Hey all, new guy here. I had problems with optima batteries in my bronco. I bought my first yellow top about 3 yr ago and within 8 mo. it would no longer hold a charge. I took it back and got it replaced with a brand new one free of charge. 7 mos. later, same problem. I went back to the parts store raising hell. I wondered if the deep-cycle was a factor so I insisted that they replace my yellow for a red top. After a short exchange of harsh words with the manager I got my way. A few days later after a 30 mile drive I noticed a small puff of smoke come from under my hood. I popped it open and found my batt was hot and venting said smoke. I waited a while to let the batt. cool and started looking for causes. I found that at higher RPMs there was just under 16 volts of juice at the terminals. I pulled the alternator (I replaced the old alt. and voltage reg. with a one wire alt.) and had it tested at a different parts store and it was putting out way too much voltage. The alt. was bought at the same time as the yellow top, from the same store. Needless to say I took it back and got a free replacement. Everything has been fine for the past year with no more smoke and no dead batt. Maybe worth checking into.
