[OptimaJim]

Hi Joe, I’m sorry to hear about the problems you are having with your truck and I’d like to help. If your battery is discharged to the point where you need a jump, it should be fully-charged with a battery charger as soon as possible. I realize this isn’t always practical, but relying on an alternator to recharge a deeply-discharged battery can lead to a cycle of dead batteries and jumps until either the battery or alternator fails. This video offers some useful tips on diagnosing the health of your battery and charging system- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-yPlx4MBNRU

An Optima 34R is a direct-fit replacement and has the posts in the correct orientation for your truck, but it might be worth trying to fully-charge the battery you have now with a charger, before spending money on a new one. Good luck!

Jim McIlvaine
eCare Manager, OPTIMA Batteries, Inc.
www.facebook.com/optimabatteries

 

[OptimaJim]

Mr. Creosote, no battery likes to be deeply-discharged, although deep-cycle batteries are generally more resilient to deep-discharges than starting batteries and AGM batteries are more resilient than standard flooded batteries. If a RedTop (or any other battery) is deeply-discharged, the sooner it can be recharged, the better, as this minimizes the sulfation that might otherwise occur. I do come across posts like this one quite often, where people are able to recover deeply-discharged Optimas- http://forums.corral.net/forums/showpost.php?p=9422593&postcount=6

This video explains how to recharge a deeply-discharged Optima- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIoaL3DWWEg

If you have any other questions, I’ll do my best to answer them.

Jim McIlvaine
eCare Manager, OPTIMA Batteries, Inc.
www.facebook.com/optimabatteries