Battery Time almost

[Brendan Grant]

I took my Trac in today for a dealer oil change, inspection, and tire rotation. Pretty good value for $45 plus they wash your car and give you a few bottles of water.



They told me my cranking power of my battery was about 60% and needed replacing soon. They quoted a price of $110 plus to replace. I held off since I wanted to get another quote from my favorite tire store. I drove it there and they checked it and said that it still OK voltage and charged OK. They gave me a couple of quotes and I told them I may see them at the end of October when it starts getting dark and cold for most of the day.



Then I went home and looked at the ones available at Sears via the website. I notice they have better warranties for roughly the same price. I am also interested in getting the more rugged SUV type they advertise that costs $20 more. Supposedly they are a little more rugged and have that extra amperage for running accessories when the engine is off.



Has anybody purchased a premium battery like that and do you think it is worth it? I can always go for the $70 limited warranty special but like the idea of running my cooler and tunes for an hour or two when stopped and not worrying about the battery.

 

[Michael Cacioppo]

Buying products from a dealership is usually more expensive than other retailers. You can most definitely get a better and in most cases cheaper product elsewhere. Costco, Pep Boys, Autozone, have good battery replacements. You can get a good replacement in the $70 range. Compare cold cranking and reserve power as well as the warranty.

 

[EddieS'04]

Sears is a rip off also. Autozone gold $80. 3yr free replacment 7yr warranty. The AZ gold in my '94 stang lasted 8yrs.

 

[kil roy]

dont get me going here...............

while i was in myrtle beach 2 weeks ago i get a call from the wife that she is stuck

at the shore and my trac wont turn over. i knew i was getting close also on the battery

and had intended on swapping it with an interstate early next month while doing winter maintenance.



she insists the didnt leave any lights on or anything. so being 650 miles away and pissed off she didnt answer my phone calls for 5 hours, i was going to tell her to get a jump, take it home and my brother who is local would pick up the new battery and install.



she has it jumped by our auto club and proceeds to drive to the nearest sears and have them install a dieEASY gold :blink: cost me $121.00 and i had alrady gotten a quote for my interstate from a friedn at $85 out the door.

$36 more for a crappy battery. only saving grace is it has a 3 year replacement warranty which if they are like the last dieeasy gold i bought 12 years ago should be replaced 3 times before warranty replacement runs out.

 

[Bill Barber]

You can get an optima for 100 bux. than forget about the batt.

 

[Aaron Yarbough]

What is the FREE replacement warranty on the Optima?