Battery life?????????

I wouldn't worry about it...I supposed in the grand "universe of possibilities" this can and has happened, but in a practical sense...is not something anyone needs to be worried about. Garages catch on fire too...should everyone install fire sprinkeler or some other fire suppression system?

Buy the battery tender, save yourself much hassles, and batteries! ;-)

 

An Optima battery will hold a charge 3 months or more even if the car is never started...as long as you don't have some type of parasitic drain somewhere in the system ..

 

All I can say is that every car fire I ever seen was electrical, and the majority were shorts near the battery. I stodd and watched a brand new motor home catch fire in the battery box, and burn to the ground, a big 36 footer. Firemen wouldnt go near it with propane tanks and amonia refrigerator, just kept everyone back.

If my garage were to catch fire, the most probable cause would be the car starting it. I just have gotten not to trust anything with the word automatic.

 

This is the best one hands down. I did research for abour 3 months before choosing this one http://detailingdynamics.com/special.html. It's the exact one that's private labeled by Porsche for three times the price and also the one recommended by the Optima folks.

Recently we had a custome who left his key in the ignition for about a week and totally killed his yellow Optima. After 3 days of charging, good as new. And you know how challenginf it is to properly charge an Optima.

 

My 328 went dead after only ONE week! And a new Optima Battery, or whatever it's called.

One evening, with the hood open, I could hear a small whining go on for 5 sec's and then off for 5 or 10 sec's.
Something's funny under the wiper area.

I'm taking it in for a major and will have them check my drain, but anyone know what that sound was?

Wes

 

Well HERE'S an UPDATE for you!

I went back to the store and tried to return my fancy battery the other week. Y'know, one of those $200 batteries we've been talking about here. Well the counter guy took the battery and put it on the test machine and told me to come back in 20 minutes. I went for lunch, came back and (of course) he said the battery was OK.

I told him it goes dead in a week, so he said I must have a drain somewhere. I told him I just had it in to my mechanic who tested it for that and he said there was virtually no drain, so it must me the battery.

He then made a call to the manufacturer and returned to tell me that no one has ever returned one of these batteries yet, so mine must be OK. I told him that when I bought the battery I took it home, installed it, and it was dead. I asked him "How common is that? Not a good start, is it?". I focused on that point. Eventually, begrudgingly, he gave me a new battery. I installed it and it worked immediately...already a vast improvement from the last one.

This week was the test.

I let the car sit for 10 days at least (which doesn't sound like a lot, but it was going dead in 6 before). Wednesday I got in it and it fired up no problem. So there is now no doubt the battery was crap. So don't let them fool you, it isn't always your fault. Even my mechanic was frustrated with my car when it was in for the Major. He said he always had to boost it.

So I'd say check your battery. Those bench tests don't prove everything.

Wes

 

The battery in my boat was weak so I took it to Advance for them to test. Same story, put it on the machine for about 30 mins. and said that there was nothing wrong with it. I took it back, put it in the boat, it turned over about 3 times and that was it. I bought a new battery and everything fine and dandy. They wasted their money on the battery test machine,

 

Batteries are strange unreliable beasts. I bought a new battery from Wal-Mart one time to start one of my old cars. Used it about 3 times. The 4th time it was dead. Put it on a charger and it would never charge. Finally took it back for a pro-rated refund and got another. I certainly wouldn't trust a $29 "Made in China" automatic battery charger anywhere near a Ferrari or any other car. Take the battery out and charge it on the bench. And make sure that the "bench" is in a different building from the garage!

 

Those machines should be banned then. What a rip off.

Another tactic I should have used when the guy didn't want to replace mine......
I should have said "Fine. You won't replace it? Then I wanna buy another one please."
Then see if the guy would actually put the order through. No way he would.