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[gazjeep]

Bought one for my old XJ 12 months ago, proper Mopar jobby, £55 from jeep dealer job done, right size etc etc. Get hold of your local dealer, it may surprise you  :lol:

Bloody hell, must be London prices  

[gordy]

Well guys, my Optima Red Top bit the dust sometime over the last couple of days.  Went to start the truck this morning and dead, nothing, in fact the fob would'nt open the doors, the battery seems to have a short curcuit, as when I connect a charger to it, the charger cuts in/out fast exactly as if I touch the crocodile clips on the charger together.  Lasted 3 years which is the same as a regular battery,  dissapointing really considering what I paid for the friggin thing.  They carry a 24 month guarantee so are obviously built to go tits up in their third year.  Bloody shite.  Got a Unipart battery for 55 quid from the garage down the road.

And thats shagged now and the Jeep wont start.  Battery recommendations anyone?.  Anyone fitted an optima this size http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/optima-yellow-top-battery-YT-S-5-5-deep-clcye_W0QQitemZ200429420735QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_3?hash=item2eaa8640bf in an XJ?.  Been reading on NAXJA about Optima's.......since they relocated their manufacturing base to Mexico they are not built so well.  

[Bulldog67]

had a couple of battery threads bookmarked as that is quite near the top of next purchase:

http://www.birtydastards.com/frm/index.php?topic=8739.0

&

http://www.birtydastards.com/frm/index.php?topic=11114.0

[prophet]

Can anybody tell me how I can tell if my battery is knackered? My XJ 4.0 is often sluggish to turn over and sometimes won't turn over at all. I charge the battery overnight and all is well for a short while and then it dies again.. The Jeep recently got a dunking at hill and ditch and to purge the water from the engine, we spun it for quite a while on the starter without the plugs in. I wonder if I pushed the battery too far and have ruined it.. It's a 6 month old Halfords battery (HCB063) with 440 amps starting power. It's a sealed box, so I can't have a peak inside.

I don't know how to tell if it's the battery that's kacked or if something is leaking the juice to earth elsewhere in the car. The battery guage shows 14 volts when it's running, so I don't think it's an alternator problem. If I take a voltage reading when the battery is fully charged and then another after a few days out of the car, would a dead battery's voltage drop?

I need a beer.. this ol' Jeep is developing all sorts of little issues and I'm wondering if it's time to get shot of it.

[Bubba]

if its six moths old get it relaced on waranty anyway and see how things are then

[prophet]

It's a shame that the receipt is long gone! I might try getting a new battery and seeing how it lasts. I was always dubious about whether a battery that small could turn over a four litre engine, but the tray in the XJ is only small. Any better suggestions that Halfords for a battery?

[tim_aka_tim]

Local factors.

[gazjeep]

Try the stealers, might surprise you & it will be the right one

[prophet]

I'll give MTB in Chester a ring and ask for a price..

Does anybody know what spec the OE battery is?

[tim_aka_tim]

Fair point. I bought one that was the same size/power and had to cut the top bracket down,
as one post was very close to it. From what I was told (so no jumping down my throat) , it's not
a particularly common size, so you might have to order it.

When I had a new battery from the stealer for me 3.1 WJ, the thieving 'stards took 166 quid off me.

[Nosebolt]

It's a shame that the receipt is long gone!

dont they still date stamp em when they fill/charge em or is that just the wholesalers?

[wildwood]

When I had a RHD Wrangler YJ I had hells own job getting a battery to fit. The ones sold by Halfords or any factors would not fit under the hood 'cos YJs were basterdised LHD wranglers. Then I walked into local Battery City in Peterborough with old battery in arms and a man behind the counter says oh a 'Chrysler Neon Battery' ..... so there's your answer, RHD Wrangler peeps.
On my LHD Wrangler I had a local facors 650 cranking amps battery £65 and it was great..... But not using the battery from Sept to Dec resulted in lots of charging and then just before the New Year a battery failure...... 2 year guarantee and they honored it with a new battery but would only honour the 1 year on the existing purchase for the guarantee.   
So, if like most things in life, if you don't excercise it enough it stops working

[Nosebolt]

I use an Interstate battery in the CJ now 1000CA, but well worth checking their website, follow this link to the wizard and select your model etc and follow through to the end and then click on the battery pic and it will give a full spec including dimensions, usefull for any yank motor if your sourcing your battery in the UK

[Bishops Finger]

When I had a RHD Wrangler YJ I had hells own job getting a battery to fit. The ones sold by Halfords or any factors would not fit under the hood 'cos YJs were basterdised LHD wranglers. Then I walked into local Battery City in Peterborough with old battery in arms and a man behind the counter says oh a 'Chrysler Neon Battery' ..... so there's your answer, RHD Wrangler peeps.
On my LHD Wrangler I had a local facors 650 cranking amps battery £65 and it was great..... But not using the battery from Sept to Dec resulted in lots of charging and then just before the New Year a battery failure...... 2 year guarantee and they honored it with a new battery but would only honour the 1 year on the existing purchase for the guarantee.   
So, if like most things in life, if you don't excercise it enough it stops working

Arr...going through this at the moment

[prophet]

Just an update on the dead battery.. I took the duff one back to Halfords without the receipt and got a new one! If you can give them the number of the card you paid for it with, they can reprint a receipt from their records. They tested the battery with a big green bosch tester thingy and it declared that the battery was fine. But I know it's knacked because I charged it overnight and then took voltage readings and found it to be dropping at about 0.5 volts every day. Anyway, the helpful girl behind the counter said she'd exchange it anyway.. 

[Bubba]

result

[gordy]

Put a multimeter between the negative terminal of the battery and the negative battery lead and set it to read amps.   You should get a reading of approx 0.005 to 0.025 amps with the ignition off, doors closed etc.

I had a faulty auxillary switch I fitted fitted that was drawing .25 amps even with nothing attached that was enough to cause my battery problems.

[Tank]

Can anybody tell me how I can tell if my battery is knackered? My XJ 4.0 is often sluggish to turn over and sometimes won't turn over at all. I charge the battery overnight and all is well for a short while and then it dies again.. The Jeep recently got a dunking at hill and ditch and to purge the water from the engine, we spun it for quite a while on the starter without the plugs in. I wonder if I pushed the battery too far and have ruined it.. It's a 6 month old Halfords battery (HCB063) with 440 amps starting power. It's a sealed box, so I can't have a peak inside.

I don't know how to tell if it's the battery that's kacked or if something is leaking the juice to earth elsewhere in the car. The battery guage shows 14 volts when it's running, so I don't think it's an alternator problem. If I take a voltage reading when the battery is fully charged and then another after a few days out of the car, would a dead battery's voltage drop?

I need a beer.. this ol' Jeep is developing all sorts of little issues and I'm wondering if it's time to get shot of it.

If Halfords still do the exact same one then go buy another,keep receipt,leave a couple of months then return knackered one and get it refunded/replaced-job done

[Dave69]

I normally just measure the battery tray space and find a suitable battery that fits the size with the correct terminal configuration. Ideally i try and get the largest amp/Hr rating mainly to give a good power to turn the engine over.

On my past cars they have nearly always been fitted with jag xk batteries, so no problem with turning engines over with them.