There for a couple years, Optima was having some quality control problems - people were getting duds, already dead as a doornail, straight from the factory. Guys I knew in the EV community that were putting together vehicle packs of upwards of 20 yellowtops said that for a while you'd have to order 22 to 24 of them to get 20 good ones out of the bunch - something like a 10% dud rate - on a set of brand new batteries.

But that was quite a while back, before Johnson Controls took over, and I haven't heard any similar horror stories recently.

Optima Batteries

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