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I've seen many recommendations for the Optima 34R on these forums, so I acquired one and tried to install it today. The problem is I cannot connect to the positive terminal because it is too far from the edge of the battery.
Hopefully this is clear in the attached photo. The green arrow points to the cable that is preventing me from attaching the connector to the terminal. If I disconnect this cable, I can connect to the terminal, but the cable is not long enough to be reconnected.
Any suggestions on how I could hook up the cable would be appreciated!
The arrow is pointing to the cable that is preventing the connector from reaching the terminal.
frankly if you can return the battery I would and get something else. OPTIMAs are not what they used to be. I stopped using them in my 79 a while ago. Def'tly not worth the extra cost anymore; last one I bought died in under 3 years. I'm told they moved production out of the US.
I would not be surprised if your issue is a result of a change they made (again) - perhaps they moved the terminal away from the edge ....
(the only thing the OPTIMA has going for it as compared to a 'regular battery' is the fact they can't leak ..... this made them very popular with the collector car and hot rod crowd who don't want a battery leak to ruin a paint job that cost many many $$ and would be hard to repair ....)
Ditto that...Had Optimo, never again...total crapola. And their purported warranty is bogus, their batteries are designed to maintain enough so when tested at the store it reads ok....even after not starting your car. Surprised they have not had an issue with the Government on this yet.
Get an OEM battery, maybe bit more but my first one lasted 7yrs.
I had the same issue years ago and instead of returning it I rigged up a "fix" that eventually melted the end of the positive cable... the expensive one with the explodey bit. That caused an airbag light and I had to replace that cable. Good times.
For all the posts about how great Optima was, I was disappointed that no one ever mentioned this problem. I bought an Optima years ago and had to bend the connector to get it to work. I was not happy. When the Optima died I bought a Diehard and had no fitment issues. I don't know which is the better battery, but it is obvious that the Diehard fits (without modification, including tie down) and the Optima does not.
