Hi guys ! I would like to know about replacing my car battery. I wanted to go with Optima but I would like to know which one you recommand and if it's hard to uninstall the OEM battery.
Not difficult, just under the seat on the passenger side - rear.
Optima makes a great battery but it's a bit of overkill. It is a truly sealed battery - so it's nice from a venting point of view. Since it has no true vent and only a pressure valve - there is a lower possibility of mis vented gasses and sulphuric acid corroding terminals and other more important things in the vacinity.
A great battery ( Die-Hard, Mega-Tron, etc) should be in the $60 to $75 dollar range, but an Optima will be from $110 to $130
We have an Interstate Distributor in the local area who can't undercut his shops and sell straight retail, but he has seconds and blems he will sell for $30 or so. I have bought his best (usually a Mega-Tron) and have never had a battery let me down or last less than 5 years. You might check your Yellow Pages or the Internet for one that supports your area. Ask them about retailing you blems or seconds on the side. You might be surprised.
Now if the Optima was 1/2 the price, I'd be first in line. They are a nice cell, but being electrolyte-starved (no liquid sulphuric acid inside - just damp mats in a rolled "sandwich") it is very suseptible to over voltage/overcharging. This is not an issue in our later model Mercedes, but keep that in mind. A regular flooded cell is much more tolerant.
A tip when replacing the battery: If you have a small 12v cell lying around try putting a male cigarette lighter adapter on it and plug it in when you remove the old cell. This will keep you from having to re-synchronize windows, reset stereos, etc.
The easiest way is to call MB roadside assistance, they will come out replace, and resync everything. They even had my radio code the cost in PALM BEACH was $125. The trick of plugging into the lighter does not work since the lighter is switched, and I would not mess with it if the ignition were on.
Basic rule: you NEVER want to have your key even in the ignition when you disconnect the battery. Can't remember who (or even if it was this site) but it goofed up the ignition switch and it had to be replaced, it was like $800 or something.
Yeah, you're right. I guess that was one of my previous mistresses, I mean Mercedes Benz, that kept the cigarette lighter hot when the power was off.
My independent shop mechanic, an older Hungarian who has worked on MBZ for 30 years keeps a couple motorcycle batteries with pigtails on them. I'm not sure how he uses them on the newer units. I'll have to ask about that. I'm guessing that if you work on these cars all day, you can save a lot of time and trouble this way.
I agree, I'd never leave a key in or in and switched on while pulling a battery. That is a recipe for bigger problems
Yeah, I've heard that about the 9V, in fact I saw a "kit" at a cheapo car*parts place once that essentially was a modified cigarette lighter plug in with a 9V battery hookup inside a plastic case ("battery not included!"). Of course with the great disclaimer: "works in most cars".
Only problem with any of this is figuring out what's always hot so you know where to tie in. I guess if you had someone hold down the brake*pedal to close that circuit you could tie in on the brake light, but that would drain the 9V so quickly you'd never have a chance to change out the new battery in time. Nothing about MBZ is easy, is it? [;)]
There are a couple hot points near the fuse box that should work. I would then clip the negative lead to a grounding lug on the fender or the engine block.
Test the planned points with a VOM for good voltage before pressing them into service.
Why wouldn't you want to use the MB roadside assistance to have them come out to your residence and take care of battery replacement with proper original MB battery for approx $125? Is it worth risking damage to your expensive electronics, resetting radio/instruments, etc by using another battery or doing it yourself? This is a "no-brainer" and truly a bargain for MB service.
I agree, I'd never leave a key in or in and switched on while pulling a battery. That is a recipe for bigger problems
Why do you say this? The 2001 E320 manual says that when charging the battery, disconnect the negative terminal and "make sure the electronic key is in steering lock position 0". Sounds like MB recommends keeping the key in.
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