Optima battery is dead again

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Originally Posted by Northeast Rod Run

I bought a yellow top back in July of 2008. I even had a hard time trying to find the one I needed because it wasn't listed on their regular list at the time, so of course it was more expensive than the "off the shelf" ones.

This is at least the 10th time it has died out in that time. It has been sitting less than a month this time in my 2004 GTO and it is now down to 5.3 volts (don't even know if it will even take a normal chage being so low). I bought a trickle charger for the winter but I figured I wouldn't need it yet, because it's only been sitting a few weeks. I never had this problem with my factory battery so I'm not thinking it's a draw or anything. These yellow tops are supposed to be one of the best deep-cycle batteries out there? hmmmm.....

I had enough of this, so I finally decided to look up the warranty and of course it's expired. I still wasn't even that mad yet, until I saw that EXACTLY 6
months AFTER I bought my battery, they changed the warranty from 12
months to 36 months!!!
Well, I'm all done venting so now I just sit here and wait to see if it takes a
charge.

Sorry to hear about your battery problem. I will try to help.

The suggestions above work about 9 out of 10 times when any AGM battery gets discharged below 10.5 volts. However, recovering the battery won't uncover any other electrical issues. You may want to look further into your electrical system to ensure against this happening again. Your GTO came stock with a very high "key off" load. If you've modified the PCM, installed an under drive pulley, trunk mounted your battery or added any electrical accessories then you may be fighting a problem that can easily be fixed. I highly suggest checking your key off loads first (should be 25 milliamps or less). Next, I would closely monitor your alternator charging voltage. I'm happy to go through this with you as there are many variables depending on your cars mods. Please send me a pm if you want to discuss one on one.

Thanks, Cam