FAQ: Good Battery Replacement?

Akron is an eastern suburb of Buffalo (famous for chicken wings & winter snow), so the Riviera gets stored inside a pole barn for the winter. After living in Phoenix, AZ for 22 years, I don't consider purchasing anything that's been driven through the winter - rust is a four letter word!

My '98 Riviera was originally sold in Las Vegas (Desert Buick GMC), made its way to Tucson, AZ, and I purchased it in Phoenix, AZ. A friend of mine kept it as his house until I could make a trip out to drive it back - he "exercised" it every now and again to keep everything working properly...

http://shop.zzperformance.com/store/p/76-Race-Battery.aspx

Does anyone know anything about this guy? My battery is shot, and i have some zzp in-store credit i need to use up...

The Riviera battery is under the rear seat, and it is a big one.  It has provisions for venting the hydrogen gas produced to the outside.  IMHO, you should get the right battery.  Yes, it's expensive.  Putting anything else in there is asking for trouble.

ZZP: "It should be noted that the reserve capacity is smaller than a stock battery, so it should not be used for extended periods with the car not running."

Knowing that info, I would never spend what ZZP is asking for a daily driver. No CCA advertised, and no warranty. You're buying weight savings, that's it.

Optima RedTops are sealed, require no venting, and fit under the rear seats. AutoZone sells them for ~$125. After using one 3+ years, I wouldn't use anything else.

Optima Red Top! I had to splice in a longer positive cable.The OEM was a little short.My last Optima lasted allmost 15 years,maybe more!

Ive never heard a single person say anything bad about optimas. I was just interested in this because i have the store credit, but i also found it kind of sketchy that there werent really any specs on it.

Dont happen to have a part number for the optima, do you?

Red Top for carz.Yellow top for carz with systems and such. Blue top for boatzzz.

Last winter my starts were feeling weak with my original, 150k, battery. I told myself then I'd get it upgraded for this winter..
Well, the cold is here and I had a couple of coughs on a couple start ups already. That was my reminder.

Going shopping tomorrow. Looking at the Optima Yellow top. I see some of you have installed the Red  Top and needed to give it a booster seat to mount right.

Anyone install the yellow top yet? Looking forward to the upgrade! Now to get the darn stereo/tablet install finished!


OPTIMA® Batteries 8014-045 D34/78 YELLOWTOP® Starting & Deep Cycle

BENEFITS OF THE YELLOWTOP®:
Deep-cycle and cranking power
Up to two times longer life
More than 15 times the vibration resistance
Completely spillproof, mountable in virtually any position
Maintenance-free
Faster recharging
Optimal starting power
300+ discharge/recharge cycles

Most of the listed benefits are shared with Red Top. What Yellow Top gives you is deep cycle discharge capability, that's it. Unless you're planning to regularly drain the battery dead, Red Top is plenty good.

While the tops are different colors, I believe the cases are identical for each Optima application. A Yellow Top should fit the same as a Red Top for the same application. The bracket mod is super easy to do. Just find a scrap of metal or plastic and a dremel tool.

You might also need a longer negative cable,or is it a longer positive cable? cant remember.Just be prepared to splice a longer cable if need be.super easy tho iIrc.

hm...interesting!

Advanced auto has another battery called the AGM-Platinum it puts out a lot of power too

Got the yellow top installed today. Fit fine just needed a longer ground cable to make it work. No problem.

Now I can light up the basketball court for hours and hook up a computer + LED ground effects + more lights + more everything. LOL.

Real cool....

I went and bought the Agm platinum yesterday, not knowing that a ground wire was loose causing my troubles...179 I could have saved

Gotta check mine,I feel I have to replace mine too the start got weak .In a week or two it may die.

Yeah check that wire cause I had missed that, and it was fools mistake;its been raining and so cold here I didnt want to take it out

It's gonna be another double-battery year for the tortuga. It's 18F out and when I went to go move my car for my roommate it barely wanted to crank over. Last year I actually took off work twice because of this before I came up with the double batt solution. I feel like 10-0 and down days will be a regular occurrence this year. I was gonna install a block heater to keep on overnight at home which would be nice but this engine is being pulled in spring anyway and the replacement L67 engine won't use the same thread in heating element.

