just added a napa to the two wall marts... no motorcraft's... go fish

(two wall mart 750's under the hood, and have 2 extra batt boxes in bed mounted between my wheel wells and 5th wheel and put a napa in one of them)

xtof

 

Odd, but the original set lasted 9 years exactly in my truck! But i did jump ship and go with the Walmarts, mostly because they were easy to get. And as some one else mentioned the couple of small towns i fish and hunt near have Walmarts too, so might help if i ever have to replace them.
A bit off topic but i have had good luck with Walmart marine batteries.

 

I use to always run Walmart Batts, until the warranty coverage changed like you describe, latest are Battery outfitters Outlast Platinum 1150 CCA group 65 AGMs So far nice batteries, I had always ran the outlast in my boats, and they have done well.

But I noticed this on another forum, seems like a good deal $66 off right now Platinum Automotive Battery - Group Size 65 (Price with Exchange)- DieHard-Automotive-Batteries-Car Batteries

 

Im on my 6th yr with my Optima Red Top batteries in both my truck and the X and still going strong.

 

just bought a pair group 31 oddesy batteries for new artic fox camper on order, will report back if they were worth the investmen,was considering that brand for the 7.3

 

Les Schwab batteries seem to be holding up since June 2008. I plan to replace with Kirkland (Costco) soon OR would you suggest interstates?

 

I had been running the Kirkland ( Costco) batteries in my truck, till they quit carrying the DT 75/35 batteries I use in my trucks. The switched to Interstate a while back at Costco and they didn't have a dual terminal battery available. (the old ones were 1000cca)
I ended up at Pepboys with a pair of Bosch batteries under my hood. (both DT 1000cca.) One died 3 years later and they replaced them, plus $20 bucks difference in price for the new ones. I was out the door with a new warranty. I would be at Costco still if they had a battery for me, but you can't beat the warranty at Pepboys!

 

batteries are a crap shoot. We all know that there are only 3 manufacturers that make all the brands. Shake&bake gets 2 yrs out of motorcraft, I got 6 on the original and 6 on the second set, which I just replaced in nov. This time I got NAPA Legends, we'll see how legendary they are. If you have the time to shop around, I think it all comes down to warranty and location, and of coarse price assuming your comparing equal spec. products.

 

Interesting...
Who makes Interstate batteries « Batteries | Compare Reviews and Trusted Advice from Battery Experts

 

I would recommend to anyone that has a habitual problem with short lived, or weak batteries to have their charging system tested. I never had any battery light or low voltage indications on the gauge, but would have issues with slow/no start after a long weekend of not driving. I replaced the batteries (Interstates built for Sam's Club; found that they were not covered under Interstate's nationwide warranty coverage) and all was good for a short while. I later checked the new batteries with a hydrometer and found the cells to be 50%-75% charged after several days of driving. I installed one of those cheap digital battery monitors in one of the power outlets. This lead me to the charging system. The alternator was tested and was found to have a bad diode, voltage draw, and insufficient output. A new alternator, along with 2 new Duralast Gold batteries, and no more starting/ charging issues since.

 

I bought 2 of the Walmart HD Marine batts for my trolling motor. They crapped out a year later with not a lot of hard use and Walmart more or less told me to stuff it!! No more Wally World batts for me!!!


Smokie

 

What was their excuse to not honor the warrantee?

Stewart

 

Nice find! I previously read that Johnson Controls makes the Interstate and Motorcraft units (among others) but I do wonder if they make them to spec or if they are all manufactured identically.

I see the cases are identical, only the label is different but the new Interstate (purchased from Costco) was noticeably heavier than the Motorcraft units. Makes me wonder if there are differences inside.
What I really wanted are 850 amp batteries since my other trucks have that size and their batteries last quite a while longer. The previous set in my wife's truck lasted about 5 years.

I've always wondered if there is something weird with my charging system. I've had it checked by the dealer about half a dozen times...usually when they were replacing a pair and they say the charging system is tip top. This last time I placed a thin piece of cork under the batteries to minimize vibrations but that had zero effect. I also have one of those cheap volt meters in the cab and it's been super helpful. I now have about 3-4 weeks of warning before the batteries leave me stranded. While driving around town, the max voltage I'd see on the worn set of Motorcraft batteries was around 13.5-13.8v. Now that I have a new pair installed I am seeing 14.2-14.4v just like my other trucks.

I suppose it's worth mentioning that my daily driver truck has over 290k miles and still has the OEM starter, alternator, glow plug solenoid etc. I've wondered if maybe perhaps those parts are old enough to tax the system a little bit extra and that's been the root of my issue but then I remind myself that this particular truck has had this problem since it was brand new. It's always been that way and it's always had Motorcraft 750 amp batteries. Part of me is hoping that 850 amp units will last a bit longer so I can get 3 1/2 to 5 years like most other folks enjoy.

I do have a new Motorcraft starter and Alternator in the box, waiting for one of my trucks to have a need. I wonder if I should throw them on just to see if the batteries last longer......

 

I bought the 750cca MOTORCRAFTs from my local auto electric shop about 2 years ago.
He told me that they had the 850cca on sale but would NOT recommend them to me for my truck because the 750 and 850 are both in the same size case and he said they'd had alot of failures due to too many plates forced into the case on the 850s so it couldn't work properly, I bought the 750s which are what the truck came with, so far so good.......

 

I bet the innards are different, Hence the price differences. Kind of like a Tahoe and an Escalade, same box, better innards