[chrisg05]

hey all

Yesterday my battery bit the dust and will not hold a charge to turn over the starter. Does anyone have a recomendation on which brand works best with these cars?

 

[tazdevil]

I've had very good life and performance from the Car Quest battery in the Demon. It's six years old and still holds full charge and cranks perfectly.

 

[chuzz]

As much as I hate to admit it, I've had great success with the Duralast batteries from Autozone. I usually buy the gold series with the 3 year free replacement and 7 year pro-rated warranty.

 

[Bob Lincoln]

Both Duralast and Walmart's Maxx Everstart have worked fine for me. Interstate batteries are said to be very good.

 

[John Wood]

If you have an Advanced Auto Store near you, you can get a great deal by using their online coupons. Search online for a coupon for $40 off any purchase of $100 or more. You order and pay online and check "pick up at local store". I recently bought a 2 year replacement battery for my Dodge. The online cost was $109, so with the coupon it came out $69. Then with tax, environmental fee, hazzard fee, and trade-in, it came out to about $77 out the door. There was no place in town that could match that. The battery is Made by Johnson Controls, IIRC, and they are pretty good batteries.

As a side note, Advance no longer pro-rates their batteries. If it fails within 2 years, you get another one for free. After 2 years, it fails, and you need to buy another one. Note that you can buy a free 3 year replacement for about $15-$20 more. I did that with my RAV4.

 

[chrisg05]

ok ... so it looks like that durlast, adanced auto parts, and walmart batteries are ok..I will look into them. I have a interstate in my mercury and it works well..

 

[B10alia]

Walmart will honor the warranty on their batteries, and were very easy to deal with when mine died after 18 months, without the original receipt. I have had enough trouble with AutoZone that I will never go back there unless I am absolutely forced to. From what I've heard on that thread, and from my own experience, you may end up getting a lemon battery that they will make you jump through loads of hoops to make a warranty claim on. Funny when you consider how much they trumpet their warranties...
I've heard that Optimas last just about forever (the ones with the colored tops and weird non-rectangular cases) but you will pay dearly for them, often a couple hundred bucks.

 

[mydodgedip]

We sell AC Delco 5yr and 7yr at the shop, Interstates are good too. I'd rather have a good battery than a good warranty, the good warranty won't start your car. In 10+ years of AC Delco batteries in all of my cars (a large test group :lol: ) I've only had one fail early. They're very competitively priced as well.

 

[dana44]

Cheapest new battery that is the proper size. I have yet, or ever heard of anyone else ever be able to even break even on any battery warranty out there, and batteries only last so long, and any kind of warranty payment is less than the new battery plus protrated amount on a replacement. AutoZone has a two year automatic replacement if it breaks battery, which is the minimum time any battery lasts (unless totally faulty), so that's covered, otherwise, save your money, the price of them isn't going down any.

 

[Doug D]

FWIW - the original MoPar battery in my '06 Ram was still working fine when I replaced it last fall. Truck was built in Nov 2005. Though it had not given me any real problems, I felt I was on borrowed time after 7 years so I replaced with another MoPar battery (had a coupon from the dealer). Only Walmart came close on price. Paid $100 at the dealer. Comparable batteries at AZ and AAP were $20 more.

 

[bertolini]

Interstate and AC Delco have a solid track record in my experience. As it stands however, in my DD 86 Aries, I am running a Valucraft from AZ because I needed a battery ASAP on a budget and now several months have gone by I have yet to upgrade it. I will give it a go this winter then make a decision from there. Also Motorcraft currently has a great product and when purchase from a dealer a good warranty. I agree with the above post on a good battery over a warranty but every bit helps. Granted it means going to a Ford dealer, but I digress.

 

[chrisg05]

thank you for all the replys.. I picked up an autocraft gold tonight for the lebaron.. size 34 group at advanced. I could not resist the 50 dollar off coupon and well for a total of 83 dollars with tax.. it was a no brainer.. The car starts now .. which is good considering I use it for work.. hopefully it will last. but we will see.

Again thanks for all the help.

 

[John Wood]

I believe the Gold has a 3 year free replacement too. That was a good deal.

 

[B10alia]

The Mopar batteries do seem to last a ridiculously long time. I think the one in our '05 Caravan may be original...

 

[Bob Lincoln]

YMMV. The last two new Mopars I bought, the battery died right around 3 years.

 

[John Wood]

The battery in my new RAV4 (new in July 2009) made it 3-1/2 years, but I suspect the FL heat is tough on any brand of battery.
My experience over the years is that the life varies considerably and is not always manufacturer dependent.
The battery in my 78 Challenger (purchased new) lasted from late 1977 until 1986.

Exide seemed to have a bad batch in the late 80's to early 90's. People I talked to were getting about 18 months out of them and K-Mart, at the time, was a big seller of those.

 

[Bob Lincoln]

Yes, Exide was bad back then. Around 1995-96 I had one that shorted internally while I was driving it. A mile from home I had yellowish-brown sulfur smoke coming out from under the hood. I got home, shut it off, quickly put on protective gear and disconnected it. It was probably about to explode.

Exide was owned by Invensys then, a British holding company with brutal financial controls and rules, known for severe cost-cutting at the expense of quality and pretty much everything else.

 

[John Wood]

Exide was owned by Invensys then, a British holding company with brutal financial controls and rules, known for severe cost-cutting at the expense of quality and pretty much everything else.

Invensys..... I believe they took over Foxboro (from around your area?). I had to send some process instrumentation back to Foxboro (work related) for repair a few years ago and the repair service informed me that they were now Invensys. I didn't know they were a British Holding Co.

 

[Doug D]

The battery in my new RAV4 (new in July 2009) made it 3-1/2 years, but I suspect the FL heat is tough on any brand of battery.
My experience over the years is that the life varies considerably and is not always manufacturer dependent.

Yes, despite what many believe, heat is the battery killer. I remember reading batteries only last 3 years on average in the SW part of the country.

Virginia can get hot and humid but some years (like this year) August has been much cooler than normal - very few days in the 90's. And now that we're in September, the temps are gradually getting cooler. Suppose to be down near 40 F tonight with highs in the mid 70's over the weekend (cold front is moving through sometime overnight into tomorrow).

 

[1991spirites]

I have a Maxx Everstart in the Lebaron now. I've been having charging issues with the car right now so hopefully this battery will last. I have the Duralast Gold in my 97 Ranger. I just replaced it at 7 years, Autozone prorated it, of course I didn't have a receipt they just looked it up in the computer. No problems no fuss and I was on my way.

Yes heat takes it's toll on a battery sold does cold. I have had two Duralast Gold batteries in the Ranger each lasted 7 years in the Florida Heat. Every other battery I have had in other cars last only about 3-4 years max.