Optima Hissing

[AxeAngel]

I'm confused. New Engine, new goodies?
You have people somewhere you instruct on battery charging?

Yup new engine. A few of the 2003 4.6l motors had casting imperfections on the block. Consequently the oil pump didn't line up perfectly and often failed before 60k miles. I was fortunate and made it to 120k miles. My old motor with the failed oil pump was rebuildable as I immediately turned off the car. Bearings and new headgaskets and I sold the motor. I bought a 4.6l motor with only 10k miles, all new gaskets and cleaned up the head(donor truck had 60k miles, rolled the truck), didn't know the truck had a fresh engine unde warranty until we opened her up. My mistake for not checking. Cost me a couple hundred in a rebuild.

Add in some new cams, upgraded ignition, replumbed coolant system to bypass stock thermostat and I have a good little motor to match the upgraded tcase I dropped in 2,000 miles ago.

Once an optima goes completely dead they don't accept a charge easily. You need to wire them inline with a good battery and then trickle charge. 90% of the time it works. I've never had a battery hiss and make these sounds before though.

Did a battery test, the battery passed. 13.9v. CCA was 732, rated for 710.
Alternator also passed load test. I did fail the drain test. 2.59A drain.

Not sure if that's from the battery shorting or a short somewhere else. Need to diagnose that.

Anybody got any other ideas? Can a battery that has gone bad still pass a battery test? Thinking i should just toss the battery since the smell, heat and sound is quite concerning.

-Sam

[wanderer-rrorc]

a battery thats gone bad can still pass the test...but the snag is that you cant check the optimas with the float tester....cus its sealed..

[AxeAngel]

a battery thats gone bad can still pass the test...but the snag is that you cant check the optimas with the float tester....cus its sealed..

Ahhh makes sense. Thanks a lot.

Any ideas on the power drain? 2.5A is a lot, but the truck starts right up after sitting for over 16hrs... Which leads me to believe the drain is only temporary. Could the battery be short circuiting?

-Sam

[TurboChris]

I've had optimas go "bad" before from non use.....in fact I have a like new one sitting in my warehouse right now that won't charge. Can you give me details on this? Wire in line? can I use jumper cables? How long does it usually take? Links?

Thanks!!

Chris

Once an optima goes completely dead they don't accept a charge easily. You need to wire them inline with a good battery and then trickle charge. 90% of the time it works.

-Sam

[TurboChris]

Nevermind....for future searchs... heres a link

http://www.optimabatteries.com/produ...agmbattery.php

[AxeAngel]

Chris, be careful. I charged mine up as per the instructions and she hissed and got really really hot when i installed it under the hood.

Last thing you want is melted terminals and a battery on fire.

-Sam

[TurboChris]

Thanks for the reminder. This battery is an extra. I have dual optimas in my Suburban. But I had thought that this one I have left over was probably a goner, but I had read something a couple years back about bringing one back so I had never thrown it away. I'm gonna try to bring it back. If I'm successful, I'll still be sitting on a self once it's done...just with a charge. And I'll watch it carefully as I try to charge it.

Chris, be careful. I charged mine up as per the instructions and she hissed and got really really hot when i installed it under the hood.

Last thing you want is melted terminals and a battery on fire.

-Sam

[Hill, Bill E.]

I've had better luck charging a really dead Optima with a charger made for AGM batteries.

I have done the 'wet batt in-line' trick, and it worked, but took some time, and 2 tries.

Also, Optima moved thier manufacturing plants a few years ago, and the newer ones don't seem to hold up as well.

I have a 5 year old Yellow top that works great, even after being 'killed' once (parked the CJ with the CB and radio on for 2 months )

On the otherhand, I've gone through 2 red tops in my DD XJ in 3 years

[Scott B.]

Last year, when my alternator shorted out, while tracing the problem, I killed my RedTop a couple of times. I spoke with a tech guy from Optima, and he told me about using a second battery and an AGM charger to revive the battery.

One thing he stressed was, when checking the battery after the first hour, if it is hot, it is no good. Fortunately for me, my battery never got hot - and it works great today.

Unfortunately for you, I think your battery is dead.

[AxeAngel]

Unfortunately for you, I think your battery is dead.

100% dead.