Battery for LD28

General information about the first-generation Nissan Maxima in the US. What was the Datsun 810 became the luxury leader Maxima in the US in 1981.

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glenlloyd
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Location: Des Moines, Iowa

Battery for LD28

#1

Post by glenlloyd »

Hey all
Last week when I got back from Chicago I went out to the Maxima to get something. I turned on the dome light...and forgot to turn it off. Needless to say I now need a new battery. Temps were around zero or below so I think it's toast.

What are you all running for LD28 batteries and Al, what interstate battery are you recommending for use in the Maxi?

thanks
Steve A
97 Jetta TDI, 86 VW Golf D
89 VW Fox diesel, 92 MB 300SD W140

gir - won't the sploding hurt?
zim - silence!
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asavage
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#2

Post by asavage »

Carimbo runs an MTP-24 800 CCA.

I'm running an MTP-27 750 CCA in both of mine.

I don't see much reason to run the physically-larger Group 27, other than more electrolyte maybe. If I had to do it again, I might go to the 24 size.

I think it was diesel-man who said he runs a Group 31 in his (he owns 13 of them, so he's the expert).

MT = MegaTron
MTP = MegaTron Plus (top of the line, aside from AGM batteries)

I buy either, but usually the MTP. I paid $103 for the one I bought a year ago; they can be had for less, if you don't live in the middle of the sticks as I do, and can shop around.

Stay far away from Johnson Controls (several brands, including Kirkland/Costco) and Exide. Exide are the cheapest national brand, and have a very high failure rate, in my experience.

A completely discharged lead-acid battery has pretty much plain water for electrolyte. Did the case crack in the freeze?
Regards,
Al S.

1982 Maxima diesel wagon, 2nd & 4th owner, 165k miles, rusty & burgundy/grey. Purchased 1996, SOLD 16Feb10
1983 Maxima diesel wagon, 199k miles, rusty, light yellow/light brown. SOLD 14Jul07
1981 720 SD22 (scrapped 04Sep07)
1983 Sentra CD17, 255k, bought 06Jul08, gave it away 22Jun10.
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kassim503
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#3

Post by kassim503 »

asavage wrote: Stay far away from Johnson Controls (several brands, including Kirkland/Costco) and Exide. Exide are the cheapest national brand, and have a very high failure rate, in my experience.

A completely discharged lead-acid battery has pretty much plain water for electrolyte. Did the case crack in the freeze?
I run the group 27 costco deep cycle/starting battery. My experience is it is what you pay for, You get monster power for the first 3 years, but im noticing the charge level is noticeably dropping. But then again I only paid 67 bucks for it IIRC.

If you have the cash, I would definitley shill out the money and buy a interstate battery, they generally last a long time and provide more than adequate power.
\
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Or try out the optima red/yellow top- I have one in a infiniti G20 and so far its been very reliable for starting the motor, even after people leaving the lights on, etc. And its really small. How good it works is still borderline, because unlike the max it has no voltmeter so you cant see the charge level, and the baby engine thats in that car dosent require so much power to start. Also I only had it for about a year, so im still unclear how long its gonna last.
'83 maxima sedan, l24e, a/t, black

227K SOLD 6/7/2012
glenlloyd
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Location: Des Moines, Iowa

#4

Post by glenlloyd »

Thank you both for the advice. I'll definitely look to Interstate first. I have two good interstate batteries, one I use in the Golf MT-41 "60 mo" and a spare MT-41 "50 mo" which is actually in the Golf right now. The MT-41 "60" hadn't had a maintenance charge for over a year so I pulled it out a few days ago.
asavage wrote: Did the case crack in the freeze?
The case did not crack, which surprised me actually. I pulled it out today and immediately set it in a three inches of hot water in the basement sink. Prior to discharge it had been fine and I think I did a 2 amp maint. charge on it this past fall at some point. I don't anticipate that it will recover but I did put it on the charger just to see what it would do. That battery is (was) a Diehard 900 CCA (1000CA) and I'm feeling stupid for losing it to something as idiotic as a dome light. I have a farm type yard light that's on back there at night so it wasn't dark enough for me to tell that it was on.

steve a
Last edited by glenlloyd 17 years ago, edited 1 time in total.
97 Jetta TDI, 86 VW Golf D
89 VW Fox diesel, 92 MB 300SD W140

gir - won't the sploding hurt?
zim - silence!
83_maxima
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Location: Denver

#5

Post by 83_maxima »

asavage wrote: Stay far away from Johnson Controls (several brands, including Kirkland/Costco) and Exide. Exide are the cheapest national brand, and have a very high failure rate, in my experience.
Johnson Controls owns and mfgs Optima Batteries - right here in Denver!

