1. My car has been sitting for awhile, but it has started up when I needed it to.
I recently took out and put back the transmission. I got everything hooked up and the car would not start. I took a reading across the battery terminals and got 11.87 volts. Is this an indication of a dead battery?

2. I should mention that I unhooked the positive and negative terminals while the trans was out. I also have a battery disconnect on the negative terminal (turn a screw to connect/disconnect). I got sparks when I hooked up the positive and touched the wrench to the car accidentally.

3. I have an Optima Red Top battery that is only about 1-2 years old.

4. I checked all the wire connections related to the trans and didn't see anything. That shouldn't matter anyway, I think.

5. I'm thinking of jump-starting the car and seeing if that works.

6. I'm also thinking of getting a battery charger and hooking that up.

Thoughts?

Did you reconnect the ground strap on top of the trans?

I reconnected everything, including the ground strap.

I'm wondering what the correct reading for a good battery should be. I seem to remember reading that anything lower than 12 volts is considered in need of recharging.

Without anything drawing from it, the reading should be in the 14v range on a good battery.
However, that can be misleading since it easily can drop and not work correctly when you put load on it, even if it reads high otherwise.

Get a cheap charger and hook it up and see if the battery comes back ...

A dead cell would make it 10.5v. That just sounds low -- in need of charging.

Optimas hate cheap chargers. Spend the $50+ on a smart charger with trickle.

A battery at rest will hover around 12.5v

the last battery that I had that died read right at 11v, tried charding it and was not able to get it to charge, I believe it had a bad cell -

I gave up on Optima batteries. They are sensitive to proper charging and they rellay don't like being drained too low. These issues gave me a short life with them.

My optima would never show more than 12.5v but it lasted 11 years.
One of the things I think I got good life out of it was because I also used it in my winter DD.

Just did all the above. Ended up buying a new red top ($200.00 ish) They said I need the smart charger for the OPTIMA's. I was using my standard charger (trickle) and It wasn't holding a charge, although I could use the boost on the charger to get the car running. The car idled fine in the shop, but the test drive was pulsing or surging. like on/off the ignition. the car would also die at stop/lights. I've been having carburator issues...now 65 idle jets (from 60) and I'll try the 200 ac that I have (now 180 ac). webber 44 idf
It was also suggested to buy the yellow top (deep cycle) and it will take a charge easier on a car that sits in the shop for short times.

Plenty of info out there about charging gel batteries. Beyond a certain point, you need to use the parallel charging method.

Can anyone recommend a charger?

I'm also going to try jump-starting the car with my truck (2011 Chevy). Anything I should watch out for?

The battery man told me that Optima had a problem with their Mexico factory but changed a couple of years ago.

I have had them last a very long time but they do not like it if you let them get too low on juice. I use this trickle charger and have had very good luck. I use the charger for my fork lift as well.
Good brand and not that much. Just put it on after you get home. Not a big deal and they come with a quick connect plug or reg clips. You will not need to open the mid hood just use the water proof plug.

Bob B
Click to view attachment

I have droped this several times and it is still good

I'm a fan of the BatteryMINDER brand chargers. They have a de-sulfation pulse mode when trickle charging that conditions the battery plates and breaks up the crystals that collect on the plates. It also has an AGM charging mode that adapts the charge profile to match the needs for Optima, Odyssey, ... batteries.

I'm not a fan of Optima batteries. They are more battery than we need in our cars and quality is not consistent. I used an Odyssey PC680 in my -4 for years and have been using one in my -6 for many years and its been working great.

Yep without a load test waste of time ,so much the best way you can help sort this issue,a multi-meter and a bit of time you can find out a lot, even a basic Google search will give good starting points.
Go well.

The reason for me to use the OPTIMA was the fact that it is a gel battery and does not spill over at auto-crosses. Are these other battery's gel filled as well?
SAVE THE HELL HOLE!!.

I solved the problem!

I tried using a jump box. Nothing. Tried jumper cables. Nothing. It occurred to me that it must be a connection somewhere, since when I connected the battery cables, the CD player cycled and I could cycle the fuel pump when I turned the ignition. It was just the starter that wasn't engaging at all.

1. Battery cables were not connected tightly.
2. Loose connection on hot start relay.

Car fired right up when I corrected these issues.

I did buy a battery tender to keep the battery charged while the car is sitting.

Thanks to all for your input!