Battery

[Jaime]

Hello,

Well it’s time to replace my battery on my 2002 grand Cherokee 4.0. I’ve been reading reviews from autozone, NAPA, and others. Except orilleys they don’t post reviews. All the same bad in one way or another. I usually go with autozone. What do you think?

[DirtyComanche]

If you just want a battery that works, go with whoever has the best warranty and the most reasonable price...  Which I think means Costco.

 

(No, I don't buy batteries there, but I should)

 

Batteries are one of the most rebranded products out there.  There's really only a handful of big manufacturers.

[HOrnbrod]

Autozone has a mail-in rebate sale going on now ($20 off - whoopee). I bought a new Duralast Platinum AGM battery yesterday since my old lead/acid Duralast Gold, going on six years now, is starting to groan a bit on cold morning starts. Thought I'd try an AGM battery this time to eliminate checking the electrolyte levels.

 

EDIT: If you need a new battery, think about getting a Group 34 battery (fits late model XJs) vs. the older standard Group 58 you probably have now. Fits perfectly in the MJ tray, delivers more CCA, and it's usually a bit cheaper.

 

https://comancheclub.com/forums/topic/51570-group-34-battery/?tab=comments#comment-525171

[sinkrun]

I like advance for standard batterys had good luck with many of them. Buy on line you can get 10-20 percent off then pick up in store.

[Skorpyo]

I've always hit up advance auto for batteries since they always have at least 20% off if you purchase online and pickup in store. Recently I found a 30% off batteries coupon on retailmenot. Cut the battery down quite a bit. Plus with their club thing I had a $20 coupon. With some digging I can usually get a better deal there than most other places. Oh, and they replaced my wifes battery that was on a 3-year warranty, after it threw a fail code, without any issues, easy peasy. 

 

Just a personal preference, but not sure if they have Advance Auto out your way.

[Keyav8r]

I buy batteries from the battery distributor that our company uses for truck and fork lift batteries.  I’ve used them in the trucks I use for business, my wife’s car(s) and my MJ.  Not sure of the brand, maybe Interstate.  Never bought over one per vehicle and I’ve put 200-300K miles on the trucks between the OEM battery and one replacement.  Don’t know what their warranty policy is like because I’ve always sold or traded the truck before the battery failed.

Can’t remember pricing, but I have compared them with Advance, Autozone and Wally World in the past and found them competitive.

 

This may not be an option for everyone, but it’s worked well for me.

[shelbyluvv]

3 VatoZone batteries in two years..

I think I will stay away from them from now on. NAPA or Interstate will be the only batteries I buy from now on.

[DirtyComanche]

4 hours ago, shelbyluvv said:

3 VatoZone batteries in two years..

I think I will stay away from them from now on. NAPA or Interstate will be the only batteries I buy from now on.

 

I don't have Autozone here, so I'll just speculate that they probably have multiple lines of batteries.  As they are not making them themselves, their different lines of batteries can be made by entirely different manufacturers.  Even different group sizes from the same line can be made by different manufacturers.  So whatever ones you bought might suck, but others might not...  So please be more specific which ones didn't work (not that it matters to me, it might to somebody that has an Autozone nearby).

 

At work we didn't have great luck with NAPA import line batteries...  No idea who made them, but they didn't last in the cold.

[HOrnbrod]

Autozone batteries (and Advance Auto) are made by Johnson Controls. I've had good results with the AZ batteries over the years, at least five years for each battery purchased. The one Optima battery I tried died in two.

[DirtyComanche]

7 minutes ago, HOrnbrod said:

The one Optima battery I had died in two.

 

Optimas went through a really rough time when they moved production to Mexico (I believe).  Apparently the quality is back up there, but I'm not likely to ever buy another one after OptimaJim was so kind as to tell all of us with dead Optimas that it was because we didn't use an approved battery charger (he now denies ever having said such a thing and insists that it is other manufacturers of AGM/Gel batteries that have only a few approved chargers).

[WyoCherokee]

Ive had great luck with Napa Batteries and Duralast Gold's. Been hit or miss with Interstate. Napa has a rebate program going on right now.

[Jaime]

So I went ahead and got a Duracell AGM group 65 from Sam's Club. All the reviews I read were positive and a three year free replacement. I guess we'll see how it does in three years. I just wish they had a military discount since Nellis AFB is just down the road.

 

Thanks for all your input.

[johnj92131]

On 1/17/2018 at 10:24 PM, DirtyComanche said:

If you just want a battery that works, go with whoever has the best warranty and the most reasonable price...  Which I think means Costco.

 

(No, I don't buy batteries there, but I should)

 

Batteries are one of the most rebranded products out there.  There's really only a handful of big manufacturers.

I worked in battery industry in Mid 70s. Lots of identical batteries come down the finishing line to get different decals on them.

 

With batteries, you buy amp hours and a replacement warranty. Nothing more.  Compare apples to apples from Costco and Walmart.  I think Costco wins. Walmart will have cheaper low end products.  Higher end, long term value, Costco.  Hands down.

[Pete M]

finally retired my old redtop optima this past fall.  about 12 years of service (8 in various jeeps/cars and 4 in the lawn tractor).  not bad for a blem I picked up at significant discount.    

 

too bad they don't seem to make them like they used to.