Take that thing back to the dealer and see if you can just pay the difference between the 650 and 850 CCA batteries. While it's there get your oil changed to some 0W-30 syn or what ever the V-10 requires in extreme cold weather. You don't want to be stranded in those temps (but I'm sure you already know that.. )

 

Sorry but had to input this
Boosting Chevy to day -45C Love to rub that in

-R-

 

And HERE is a textbook case of someone who needs a bigger battery!

QwkTrip, I think he only has one 650 CCA battery...

 

I have the original motorcraft battery in my 03 Mustang GT. It's still going strong.

 

I have the original 650CCA battery in my 04' V10 and it starts great even being more than 5 YO. Was in the teens the last few mornings and started no problem. In extreme cold you should buy a bigger battery with more CCA.

 

That was the very test that the AGM batteries excelled at ..... starting/charging cycles in under hood, high heat conditions (as SAE does). The testing was performed with the batteries in cars with the car's charging system .... not on a shop bench.

Alternators are NOT chargers. An alternator is meant to maintain a battery, not charge it. (AGM batteries do charge differently than wet cell batteries)

Maybe AGM technology has evolved?

Are you maybe thinking of the "gel" technology batteries that agm replaced?

Of course, I would be eager to read any information anyone has to the contrary.

 

You are correct that alternators are not designed to recharge dead batteries but to keep the starting battery topped off and to support the need for 12 volts in operation a vehicle. Yet we all abuse the alternator from time to time by jumping our vehicle with a discharged battery and taking off down the road.

Ironmine to think some have confused gel with AGM.

An AGM will work just fine with the charging system on vehicles. Gel is another store. In MH use AGM and normal lead acid batteries are often charged at the same time by the vehicle's one alternator.

 

Hmmm....
IMHO, I stopped believing Consumer Reports a long time ago...
I rate their reviews right up there with Al Gore's climate 'proof' and the recent governments 'statistics'

I changed my originals after 5 yrs and 100k miles to Walmart's $74 battery - turns over fine !

 

Why did you stop believing CR?

Whenever I offer information from CR on forums, etc such as this ... I always start it with "For What Its Worth ..... " Because I know there are people who feel that CR just makes the stuff up, or is bribed by the manufacurers, etc etc. And, I don't want to start any pi**ing matches .... I'm just offering some info on the subject that some people may find interesting.

On the other hand, I find CR to be an invaluable tool in making purchase decisions .... providing information that you can get no where else. I'm impressed by their entire process.

You mock "statistics." And, many people like to say that statistics are the biggest of lies. However, statistics don't lie ..... unscrupulous people pick-and-choose statistics to fabricate a point.

That you bought a battery from Walmart, and it has performed well, illustrates one of the great things about CR. As I stated in my first post, CR found that the expensive agm Sears Platinum battery tested best in every way (life, reserve, CCA, etc), and CR also found that two other batteries in Group 65 tested as very good in performance (not as good as the agm batteries, but still very good) and were much cheaper than the agm's. CR recommended that you buy these very good, reasonably priced batteries, unless you had a real need for the very best Those two batteries were the Kirkland 12866 (Costco) and the Everstart 65N (Walmart), both approximate retail $75

When CR conducts tests ...they lay out all the results in a table. Some people may want to buy the very best, regardless of price .... I've done that sometimes in my life. Some people may want the very best in a certain category of the testing, such as a battery's Reserve, or a tire's snow traction, or a vehicle's emergency handling. Many people are just looking for value ..... good performance at a reasonable price. CR provides you with the information to make these decisions.

Junk is junk .... no matter how cheap it is. And I can't afford it.

To change the subject ... I see you are DFW? How about them Cowboys?! (Don't ask me about the Giants)

 

agreed ... use all the info from whatever source you find useful

and just like my posts - until you trust what I say - sprinkle with the grain of salt, fer sure.

Eggxactly why I don't trust most statistics ?
I was the business end of school testing, stanines, etc... YEARS ago...
pulled random samples out of the data and over multilpe passes proved it as true averages, but the powers that be didn't like the numbers and demanded another random sample...

Told them I would run it again, but if I pick every nth record using the current times second as a seed value, the averages were not going to change very much.....

They told the new guy what numbers they wanted to see so he typed them in a text file !

 

That ought to cover it well enough.