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On 5 Jun 2001, at 8:19, Erkson, Toby wrote: > So what do you think is going on w/the battery? Mine were just OLD! Probably 8-10 years each. I just couldn't believe that I could have 2 which both developed a shorted cell at the same time (within the last week.) I haven't really tested them individually yet. Now that I'm home I can check them out more thoroughly. > I just installed an Optima battery. I only started my car up once to > make sure everything worked and so far so good. There's an all-car > show in Sherwood this Saturday and I'll be driving there to give the > import presence ;) We'll see how she runs. > > The nice thing about the new battery is that it's slightly smaller > than the old. The old one is from Les Schwab and it was the biggest > they had for the space I had under the seat. ~540 CCA but your > standard, leaky battery. The Optima is all sealed up, of course, has > top and side mount terminals, built-in handle (very nice) and puts out > 800 CCA -- wowsers, Is this a gell-cell? You really won't ever use that much power, but, OTOH, I'm not sure that the rating systems are all standardized anymore. Our cars use a size 42 which was a 45 Amp-hour when they were new. Later technology may have boosted that 10-20%, but really not much more than that. Most of the large numbers we see nowadays are just the result of manufacturers playing the "ratings game" to get theirs to look better than the competition. Any size 42 battery that you buy will start your car just fine. The only difference is in how long they will live, and that's impossible to tell from the ratings. Modern (post 1966) batteries are ALL well sealed and acid will only get on the floor if you try to add acid with the battery in the car. The rust holes usually always mean that there is a water leak. The rust inhibitor is a good idea, but you really need to look for where the water is getting in. - Jim Adney jadney@vwtype3.org Madison, WI 53711-3054 USA ------------------------------------------------------------------- Search old messages on the Web! Visit http://www.vwtype3.org/list/