How long should one last? I put the red top one in about 1.5 to two years ago and never had a problem. Now the car is in the dealer because of my broken leaf spring bolt and they tell me today that it is not holding a charge. The first night it was towed there they could'nt get the keys out, because my flameball shifter has to be pulled up sometimes to get the keys out and they couldnt figure it out, so they sat in there all night. Now they tell me the car is done but that I will need a battery because it is now holding a charge and they have to jump it everytime they move it. What the hell. Why would it be doing this all of a sudden? What should I tell the dealer? It seems to coincindental to not be their fault.

 

Does not sound right to me. I have had Optima's in virtually every car i buy and have never had one go out on me in less than 5 years. I would call Optima as i think they have a really good warrantee.

 

They have a two year free replacement..

 

Some employee flunky probably left your ignition switch on all night. I hate leaving my car with strangers!!!!!!!!!!!!! :mad

 

:eek: :confused: Huh?

 

I think I understand what happened. It sounds like you have the A4 shift adapter and installed a flameball (which is what I did). If you don't get the set screw adjustment just perfect, the shifter doesn't move around freely. You shift into park, but the release mechanism doesn't come up. As a result, the ignition switch is prevented from being turned off.

It sounds like someone couldn't get the car fully turned off as you said and left it on overnight (or longer) and it killed the battery. The Optima should be able to deal with a full drain and a subsequent recharge though. It is after all, a "deep cycle" battery designed to do exactly that. Contact Optima if it truly won't hold the charge.

If you are having trouble with the A4 shift adapter and flameball, let me know too. The best thing to do is put some electrical or plumbers tape at the very top of the shifter before setting the flameball on top. This allows you to leave the set screw relatively loose allowing free movement while stopping when it hits the minimal oposition of the tape. This does work. Believe me, I understand, its a hassle to let anyone unfamiliar drive the car in fear that they may accidentally remove the shiftball entirely. Nowadays, I leave a "post-it" note on the radio saying "Press down ball to shift gears". Some idiots seem to think that it should be pulled up.

 

I thought only the Yellow top Optima was the deep cycle battery, not the red. :confused:

 

The dealer where I bought it said to charge it all the way and then it should hold a charge. so far the dealer only jummped it to get it started, so we'll see.

 

You're right, the red top is "starter" while the yellow is a "deep cycle". My bad, I have the yellow top and was in that frame of mind.

 

Dealer said they charged it twice and still wont hold a charge. The place I bought it from says that I have to send it in to recieve anouther one. So I still have to buy another battery if I want to drive the car in the meantime what a PIA!

 

Yep! A starter battery can suffer irreperable damage from being discharged. The dealer should reimburse you. If they couldn't get the key out, they should have disconnected it, rather than leaving the key in overnight.

You should take this up with your dealer, they killed your battery. :smash: :smash:

 

:yesnod:

Their fault on the battery. You should ask for a new optima to replace.