I have never used them, but a lot of people swear by them.
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asavage
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#6

Post by asavage »

OK, so I modify my statement stay away from Johnson Controls products, except the Optima.
Regards,
Al S.

1982 Maxima diesel wagon, 2nd & 4th owner, 165k miles, rusty & burgundy/grey. Purchased 1996, SOLD 16Feb10
1983 Maxima diesel wagon, 199k miles, rusty, light yellow/light brown. SOLD 14Jul07
1981 720 SD22 (scrapped 04Sep07)
1983 Sentra CD17, 255k, bought 06Jul08, gave it away 22Jun10.
83_maxima
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#7

Post by 83_maxima »

asavage wrote:OK, so I modify my statement stay away from Johnson Controls products, except the Optima.
I am not familiar with any of their other brands besides Optima. Based on that, I would have thought that their other product lines would be decent just the same. Now I know.
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asavage
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#8

Post by asavage »

I've bought several of the Costco branded Johnson Controls batteries over years. Without exception, they've all given poorer service than any Interstate (or Die Hard) battery I've owned.

I used to buy a lot of Costco deep cycle batteries and cycle them through their pro-rata warranty at 18 mos. They would not come close to capacity after only 1.5 years.

Of the two automotive ones I installed in my vehicles, one gave up at three years -- and I always buy the highest capacity I can, for when lead/acid batteries age their CCA capacity drops. If you buy more than you need, you still have enough :) The one was about 40% higher CCA than the rig called for, and in the winter the battery voltage would drop enough during cranking to drop the radio station presets :( Had to replace it pronto, of course. This was on a gasser, not a diesel.

The other one is a Group 27 900 CCA in the grey Aero, and it has fairly high internal resistance but is working "OK" after three years. I will not buy another one.

[I bought a green '93 Aero yesterday from a used car dealer, after looking at several others. It had an Exide battery in it and they had to jump it. I had them put an Interstate in it before I signed the papers.

I bought a generic used A4LD yesterday too, to put in the grey '89 Aero. Going to sell it off. Cheap. Anyone want a well-worn-but-everything-works Aero? $800 OBO, cash talks. Sorry to blog in your thread.]
Regards,
Al S.

1982 Maxima diesel wagon, 2nd & 4th owner, 165k miles, rusty & burgundy/grey. Purchased 1996, SOLD 16Feb10
1983 Maxima diesel wagon, 199k miles, rusty, light yellow/light brown. SOLD 14Jul07
1981 720 SD22 (scrapped 04Sep07)
1983 Sentra CD17, 255k, bought 06Jul08, gave it away 22Jun10.
glenlloyd
Posts: 640
Joined: 18 years ago
Location: Des Moines, Iowa

#9

Post by glenlloyd »

asavage wrote:[I bought a green '93 Aero yesterday from a used car dealer, after looking at several others. It had an Exide battery in it and they had to jump it. I had them put an Interstate in it before I signed the papers.
I hope your finding a suitable Aero is a good thing. I've gone through two Exide batteries in the Dodge B250 and I'm not buying any more. OTOH my Exide battery charger works great....probably because they didn't actually make it!
asavage wrote:I bought a generic used A4LD yesterday too, to put in the grey '89 Aero. Going to sell it off. Cheap. Anyone want a well-worn-but-everything-works Aero? $800 OBO, cash talks. Sorry to blog in your thread.]
We'll let it go.. this time :roll:
97 Jetta TDI, 86 VW Golf D
89 VW Fox diesel, 92 MB 300SD W140

gir - won't the sploding hurt?
zim - silence!
glenlloyd
Posts: 640
Joined: 18 years ago
Location: Des Moines, Iowa

#10

Post by glenlloyd »

Took the battery off the charger today. It appears to be holding a charge. I took it in to a local parts shop and had it tested and they said it was holding a charge although it wasn't achieving the CCA that it was rated. I expect that this battery is several years old anyway, so that's no surprise.

Perhaps it wasn't frozen entirely through...who knows. If it lives for a while longer I can at least defer the replacement for now.

I couldn't locate this model on the Sears website so I don't even know if they offer it anymore. It's a 37065, 900cca 1000ca. The battery recommended by interstate was a 750cca (for northern climate)

steve a
97 Jetta TDI, 86 VW Golf D
89 VW Fox diesel, 92 MB 300SD W140

gir - won't the sploding hurt?
zim - silence!
diesel-man
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Location: Elkton, MD

#11

Post by diesel-man »

Al has remembered correctly, I run group 31 size batteries in all our Maxi fleet. It is about 1" or so taller and 1" plus, longer than the size 27. I use longer battery threaded rods to hold it down. (the original are too short with the 31's) Size 31 is what is used in most tractor & trailers, sometimes three or four batteries.

