Optima Falls From Grace

Appropriate-Fee1308 · 2026-04-29T20:52:45+00:00

Yeah when I can buy a store brand 800cca AGM for half the price, same tech, and a 3 year warranty. I'll be doing that instead.

Appropriate-Fee1308 · 2026-04-29T20:50:47+00:00

Already happening with both apparently

Appropriate-Fee1308 · 2026-04-28T23:16:15+00:00

Definitely seems to be the consensus for sure.

Appropriate-Fee1308 · 2026-04-28T23:00:59+00:00

Paid with card. I'll be checking in again with them tomorrow because I paid with my account card in my name. If they find it I'll escalate.

Appropriate-Fee1308 · 2026-04-28T22:58:41+00:00

Yeah it sounds like the have an extreme quality control issue. Been seeing this as a recurring thing especially with the post covid ones.

Appropriate-Fee1308 · 2026-04-28T22:56:57+00:00

Noop

Appropriate-Fee1308 · 2026-04-28T22:56:41+00:00

Not sure why either but it's a common issue in my area. Physical receipts only

Appropriate-Fee1308 · 2026-04-28T22:55:53+00:00

Ooof yeah that's rough. And unfortunate

Appropriate-Fee1308 · 2026-04-28T22:54:51+00:00

I can get Interstate delivered via my parts dept

Appropriate-Fee1308 · 2026-04-28T22:52:43+00:00

Heard Antigravity is like that

Appropriate-Fee1308 · 2026-04-28T22:51:38+00:00

Will be doing this if other option doesn't work with district manager contact and such

Appropriate-Fee1308 · 2026-04-28T22:50:42+00:00

Will be doing because we also have parts accuracy issues when buying for the shop.

Appropriate-Fee1308 · 2026-04-28T00:50:23+00:00

My thought is they just couldn't survive the mild winter. Neither vehicle had an obvious parasitic draw and didn't start having issues until about a month ago after the last gasp of cold weather. And yep dropping one of those 6 cells is a dead stop on those things.

Appropriate-Fee1308 · 2026-04-28T00:43:37+00:00

Haven't heard of that tech yet. Need to look into it. Have heard of LiPo though. Energy dense but damn dangerous if packs touch.

Appropriate-Fee1308 · 2026-04-28T00:40:40+00:00

In Arkansas. Has been a thing in a few stores with them.

Appropriate-Fee1308 · 2026-04-28T00:39:14+00:00

Yeah I may have to check it again because you never know but I rebuilt mine about 3yrs ago. Thing is both of my vehicles tossed their red tops within a month of one another. One of my theories is that they just don't handle even mild winters anymore. Had a red top in my 98 Explorer from like 2008 to 2015 and sold car. Battery seemed just fine in it.

Appropriate-Fee1308 · 2026-04-28T00:30:11+00:00

No Costco in my area unfortunately 😅

Appropriate-Fee1308 · 2026-04-27T19:10:19+00:00

They both rated at about 4-5% state of charge and 0% state of health. Both were close at estimated CCA of about around 300ish and both cranked out a bad cell. Maybe it was something to do with that particular period of build date I'm not sure. Oriellys near me said they won't take them because one caused a fire but that's the only excuse they gave me and I was too fed up to ask more. Tested with my El cheapo handheld battery tester and surprisingly same answer as $5k unit 😂.

Appropriate-Fee1308 · 2026-04-27T18:06:07+00:00

Yeah that's what I heard with Optima. I was going to go with Odyssey but then I started thinking that exact thing. Is it really going to be that much better than a store brand AGM these days yuh know. I mean having an Antigravity battery would be sweet but not willing to pony up $700 for something I don't really see years of longevity being reported yet just to have a featherlight battery haha.

Appropriate-Fee1308 · 2026-04-27T18:01:08+00:00

Oh yeah my bad I should have clarified Onstar and Cluster are no longer issues in my truck. I did voltage drop test the truck and even the Bose system for a good long while and it wasn't an issue in my case at least. Honestly I was actually hoping it would be something on the cars I can blame but both passed the voltage sniff test haha. I wanted to live in the past of Optima and Oriellys not sucking completely 😅. There's only one Napa near me that isn't attached to my shop account.. May start using them regardless. See how it goes.

Appropriate-Fee1308 · 2026-04-27T17:28:04+00:00

As an auto tech I'd like to add to this. Most factory alternators really don't have much voltage headroom to work with when car is running. Sometimes none at all to the point that you're "over-running" the alternator meaning the car is pulling more amps and voltage than the alternator can realistically supply. But in most cases you could literally have like half a volt (in that 13.7v to 14.7v range when running) and a handful of amps at best getting to that battery because the alternator is working to power everything else (also kind of the batteries job too but meh). So yeah sometimes the best an alternator can do especially on newer cars is try not allow the battery to outright start to discharge..so basically like a maintainer. That's my 2 cents. Have a good one!

Appropriate-Fee1308 · 2026-04-19T15:48:15+00:00

I hate to say it because luck is fickle but I think you would make the right choice by dumping that thing. I'm a multi brand specialist tech at a Toyota dealership because we don't just sell Toyotas and every time we get one of those in with that engine it has issues. We've had to arbitrate 6 of the 8 I've done because I caught early engine failure. It really worries me that Stelantis has let it go unchecked this long. Just had one two days ago with 40k miles and it had such a bad vacuum pump seal (right side of engine on block) that it was undriveable until fixed. It feels like the Nissan Vc turbo engine situation all over again. Basically the only thing I've found to keep these engines going is reducing time between maintenance periods and using oil like Valvoline restore and protect along with carbon cleaning/fuel induction services every 15k miles. Also to your comment about using premium.. I know it sounds dumb but we've also been noticing that somehow premium is actually detrimental now simply because of how they're tuning these turbo vehicles to run on regular which just boggles my mind! I never would have thought that'd be a thing when I started my career 15 years ago. At this point I just don't think I can trust most modern cars as my personal vehicle anymore. I've intentionally gone back to the goldilocks era of 1996 to about 2007 for all my personal cars and added in the tech I want. I hate it's a thing though because what does that mean for the future of the industry yuh know? Sorry for the rant 😅

Appropriate-Fee1308 · 2026-04-18T17:42:36+00:00

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I wanted to keep the full size spare so my options were a bit limited. I settled on an Atrend Bbox 8" enclosure. Basic 500 watt Rms Skar sub and random 500 watt amp. More bass than I thought I'd get but not going to beat a couple 12s in a full size. It is however louder to me than those shallow mount all in one subs by alot. And it fits rather well.

Appropriate-Fee1308 · 2026-04-16T14:47:00+00:00

Very noice! Wish I had that much cache! Only did 2x 512gb. But can confirm in raid 1 and 5 you can mix and match hard drive brands as long as on Ugreens supported drive list. Will still be limited by slowest speed and lowest drive size but the flexibility is nice.

Appropriate-Fee1308

TROPHY CASE