I went to leave for college today for an exam and what a lovely surprise that my Duralast battery has let me down yet again. In the last year these batteries have failed about 4 times, stranding me at least once (last winter at 0*F was my favorite). It was doing very well until having to drive home every night with lights on. At idle my voltage starts discharging the battery but at any other time it is pretty decent. I upgraded my alternator to a adjustable regulator, set to 14V. Anyway I think I'll try to talk autozone into taking my $65 Duralast battery towards credit for a new Optima Red Top. The 34R battery is 5" shorter but 5/8" taller, same width. Being it is the reversed model the terminals are correct for the MB setup, only loss will be 50CCA but it is supposed to let out more voltage during the first 10 seconds of starting which may offset this. Anyway, has anyone tried this setup before?
Here is a link to the product info on optima's red top lineup.
10-13-2004, 12:27 AM
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