Bad Alternator Or Regulator?

[Voodoo_ChildR32]

I thought the optima's had like a 10 year warranty. You'll have to swap out the date stickers on them before you return the old one.


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[Bossman]

This may sound stupid so don't be offended, did you clean the battery clamps and battery post? Even for a brand new battery if there is oxidation on the battery post you might have this issue with starting. I take that the clamps are tight ? If you can wiggle the clamp then it's not tight. I also found that sometimes there is resistance build-up on the wire connected to the starter (the metal part where cable meets the bolt to the starter), use some sand paper and do some sanding first. If you can borrow another battery swap them and see if that works. Hope that helps....

[M13]

from my personal experience, Optima is ****. The hype is not justified.

I've owned two Optima red's, first one lasted about 3 months (internal shortage, no charge, potential fire hazard, then was replaced under warranty)

The second one has been good, but it's still dropping below 11V when starting. Keep in mind I trickle charge my battery over the winter and alternator has been rebuilt last year (died because of the Redtop constantly draining/not holding charge and forcing the alt to over-work)

[Nvdgtr]

i took my bat to part source to test. it was good on volt meter but ended up being bad. new battery n all issues were solved.

[MeatSedation]

+1 for getting the battery load tested. Ukrainian tire has a load test station. And some car chargers have a test mode on them, just hook it up and hold it on test for 30 seconds... If your battery reads less than 9v it's no good. If more than 9v, then I'd start looking at the alternator.

GLHF

-Meat

[menace]

Found this thread a bit late but wanted to say I have had issues with the red top optimas too. Good battery but does not hold up as well as a new plain battery if you were to drain them down low and recharge. Do it twice to a red top and it will never hold a decent voltage again.

After 2 bad alternators I went through 4 red tops... thank you walmart easy exchange, only had to pay for the first one.

For my next one I'm going to get something that I can deep cycle at least a couple of times before it starts to deteriorate. Maybe a blue top or a yellow top might be better for me.

[MarusGTR]

+1 for checking the posts, my ground post came loose one day and it gave me 8V until a spark flew in the engine bay and the engine started up. Basically that spark was the air turning into the plasma that made the connection. My father was like "stop being a pansy" and hammered the connector on the post with the fat end of a screwdriver. Turns out the post was tapered and his hammering shaped the connector right. Not loose anymore lol.

[krystalized_jdm]

I'm having similiar issues. I have a fuel issue at high rpm, thinking its fuel pump related + I have electrical issues. I'm replacing alternator and doing a battery test next week and I'll post back.

[tristan]

you guys are correct that the optima batterys are not lasting as long as they used to thats mainly due to the fact optima has moved there factory to mexico and started using cheaper parts it sucks but there are other dry cell batterys out there that last double that the optima brand lasts.

[Redone]

Bump this