optimajim Thanks for the advice-(BTW- the yellow top in prius working fine-stuck with the energizer in the suburban because I expected some prorated warranty-didn't get any-and since I got 4.5 years from old one-had no complaint-and $89-cheapish) The folks at SAMS did check the "dead battery" put it on their gadget-showed 12.7v 400cca (660 is spec)- said those numbers indicated I needed a new battery Don't know that their gadget "checked" to see if it would take a charge//-perhaps the 12.7 alone was enough to show "bad cell"?? Yeah how do they tell low voltage from discharged from low voltage "bad battery" without attempting to charge it? Thanks Charlie
That voltage level sounds good, but the CCA definitely does not. Generally, if someone brings a battery in for testing and it is showing low voltage, the retailer will first attempt to fully-charge the battery before load-testing it. I don't know exactly why we get so many warrantied batteries back that are discharge-only and work fine, when properly-recharged, but I suspect it is because retail associates may be load-testing deeply-discharged batteries, which will never pass a load test. Jim McIlvaine eCare Manager, OPTIMA Batteries www.pinterest.com/optimabatteries
660 CCA in a Suburban? I usually buy 850-1000 CCA for my trucks, although the higher numbers are harder to find. I remember I once found a 1,200 CCA battery and I put it in my old 1974 Chevy C10. Man that truck started easy after that. If I could still find 1200's on the shelf in my local auto parts stores I'd have them in my 98 K1500 and my 00 GMC 1 ton van.
Do those "retail associates" or their managers have financial incentive not to do that? Or maybe they're just trying to please the customer even when they know the customer is wrong?
I think its just laziness on the part of the sales associates. They test the voltage, no good, replace. They're done in 2 minutes instead of spending 2 hours charging and load testing a battery.
That's plausible. So ... I'll rephrase my question as follows: Do those "retail associates" or their managers have sufficient financial incentive not to be that lazy?
Yeah-wondered about that 12.7V-seemed OK and it was considerably higher than what my gauge showed-10 volts and I suspect 400CCA 12.7 volts-Suburban PROBABLY WOULD crank my reduction geared starter. I think they somehow screwed up-and the 12.7 was actually wrong Proof is in the pudding of course.New battery-all is well and it has been about a week. So battery was toast. The 660 CCA spins my Suburban just fine-of course it starts SOOOOO quickly and NOLA is a warm climate-hard to say Optimajim-What would be the appropriate red top for a 98 suburban-5.7 no winches no fancy sound system-occasionally I might run 2 more 55watt headlights-so 110 extra watts-??No need for yellow top-right? I am tempted to install a battery in the second battery "holder" which is already-oem-in the engine bay-just requires a bit of harness I guess. As a "just in case measure" since occasionally we drive across W TX-panhandle-at night-middle of no where. Thanks Charlie
Charlie, I like to give our retail partners and customers both the benefit of the doubt, but I also know there can be some extenuating circumstances that can come up- newer staff members, impatient customers, etc... We list a couple of RedTop options for 1998 Suburbans with the 5.7- Group 34/78, 75/25 and 78. I used to own a '97 Suburban and I'm partial to the 34/78. It is slightly larger than the 75/25 and has both side and top terminals. GM vehicles from that era typically have side terminal connections, but I prefer the top terminals, as they provide a more direct connection to the battery. I've also seen more than a few side terminals melted out by batteries with loosely-connected cables. If you do add a second battery, it needs to be properly-isolated from your other battery, as all batteries in either parallel or series applications should be identical in age, size and type. Jim McIlvaine eCare Manager, OPTIMA Batteries www.pinterest.com/optimabatteries
THis looks like it would fit the bill nicely, with some capacity to spare, and the price isn't that bad either... http://www.amazon.com/NOCO-IGD200HP...d=1388521498&sr=1-2&keywords=battery+isolator
Jim Thanks Yeah mine has side terminals-I hate them. Top terminals probably give more connection surface area But more importantly they are easier to see-see if the connection is good see if it is grungy - and easier to disconnect reconnect. Yeah hate those darned side terminals- Not sure WHY GM went to them-not as if they were that short of under hood clearance. I think the dual terminals are maybe $15 more-not much. Thanks charlie
I've noticed that the dual side & top post batteries have been disappearing from store shelves over the past few years. I loved them because it was easy to just hook up jumper cables to the top terminals. (I was often jump starting other people's cars). Its a PITA to get a good connection on side post terminals with a set of jumper cables.
Yeah-forgotten about that when my battery croaked 5:50am-pitch dark-cold Trying to jump that SOB-side terminals-PIT tail and pain to hook alligator clips to charge it GM must have been having an OFF DAY when they decided those side terminals were a good idea on DIY type 1/2 tons like that
