My Duralast Silver from AutoZone lasted 6 years in my 78 150 straight 6, but is worn out. I looked at CarQuest batteries online and I'm between the two right now, but I'm not going for the top of the line, as it is my last battery was a CCA 575 and those are now going for about $100.
I do want to stick with the refillable not the sealed . . . cause I'm old and stubborn, I reckon.
What do you all think.

 

Walmart MAXX is the best bang for the buck IMHO

Josh

 

That doesn't surprise me, but I've heard horror stories about their crews and their return policy. I don't care for other people doing just about anything under my hood any more . . . my own horror stories. Could I just buy the thing and put it in myself or do they have to install it to warrenty it?
And is that refillable or the sealed type?
And thanks for anwering so quickly.

jim in nc

 

3 Year free replacement, no questions asked. Install it yourself.

I believe all the batteries are considered "sealed" but some do have a removeable cap to check water levels.

Josh

 

Is there such a thing as too strong a battery. Some of these are advertised with 7 or even 8 hundred CCA at 0 degrees.

 

Most batteries are made by only a few companies. Look for one made by Johnson controls some of those are Die Hard, Interstate, the Walmart brand and the Costco brand there are probably more but thats all I can think of.

 

Nope, no such thing. Get the highest CCA you can.

Josh

 

I've heard that about Johnson Controls and another Penn something and having clipped edges on the cell caps, things to look for. Thanks for writing back.

 

I've had Interstate, Diehards, and Walmart amongst others. All were good. The Interstate was a deep cycle for our RV and that battery lasted 12 years but I paid a lot for that battery. The Diehard was for a Lincoln Mark VII LSC that I once had. It kept having odd elec problems and going through batteries and then a mechanic told me that a Diehard would solve the problem? I thought he was full of crap but I decided to put one in and by golly, it never had an elec problem again. Strangest thing as I didn't think the brand of battery would make a difference?! I currently have a Walmart battery in the wife's GMC Denali. Has worked perfectly for the last 4years and was the most reasonably priced out of all.

 

I know you wanted the non sealed battery but I have been very satisfied with the Optima battery. I'm running dual "Blue Top" Deep Cycle Optima batteries on my truck and my Daily Driver. My DD batteries are under a heavy electrical load almost daily and the Blue Tops have worked great for many years. You will pay more for them but in the long run they are worth it.

Optima also had the Red Top (General car battery) and the higher performing Yellow Top battery.

 

I prefer Napa batteries myself

 

I've had good luck with the O'Reilly house brand and bad luck with Autozone (even their more-expensive Duralast house brand).

 

Optima Red Top been working excellent since 2004. Went dead once but that was because my CD/stereo deck developed an internal short that would drain the battery in 1-2 days. Truck can sit for days and no problem, not even when the weather gets cold here in the winter months. Best 50 bux I ever spent!

 

I agree with Steve in regard to the Optima batteries. I did a great deal of research before I shelled out the money for one and it is considered an excellent battery. I chose the yellow top as he mentioned, but I only had to buy one of them and I have a ton of audio equipment to power.

 

The last time I asked the NAPA batteries were made by Exide.

My personal preference for batteries is Interstate. We've used them for years on vehicles and farm equipment. I've never had one go out before it was long past it's warranty, and I always bought the five year battery (I think it's increased to six now). The last one I replaced was TWELVE years old. Problem is, Interstate has become less 'friendly' with their dealers and everybody around here dropped them. I'm running NAPA now.