optima problems

1stgenxxx

1stgenxxx

Well-Known Member
Joined
Dec 19, 2005
Location
Hudson
Uhhh so my "sealed" Yellow top optima seems to be boiling. They battery has sucked since I got it and I can't take it back cause I took it in on trade (brand new). WTF could be causing it to do this? It still works as it should.........I just don't care much for the acid fizzing out from the top of it.
 
hmmmm. I'm not the one that wired the truck. I'm going to look it over tonight and see what I can come up with. Is the battery toast now?
 
I will get my meter and check the alt output
 
It does sound like it's over charging.

Toast? dunno, but they are supposed to be sealed.

I have three red tops in my Jeep, one is about 8 years old. Still doing what they are supposed to do.
 
Can you get back with the original owner who may still have the receipt which will valid the warranty?


From this forum and a couple others they are making a lot of junk now.
 
had a red top back in the day, it lasted 8 years. got a yellow top, it lasted 1 week past 3 year warranty. just put in a red top. we'll see.
 
The alternator is putting out 17.8 volts
 
thats WAY to much shouldnt put out more than like 14.7 or so... bad alternator regulator.... may be inside the alternator or seperate. i would replace the alternator. battery being toast hrm, let it cool down over night and check the voltage on it in the morning?
 
I have a chevy one wire thats self regulated. I got the life time warranty on it so I'm going to take it back in the morning.
 
I will. This gave me a reason to clean up the mess of wirring that I have. I've gone through and re/wired about half the truck. I will do the other half tomorow night.
 
Yellow tops definately don't last as long as reds... I had a red top pop the little black plugs out of the top, turned out the alternator was pushing out around 20 volts. It lasted for about 2 or 3 weeks after that before it wouldn't take a charge.
 
one of the pitfalls on a 1 wire....damn easy to hook up...but not as reliable.
 
auto zone tested it and they said it was bad/gave me a new one. The internal regulator was stuck open. I wonder what caused that in a 2 month old alt?
 
1stgenxxx said:
auto zone tested it and they said it was bad/gave me a new one. The internal regulator was stuck open. I wonder what caused that in a 2 month old alt?
Click to expand...
There's your problem, we went through about 4 of them before we got one to hold up. We final went with an AC Delco new unit and no more problems..
 
autozone tests arent worth shit, I had Advance tell me the starter was bad and I went down to AutoZone because they had one in stock, then it wound up being the battery, which they said was good
 
Don't buy alternators or starters from AutoZone or Advance.... most everything else it OK.

NAPA or an OEM alternator/starter, end of story.
 
I got it all fixed and I'm good for mtn city on Sunday :Rockon:
 
The Optima gave up on pull cable this morning.....I for sure won't buy another one.

Anyone on here running an odyssey or some other havy duty battery with good luck?
 
Thats what I replaced the optima with. I've had it for a year and auto zone has replaced it twice :Rockon:
 
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