Hey Rich,
Sorry to hear you had trouble on the
ride home. No BLUE car should be down on such a nice day.
As to ideas: Here goes.
When you moved the battery to the trunk did you ground it to
the frame or to the engine block? If you used the frame did
you use some ground straps from the frame to the block?
Ground problems can drive you batty!
I have zero experience with the optima battery, but charge it
and load test it if you have the equipment. I'm going to read your post again and think on it some more. Take care.
Ed Paz