Battery advice

[sseguin]

Hi, i have the stock 650 Cold Cranking Amps battery in my Grand Cherokee 2002. Would i see an improvement in starting and cold weather performance as far as starting if i bought a Spiral Cell battery that's rated at 750CCA? What about a normal battery that is rated at 850CCA? Any other advice?

Thanks

[fredjacksonsan]

Where do you live? Alaska or Canada, you might want to go with more amps, unless the owner's manual says otherwise.

If you're in the southern parts of the US, you probably don't need all that extra.

[sseguin]

I'm in Ottawa. seems like i'm only able to get a conventional battery for the size that my car can accomodate physically.

I found a 1040 Cranking, 880 Cold Cranking Amp battery.
Compared to my current stock one of
865 Crank, 650 Cold Cranking.

Making a change to the above battery would i get a easier start in warm weather and cold? OR am i just wasting $140 CDN?

Originally Posted by fredjacksonsan

Where do you live? Alaska or Canada, you might want to go with more amps, unless the owner's manual says otherwise.

If you're in the southern parts of the US, you probably don't need all that extra.

[JDPascal]

Originally Posted by sseguin

I'm in Ottawa. seems like i'm only able to get a conventional battery for the size that my car can accomodate physically.

I found a 1040 Cranking, 880 Cold Cranking Amp battery.
Compared to my current stock one of
865 Crank, 650 Cold Cranking.

Making a change to the above battery would i get a easier start in warm weather and cold? OR am i just wasting $140 CDN?

The CCA of the battery really only affects the cold weather cranking time that you have to start the vehicle. Warm weather starting is pretty much unaffected unless you have the habit of leaving the lights on and draining the battery.

With your winter temp minimums of about -15C, a quality battery of about 700 to 800 CCA will do you. I got a smokin deal from the dealer for the MOPOR replacement battery. It is a 700 CCA rated unit and it works great for me with our -40C minimum winter temps. Your winter starting reliability will be helped more by making sure that the terminals are clean, the starter/charging sytem is in good shape and using a synthetic 5w30 or 0w30 oil (which is what I use) than the difference of 150 or so points in the CCA rating of the battery.

You should be able to find a good battery within that CCA rating range for around $90. A price of $140 seems a little on the high side to me.

JD