Diesel

Why pay so much though, just get a interstate megatron for $60 less.

Gee oh Dee

I'll give 'em that. The two I was directly involved with were swapped out, no questions asked. It was just the headache of going back twice for the exact same product.

Are the megatron's gel cells? If not, you can't mount them sideways like an Optima. I'm not familiar with the Megatrons.

Nightfall

Let me chime in here about the Optima debate. I worked for AutoZone for a few years and knew a little more in-depth about the products than your average consumer would know.

Well, as of what I believe is now a few years ago, Optima was purchased by Johnson Controls. Now, Johnson Controls makes damn near the most overwhelming portion of batteries on the market. In-fact, if I remember correctly, there's only one other major manufacturer that isn't even close to what Johnson Controls does. Anyway, since the time Johnson Controls has purchased Optima... for some reason, they've gone to garbage. Yes, garbage. I love hearing, "I've had my Optima for 5 years and it's still going strong! They're greeeattt!" Right, and that's because you managed to get one before they were turned into $200 worth of plastic paperweight. Now a days, I see most Optima batteries lasting around 2 years, give or take. A co-worker of mine use to get exactly two years out of them, and then buy another to put in his truck. Why the hell anyone would continually spend $200 every two years if beyond me. Johnson Controls just can't seem to do Optima the right way, I guess.

I'm sorry to inform most of you that Optima's just aren't the golden twinkies of batteries that they use to be. I'll be surprised if anyone who buys one today gets over 3 years out of theirs. Oh, and by the way, my XJ has a 6 year old cheapest possible battery you can get from NAPA and it's still going strong. Keep in mind, this is coming from a region where the temperature gladly hits -20 in the winter.

Gee oh Dee

Careful, someone was about to shoot me for speaking poorly about Optima!

MN and WI get some seriously cold weather, although I was told by a MN resident that you've got some seriously nice weather today. I'm jealous! When I got on the motorcycle this morning the thermometer said it was 35 degrees.

Nightfall

We sure did. I was hauling down the freeway today with both windows wide open.

mcssls

what was the person that said v8s take 750-850 ccas smoking? If that was true then many would not start since the batteries that came stock on v8s back into the 60s through the 80s often were rated for 650 or less and lasted 2 years. If it took that much to crank an 8 then, hmm, v10s must take 800-900 ccas and v12s must take 850-900?

CAEMI

I've got a red top in my XJ. My F350 V10 has a Ford battery. That truck is a 2002 - so the battery is eight years old - and it works flawlessly. I have no plans to replace it.

The red top that came out of my XJ this summer was 10 years old. I expect to get 10 years out of the new one. My wife's minivan battery is seven years old and it, too, works perfectly.

If you are experiencing short battery life...it is 99.99% likely it is YOUR fault. One in a thousand might be bad from the factory. The other 999 were ruined by their owners. Overdraining, overcharging, poor maintenance on vehicle systems, trying to start dead cars, bad starters, corroded wiring, loose battery clamps, low water, tap water, using your battery to jump other batteries, the list goes on and on. If you have a quality battery (and there are many...including those made by Johnson Controls which, BTW, is an excellent, well-managed company) and have battery problems, you probably caused them, no matter what battery you have. If you have a Walmart, Sams Club, Stuffmart battery...you bought trouble right there at the store.

Now let's argue about radiators some more.

Diesel

Interstate=Optima

Gee oh Dee

Wouldn't that factor be determined more by the motor itself and not the number of cylinders? Say, engine size, compression ratio, ambient temp (for battery and the thicker oil in colder temps.) etc?

Which, if I'm not mistaken, is based out of Milwaukee, WI.

Gotcha.

I just realized that I haven't had to buy a battery in about 3 years. Before that, it was well over 5 years. The one I bought 3 years ago was from NAPA for my '92 F150. I rarely drive the F150, and I don't do anything to maintain a charge, and it has been fine.

Sno_Blynd

i put in a new battery in my escort before the motor went out. then the jeep needed a battery. i swapped and the escort was larger than the jeeps so i took the bracket off and now as it sits its wedged between the hold plate and the hood. but i can go for atleast 2 hrs at the drive-in with it off and it cranks without hesitation.

Ironwagon

How do you check the gel level ?

Gee oh Dee

According to him it was MUCH lighter than the replacement he was given, I only got to see the first one. The guy who did the exchange said it wasn't the first that was empty. The batteries weight should have told my coworker something, but it didn't register with me either.

It was obvious the battery was bad, it did absolutely nothing and didn't register on a multimeter.

clockwise

I have a napa 760 cold cranking amps and i can listen to music lights on for about an hour to hour and half

skorchmp

Kicking the thread a little, been messing around with the '90 XJ for the last two days with battery issues. I replaced the crusty NAPA that came with the Jeep with an Interstate MT-58 (green top) BLEM, about a month ago, as we're an Interstate dealer at work, and $30 for a battery seemed reasonable. We're having a slightly cool period here in Denver at the moment (it's 0 degreees F right now), and the Jeep wouldn't crank yesterday morning. What a birthday treat, huh? Shoulda just sprang for the MTP-58 (black top) "plus" model new. I agree that the stock battery size (Group 58) that's supposed to go in these things is just too little. I kept reading that a Group 34 would fit in our XJ's with the stock tray/hold down. Fine, let's see what I can accomplish here.... We had an Interstate Group 34 core at work, so I decided yesterday to see if it would fit, that way I could check for fitment issues without buying anything. Guess what- fits like it was made for it! But, I always gotta go overkill, so I run up to Sears and get the DieHard Platinum Marine battery, Group 34. I put one of those in the boss's Land Rover Discovery about 5 days ago, and was impressed. Turns out, I shoulda just got a new Interstate MT-34. The Die Hard has a "stepped" top, where the last 1/4 inch of the battery top is slightly smaller than the rest of it. Just enough where my stock hold down won't really grab it. Crap. Oh well, I'll figure something out tomorrow, because the Jeep cranks over like nobody's business with that Die Hard in it, and I want to keep it. If necessary, I'll fabricate a new bracket that's the correct width to hold the battery. Deviating from stock always seems to have it's little quirks that need to be worked out. In summary- Interstate Group 34 MT-34 will drop right in with no mods necessary. It will clear everything that needs to be cleared in the engine bay. The Die Hard Platinum PM-2 Group 34M (Marine) will fit also, but be aware that you will have to be creative on how to hold the thing down. I haven't figured that out yet. Hopefully tomorrow will bring a solution..... If you look at the enlarged pic in the linky to the DieHard, that top smaller "lip" is what's making this difficult. The Interstate has no such lip on top, and the stock hold down fits fine. If you have to replace your battery, I say put a Group 34 in. A Group 34 is *slightly* narrower at 6 13/16" than the stock Group 58, which is 7 3/16" wide. Stock hold down will still grab the top of a "square" Group 34 battery, though. Add an odd shape on top, such as the Die Hard has, and I've run into trouble. Oh well. I'll figure it out.... Pick the brand of your choice, but bigger is better, especially in cold weather. Just make sure you get a "square" battery, and it should be fine... FWIW, I was at Autozone tonight, and their (Duralast?) Group 34 batteries were "square", and looked as if they would work just the same as the Interstate one I tried. If anyone's interested, here's the BCI Battery Group size chart. Enough ADD-induced rambling for tonight, time for bed......

BostonIrish

Just replaced mine -99 XJ...B-13...Diehard Gold...ran me about 115 bucks...Jeep starts much nicer...added some extra lights and just did the alternator.The PO had a old interstate battery from like 1993 in it.