Any recomendation for a battery size to replace the stock DII unit?

Autozone lists a Duralast gold 800 cold cranking Amps (1000 cranking Amps) *** 115 reserve minutes. - 8-year Warranty:> 3 year free replacement <- Requires bottom height adapter. Check hood clearance.

Advanced lists a AutoCraft Gold Battery, Group Size 34/78, 800 CCA
Dual Terminal; CCA: 800; OE Group 24; OE CCA Rating: 600;; Requires bottom height adapter, check hood clearance.

Pep boys lists a PB/BOSCH
LTD. 36 MONTH FREE REPLACE.
850CCA/1000CA - RESERVE MIN = 120 - OE CCA: 600 - BOSCH-36/96 MO

And of course they all list the Optima red top
LTD. 36 MONTH FREE REPLACE
REQS BOTTOM HEIGHT ADAPTER, CHECK HOOD CLEARANCE - 800CCA/1000CA - RESERVE MIN = 100

The Optima is twice the money and has the lowest reserve and shortest warrenty of them all.

 

no no no and no.

Sears: Online department store featuring appliances, tools, fitness equipment and more

DieHard Marine Battery, Platinum PM-2 - Group Size 34M (with exchange)

AND it can be gift wrapped.

 

x2 on the Diehard Patinum, though if you don't have a winch or a lot of things that require prolonged loads with the engine off I'd skip the marine battery and go with a regular platinum starting battery.
They are made by Enersys and are the Odyssey batteries re-badged (this only applies to the Platinum, no other Sears batteries).

Exide Orbital would be my second choice. It's what I used before switching to the Platinum.

 

I just put the Diehard Marine in yesterday... now it looks like I will also be replacing an alt. LoL

Diehard was pricy... we shall see if it lives up to its name.

Cheers

 

I have a Diehard (non marine). They are good batteries.

x2

 

Another method, if you have several vehicles, is to buy a good battery that will fit any of them. Swap it out each year on your birthday. Rover always has the newest battery, wifey gets the 1 year old battery, etc. The sealed jelled batteries are very good for jolts and tilting at odd angles, but higher priced. Marine batteries can take more slow discharge / slow recharge cycles, but you may not notice much of a service life improvement. I'v got tractors, forklifts, trucks, cars, boats, and generators at the office. Three years or less is a good average for batteries that go into "the field".

 

I have that Duralast battery, GREAT battery.
It is made right here in MI and was rated a Best Buy by Consumer Reports.
Cant beat the price either.

 

Optima Yellow Top. Love that battery, had it in my 08 Xterra w/winch and it never failed. Will be putting on in the Rover when I need one.

 

I have the Optima Red top. I like it. I thought it had a 120min discharge time. I will say this about the spiral technology batteries...that are unlike standard lead plate batteries. It is important to read the recharging instructions. Although my battery is not marine, it seems from reading the instructions it can take signifigant prolonged discharge time. And there is a special recharge method to recharge it back to full power, when anyone might think a standard battery would no longer charge. The directions are to use a standard battery charger and additionall a full charged 2nd battery to the terminals. This is explained in the pamplete with the Optima red top battery when new. I'm guessing this increases the amperage when charging the low battery. The instructions also say check for excess heat from all batteries.

Interestingly my first Optima battery probably could have been revived if I knew this. My situation was the negative terminal on the Discovery is a little expanded for the terminal post. It developed a bad connection on back side of the post with a little corrosion. So my guess is it could not adequately charge the battery over time. I used a lead cap on the new battery and was able to get a tight fit. I used my free 3 year replacement. I rolled 60 miles to Orielly's with the M&S light flashing, changed it in the parking lot at night while snowing at 20 degrees this past winter. Rover got me there in 3rd gear limp mode. It been good since January. Probably not the batteries failure.

 

Optima production was moved to Mexico when they got bought out and the failure rate really jumped. And yeah, their warranty sucks. They are probably still counting on people buying them based on name recognition. Which I never understood. When I bought my first Exide sipral cell about 12 years ago the exide spec'd out better than the optima in every category, including warranty, even then.