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Has anyone had problems with 6 volt batteries from battery central mall. I bought a battery for my 1940 180 and my mechanic tells me the battery is DONE will not hold a charge. I bought this battery less than 2 years ago and waited 4 months to get it.

I am not familiar with the place you mention but if it is one of the so called "boutique" batteries which I believe most call the repro copies with famous old names and logos made to look like the stock original batteries of the day then yes, several have had issues with very short life. There are some exceptions but two to three years seems to be where complaints start.

Thanks for your reply I definitely will never buy another one!

Also with smaller vendors, that battery could have been sitting on the shelf for a couple of years before you got it!

The battery should have a build date on it.

The Optima 6 volt units seem to do pretty well in Packards. You should be able to order those through an Interstate battery dealer. As well, they rotate old stock out to keep merchandise up to date.

For a regular lead acid you should be able to order the standard Group 2 6 Volt battery through a knowledgeable parts store (those can be hard to find). NAPA lists one. They still make them because industrial equipment like SkyJacks and floor sweepers use 8 6 volt batteries in series.

This junknet stuff is reminiscent of canned goods circa 1906 when they canned anything they could scoop up off the sidewalk.

Now junkazon is coming under fire for being the world's largest fence for stolen merchandise. I don't buy anything on junkazon.

Thanks guys for all the replies I bought an interstate battery the shop put it in the car and it fired right up.

Good choice. My last interstate finally died earlier this year. I bought it in 2004.

('50 Ford 8N, 6V.)

Yes. I bought another one.

Tim Cole gives his usual savvy advice.
Get an Optima Red Top 6-volt battery (800 cold cranking amps) and be done with it.
Got just shy of a decade from my last one, know of a '41 Cad that got 14 years, and a fellow with one readily starting his Cad V-16, and no, you don't need to compound them.

Starts my gear-reduction nine-main 356 with 7.5:1 compression just fine. Get a CTEK UC 800 charger/maintainer, which is what an Optima tech suggested.

Summit Racing and Amazon have the lowest prices. Try Summit first. The less said about Amazon the better.

Several places offer fakey-do battery cases to disguise the Optima. But they seem dumb to us. Packard didn't make batteries, or tires, brake fluid, grease, oil and all the rest of it.
And i don't know anyone who drives with his hood open.

Of course, that's moot point with your '40 180, in which the battery's under the front seat. On a long ago owned '40 120, i put a thin layer of scrap aircraft plywood on the underside of the floor cover in case some bizarre road stunt had the battery terminals bouncing up and arcing against the steel floor, which happened once to a friend in his blown '37 Cord.

Better still, Optimas weigh a fraction of the usual off-gassing wet battery, and "weight is the enemy" seems to be lost on most old domestic car guys. They're also eight times more resistant to vibration, not that that's an issue in a well-fettled Packard.

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I agree with Tim and Mike's recommendations and suggestions. I have found that using a trickle charger as recommended is a good way to insure a fully charged battery and to extend battery life.

Quote:

I certainly don't recommend leaving any kind of normal battery charger hooked to your battery on an extended basis. There are good reasons. Instead I use battery tenders which are specifically made for keeping a battery in good state over lengthy periods of non-use.

I have a couple of Cadillacs with very expensive batteries. Both have lots of control modules throughout the car that need to remain energized, but in doing so will drain a battery in no time. Even if the car is used sporadically.

I have used battery tenders (not normal battery chargers which I also have) now for many years with great satisfaction. I can go right out to my buildings right now and turn the key and get an engine start just as normal as can be. Yet these cars only get started a few times each year.

Works well for me... whether on Cadillac, Lincoln, boat, off-road vehicle or yes, Packard.