Ok, Im thinking of replacing the OEM battery in my accord. Its an 04 I got in Sept of 03. It sometimes has a tough time starting in the cold and well I dont wanna it to crap out on me....id rather replace it before hand.

So can anyone recommend a quality replacement battery? I do not have a upgraded audio system..just need a regular batter. Im hearing cold cranking amps is the key to a good replacement? Is the OEM battery worth buying again?

Ken

OEM has been good to me, and if it does crap out prematurely it does have a 100 month warranty, I think past the first year or two they prorate the rest if it craps out.

Otherwise I've hear people really liking their yellow tops.

So can anyone recommend a quality replacement battery? I do not have a upgraded audio system..just need a regular batter. Im hearing cold cranking amps is the key to a good replacement? Is the OEM battery worth buying again?Ken

OEMs aren't good in my experience, which is about the same as most cheaper aftermarket ones... usually around 4 years is typical. Do you have an I4? If so it's a group size 51R. If you have the V6 it's a group 35.

The group 51R batteries are only going to have 400-500 CCA, but the group 35 have a bit more (500-600 CCA is my guess). You can look at www.partsamerica.com

If you plan on selling the car within 4 years, I'd go with either Costco or Walmart. If you want a battery that will last you 8-10 years, have much more cranking power, plus never having to worry about corroded terminals, buy an Optima battery. They cost somewhere around $130-150 and are debatably worth it if you hate getting surprised by a dead battery.

Since I have an '05 and it has occasionally cranked slow from day 1, I chose to upsize to a group 35 optima red top which has approx 700 CCA. I had to order about $20 worth of parts for it to fit (batt tray, top bar). I recommend WWW.REMYBATTERY.COM

I ordered my last optima from 1st-optima-batteries.com and they ripped me off... the battery wasn't new!!!

the one time i had to replace my battery, i went with NTB's house brand (which i think is called exide now--it has changed names a few times). never any problems really..... a friend of mine went with a sears battery a few years back--also happy.

as for CCAs, i remember reading an article about more not always translating into better, but who knows :)

yellow tops are nice but a wast of money. you could get a battery with more cold cranking amps for cheaper. it would last just as long too. the only thing is the yellow top can mount upside down or sideways, but who cares in a normal car. unless you plan on flipping your car :lmao:

Thanks for all the quick responses! I do have the V6. The car was occasionally tough to start when new...but that seems to have faded away.

So if I got a Optima battery I would have to buy more parts inoder for it to fit properly?

My goal is to replace the oem before it craps out and get a good strong start every time.

it should fit i am just saying that you can get other battery's for a lot less money, that will preform just as well if not better than a yellow top.

Thanks Steve...sounds like I want a traditional battery...any brand and model recommendations?

I appreciate everyone on this forum! It is about the only one where everyone is accepted. From the guy swapping out exhast systems to the guy simply adding an accessory.

auto zone has some good battery's, and i think you can get up to a 3 year warranty on some of the duralast battery's, plus they will tell you what one to get and install it too. :yes: i had the duralast with the yellow top in my jetta and it was running a 1500watt rms phenoxgold amp, and a 720watt rms keenwood amp, just fine :thmsup:

Haven't replaced the battery in the Accord yet, but in the Pathy we have, it was replaced last year with the biggest/best that Walmart carried. It works fine, and it has all the important features:

1. Most important: The full replacement warranty is key... 3 years or longer is the way to go. That prorated crap is worthless.

2. Make sure the battery has a fresh manufacture date. The code sticker on the battery you're looking at will tell the story there.

3. The sealed batteries are not as good long term as those that are semi-sealed. Periodic topping off with distilled water helps prolong the battery's life. Sealed batteries can never be topped off.

I consider batteries a cheap replacement item. It doesn't bother me in the slightest to replace one every 4 years or so. Both of our cars have so many delay lights/courtesy lights inside and out, it's a miracle the battery lasts as long as it does. :)

Thanks for all the quick responses! I do have the V6.So if I got a Optima battery I would have to buy more parts inoder for it to fit properly?My goal is to replace the oem before it craps out and get a good strong start every time.

If you buy a group 35 it is an exact fit for the v6 (I had to order the v6 battery tray for mine because I have the I4).

The optima basically kicks every other battery's rear. They commonly last more than 2x as long as standard lead-acid batteries and they have way more power. One of the reasons I also like the optima is that they never seep acid which eats the terminals/cables like cheap aftermarket batteries. The rating on the 35-910 optima (the I have and you want) has 910 cranking amps at 32 degrees or 720 at 0 degrees (CCAs).

