After with the speakers I had another little chore.
The 7 year old battery (the sticker says 07/12) in this truck is suddenly a little weak, she needed some help this AM from a boost pak. The batteries in my 2000 GMC were installed in 2010 and they wouldn't crank her over anymore this AM either... even tho they spent the winter with a Ctek 3300 maintainer on them. 7 years isn't bad and 9 years is awesome.
The 2000 Diesel had AutoZone Duralast Gold batteries. The 2005 had a Wal-Mart EverStart. Based on experience both seem to last OK. I looked into Interstate made by Exide and the O'Riley house brand made by Deka. Interstate has a pretty good warranty but a real small dealer network.
The AutoZone battery warranty is better than all but Interstate in my area. AutoZone Duralast Gold (Johnson Controls) is 5 years... 3 Free and 2 more pro-rated. Interstate (Exide) is 6 years... 3 years free and 3 more pro-rated. O'Riley is 3 years period. Even tho the warranty is the same as the Duralast Gold all four of My nearby WalMart stores don't stock the EverStart MAXX Group 78 800CCA battery.
I have several weak batteries in the corner for cores so I grabbed the worst of those and the two dead soldiers from the GMC, drove to Laconia, and picked up three Duralast Gold Group 78 800CCA batteries.
My 2000 has the original battery insulator blankets and aftermarket Acid Neutralizing Mats under each battery to keep the engine bay heat out of the battery and keep the tray from rotting out from the top.
On my 2005 Silverado someone beat heck out of the triangular rubber hold-down wedge and crossthreaded the bolt that holds the battery to the tray so the battery could move around a little bit more than I like but it looked like it was properly bolted down.
- The GM part number for the battery insulator is 10246636. The point of having them is to keep the temps in the battery from ramping up and down as quickly as the engine compartment. The batteries in the 2000 GMC seem to last a long time with them in place so I keep using them and I bought one for the new battery in this truck.
Battery Insulator
- The damaged rubber battery hold-down wedge is Dorman HELP 00587.
- I found a used hold-down bolt with straight threads and a decent used battery tray with a good nutsert that still had all the paint on it. Before I made my happy discovery I looked up the part numbers. The $25 GMT800 LH Battery tray is GM 15891945. The $6 GM battery hold-down bolt is 11509853.
- 12" x 8" Battery Acid Neutralizing Mats are usually around $5 US. Cut em to fit with scissors. I replace them along with the batteries on my equipment with Lead Acid batteries. My battery trays seem to stay in one piece.
Battery Acid Neutralizing Mat