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Ductape's avatar
Ductape
Explorer
Dec 09, 2016

Maintenance free starting battery recommendations?

Hello all. I'm tired of cleaning the corrosion off the terminals of my F150. I think the OEM battery has a small acid seep around the post.

So what's a recommendation for a good sealed battery? I don't mind a little extra expense; just want to be done with the whole check water/clean terminals routine. Diehard, Optima, or whatever's on sale?

Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

16 Replies

  • j-d's avatar
    j-d
    Explorer II
    Was just at Sam's Club and noticed they had a promotion on AGM chassis batteries. The regular price was around 150 vs about 110 for flooded, but the promotion made the AGM only about 20 more than the flooded. I found that intriguing.
  • Ductape wrote:
    Hello all. I'm tired of cleaning the corrosion off the terminals of my F150. I think the OEM battery has a small acid seep around the post.

    Simple fix for a couple of dollars.

    Clean the battery and cable ends with baking soda and water solution. Rinse with clean water. Remove cable ends. Place a GENEROUS "gob" of axle grease on the battery post and the surrounding 1/2 - 1" radius. Replace the cable end and puts another generous gob on top. Make sure to cover all exposed metal.

    Yes, it looks like ****, but you should only have to do it once.

    There are various sprays and donuts that may or may not work, but this is cheap.
  • autozone handles duralast brand. Never used this brand. As mentioned earlier used Optima red top in my 01 dodge ram diesel. If you go to oreilly or autozone websites... you need to input the year and model of your truck to get the search to work and you can get a comparison.
  • Diehards have a good reputation , the question is whether Sears will be around in a year or two to stand behind their warranty. Optimus batteries were $275-300 in the auto parts store when I looked at them.
  • agm battery. I put 2ea in my 01 dodge diesel. They are pricey but no corrosion and no maintenance. Bought mine from O'reilley's auto parts

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