Here it is:
http://www.remybattery.com/ProductInfo.aspx?productid=35-910

I ordered from Remy a few years back... the item was perfect, in oem shrinkwrap inside of expanded foam inside a box! Overkill shipping=awesome.
Anyway, good luck.

Haven't replaced the battery in the Accord yet, but in the Pathy we have, it was replaced last year with the biggest/best that Walmart carried. It works fine, and it has all the important features:

1. Most important: The full replacement warranty is key... 3 years or longer is the way to go. That prorated crap is worthless.

2. Make sure the battery has a fresh manufacture date. The code sticker on the battery you're looking at will tell the story there.

3. The sealed batteries are not as good long term as those that are semi-sealed. Periodic topping off with distilled water helps prolong the battery's life. Sealed batteries can never be topped off.

I consider batteries a cheap replacement item. It doesn't bother me in the slightest to replace one every 4 years or so. Both of our cars have so many delay lights/courtesy lights inside and out, it's a miracle the battery lasts as long as it does. :)
what he said will work :thmsup:
wallmart autozone any place like that i just say autozone because they are a lot more help than wallmart, and will install it for you if you don't want to do it. i just assume doing it myself because of my amp wires.

They commonly last more than 2x as long as standard lead-acid batteries and they have way more power.

no they don't have way more power, you can get a normal battery that has a lot more power. and yes they can last 2x longer than a normal battery but they are 3x the price. i would rather have a new battery every 3 years than have one for 6. they are not worth it unless you need a battery that can get beat around like in dirt track racing.

my car is only 7 months old and it's barely starting even during mildly cold weather (i live in texas). do autozone and them carry these optima yellowtops? and what's a good price for them?

and how do i install? do i just remove my current terminals from the battery and stick em on my new one?

yes auto zone sells them for around $190 i think, and they can install it for free.
(i would go to there site but it is down right now.)

but yes all it is unbolting the battery (all cars have there own ways of strabing them down) remove the current terminals from the battery and sticking them on the new one, then bolting/strapping it back down.

also if your battery is only 7 months old something is wrong.
your terminals might be corroded (hope i spelled that right) and just need to be cleaned.

where in Texas do you live?

my car is only 7 months old and it's barely starting even during mildly cold weather (i live in texas). do autozone and them carry these optima yellowtops? and what's a good price for them?

and how do i install? do i just remove my current terminals from the battery and stick em on my new one?

If it's only 7 months old then something is wrong, your battery is still under warranty, get them to replace it for free unless you really want non-OEM. My guess is that it sat in the dealers lot for a while = dead battery. I don't understand why they put in the fuse Honda leaves out till the PDI, so the battery doesn't drain, right when they get the carrather than during the PDI.

A couple of thoughts here....

- The battery in the I4 is pathetic at best - temp drops below 30 and you'd swear you have a couple of d-cells in there. I'm going to replace the one in my '05 with a group 35 battery this summer (or earlier if the OEM one gives up the ghost). The CCA's on the OEM one are just humerous...

- Optima - I had a 95 Saab 900s that my kids used, and it came with a (I think) 78 series battery. The one in there was working but slow during cold weather, so I put an Optima red-top in there. It worked pretty well, but IMHO wasn't any better or worse than the normal one that was in there. When sitting for a couple of days it would crank slowly just like the regular battery, and didn't seem to show any benefits for the money spent. Maybe the yellow tops with their deep cycle attributes would be beneficial for those long-drain applications, but for a normal car battery, I'd just go with a normal one.

andy

no they don't have way more power, you can get a normal battery that has a lot more power. and yes they can last 2x longer than a normal battery but they are 3x the price. i would rather have a new battery every 3 years than have one for 6. they are not worth it unless you need a battery that can get beat around like in dirt track racing.

WHoah, are you for real? You show me a conventional "cheap" group 35 battery with more power than the optima.

I made it pretty clear that it's worth it only if you plan on keeping your car a long time, don't like acid ruining your batt cables, or are the type who'd rather buy a good product now than change it out 3 more times over the life of the car (not including the headache from that).

A couple of thoughts here....

- The battery in the I4 is pathetic at best - temp drops below 30 and you'd swear you have a couple of d-cells in there. I'm going to replace the one in my '05 with a group 35 battery this summer (or earlier if the OEM one gives up the ghost). The CCA's on the OEM one are just humerous...


