My 5 year old Optima still starts like a champ but since it is getting up there, I decided to check the voltage which came back at 12.3, which is a little low. I hooked it up to the charger and after it fully charged, it was reading full at 12.5 however after sitting, not hooked up and sitting on the garage floor, it fell back to 12.3

I'm perfectly fine with buying a new battery if need be but I don't want to throw out a decent battery either. I don't have a load tester but I'm going to call around and see if AutoZone or some local shop can load test it for free.

 

Autozone can and will load test it. Keep in mind, if the battery is weak, the test could finish it off. Be prepared to buy another battery if that does happen. The Duralast is one of the better batteries you can buy.

 

Bleh, first AutoZone didn't know what a load test was and the 2nd 15 miles away said they didn't do that...not about to buy their $50 load testers either.

Their test just said "Good, needs a charge"...well, yeah it's 12.3 volts.

I'm probably just going to buy a new battery..screw it.