Battery Issues

[Janni]

For anyone that does any track events... check your battery. After pulling my car out of the trailer, we noticed a couple of small spots near the left rear wheel. (Whitish and flaky?). One of the things to do list before spring was to replace the battery in my car (H. already has an optima - maybe that's why he's faster???). After taking off hte battery cover, it was obvious that my battery acid had sloshed around enough to overflow and had started to corrode the battery tray as well as the bolts that attach the rear fascia. Cleaned tray, installed Optima (It fits - I have pictures to prove it. However, it did take some slight "coaxing" of hte tray with some C-clamps and an oak 2x4...) No more leaks.

Took off the cover of another members car (VIR member) and indeed his was even worse. Cleaned up the battery tray (most of the paint had been corroded away) and replaced with Optima. His fit, too - required the same gentle modification...

So, if you are into any type of go fast cornering (heck, maybe drag racing could slosh it around enough?), you may want to change your battery. Better safe than corroded....

 

[JonB]

Janni....thanx for the reminder. This is an old re-hash of a TSB problem! The "fix" was a re-paint of the tray, and a rubber
"inner-tube" diaper around the battery!

Not only does the acid do bad things to the tray, it also does bad things to the fuel-pump power supply. Can even cause premature faukure of fuel pump due to a corroded power supply.

The KEY is G-forces.....autocrossers and track rats check it out.
Mopar batteries are seldom good beyond 3 years anyway....and weak/low batteries mask OTHER problems! Preventative maintenance should be to replace every 3 years. (Even Sooner if you run things with the battery while car is turned off)

Sure, some will boast about a lucky battery. But MILES + COLD + HEAT + G-forces + add-on accessories = Dead battery, disrupted alrms, etc, etc.

 

[Jay Herbert]

I seem to recall a post that Optima was close to releasing a side post only battery in the Vipers "group". Whoever posted that.... is it still going to happen? I'm Thinking Jerry from Colorado posted it?

 

[Chuck 97 GTS]

Jay, I bugged Jerry about this last month and he spoke with the Sales and Marketing dept. at Optima. They have no plans to make a group 78 battery without top posts as there isn't enough demand for this. There is a possibility that they might move the posts closer to the outside edge which might help in the Viper, but this may not happen either.