Battery battle?

I just through shear habit have been an Interstate Battery buyer for years and years. How do AC Delco stack up against Interstate? Going to be in an Avalanche 5.3 liter and if I understand correctly it is a size 78. Any other brands to look out for good or bad?

 

I don’t think there’s a good battery made anymore. If you’ve had good luck with interstate I’d stay with it

 

Just had to replace the battery six months ago it was 11 years old.. interstate

 

Mwalsh9152 ?

I have had good luck with interstate batteries, but it's been a few years since I've bought that brand.

Overall though, I think battery quality has gone down for most brands though.

 

I dont know too much about the Interstate brand these days.

My picks for a go to battery would be Deka or Ford Motorcraft.

 

If you told me you were going to open up a chain of strip mall stores that only sold car and truck batteries and were also just going to slap your company name on Exide batteries I'd be very skeptical and yet, there they are. I've been surprised with oddballs they've had in stock, ready to go.

 

I put a napa one into my 79 that doesn't get used all too much and less so now with the 86, It's at least 3ish years old and still seems to be working just fine.
I usually put a battery tender on it when I know it's going to be sitting for a while.
Last I checked East Penn actually is the manufacturer. I found a site a while back that listed who made the batteries for say orielly, autozone etc.
Can't remember now what site it was.
Interstate are usually good batteries though.

 

Johnson Controls used to make the best lead acid batteries. They sold that division last year and I have no idea if the level of quality has remained.

I'll probably look at Deka next time I need one.

 

Deka changed the formation process of their industrial batteries. Something that used to make them stand out among the other flat plate style batteries. Now they are really no different than the rest. I do not know if this effects their automotive line, but in this application, it's still a solid choice.

 

Yes, Clarios now owns the old Johnson Controls battery division. It didn't even change facilities, same location in Brown Deer, Wisconsin. Supposedly nothing has changed except the name, or so they say.

 

I had a Deka motorcycle battery fail catastrophically at 6 months old...wasn't too impressed by that (internal bus bar must have broke...went from 12.5V to 0.00V in the blink of an eye)
We replaced 2 original Ford batteries in trucks at work in the last year or two...1 was 13 YO (it was cranking slow) the other was 15 YO (it was still cranking the engine over just fine...but suddenly blew up when starting the truck, not being jump started either)
You can bet your boots we bought new Motorcraft batteries to replace them!

 

I’m not sure who makes the Motorcraft batteries, but they are definitely a great battery!

surprisingly, the OEM battery in my wife’s Kia is 7.5 years old, and still going strong.

 

They were definitely original to the trucks too...dealer said since they were "black top" batteries, those only come from the assembly line...he claims the Motorcraft replacement batteries are internally the same though...

 

Motorcraft batteries are made by Johnson Controls... Now Clarios.

 

Battery in Corolla took a crap and I think it was an interstate that went in there. That original battery had last about 10 years...(?) Ended up trading in the corolla around 3-4 years later.

Battery in boat took a crap and that was replaced with whatever wally world sells. The original one lasted around 9 years (?) and the new one has 6 years on it so far... (?)



I really should write these things down.

 

A battery is a tool like any other, treat it right, maintain it and it will serve you well.

 

Speaking of battery maintenance what do you and everyone else suggest for both automotive and deep cycle maintenance? I try to keep my deep cycle topped off several times a winter and maybe one day might look into a battery tender for its winters away from the camper.

 

I would charge my deep cycle on the lowest setting my charger had at least every 1 1/2 months during off season. It still crapped out. My new one, I charge once a storage season and once again before I use it. So far, so good.

I would also charge the lawn mower batteries motorcycle battery and whatever else I had every 1 1/2 month. Ended up replacing those too.

 

keep topped of with distilled water and do not overcharge

 

Make sure to only add water when it comes off charge.

I just boosted my boat battery / Bronco tailgate window power source yesterday. Put it on the lowest setting on my battery charger for 60 minutes. I will grab my refractometer out of the car and check the specific gravity in it tomorrow and make sure its good.