Car Battery Tips

Top Ten Starting Battery Tips

  1. Wear glasses when working with a battery, because it might explode.

  1. Keep your non-sealed battery properly filled with distilled water and the top clean. The plates must be covered at all times.

  2. To prevent permanent sulfation when not in use and especially in hot weather, keep your battery continuously connected to a "smart" or maintenance charger or recharge your battery at least one per week. Cheap unregulated "trickle" chargers will kill your battery.

  1. In hot climates, keep your battery as cool as possible and non-sealed Low Maintenance or sealed AGM batteries are recommended.

  2. When buying a replacement battery, be sure it matches your charging system & Cold Cranking Amps (CCA) requirements, physically fits, and is fresh.

  1. Keep the battery cable mating surfaces and terminals free from corrosion.

  2. Avoid a deep discharge of your battery. This could kill it.

  1. For longer battery life, do not add acid or additives and keep your battery securely fastened.

  2. Use chargers (or settings) that will recharge batteries over eight to ten hours.

  1. Thaw out a frozen battery before attempting to jump or recharge it and always jump batteries positive-to-positive and negative-to-negative. For negative grounded electrical systems, the last negative connection should be to the frame or engine block away from the battery.

For additional battery information, please go to

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Reply to
Bill Darden
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Sorry, I use the Optima Red Top in all of my vintage cars these days................

Bill Darden wrote:

Reply to
Bill S.

Reply to
Michael Johnson, PE

I have really liked the Sears Die Hard Gold battery. They have a replacement period of 3 years. I think I paid $60 after a $30 trade-in of the old and gone five year old Die Hard Gold.

I tried to take back my second Die Hard Gold a week ago that I bought in February and had somehow gotten tired. It would hold a charge but for a very little discharge; it would go dead if you left the parking lights on for ten minutes. The mechanic put it up on his machine and declared the battery as good as brand new. I got stuck twice with it the following week and needed a jumpstart. I had it charged at Auto Zone and they said they tried three times to charge it but it had a bad cell; it would start the car but had no other guarantees.

With this information I took it back down there and had them test it again, only to be told that it was perfectly good. I challenged him and the manager of the store. I parked the car and turned the radiator fan on and the headlights for 15 minutes and the battery went dead. I then told them to put this on their machine now and tell me it's good. They did and the machine gave it the last rites.

Thinking I had won, they then told me that they no longer made the Gold for my car but that I had to take the Silver one that had less power. They gave me the ten dollar difference and a new Silver.

My question is: why did they stop making the Gold for my '83 Mustang? Is it dangerous for my car?

voice from the past

Reply to
voice from the past

I heard they're a bit lighter than a regular battery too. Is this true?

Reply to
nytebyte

Took a little modification, but I love the red top in my '89 GT. (just need a bigger hold down for the battery, can just get one off a junk mid-80's GM)

What I like is the fact that I could convert to the more maintenance-free side terminal connections and still have a set of top posts on the battery for jumping/charging (the red top has both side and top post terminals). The optima is well worth the price, especially after all the crap Diehards I have put in in the last 5 years.

Reply to
Frank

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