Battery sits on 13.x but won't start the car

[Flipx99 5,000+ posts]

I have an optima yellow top that's probably 5 or 6 years old. My alternator went out the other day and ran the battery down. I replaced the alt and then tried charging the battery. I put it on a 10 hour trickle charge.

I put it in the car to start and got nothing. Pulled out the DMM and it's sitting on 13.x. I then try jumping my car off with my truck. It starts, runs, drive it around the corner and come back. Turn the car off and it won't start, yet battery still has plenty of volts.

I put that battery into my truck (the YT is dual posts) and it won't start the truck either (which eliminates bad cables in the car).

I don't have a battery I can try in the car because no one seems to have a side post battery.

Suggestions on things I can try? Or is the battery toast. If toast, why does it sit on 13.x volts?

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[davidfre21 5,000+ posts]

its the battery, same shit mine did. My YT lived to be around 8

 

[ThatChevyGuy 5,000+ posts]

dead cell.

 

[Flipx99 5,000+ posts]

No way to fix?

I dunno if I should buy another YT. They are expensive but they are good batts.

 

[davidfre21 5,000+ posts]

only reason i didnt was because they didnt have one, i bought their house brand gel cel

But nope dead, seems like it lived a long life

 

[KyleBechtold 5,000+ posts]

take it to autozone sounds like it can hold a load.. bad cell

 

[alvitae 10+ year member]

I had two kinetiks go bad they both had "good" resting voltage. That is why I don't buy used batteys unless they get a load test.

 

[ngsm13 5,000+ posts]

You might be able to condition it to hold a charge again. Like a few days on a decent charge...

Batteries may show a good voltage, but not test under load at all. It's good to load test batteries afterwards.

nG

 

[k_schutte 10+ year member]

when I worked at Interstate Batteries I learned quickly that pretty much anything over 12.66 resting voltage had a bad cell. a Y.T. resting at 13+ is for sure junk.

 

[DammitJames 10+ year member]

the reason that it has 13.x volts is because it is a surface charge a battery wont go over 12.6 volts max you should put ur dmm on the battery and watch it drop when u crank it if it goes below 10v during cranking its a bad battery and no there is no repairing a battery epecally a optima as they are sealed battery that are maintenance free cut ur losses and buy a new battery

 

[bumpin buick 5,000+ posts]

when I worked at Interstate Batteries I learned quickly that pretty much anything over 12.66 resting voltage had a bad cell. a Y.T. resting at 13+ is for sure junk.

Sorry but this is complete BS right //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/laugh.gif.48439b2acf2cfca21620f01e7f77d1e4.gif

A battery does not have a bad cell simply because it rests at the voltage it is supposed to be resting at. For example when I train my batts I can get them to sit at 13.2-13.3, does that mean that my brand new batteries all have dead cells?

 

[mazdakid 5,000+ posts]

Sorry but this is complete BS right //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/laugh.gif.48439b2acf2cfca21620f01e7f77d1e4.gif
A battery does not have a bad cell simply because it rests at the voltage it is supposed to be resting at. For example when I train my batts I can get them to sit at 13.2-13.3, does that mean that my brand new batteries all have dead cells?

Maybe thats why he used the word worked, as in the past. He doesnt know what hes talking about.

 

[DammitJames 10+ year member]

Sorry but this is complete BS right //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/laugh.gif.48439b2acf2cfca21620f01e7f77d1e4.gif
A battery does not have a bad cell simply because it rests at the voltage it is supposed to be resting at. For example when I train my batts I can get them to sit at 13.2-13.3, does that mean that my brand new batteries all have dead cells?

yes that is complete bs a battery with a shorted cell will have less than 12.6 voltage seeing that one of the cells arnt contributing woulda more than likley have 10.5 volts with a bad cell

 

[Flipx99 5,000+ posts]

I am going to take it to autozone here shortly.

I don't really want to drop $200 for a battery again though. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/frown.gif.a3531fa0534503350665a1e957861287.gif

 

[DammitJames 10+ year member]

I am going to take it to autozone here shortly.
I don't really want to drop $200 for a battery again though. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/frown.gif.a3531fa0534503350665a1e957861287.gif

like i said man put ur dmm on the battery and try and crank it see where the voltage goes if u dont have a load tester thats another way of doing to