I find that when it gets about 5 degrees and colder it is a crapshoot if the car will start. The colder a battery is, the less efficient a chemical reaction takes place, so you need a bigger battery. As it gets colder, the glow plugs run longer, taking the "cream right off of the top" of the battery. Also the 15w40 oil gets thicker. So, unless you have a way to plug it in, you could run the battery down and it might freeze. Then there is the thought that may come, to use either. Well, among other things that Al is going to tell us, either may screw up the starter drive. Diesel's need to spin over at a decent speed or else there will not be combustion.

In my years of repairing cars I have noticed that after a battery passes about 3/4 of it's rated or natural life, and gets run all the way down, it will die and stay dead.

In wonderful places like Florida, Texas, Arizona, or anywhere you can count the times on one hand that it freezes each year....this post is not for you. For the rest of us... we will just have to be happy that we don't have 8 months of Summer.

I run rebuilt batteries I get from my Interstate dealer (I think this is something on the side he has) and right now I have a rebuilt battery (size 31) in my car marked L-2 which should be November or December of 2002. This battery cost $25. It is quite lengthy to explain, but if you go to Solargizer.com it will explain all about it. I do not have one of their widgets on my car, but a special charger they have is what someone is using to rebuild the batteries they sell to Interstate. I look at it that after three years it is just all savings to the end.

I tell the wife all the time, it only takes just a little Scotch (like yeast) but to be Italian, you've got to be 100% or you're not anything!!
glenlloyd
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Location: Des Moines, Iowa

#12

Post by glenlloyd »

diesel-man wrote: (snip) As it gets colder, the glow plugs run longer, taking the "cream right off of the top" of the battery.
I tend to agree with you on this point, and the battery has less potential to regenerate itself in cold weather.
diesel-man wrote: Also the 15w40 oil gets thicker. So, unless you have a way to plug it in, you could run the battery down and it might freeze.
I run Rotella T synth 5w40 so I have less of the viscosity issues but I do plug it in when I can.
diesel-man wrote: In my years of repairing cars I have noticed that after a battery passes about 3/4 of it's rated or natural life, and gets run all the way down, it will die and stay dead.
that's because automobile charging systems do nothing about removing formations on the battery plates. This is why periodic maintenance charges are important.
diesel-man wrote: (snip) It is quite lengthy to explain, but if you go to Solargizer.com it will explain all about it. I do not have one of their widgets on my car, but a special charger they have is what someone is using to rebuild the batteries they sell to Interstate.
I couldn't get solargizer.com (or numerous other variations of that) to work but if it's what I'm thinking it is I have a couple of those solar charging panels that I use all the time. VW ships their vehicles to the US with a charging panel installed in each one and I've been able to buy them in the past for very little cost.

Thanks for the battery sizing comments, it might help when I need to find a replacement.

steve a
97 Jetta TDI, 86 VW Golf D
89 VW Fox diesel, 92 MB 300SD W140

gir - won't the sploding hurt?
zim - silence!
diesel-man
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#13

Post by diesel-man »

http://www.scsolar.com/Solargizer.html

Sorry used the ole memory on that one

An elderly couple had dinner at another couple's house, and after eating, the wives left the table and went into the kitchen. The two gentlemen were talking, and one said, " Last night we went out to a new restaurant and it was really great. I would recommend it very highly."
The other man said "What is the name of the restaurant?"
The first man thought and thought and finally said, "What is the name of that flower you give to someone you love? You know... the one that's red and has thorns?"
"Do you mean a rose?"
"Yes that's the one," replied the man. He then turned towards the kitchen and yelled, "Rose, what's the name of that restaurant we went to last night?"
glenlloyd
Posts: 640
Joined: 18 years ago
Location: Des Moines, Iowa

#14

Post by glenlloyd »

It sounds to me like the solargizer is doing the same thing a standard battery charger does, removing the accumulation that forms on the plates.

On another note, the recharged battery was reinstalled in the vehicle and seems to be doing fine. I started it Saturday night when our weather was bad and moved the car to a spot where it wouldn't be smashed should a tree fall.

While I was outside building a rather large snowman I heard a lot of cracking going on in the trees from the extreme ice / snow accumulation. I witnessed some large branches go down and didn't want the Maxi to get hit.

steve a
97 Jetta TDI, 86 VW Golf D
89 VW Fox diesel, 92 MB 300SD W140

gir - won't the sploding hurt?
zim - silence!
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