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What's the trick to removing the battery?

2K views 13 replies 5 participants last post by  jaymaynard 
#1 ·
I was going to replace the little battery in my ML320CDI. I have the replacement, and have the main battery disconnected and loose...but I can't get it out of the damned compartment. I can't get enough leverage on it pulling up on the handle, and I can't get a good grip on it with it partially up out of the well, and I can't pull it up far enough to set the edge on the lip of the well. What do I do now?
 
#2 ·
Assuming you have the seat all the way up and all the way forward, with cable off, and the hold down on the back of he battery off....

I had to lift the back end up level with the top of the well, then grab it by both side and just pull it out. I sliced my hand, the sheetmetal around the battery is sharp. Yes, the battery has two handles on it, but the way it sits in an ML, you cn't use them.
 
#3 ·
I can't grab the back end of the battery, though...there's nothing to grab to get enough purchase on it.

The seat is fully upend fully forward, and everything's disconnected. No matter what I do, though, I can't get the back end of the battery above the lip of the well. If I could do that, the rest would be easy.

Part of my problem is that there doesn't seem to be a good place to put myself to let me get good leverage on the battery. Standing outside the rear passenger door seems to be best, but that's still pretty awkward.
 
#4 · (Edited)
It is indeed a pain in the rear end! I ended up using a pry bar as leverage, so I could lift the battery up high enough to get my hand under the bottom of it. I did lose some skin on my finger as well. They should fire the genius that put the battery there LOL

This is what I used under the edge near the top of the battery and used it as a lever:
 
#7 ·
I got the stupid thing out. I couldn't get it out by myself even with that, but I was able to pick it up enough that my roommate could hold it tilted long enough for me to slip the flat end under the battery and lift it, and then we used the bar as a slide rail to slide it out onto the floorboard.

Now if I can just figure out how to get the little battery out of there, I'll be golden. Getting it back in can't be as difficult.

Yeah, I know, famous last words...
 
#8 ·
The little battery will be a cake walk compared to the main one.
I replaced both with the seat in place and later had to examine the neutral connection. Decided to R/R the seat and it was infinitely easier to manage.
The seat was four bolts and a number of connectors.
Skippy
 
#9 ·
Yea, the little one is cake. Although mine was installed backwards; I had to completely bend over the connectors so I could slide it out. Re-installed it the correct way.

Dropping in the new battery is a still a bit of a pain but not nearly as bad. Just make sure nothing is in the way and you can slide it all the way to the back before dropping down (well, don't drop it LOL).
 
#10 ·
Actually, the little one was a pain, too: I had a hell of a time coming up with the right tool to get on that stupid little 0mm nut that holds the bracket down.

Mine was installed with the terminals at the outboard end, unlike the WIS which shows them at the inboard end. I installed the new one with the terminals inboard.

Now to get the main battery in and buttoned up...
 
#12 ·
I wound up unmounting the bracket. There's a 10mm nut aft of the little battery down in between it and whatever it is behind it that you can undo and then the bracket and battery will tilt forward and slide out.

Got that installed, had to put the vent tube back in its grommet, got it all back together, reset it. The battery warning went away.

Now I've got a license plate light out. *sigh*
 
#14 ·
Oddly enough, I got the new main battery at an O'Reilly here...they didn't use one of those.

I'm not sure that picking up a battery by the terminals is all that good an idea, though...is it?
 
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