# New Battery Rant



## cat-face timber (Feb 24, 2011)

My wife's 2003 Chevy would not start, so I pulled the Batter and took it to O'Relieys and the battery tested bad.
$99.07 later the Wife has a new battery and her Chevy starts fine.
OUCH!!!

that to me seems expensive.

Rant off.


----------



## dingeryote (Feb 24, 2011)

They are either good, or Bad, to start with.

Got the original OEM battery in the 02' TJ and it dosn't care if it's 90 or -10 9 years later.

Went through 3 in the tractor last year though.

Stay safe!
Dingeryote


----------



## Toddppm (Feb 24, 2011)

I was suprised how much they've gone up recently too. Last one I bought for my plow truck, I got an Optima Red Top for $185 at Interstate which was much cheaper than the parts store. There was a guy there buying a rebuilt battery for his minvan for $50!


----------



## Guido Salvage (Feb 25, 2011)

Toddppm said:


> I was suprised how much they've gone up recently too. Last one I bought for my plow truck, I got an Optima Red Top for $185 at Interstate which was much cheaper than the parts store. There was a guy there buying a rebuilt battery for his minvan for $50!



On stuff I don't run much I buy the "shelf" batteries from Interstate. Half the price and will still last several years (but no warranty).


----------



## luckycutter (Feb 25, 2011)

I started going with gel/sealed batteries a while ago. They cost more but they don't spill and/or rot your electrical connections. I can also throw a spare in the trunk for when I go to places it would reaaaaaaaaly suck if a single battery died. Doesn't matter how they are mounted they don't leak. Gotta love that. Cheap insurance when you think about it.


----------



## pl_silverado (Feb 25, 2011)

I paid $ 239 for the battery in my Range Rover, thats including a shop discount.

You dont even want to know how much the water cooled alternator goes for...


----------



## luckycutter (Feb 25, 2011)

pl_silverado said:


> I paid $ 239 for the battery in my Range Rover, thats including a shop discount.
> 
> You dont even want to know how much the water cooled alternator goes for...


 
Yeah......I tend to stay away from those fancy new devices. Air cooled alternators work just fine but are too expensive to begin with. Id stick with the cheaper old fashioned Pb acid battery if I had not been splashed and had several cars corrode away from leaking batteries.

A repair shop tried to slip in the iridium spark plugs, "to keep lower emissions". 1) the car is 10 years old and is pushing 300k miles. I am not going to see any big improvements, real or perceived, by the newest fancy plug. 2) I don't have to have my car DEQ'ed Its MPG I am after not lower emissions 3) No way in hell am I going to spent 2-3 times more per plug than the Bosch platinum plugs that I have been using for the last 5 years/100k miles and have been most happy with.


----------



## Big_Al (Feb 25, 2011)

A $100 isn't bad for a new battery, especially if it's one of their better ones. Could get one at wally world for a few bucks cheaper but you might have to install it yourself if they don't have the auto bay.


----------



## discounthunter (Feb 27, 2011)

bought one from the chevy dealer for $150 ish,it come with a 6 year warranty.

newer cars/trucks have a lot of electronic stuff that comes on when the key is turned ,it pulls a lot from a battery .its better to spend the cash and get a hi-quality one instead of taking the chance of frying something with a cheap one.


----------



## wampum (Feb 27, 2011)

I just guess I am cheap. About 2 months ago my battery went bad in my International 454 tractor. I priced a new one,I would have to take a second note on the house to buy it. I went to the local auto salvage and bought a good used one for $15.00. Its still working great.If I get a year or 2 out of it,I figure I am 
ahead of the game.


----------



## gtsawyer (Feb 27, 2011)

I just replaced an Autozone battery that went bad after 30 months on a 36 month warranty. It doesn't say good things about the design/component quality that it died so soon, BUT... It had a 3 year warranty, and they replaced it free, no questions asked.

I've heard really good things about the Gel/AGM batteries. I have a buddy who's John Deere tractor burned up battery after battery. He then put a Gel battery in and it's still working well - unlike the whole series of flooded cell batteries he blew.


----------



## DANOAM (Feb 28, 2011)

I've always bought 6 year Delcos an Interstates. I pay anywhere from 120.00 to 150.00 and don't find that to be expensive. I've never had a quality battery come back to bite me. I have had cells go bad before their time but the warranty is super easy to deal with. The same goes for starters and alternators. I buy factory so I get the lifetime, no hassle warranty.


----------



## mdavlee (Mar 1, 2011)

I have run blemished batteries several times in my trucks. I would usually get 2-3 years for a $35 battery vs a $80 one. One of the blems lasted 5 years so it's a gamble any time as I've had autozone high end battery go bad in a year and the warranty replaced that one.


----------

