What battery are you guys running for the cold?

Hey guys, I need to buy a new battery for my truck before winter sets in. I live in Colorado and take frequent trips up to the mountains (12k ft elevation) for skiing, sometimes staying overnight. Temperatures up there are routinely in the single digits and occasionally at or below 0*F.

Other cold area Tacowners, what do you recommend? Thanks!

 

Heat kills batteries, not the cold.
When I replaced mine I got one that had decent CCA. No problems with sub-zero starts!

 

I'd still like to know what batteries people prefer or have had good experiences with, even if it's not a cold-specific battery.

 

Motorcraft 65 series, 850 cca with 165 minute reserve. Part number; BXT65-850

I got exactly 37 months from my optima. If I decide to go back to AGM, itll be an Odyssey.

 

So I was looking at the Optima batteries and most of them said Battery Type: Start Only. What's that about? I am definitely interested in these batteries as I've seen a few other people on here with these in their trucks, but I don't really know much about them.

Here's a link: https://shop.advanceautoparts.com/p...8-P?navigationPath=L1*14920|L2*15000|L3*15597

I've never really looked that into batteries before so I've never seen that, but with my truck I want to do everything right and make sure I get the best I can buy. Even the title is "Red Top Starting Battery."

 

So literally 1 month after the warranty? Ouch...

 

I switched mine on my 2.7 to a group 31. larger battery more cca. can't use the stock hold down anymore, I just had a cable over it. I think I made up heavier gauge cables also for better conductivity. We see a couple of weeks here that are -15 to -25 overnight. Never had an issue.

 

I still use the 24F with 700+ CCA. May take an extra crank or two but it's always started. The stock Toyota battery lasted me almost 7 years. I think the second one was an Advance/AZ battery that lasted just over 5 years. I can't remember right off hand what's in now. Think it's 750 CCA

 

7 years is superb cold weather battery life.

I've been using Maxx Start, or Ever Start (whatever they are calling it this month) from our friends at Walmart. It's the recommended battery by Consumer Reports, and I get 5 years out of them. It's a Johnson Controls battery, who makes batteries under many brand names, and the price is right. I replaced mine in February of this year.

Edit: I should also add that I have to reinstall the battery because they messed it up. Yes, that's what I said. The leads were twisted and not all the way down on the terminals, and no dielectric grease.

 

yeah that's what most people tell me.

although my uncle has had batteries last longer than that. his current Cobalt is an '07 and still is stock (course he only drives ~5-6k a year with it during summer)

 

My brother had an Interstate go 11 years in his GMC (Mitsubishi) diesel van. Maybe a record. When they changed it out, he thought it was still under warranty. They told him, "Are you kidding, you owe us money!".

 

^The original battery in my truck died bout 2 years ago. Spent most of it's life in the North East, but wasn't driven much. I got it in 2013 with 65K miles- It died after 11 years at about 100K.

 

Sears DIEHARD here....

 

Cool, I appreciate everyone's suggestions. Sounds like there are a lot of good batteries out there as long as they are installed properly, lol. I'll probably try to go with something with a 3 year warranty and higher CCA to be on the safe side.

 

I've had great luck with interstate mega tron plus 800 cca 6 yr warranty

 

I believe Interstate battery makes these. The only battery I put in our vehicles.

 

Northstar AGM 27f here. Kind of pricey, but I am running an ARB fridge off of the single battery system in my truck. That battery is a beast! Love it...Mine is a 2nd gen Tacoma though..

 

Cold weather starts the vehicle being in good tune with the correct weight oil come into play more then what flavor battery.

Since I am so very hard on batteries I change mine about every year the longest I went is about 2 years once .on my Tacoma.

Then the batteries get installed in my other Toyota 4x4 vehicles if they don`t crank not a major problem

 

Yeah well it's just a matter of time before you turn the key and this happens:



We'll see how much good your 6 year warranty does you then...