Most I do is hook it up to a tender. I'd definitely don't want to shop for battery acid and water and dump the acid and measure it, etc. If I get a 3 year warranty with free replacement, it craps out before the end of the warranty, I get another one that should last me 3 years so that is 6 years.

 

Hello banditt1979!

I have been hoping that someday one of the so-called battery tricks to bring a dead battery back to life would work. I tried them to learn if they worked or not. Not one trick I downloaded or was told ever worked. Believe me if there was a way to revive a dead battery people all over the world would like to know the "trick".

I have done the draining out of the electrolyte and refilling it with fresh electrolyte and nothing really changed other than the plates were exposed to a higher level of acid which is hard on them. There are other problems with draining a Automotive style battery. To get rid of the existing electrolyte the instinct would be to turn the battery over. If you flip a battery on it's side or top for very long you will have problems. The best way to get the old acid out for some reason would be to suck it out with a Glass turkey baster. (NEVER-EVER get battery electrolyte in your Mouth!!) As batteries age and wear they shed a little bit of the lead used in the plates. As this shed material drops it goes into a space built into the bottom of the cell. If your battery had any shed lead on the bottom it is not hurting anything as long as the battery is upright. If you turn it over and the lead can sometimes short out the battery internally and that is a definite No-No as the battery CAN even explode.
In the old days I used to hear stories about batteries "Blowing Up" and until the day I saw it happen in a Dodge Van it was ugly! The acid was sprayed all over the engine and there were pieces of lead plates all over the place. With a defective regulator it doesn't take a whole lot to make the Perfect conditions.

As batteries age the lead on the bottom of the battery can cause it to short internally or it can just start self-discharging at a very high rate. I like battery cases with lots of room in them on the bottom so they have room to store the lead that was shed from the plates. Even a Brand new Flooded Lead Acid battery will self discharge albeit at a slower rate than later in the life of the battery. Lithium Ion and other types of batteries have much lower self discharge rates which is a nice thing but until they make an alternator designed for the newer battery technologies I would hold off using them.

Did you ever buy a "Dry Charged" battery before? In the older days they shipped the batteries "dry" and when you were ready to put the battery to use you filled up the electrolyte and then charged it up. You can buy containers of Battery acid at most local NAPA auto parts stores. A battery can last longer this way but the hazard is having the "Harry Homeowner" filling the electrolyte to the right levels. Electrolyte is made up of Sulfuric acid and distilled water. If you get even a tiny little drop in your eye it can blind you for life. I filled batteries out in the deserts of the Middle East and those particular cells held over five gallons of electrolyte per 2 volt cell and I had 120 cells in the building. I wore a face mask and a rubber apron and still ended up with holes in my clothes. Battery Acid is a very dangerous liquid to handle. The other thing is to know what specific gravity acid you are looking for. There are different types of electrolyte that have various specific gravities. You need to use the specific gravity your battery was designed for and get that specific electrolyte. They even have special electrolytes for extremely Hot conditions or the opposite as well. If you have kids around you might not want to have any electrolyte sitting around as it is dangerous stuff!

De-sulfating a battery claims to be done with certain types of chargers. The more expensive chargers "claim" they can de-sulfate a battery and even recover some of the lost capacity. I have not seen any charger yet that can reverse the damage done by leaving a battery at a lot state of charge for a period of time. Keeping the battery at 100% all the time will help the battery last longer. This is called "Floating" as a small current is sent to the battery to keep it at 100%. If it is being floated with no regulation then you might end up with a dry battery Like I did. It only took 3 months for a brand new Interstate to be boiled dry by 900 mA without a regulator.

One reason that Replacement batteries don't last as long as new car original batteries might be the amount of time they sit around before they get put to use. Another could be that the Batteries are "formed" before being used in the new car. That is not done on replacement batteries when you buy one. I form my own batteries as I have the right equipment to discharge and recharge the batteries. The battery manufacturers do form the batteries to some extent but it can vary based on the brand label put on the outer case. Higher end batteries get more forming maybe?

The automobile manufacturers all get brand new batteries and they fill them and install them at the end of building a Car. A battery sitting in a auto store might be there for a year or more without being charged up regularly. The store sales people don't like it when I buy a battery from their stock as I will find the newest battery (by date codes) and buy it. You don't have to take the oldest battery made in the store, if they give you a hard time then go someplace else.

Don't store or leave any battery at a partial level of charge, store them fully charged and they will last longer. Most automobiles don't completely charge their battery so check on it and give it a charge if it is not staying around 12.5 or 12.6.
IF you are replacing batteries every couple years check your alternator for any Alternating Current (AC) in the output line to your battery. Batteries DON'T Like AC and it can also affect your other electronics as well.

 

Thanks guys. Looks like batteries are just as controversial as the choice of motor oil.

But this remains unanswered...

 

But the one here where I live doesn't carry the Grp 75. So I ended up getting the Firestone 36 at Pep Boys.

 

I'll answer it. YES

 

No harm in being a battery brand fan. Just realize that most (not all) batteries are made by Johnson Controls, or their affiliates (as posted by aklim- post #16).
AC Delco doesn't make a battery, Interstate does't make a battery, Sears, AutoZone, Pep Boys, etc. don't make batteries. They are marketing companies.
The marketing companies provide the desired specs, or use off-the-shelf specs for their batteries. With research, you will learn that most Gold Series batteries
are all the same: cranking amps. warranties, etc.. You will also learn that the Interstate battery, sold by Costco, and manufactured by Johnson Controls, may be the best value
The only concern with buying from Costco is they do not install batteries.

 

The Interstate from Costco is closest to the mid grade one from Interstate.

 

Well the Sears DieHard Gold in my 95 went dead yesterday after a little over 8 years. The previous one lasted about 5 years. This time I utilized a small Deltran battery tender if the vette isn't being driven every week and that seems to have helped. I've used DieHard in all of my cars for the past 50 years and have always had good results. But they aint around where I am anymore.

So after reading what ctmccloskey had to say (and I appreciate the industry experience) I took the C5 and went and got an Interstate MTP-75 from a local distribution center. Also a thank you to aklim for pointing out the cca of the costco model. Yes this one is twice the price but I go for the longevity and the piece of mind of the higher cca rating which I guess results from slightly thicker lead plates.

I do have to say though that getting down on the garage floor to get the torx screws out never mind the 10mm bolt you have to loosen under the slot in the panel is getting to be more of a pain as I approach 70. At least I can still get up from the floor.

 

I have the battery charger ends that are loops so I keep them on the battery. When I need to charge it, I remove the cap and connect it to the tender. I don't need to get the battery out.

 

I used the Interstate Battery website and confirmed that the group 75 is correct for all C4 years. The only small differences were for the later years with the LT engines, both the 16- and 32-valve engines used group 75's, but the 32-valve showed only one choice in the group (the highest amp model) and the 16-valve showed three choices within the 75 group.