12v Optima red top battery in Toyota Supra Turbo/good or bad??

[plaaya69]

I got a good deal on a Optima red top battery and I was wondering if this would work in my 87 toyota supra turbo? The battery is rated at 800cold cranking amps and 990cranking amps and the group is 34/78. I also have a new alternator from napa which is rated at 80amps(same as stock turbo alternator) that I have in my supra. Can anyone tell me if this is a good idea or a bad one? Thanks.

 

[supraman7mgte]

i have a red top in mine,and it will lose charge if i dont run my car for about a week. dont know why. i've heard of other members having the same prob. maybe yellow top with a deeper charge?

 

[gixxer750]

I run a red top in all my supras. excellent battery. They have maintained a charge even when my car was down for an extended period of time.

 

[RazoE]

worked perfect in my 240 when i had it, but the second (well, 4 minutes) after i put it in my N/A Supra, it lost all charge and would no longer hold a charge...

bought a cheap Autozone battery, and that one's been perfect ever since...

 

[pb92supraturbo]

Good! I have Optima red tops in four of my vehicles. The oldest is in my Tacoma, six years old and still going strong.

 

[GrimJack]

If you switch to solid engine mounts, these are a MUST. The vibration will kill a standard lead acid cell in about 8 months of low mileage. Ask me how I know.

 

[Turbo. Targa. Life.]

The only problem I see with Optimas is that they are deep cycle batteries, meant to be drained completely then recharged. They're awesome to use as SECOND batteries for sound systems (as an aux battery for at car shows, etc...), but when they're constantly being recharged I don't know how well they'd do.

 

[honestabe]

Driftmotion sells reconditioned Optima batteries, but I can't remember what color the top is. Hopefully Aaron will chime in on this.

 

[figgie]

if you can get the Optimas at diehard prices or cheaper. By all means go for it. If you are going to pay full price. Not worth it.

P.S It will be a cold day in hell before I put a Optima anything in my car ever again.

 

[SupraDerk]

I have a red top in my car.

My car sat for a little over 3 months, and last week was the first time I had tried to start it up since the reason for it sitting happened and it started right up with no problems

 

[SilverSupraT]

My Supra killed my red top. It sat for a month, drained the battery, and now it won't hold a charge. Nothing was on in my car and no lights were left on or doors left open. I checked the car for shorts but couldn't find anything.

I went the cheap route the next time. The car sat for nearly a year and the battery worked fine.

 

[mkIIIman089]

Indifferent... it was no better or worse then anything else for me. Maybe it seemed to fade faster like the others on here mentioned; I don't have a real thorough evaluation of it since I did not use it for very long.

 

[dbsupra90]

the best part about the red top battery- full replacement for 3yrs.

 

[fiyota]

The only problem I see with Optimas is that they are deep cycle batteries, meant to be drained completely then recharged. They're awesome to use as SECOND batteries for sound systems (as an aux battery for at car shows, etc...), but when they're constantly being recharged I don't know how well they'd do.

The red top batteries are not a deep cycle... I'm not too sure on the yellows but I believe THEY are the deep cycle...

 

[tekdeus]

i have a red top in mine,and it will lose charge if i dont run my car for about a week. dont know why. i've heard of other members having the same prob.

I didn't realize this was a common issue. Mine does the exact same thing and I was not sure if it was a faulty battery or a slow drain somewhere.

 

[GrimJack]

I didn't realize this was a common issue. Mine does the exact same thing and I was not sure if it was a faulty battery or a slow drain somewhere.

Easy to find out... pull off the negative terminal and throw an ampmeter in between the battery and the negative cable, see what kind of current your car is drawing while off.

 

[plaaya69]

Thanks to everyone for the response. I was just wondering because this size battery is actually for a suv because it has 800cca and 990ca. The battery that came in my supra had 500cca and 650ca and was a cheap wallmart brand and the battery had actually exploded in my vehicle on a low charge(luckily I was not around:biglaugh but on the optima website it says for a supra that I should run a battery with 720cca and it does not say the cranking amps but I guess that I will use this battery in the spring when I take my supra out and hopefully it wont give me any problems. Thanks again to all for your posts.

 

[GrimJack]

As long as the battery you are installing meets or exceeds the CCA suggestion, you are fine. More battery is not a bad thing, I've run beefy batteries for years with no problems - well, not due to the battery size, anyhow.

 

[killarb634]

I had a red top and it lost charge about every 4 days. Switched to a cheap battery and I can go 3 or 4 weeks with out starting my car and she starts right up. I hated having the red top so now its just sitting in my basement.

 

[starscream5000]

Aren't yellow tops suppost to be better than the reds? Less issues with loosing charge?