Another battery question?





97-00 cars used lead-acid batteries that had a tendency to leak from the side posts. They should be closely monitored for any signs of leakage, or better yet, just replaced.
01-03 cars used AGM side post batteries. These have no free liquid acid in them and do not leak, but the fault with these is the cells have a tendency to short out internally and just die at any given moment. You will have no warning when it happens....you could stop for gas, try to restart, and nothing. For this reason (high failure rate) they were discontinued in 03. They won't cause you any damage or other problems down the road like a leaky battery can, but be aware that it could die at any moment.
In 04, they went back to a lead-acid battery, but with top posts. It remains to be seen how reliable and trouble-free these batteries will be, since they are relatively new yet.
The replacement battery of choise for any C5 owner is the Optima red top. It is an AGM type battery and is guaranteed to be leakproof. it is also generally regarded to be a quality, trouble-free battery.
Hope that helps.
If yours is an AGM battery, you should be fine as far as leaking is concerned. The AC-Delco batteries should also have "AGM" printed on one of the labels. My understanding is that AC-Delco has now discontinued their line of AGM batteries, not because of leaking, but because some were quickly going bad.
Hope this helps.
Last edited by GrayC5; Dec 12, 2004 at 11:44 PM.






The 34/78 is slightly larger, but will fit. It's 800 CCA.
The Best of Corvette for Corvette Enthusiasts
The 34/78 is slightly larger, but will fit. It's 800 CCA.

Thank you blacksedan87.
it is leak and vibration-proof. My 01 AC Delco AGM is now 3.5 years old and continues to start like the day it was new. It seems as if as long as you charge em up adequately by not taking 5 minute drives, they do last - at least my battery has. I am very happy with it so far.








