I bought an Optima red top battery last september. It has been working great but now my car doesn't start. When I turn the key it won't even crank, it just makes the dead battery sound. When I jump start the car it starts up immediately and I can drive it around fine for as long as I want, but when I shut it off after a few hours it's completely dead again.
Do you guys think it's my alternator. I thought if it was the alternator it wouldn't stay running. I checked, cleaned, and tightened the battery posts but it didn't help.
I;m sure someone has had this problem or has heard of someone.
Thanks for your help

Could be your starter....

Hmmm.., use a voltmeter on the battery when the car is running. Volts at idle should be at lest 13.4 at no electrical load(everything electrical off on the car). Now turn on everthing electrical that you can, headlights, stero, fan on hi, rear defoger ect.. then test the voltage again. It should still be around 13.4 at idle, and if you rev up the motor, a good alt should get the volts up to 14 volts or so. Optima batterys are very good, and i doubt it could be bad this soon, but anything is possible. Could be your starter going out too. If your starter just clicks when you crank, keep turing the key off and on and keep cranking the car. If you hear a bunch of clicks, then suddenly it catches to start the motor, you have a starter that is going bad.

It definately isn't the alternator... you couldn't drive it for very long if the alternator was bad... alternators put out a pretty serious whining noise when they are about to shit the bed, too. If you don't hear the whining, then my guess is the battery. Once you get it started the alternator is just putting out enough juice to keep the car electronics up. Go to autozone and have them check your battery (they do it for FREE!!!).

-Tim

Optima's SUCK!!!! i've had 4 of them...all did the same thing, once you let them die once, they suck and don't hold a charge worth shit! One thing you can try is to charge the battery, (but do a triple charge?) don't know what that means, but thats the only way to charge an Optima.

Easy way to find out if it's the battery or not is just to get a different one and see if it will start. If it does without a problem, it's obviously your battery. Borrow a battery from someone, or buy a new one. If it's the battery you might wanna get a new one anyway, and if it's not, just return it and say it didn't fit :)

I had the same problem once. Didn't start by itself, but it ran just fine once it was jumped. All it was was the battery not holding the charge.

Jen & Cody - http://dsmxtsi.freehomepage.com
-1995 Eagle Talon ESi
-1990 Eagle Talon TSi AWD
-1997 Mitsubishi Eclipse Spyder GS-T
-1991 Mitsubishi Eclipse GSX
-1991 Mitsubishi Eclipse GSX

im not positive but you might want to call optima...i think i heard that there's some kind of warranty on them and they will replace it for free if it dies within 2 years....call them up and ask them about it...its worth a shot


'95 Eclipse RS
INTERIOR
-Sony CDXM 750
-2 JL Audio 12w0 subs
-Premiere Amp
-CompuStar 2WAS Alarm with Remote Start and Pager
EXTERIOR
-Enkei 15" wheels (came with the car)
-2nd Generation Altezza Tails
-Clear Bumper Lenses
-APC Speed Glo Mirrors (with turn signals)
-Red LED Washer Nozzles
PERFORMANCE
-K&N Filter

I am still having the same probs. I have a lot of electronics in my car, so i am having a hard time trouble shooting all these powers and relays and crap... My car will start right up if i throw jumpers on for a second, or if i pop the clutch, but after it sits for awhile, sometimes a minute even, it wont start back up... it wont turn over, wont make any noise from the starter or anything, just nothing when i turn the key.

I bought a new Optima Redtop(what i had before), and it seemed to fix the problem for awhile, but it started to happen again but less frequently... I cant have a badass car that wont start when you want to start it, so i bought a new alternator, lifetime warrenty, it fixed the problem for awhile also, then started coming back...., swapped alts again, same thing.... I have ran new battery cables, no fix, etc... man, this is driving me crazy...