if that was my truck and i was you i would be cryign right now.
damn that sucks...is all i can think of right now. :/

and like everyone else has said, post up parts when you can bc it like beign an organ donor...you get to feel happy that soem one is enjoying it.

best of luck with your insurance company and optima...and if they don't take care of you..i ain't gunan get one liek i was planning on

 

damn man that sucks. i have a redtop in my truck. makes me nervous a bit now.

 

Then you should call that toll free number and help out my case!!!

Joan Derr "Optima Claims Representative" 1-888-701-3007

 

I am a Volunteer firefighter, and a window is a pretty big target and no matter how much of a hurry we are in with a MVA with PI or even a car fire, we have never put a hole in anyones door, nore gone through someones paper work, we leave that part to the cops. Not to mention, My department was trained when theres a fire under the hood especially a battery, or inside a vehicle, never to open it and feed it oxygen, we usually contain the area with foam and by teh looks, theres a giant hole in the hood to begin with, so what exactly was the benifit of using forceable entry, when #1 there was a huge hole in the hood, and #2 being a LT of an engine in town, i would have pried the hood open and kept the damage in one place...instead of inflicting damage to other un harmed areas of the vehicle, PD could have ran the plates to get all info they needed....the only time we use forceable entry is when theres a MVA to disconnect all live current.



You can argue that until your blue in the face, but there wasnt any reason for the hole in the door. Period.

 

The latch mechanism got so hot it bent and partially melted I had to pry open the hood. They straight tore off the corner of my hood to gain access. Broken window for nothing. F*ckin fat lazy city ff's. I'm from a volunteer dept and ppl don't do that sh*t or they'd be on the street or going up the road to the next fir company for membership. That's the whole point I'm trying to make. Okay so they figure out the hood latch isn't doing a thing. So they go through all my paperwork, like I said, neglecting to contact me about the situation and breaking my seat in the process of doing that. Come on.

KBB suggested retail value of the truck in excellent condition, shaved off $1500.



Just a reminder of what my truck looked like before...



*Sigh*

 

If anything goes up for sale you guys will know it. Until I hear from my insurance company I won't know for sure. Thank you guys for your support and wanting my parts (I'm flattered). But Like I said, she has to sit til I get the word.



*Sigh*

 

that sucks man

 

wow man, that really sucks...I hope you can get some money out of someone for this. Hopefully Optima doesn't give you the runaround or a hard time for having other electrical work coming off the battery. No matter what, that should never happen with a battery. Good luck man

 

Dam dude im very sorry about ur truck. I am scared now to buy a optima. Hell i live in WI weres the place at ill take pics if its within a 2 hour drive lol. Ill call the number and all but idk wat to say. Got any ideas for me? I cant really think of anything to say right now. Well i hope u give it to optima hard core and this makes news and u git big bucks lol idk. Well at least u were not driven the truck while it expoded casue that could not been to good. idk say some sh*t like that to them like wat if i was in ,by, or driven the truck at the time and all. well take it easy man.

 

what did you say the weather was like out there? any chance of a freak lightning strike?

I'm just going over any scenario in my head of why this could happen and I'm baffled.


For those of you scared of Optimas, this technically could happen to any battery with a deffect or surge problem, optima's are better resistant to heat and vibration but not the definition of perfection.

 

wow thats awful man, im amazed that even happend, something must have gone way wrong for that to blow up like it did...


hope you get a good chunk of change for it, i know it wont be the same but maybe you can buy its twin...then lift the hell out of it with the settlement money from optima...

 

uploading more detailed pics....still no word from my insurance claim rep or the optima battery rep...

edit: to be more kind to our 56k viewers, click the link in my sig for the photobucket page for all the pics. There's 37 new ones on top of the 15 or so from earlier...Click View all Pics button on the right hand side or else it only shows like 20 at a time...

 

damn Travis, that really sucks!!

let us know how it comes out

if they offer you a buyback option, id personally take it, you can make your money back by selling parts, they are going to screw you on anything aftermarket

ScottG

 

Holy **** man, thats horrible. I hope it works out for ya.

