PeterK

Last week Costco had a great price on red top optima - $99.99. So I got me one.
Today I took my car to a dealer due to power steering sensor going bad and asked them to replace the battery.
Technical service writer just called me and said that my battery was leaking acid. He said that it was bad and it didn't get on anything so they just cleaned it and put a new one.
Boy am I glad I bought the optima.

GR8-LIFE

You have no idea how glad you should be:
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/zero...ost&id=4765486

PeterK

Mark, your link isn't working.

GR8-LIFE

Thats odd - I just clicked on it and it took me right over there. Anyway, here's a copy/paste:

________________________________________ _________________

John Page calls me today to tell me that he has discovered tons of Battery acid/corrosion all over the PCM and and the wiring harness leading to the PCM. In addition, he says that the frame underneath is loaded with it!

The current battery is not leaking. However, in May of 2001, I brought the car in to replace the Battery (I'm sure everyone knows bout about the Battery issue by now) Sure, they replaced it alright but obviously didn't inspect below. Fortunately, I spoke with a Service Manager and I'm covered but J.P said that he's amazed that the PCM is even functioning! And here I am driving 1400 miles to Texas and never even knew about it - it could have malfunctioned at any time.

When are these people ever going to stop doing stuff like this?

PeterK

Oh boy. That sounds really scary.

GR8-LIFE

Dealer service incidents are like bad days - it doesn't take long before you encounter one.

PeterK

I've had plenty of these days when I wanted to pull my hair out and sell that car to carmax lot for their "one simple price"

2kbluestreak

I thought about replacing my Delco for about a year until I fianlly bought and installed an Optima. Put the oringinal, which wasn't leaking, on the garage floor figuring I could use it on another car where a leak wouldn't hurt as bad as in a C5. A week later, when I went to move it to a trickle charger, I found it was leaking, etched the floor with a pattern matching the Delco bottom. That was a close one! I took the leaking Delco to the dealer to make a warranty claim; the result was GM authorized a refund check for the Optima.
My advice, if you've got an original Delco, non Glass Mat, don't mess around - replace it NOW! :smash:

PeterK

What is up with all this Delco leaks.
This is the first time in my life I've ever encountered a leaky battery. I've used at least 7 Walmart Die Hard batteries and never seen them leak.
Peter

Bill Vett

A friend with a 97 had a leak and it ran down in the PCM, My car had 6k and I replaced the battery with an OPTIMA before I had a problem. For the $110's I won't have to worry.... :yesnod:

ROCKETCOWBOY

Could someone show me a picture of this red top battery? I went to autozone today and they had 3 optima batteries. 2 red top batteries, one was a different size than the other and one yellow top. What is the difference between the yellow and the red??

ROCKETCOWBOY

One more question.... Will my battery tender still work on this optima battery??

Bill Curlee

Where do the batteries leak? Is there some place that I should be keeping an eye on? Does someone have pictures of a leakey batery?

The battery in my 98 is origional (still works great) :eek: and now Im starting to get concerned

Bill C

pewt2k

Overtightening the positive cable at the factory. I don't know how thorough your mechanic was, but it might not be a bad idea to pull the battery and tray to make sure everything is cleaned up. The battery tray is basically a square plastic funnel that dumps any leaking acid onto the frame rail beneath the tray.

PeterK

Yellow top is more expensive and hold more charge.

dads01dream

Do the 2001's have the same problem with their batteries? I thought I read someplace that it was only the older Vettes.

barryscott

Hey Now:
No worries with the 2001's and later models, all have the AGM batteries. :thumbs:

Touringpro

The Red Top is a SLI (starting, lighting, ignition) battery, whereas Yellow Tops are Deep Cycle. The purpose of a deep cycle battery is to provide power for trolling motors, golf carts, fork lift trucks, uninterruptible power supplies (UPS), and other accessories for marine and recreational vehicle (RV), commercial and stationary applications. If properly maintained, will give you at least 500 deep discharge-charge cycles. http://www.optimabatteries.com/

You can use your old Battery Tender on them. However the construction of the Optima, or any AGM battery, differs significantly from conventional flooded cell lead-acid types and they benefit greatly from the use of a maintainer with 3-step charging capability such as the Battery Tender Plus Here's a link to the best deal on the net I'm aware of on them: http://www.accwhse.com/batteryt.htm

jimman

In my 00 check engine light came on and found out that the battery had leaked all over harness and vaccum lines, what a mess, replaced harness removed panels and cleaned. Still had intermitant vaccuum problems ever since. Hope the 02 has it fixed.

Icebear

Ok need to clear this up. The yellow top is not a good choice for the Vette. It is a deep cycle battery designed for repeated discharge uses like trolling motors or vehicles with high accessory draw. Unless you have severe problems in the car you should never cycle a battery in the Vette. The measure for a starting application is the Cold Cranking Amps (CCA)/ Maximum Cranking Amps (MCA) available from the battery. The yellow top is only rated at 650/870 (cca/mha) The 34/78 series red top is rated at 800/980. It is generally only about $10 more than the 35/78 series red top which is rated at 720/910. Either of the red tops will fit with no problems but if you drive in cold weather the higher rated battery is the best choice. :cheers:


[Modified by Icebear, 9:57 AM 12/24/2002]