It's Battery Time For Me!

[TMyers]

Over the passed few days I've felt that my truck was starting a little sluggish on these cold mornings. After that, it's started as normal throughout the day. Well today, it barely wanted to turnover but it started. If the batteries are going bad, they usually do it when it gets cold.

My truck has OEM batteries in it now. It's a 2013 so I assume they are the second set, maybe?? I've owned it almost 4 years. I hate paying dealership prices and I'm betting like everything else, batteries have probably went up in price significantly. What are you folks buying? I don't mind spending extra but I don't want to waste money either.

Thanks for the advice.

 

[nukegm]

i have a friend who has a snow removal company with 30 plus trucks. he swears by napa batteries. they are made by " deka " which are supposedly great. make sure both batteries replaced are the same. good luck! cheers

 

[Cummins12V98]

East Penn is the parent Company. deka is one of their labels along with many others. Quality batteries.

 

[p-Bar]

I go to Costco . Interstate batteries they are junk but easy return for new ones

 

[seafish]

I have ONLY good things to say about the east penn / deka batteries that I have used in my various vehicles and equipment over the last 15 years after I found out about them…which is nothing that I can say about the other battery brands that I used before that time ….with the exception of the Diehard Platinum P2 that I am still running in my 2005.

just my .02

 

[Tuesdak]

The Enersys made AGM's ( Odyssey, Northstar, and X2 BatteriesPlus label ) are what I am trying out now. BattriesPlus also extends the warranty to 5 years on the Odyssey and X2 AGM's. Odyssey were in short supply when I bought a pair for my 2018. (No X2's or Northstar in stock anywhere.) I got lucky as I just walked into a store as they were unloading some off their delivery truck.

In our extreme heat battery life is very, very short so no expectations there. Odds are very good AGM's won't corrode the battery cables. The AGM's also bulk charge faster than the conventional flooded batteries.

 

[JR]

NAPA batts are 18 month replacement warranty then the pro rating kicks in.

If you find a true Deka dealer their warranties are 5 year, full replacement. No pro rating.

The one and only downside is you are tied to a Deka dealer for replacement if you should ever need. That's not an issue for me but is for some.

 

[Jim W]

I am on my third set of batteries for my 2008, truck in the last 13 years. The first set was the OEM, they lasted 5 years. I replaced them with NAPA batteries, part number 7565. These have lasted 7 years and 6 months. They were replaced in June of 2020, with the same Napa series batteries for $308.

I have always had good luck with NAPA batteries and you usually can find a NAPA dealer nationwide. I use them in all of my vehicles with great results and my RV trailers too.

I had a Sears Diehard battery in my 2001, 2005 6.0L gas HD truck that had one battery that exploded in the truck. I tried the Sears battery because they were on sale and I need to put two in the truck. Last time I will ever deviate from NAPA batteries.

 

[Ozymandias]

No matter which battery's you buy, check the specification that they can take the high voltage (~15V) that the RAM alternator pumps out in cold climate. Not every battery likes that.
I went with the Platinum EFB from Autozone with Lifetime Warranty for that reason.

 

[TMyers]

No matter which battery's you buy, check the specification that they can take the high voltage (~15V) that the RAM alternator pumps out in cold climate. Not every battery likes that.
I went with the Platinum EFB from Autozone with Lifetime Warranty for that reason.

I just looked up this battery at AutoZone. They only show a 3 year warranty in my area.???

 

[KCJackson1]

Last set I put in the 2005 were the Advanced Auto Parts store brand AGMs back in June 2019 for $199 each with free installation which they did right there in the parking lot. They had 3 years full replacement and 7 years pro-rate on the warranty. 13 months later, I traded the Ram for the Traverse, but the batteries never flinched once put in. Since then, Advanced purchased the DieHard brand from what's left of Sears, so that's what they promote now.

 

[Diesel Gunner]

I have ONLY good things to say about the east penn / deka batteries that I have used in my various vehicles and equipment over the last 15 years after I found out about them…which is nothing that I can say about the other battery brands that I used before that time ….with the exception of the Diehard Platinum P2 that I am still running in my 2005.

just my .02

Just replaced my Diehard P2's with X2's. We will see if I get 13 years out of them like I did with the P2's. The P2's were not dead, just wanted to make sure that I did not get left in the boonies some place with a truck that would not start.

 

[Ozymandias]

I just looked up this battery at AutoZone. They only show a 3 year warranty in my area.???

Weird, maybe they changed something?
For now I'm happy with them, perform really good with lots of Offroad travel and washboard that like to kill batterys.

 

[lpennock]

Weird, maybe they changed something?
For now I'm happy with them, perform really good with lots of Offroad travel and washboard that like to kill batterys.

Too many in AZ failing at 2-3 years to go beyond 3 year warranty. Autozone dropped the longer warranties a couple years ago.

 

[TMyers]

Napa has a 20% off promotion right now. AGM 94R batteries are $178 with the discount. These are the East Penn batteries mentioned above in the thread. Seems like a no brainer so I'll stop by there tomorrow and see if they have a couple of them.

 

[Tuesdak]

These are the East Penn batteries mentioned above

If you deal with high heat: That's the only weakness in the East Penn AGM's.

Use the battery blanket from MOPAR on the batteries - they are cheap enough and help keep the engine heat out of the batteries.

 

[JPM]

FYI, My 2003 with 100000 miles had the originals when I sold it in 2017

 

[dannonebr]

FYI, My 2003 with 100000 miles had the originals when I sold it in 2017

My 2003 went 10 years on the original set of batteries so I bought a new set of Mopar batteries from the dealer, and were reasonably priced (at the time). The replacements were still in the truck when I traded six years later and tested just fine then.