I posted another thread a while back about moving up to a group 35 in the I4 and it includes part #s for the required batt tray and top bar. You can re-use the j bolts and batt cables but you can get the v6 neg cable for about $7 and it's twice as thick! Granted, the optima is overkill in this situation but I am all about minimal maintenance and hate doing trying to neutralize acid that constantly seeps from conventional batteries (even the 51r stock battery had some acid seepage and the car wasn't even 2 years old).

Just bought this battery this past weekend to replace my OEM......Autocraft Titanium, 500 CCA with a rating of 435. I paid $75 and it seems to work really well.

Man the V6 cranks like no tomorrow in mine.

I am in NC and it doesnt dip below 30 much here, when it is warm sometimes I think my starter is going to torque itself off the engine it cranks so quickly and so fast

I posted another thread a while back about moving up to a group 35 in the I4 and it includes part #s for the required batt tray and top bar. You can re-use the j bolts and batt cables but you can get the v6 neg cable for about $7 and it's twice as thick! Granted, the optima is overkill in this situation but I am all about minimal maintenance and hate doing trying to neutralize acid that constantly seeps from conventional batteries (even the 51r stock battery had some acid seepage and the car wasn't even 2 years old).
Yep - yours was the post that got me thinking about a "size upgrade" :thumbsup: but I'm not sure about the 2-3x cost for the Optima vs a decent normal-cell battery, given my experience. Still got a few months before I do the swap, so I'll post back as to what I really do. In looking at my stock battery this past weekend, it's got no seepage and the eye is still bright - but it just doesn't have the gusto I'd like in the colder temps around here....

andy

WHoah, are you for real? You show me a conventional "cheap" group 35 battery with more power than the optima.

I made it pretty clear that it's worth it only if you plan on keeping your car a long time, don't like acid ruining your batt cables, or are the type who'd rather buy a good product now than change it out 3 more times over the life of the car (not including the headache from that).

my duralast was only $90 from autozone and it had 300 more cca's i even left my car for 2 weks on vacation and it started without a problem, as for the battery corrosion i just used some special spray that was red that i bought at autozone for cheep, it stops corrosion on anything. :thmsup: changing out a battery takes no more than 5 min what headache are you talking about? plus autozone will change it out for free. :)

i am not saying the optima yellowtop is a bad battery, it is a good battery. it is just not worth the money in my opinion, and i looked it up they only last 2x as long as normal batterys in extreme heat. witch is not a problem in the newer cars with there insulated battery compartments. :yes:

Yep - yours was the post that got me thinking about a "size upgrade" :thumbsup: but I'm not sure about the 2-3x cost for the Optima vs a decent normal-cell battery, given my experience. Still got a few months before I do the swap, so I'll post back as to what I really do. In looking at my stock battery this past weekend, it's got no seepage and the eye is still bright - but it just doesn't have the gusto I'd like in the colder temps around here....
andy

Yeah, I was seriously considering going the Costco/Walmart route. If my budget had been a bit tighter that's what I'd have done. Heck, you could lose an entire cell on a group 35 and still have more cranking amps than the stock 51r battery.

my duralast was only $90 from autozone and it had 300 more cca's i even left my car for 2 weks on vacation and it started without a problem

The optima is $129 and will hold a charge 3x longer than a conventional battery. Plus, if you ever leave the lights on and do a deep-discharge, optimas are more likely to fully recover.

That said, if I were going to sell the car in a few years I'd still consider getting a conventional battery. For me, I definitely don't want my battery going out at the wrong time like on a road trip, in the snow, etc.

http://www.remybattery.com/ProductInfo.aspx?productid=35-910

the yellow top is allot more $ than $129.
and when my battery went out i had run off of my capacitor for my sub unknowingly for a month or two :lmao:

but to each there own :thmsup:
you stick with optima :thmsup: and i will stick to duralast :)

In Consumer Reports last battery testing (October, 2006), they list the Napa Legend 7535 and the Duralast 35-DL as the top performers in the Group 35 ratings. No 51 ratings :thumbsdow

Napa Legend: $60, 600 claimed CCA's, 18/75 warranty
Duralast (CR Best Buy): $60, 500 claimed CCA's, 24/84 warranty

For those of you interested in Everstart batteries (myself included), be sure to note the model. They seem to sell two different batteries for each group: one for the south (denoted with an S) and another for the north (N). The north batteries are always rated higher in the CR ratings, regardless of the group.