I would like to see it as I am in Phily right now off academy and byberry but I have no ride lol. My dad wont let me take the sport trac and am visiting with family.

 

so this happened to you, and rangerboy said he's seen it happen with optimas. if thats true and this is a common occurence with optima batteries, thats a BIG problem. before today, I had NEVER heard of an optima battery doing something like this...

i mean seriously.... they can't just be spontaneously combusting, right? there has to be SOME reason this happened, other than gremlins/spontaneous combustion ;o)

 

if its not listed in the insurance policy, the company doesnt own any of this after market items, hell just get deducted the price of w/e it is hes missing...


and i doubt that hell get more then insurance gives him on buy back, he has a worthless engine compartment, fenders hood, alot of interior peices... i cant see him even getting clsoe to 12k for the rest of the stuf...

 

Well, I'm thinking the optima battery failed internally for whatever reason.
Ive seen them after accidents where 1/6 the battery was gone and 1/6 cracked to hell but they didnt do that.
Is it possible someone did it intentionally? a Flat piece of metal layed across
the terminals would so something like that. Forget a wrench under the hood?



Anything you add to the vehicle should be fused within 12" of the battery.
AMps, Inverters, Offroad lights etc. Get a fuse block or a breaker within
12" of the battery. For example my efan has a fuse holder 8" from the battery
My infiniti basslink is fused about 10" from the battery with a 60amp fuse.
and My winch/offroad lights wiring is also fused 8" from the battery.
If you dont put fuses in you are asking for a vehicle fire down the road.

**Note I have a hydro winch it pulls 2amps**

 

I'm gonna find out how much they'll give me to total it and a rough estimate of the buy back. If it's worth it I'll do it. Otherwise I'm gonna fight them for every last cent to buy another fx4 with under 30k miles. Trust me, Optima has it coming too! My hood was latched closed and my truck was locked when I left my truck. I kinda thought someone did it to. Kinda funny it happened out of the blue after walking away from my truck for 5 minutes. I was also parked on the far far end of the lot where no one parks(for a reason). I'm tired of door dings from a-holes carelessly opening their doors. The truck is sitting at my parents place. I'm back at my place now. I need to get a shower and change. I smell like my truck, burnt plastic and fiberglass =[

I'm only missing the front bumper/valance and rear bumper from stock...Which I'm not too worried about.

 

i saw this truck about a month ago.. it was soo tight...

sorry again for the loss... if ya need any help let me know.. ill be in that area alot now since im moving up there in a few weeks

 

wow that sucks majorly i hope someone pays up top dollar, cause you have a damn nice truck

 

you sure are saying hell alot


its not going to cost him 12k to buy the truck back, and yes, he will make back more money selling parts from it then what the insurance company pays him

 

crap this almost happened to me yesterday...I came up to my truck smelt burning plastic, well it happened to be my battery was leaking acid so I had to get dad over and we got the thing out, It was some no name battery too like those Duralasts, so I bought a 33 buck one to drive to the store I got the bad one from, WHICH I just bought in 2004 and I think they are trying to hassel me, get this: they went and hooked it up to a machine I was like man you might not wanna do that....he didnt hear me so he puts it on says well it shows 10 volts....I was like yea and...he said we'll for us to do a diagnostic on it it will have to charge overnight, so I gotta go back tomarrow and hopefully the store is still there.....I was gonna buy an optima but NOW I've changed my mind.....man whats this products these days its all about the big bucks....not the quality

 

That's what I was thinking. Everything from the firewall back is mint. Come on, the truck had 28k miles. Fresh tranny, transfer case, skid plates, 28 spline 8.8 with l/s, gas tank, bed, body panels, tailgate, rims/tires, interior. Not to mention the fact that whatever I don't sell I can keep for spares for the new truck =]. I can easily make my money on buy back.

 

ive seen beds go for 500-700

 

i agree that you can make more money buying it back, but the thing to think about is that the time it will take to part it out will take forever......what about the member who flipped his truck on the texas beach and then tried to part it out....he had a hard time selling all the parts!