Which battery to go with?

[Zorba]

I have a pretty solid history of getting 6-7 years out of interstate battery in all vehicles. Seems like they normally cost me about $120. I will say my dad and I both had to replace our original Deka batteries from our 05 and 06 silverados in 2018. Just outside of the 3 year warranty both of the interstate batteries failed in '21. We were not pleased when store owner wouldn't stand behind them and also admitted to a "bad run" from that time period. Claimed the new ones are supposed to be better. If they don't make 6 years I'll be looking elsewhere.

I have always seemed to find the original battery to last much longer than any replacement and cannot understand the theory of why that is.

Interesting. I too had an Interstate fail in that time period, just inside the warranty period in my case. First time I've had one fail at anything near that short of a time period; have always sworn by them, had one last 10 years+, blah, blah, blah. I'm still using them, but like you, another failure will have me looking elsewhere.

 

[JAYNE]

-1 to optima… My yellow top just crapped out. Had it for 13 months. Picked up a superstart platinum from O'Reilly with cash they gave me for the optima warranty. Even had some leftover.

 

[Link]

It was in the teens last week and I started my diesel tractor with the 13 yr old yellow top Optima with no battery issues. I had to cycle my glow plugs multiple times before it would actually start and had to crank quite a bit…..but the battery had no issues.

 

[JAYNE]

It was in the teens last week and I started my diesel tractor with the 13 yr old yellow top Optima with no battery issues. I had to cycle my glow plugs multiple times before it would actually start and had to crank quite a bit…..but the battery had no issues.

Makes sense, you’ve got one of the old optimas! The ones they make now just aren’t the same

 

[Link]

Makes sense, you’ve got one of the old optimas! The ones they make now just aren’t the same

Good possibility. Im not sure when the decline started.

 

[ejrobert]

For conventional flooded lead acid: Costco Interstate 800 CCA Group 34 battery (Item # 850241). It is exactly the same as the Interstate MTP-34 but at a lower price. The "no questions asked" full replacement warranty makes it a very good buy.


For AGM, the mid-priced offerings from NAPA and other auto parts retailers are a good value, and probably a better value for the majority of jeepers than the high priced offerings by Northstar, etc. Many of the mid-priced offerings are the identical Deka Intimidator AGM battery with private labeling.

It's now listed by a different item number and is only available for in store pickup if your local Costco has it in stock (the usually do on the battery rack), but I picked one up today for $114.99. They will also charge you a $15 core charge unless you bring the old one with you. The core charge is refundable when you do bring the old core in. Appreciate the tip!

 

[Rooscooter]

Year 5 and my Optima Red gave up the ghost and I was able to get $50's off a new one after a call.