I noticed the other day with the cold weather the battery is starting to loose it's steam. Still craking fine for now, but I don't want to find out the hard way I waited too long..... Not bad for 5 years old though.

Past few batteries I bought were Optima Red Tops and Autocraft's from Advance. I looked online and both Advance and Auto Zone locally don't have any in stock for the HHR (weird I though). Might just be out.

Was wondering where others found theirs?

 

I know Optima does not have a listing for the HHR nor any other car with a vented battery. I spoke to their national sales manager and he said they are going to offer a kit that will put a Vent Tube on the battery.

It is more a legal thing to protect them if something should happen to blow a battery up. Optimas do have a safety vent on top. The two black circles are pressure release vents if it needs to vent. This should not happen unless the system is really overcharging. But they just have to cover their butts. The vent do reseal so if they do pop they will not continue to release gas unless the charging system is not repaired.

I have not checked for about 10 months. They may have the kit available by now. With so many cars putting the battery in back or under the back seat most companies will have to address this.

So yes Optima is really a sealed battery but it does have a resealable provision to vent if it should get a gas build up.

I plan to use a Optima when I need one.

 

According to their web site, there still isn't a Red Top that will fit the HHR.

I found the size of the Autocraft one, it's 9 9/16" H, 6 15/16" W, & 6 15/16" L. Group size 90T5?

 

If memory serves me right NAPA has a battery for the HHR, sells for around $104, somebody out there will probably know the stock number. I'm sure it has been discussed here before, as for the battery in the rear, no big deal for a Corvair guy....everything follows us around back there.

 

I have both an Optima and the regular stock battery installed. Both are not liability kosher as the stock battery vent tube broke when I looked at it and of course the Optima is not designed to be vented to the outside air.

This in no way bothers me as I remember the VW batteries under the rear seat back when they readily leaked both gas and acid. I can remember looking at some old VWs where the battery was practically falling through the floor onto the pavement do to corrosion from the leaking battery acid. The only thing that held that battery in the vehicle was the battery cables. Of course when things get this bad the battery is vented to the outside air.

Only time I can see this as being a real, verses a perceived, problem is when a charging system is doing more than it should. I do understand, due to liability, Optima not having a “recommendation” for the HHR. If you get an Optima be sure to take notice of the pos & neg terminals; as I recall they are physically reversed from what I thought was standard.

 

What group Optima did you get and did it fit in the stock location? I've installed one or two batteries in my day, neve know what can be "cooked" up....

 

If you, or any one else, is interested I can provide the latest Consumer Reports rating for automotive batteries. BUT I WILL NEED THE GROUP NUMBER FOR THE BATTERY INFO REQUESTED.

I can tell you GENERALLY that WalMart Max batteries (made by Johnson Control) were rated the best, almost across the board.

And YES, they do have the tube vented battery for less than $80.

 

Here are my two batteries:


You can see the terminals are reversed. I do not remember the group number and as you can see it is not installed in place of the stock, but in addition to. The Optima is wedged in between the spare and the available space. To do so I would have had to remove the stock vent, however it had broken before this install.

The two batteries are separated by a constant duty relay energized only when the fuel pump relay is energized. The purpose is so I will always have a live battery. I first did this with a 1991 K2500HD that would not allow me to play the radio for hours as I worked and start the vehicle when I left the work site. If anyone is interested the relay is from the optional duel battery package sold with the K2500HD.

 

If you are interested in the Optima Yellow Top,the part number is 8014-045-sc34du.This is also known as d34/78.Jegs has them in their catalog as the d34/78 and is $199.This will fit in the stock location and is basically the same size as stock only just a touch higher.I personally do not have this battery in my car but know of a couple of people that do.

 

Thanks Snoopy, I don't need a fancy battery, just a Good one.. w/ a fair price.