The yellow top optima did awesome in last year's polar vortex. Turned over nice and hard in the sub zero temps. Hoping she cranks like a champ again this year.

Very happy with this battery so far.

turtleman wrote:

It's gonna be another double-battery year for the tortuga. It's 18F out and when I went to go move my car for my roommate it barely wanted to crank over. Last year I actually took off work twice because of this before I came up with the double batt solution. I feel like 10-0 and down days will be a regular occurrence this year. I was gonna install a block heater to keep on overnight at home which would be nice but this engine is being pulled in spring anyway and the replacement L67 engine won't use the same thread in heating element.

What's the CCA (cold cranking amps) of our current battery? Mine is low as it was a cheap replacement when I bought the car but it has been OK. I also went with 10-20 oil this hear anticipating another flippin' cold winter. We're expecting below zero tonight and the hawk is pushing about 25 mph.

Original battery CCA spec was 880. I've used an Optima 800 CCA (model 34/78) with good results over 5 years. I only recommend the 800 CCA Optima because I believe it is overrated - started great during the very cold '13/14 winter. For other brands, look for ~850 or more and should be fine.

FYI, my Optima may be getting near the end of its life. Over 5 years, this battery has been a champ. My car sat a lot this summer and fall. I started her up last month, a little slow, drove for 30 miles round trip. Last week was cooler, started very slow to move out of the garage, then over the weekend I tried and wouldn't start. 4 hours on the trickle charger and started up fine. I've been driving her no problem for 2 days now.

Fingers crossed. We'll see how the Red Top is doing 3 months from now.

Woo, original battery club FTW

I've used the original battery in all kinds of conditions, down to -15F without a problem, not even a hint of slow cranking. There's got to be something else wrong if it isn't able to start. (I replaced the OE with another AC Delco from GM when I needed one)

Well, It's been almost a year since anyone has posted on this thread regarding Batteries for the Riv.

My car sat for about 4 - 5 months while I waited to accumulate the parts and money needed to replace the cradle and bushings.

It started up when I went to drive it to the shop last month to finally get the cradle and other parts installed. But while sitting in the shop's parking lot waiting on some other parts and scheduling to get in the shop the battery seemingly went dead and they needed to charge it to get it in the shop and then needed to charge it again to get it out of the shop. The Mech told me he put it on a long slow and low amperage charge to be sure he didn't over charge and gas the battery.

I picked it up Friday and it started fine. Went and did some errands and it cranked slow but started, so I drove it home in 3rd gear to keep the RPM's up for the couple of miles that I had to get home at a speed between 30 and 40 mph. Was hoping the alternator would top charge it by doing that.

I went to start the car earlier today and all I got was weak clicking of the solenoid so I put my charger on it and charged at 10 amps for 1 hour and then dropped it to 2 amps for 3 or more hours before I tried to start it again. Before trying to start it I measured battery voltage at 12.6 volts with charger disconnected.

During the attempt to start it the voltage dropped to less than 10 volts and wouldn't crank the starter, just more solenoid clicking.

This battery had never shown any signs of problems before these events. i.e., letting it sit for several months and the shop putting a charger to it from under the hood.

Anyway, I remember reading on here, a long time ago, that the original model Delco/Delphi batt was no longer made. Am I remembering correctly and if so what is the recommended Delco or Delphi battery model # to replace what I have. I would like to be able to get the correct battery with 1,000 CA, 880 CCA and 140 min RC, if a battery is still made to the same Riviera specs and will accept the vent tube and fit the space it is supposed to. Also would like to use the original hold down bracket.
I don't want to buy the Optima battery and then have to make it fit with different cable lengths and a different hold down method, etc.

Does anyone have any input on why the condition of my good battery went from good to bad and also where to buy a replacement Delco Battery that is made to fit the car with the proper spec's.

Sorry for the long post but thought it may be helpful to give some history as to what happened recently to possibly cause the battery to fail.

BTW, The green dot still shows Green even though I can't start the car and batt voltage drops a lot during a crank.

Thanks for any input.

Rick