Optima Car Batteries

My wife�s mini-van battery is starting to go and I thought I would replace it with an Optima battery. They cost twice to three times as much but a guy at work claims the Optima battery in his wife�s car is sixteen years old and still going.

I�ve seen them up at my local Sears so I went up there this afternoon to see if I could get one for the mini-van. I asked the guy if an Optima battery would fit a 1997 Chrysler Town & Country with a 3.8L engine and he said no. So he sold me a Diehard �group 34� battery with standard post terminals. On the way out the door I grab an Optima flyer they had by the batteries. When I got home I noticed the flyer it says one of the batteries is a �BCI Group 34 and 34R.�

My question is was the salesman feeding me a line of bull when he said the Optima battery wouldn�t fit my mini-van?

Thanks in advance,

• Click Here For Optima Batteries

I learned along time ago to measure my battery size before entering a store then pick out my own.

The first Optima that I seen was several years ago when my son bought a pick-up with one in it. The battery was 7yrs old then. The son parked the truck for several years and the battery would go dead, radio clock. He would jump start the truck 3 times a year. Never did ruin that battery. Even the AZ heat didn't effect it. So thats about 12yrs old for his battery, impressive!

The orginal Optima Battery Company was sold a couple years ago, so I hope they don't change there battery quality as I'm planning on buying a set for my F350 PSD when I need them.

T_Bone

They have a different internal design that bleeds off very little energy when its just sitting around with no drain (no clock or engine control computer pulling current while the vehicle is parked).

As with a lot of newer, more expensive technologies, you need to consider if the added cost is justified. For example, if you have don't use a machine frequently enough to keep the battery charged (like a snowblower or lawn tractor that only gets used part of the year), the extra battery cost may pay off versus replacing several of the regular batteries.

While on the subject of salesman. They tend to hack me off to. I figure that if a man built something, car, truck, tractor, wheelbarrow, hey I'm a man, I can do it to but the way I want it and not what the book says.

Actually, I did use that battery in a Vega, used a pair of pliers to bend edge of battery tray down and it fit fine. Was using quite a bit of communications gear in the car, and didn't want to get caught with a toy battery - all discharged when I needed to start it.

As far as your question, probably could have fit the battery you wanted in the car you wanted. Most of those guys only go by the book, and don't have knowledge of the vehicles. Replace with what came with the car - nothing else! Right - I get the biggest battery I can fit into the space, often several sizes larger than origional equipment. 12Volts is 12Volts! CCA's - the more the better - especially if you have to run lights, radios, etc.

On another web site they sent me to:

Link
231309.html

Seems as if the quality is going down hill on the red tops. You can go to home page and then search "Optima" for more information.