Battery Replacement

MGraber · October 19, 2005

I have a 2000 silverado 1/2 ton with the 5.3. This morning my truck was dead, I think it is my battery, didn't have time to mess with it to see for sure.

I have heard stories regarding battery replacement. Can I just unhook the old and put in the new or are there some steps to follow? For example I had somebody tell me once that you had to unhook the negative terminal from the old and hook it up to the new and then unhook the positive terminal and hook it up to the new.

Any truth to that?

Thanks for the help.

Mark

Wingnut · October 19, 2005

Just take the old one out, and put the new one in. As long as you don't put the positive cable on the negative terminal, and the negative cable on the positive terminal when you install the new battery you'll be fine.

If you are nervous about it, 90% of the places that sell batteries also install them for free, and get rid of your old battery.

But you might want to make sure that it's your battery that's shot, and not something like leaving the dome light on all night, just draining it.

MGraber · October 19, 2005

Thanks for the advise. The battery is a little over 5 years old. What kind of battery life should I expect from the factory?

bronyaur · October 19, 2005

Five years is all I've ever gotten out of a Delco battery.

Wingnut · October 19, 2005

Yeah, 5 years is about it.

MGraber · October 19, 2005

Thanks for all the help!

This is a great site.

Mark

seadoons · October 19, 2005

I'm impressed that you got 5 years out of it - my truck is 3 1/2 years old (with 80,000 miles) and I replaced my battery 6 months ago (around 3 years old). I am in Houston...and have driven the truck alot. Before it completely died, each morning when I would start it sounded weaker. That weaker sound probably lasted a month, then one morning, nothing.

I put an Autozone Duralast battery in it. Works great!

97chevy350 · October 19, 2005

Its an easy swap, as most GMs are. I work at Advance auto parts, thats an easy battery to change, they will do it for free. Five years is really good for a battery, though i have seen 7, but only once. If you go with an advance battery, go with the titatinium, its about 70 bucks and its a good battery.

redvett · October 20, 2005

Make sure you have the security lock code for your radio if not get a power supply 12v hooked up before you unhook the battery. It will save you money for nthe reset.

jhm · October 20, 2005

I'm impressed that you got 5 years out of it - my truck is 3 1/2 years old (with 80,000 miles) and I replaced my battery 6 months ago (around 3 years old). I am in Houston...and have driven the truck alot. Before it completely died, each morning when I would start it sounded weaker. That weaker sound probably lasted a month, then one morning, nothing.

I put an Autozone Duralast battery in it. Works great!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I too am suprised anyone got 5 years from a delco crap battery. They are junk, the service mgr where I bought my truck from even told me so. He says they replace them every day for terminals corroding off (this happened to mine, acid all over my garage floor) I got a new one under warranty it is only 2 years old and already on its way out. I checked out the Duralast from Autozone and it appears to be a good product. It is made by Johnson Controls who is known as the benchmark for battery quality. I will be putting one in before winter. 3 years FULL replacement, not prorated like delco junk.

bigdogxx · October 20, 2005

I seem to have pretty decent luck with the delco ones both previous trucks with them gave me 4-5 years each.But no doubt there are better and when they went out, in went a red top optima battery.

Valsport · October 20, 2005

I've been really lucky with my oem delco, 4 1/2 years and 95k miles and its starting strong. Where can you find the unlock code for the delco head unit?

snyps · October 20, 2005

Some people say that the optima batteries are not worth the money, but does anyone here find a benifit for them. I will be running a plow this winter with a single battery setup. I am thinking a Red top will help, and might even make me forget I only have one battery.

Has anyone added a second battery to their truck useing the factory setup? Is it even possible or worth it?

Dans Denali · October 20, 2005

5 years on the original is great. My 2002 has the original and when it dies I am going to put another Delco in, why mess with a good thing? I have a Optima in my racecar and it's crap, don't bother.

Dan

GMCMan4.8 · October 20, 2005

I have a 2000 silverado 1/2 ton with the 5.3. This morning my truck was dead, I think it is my battery, didn't have time to mess with it to see for sure.

I have heard stories regarding battery replacement. Can I just unhook the old and put in the new or are there some steps to follow? For example I had somebody tell me once that you had to unhook the negative terminal from the old and hook it up to the new and then unhook the positive terminal and hook it up to the new.

Any truth to that?

Thanks for the help.

Mark

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I got a good 5 years out of my original battery. That's about what you'll generally get from my experiences.

For replacement, Best suggestion I would have is to unhook the negative connection first (old batt.) & then rehook the negative up last (new batt.). Also make it a point to clean up the terminals before reconnecting them with a little wire brush or something just to get any corrossion off (even clean up the new battery side connections as you want a good contact between them).