I haven't been using my 97 E420 for 4 weeks and the battery was totally gone. The battery is only 19 months old. Tried to jump start from a Honda with no avail so I took the battery out and charged it the whole night through. Reinstalled in the morning and it runs without problem, the only issue so far is I need the code for the radio.
Questions are: I read in the stickies that ohlord was mentioning about possibility affecting the DAS information, what is that? cause I did connect the jumper with the key in the ignition
If I am not using the car for a few weeks, can I use a trickle charger to keep the battery healthy? and can I use the contact under the hood?
Thanks for all the help
Something has to be wrong with your car. We've been living our MB for 5 weeks armed and they started just fine after that.
If you have a drainage, you better track it. For long storage use battery maintainer, or float charger, since trickle charger can boil your battery dry. The POST under the hood is as good as battery terminal, assuming the connections are clean.
BTW if you are jumping car with dead battery, you need #2 jump cables. The popular #10 is giving too much resistance for start. If you have #10 only, you can charge the dead battery with the other car for like 1/4 hr and than try to start with the jump still on.
Kajtek1, thanks for the info. That maybe the case, the jumper cable is a generic one from Walmart, probably #10.
I did not see any venting tube attched to the battery, is this normal? it was replaced by Mercedes on call service 19 months ago? Anybody knows their warranty policy on this?
The vent tube is a must, since lack of it can spit acids under your seat, or not so good gases in the mean time. Call the service provider and ask them.
Vehicle: 2001 E320 - Brilliant Silver/Ash: MBCA member
Location: West Virginia, USA
Posts: 5,819
Your battery should be vented through a tube. I'm surprised an MB tech would have neglected to do that. I think most OEM parts installed by a dealer carry a 12 month parts/labor warranty but a battery could be different, pro-rated in other words.
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longer than 2 years so have them check it out.DAS is the drive authorization system and your 97 has a key for the ignition so you should be ok.No rolling codes to get messed up like in the 98-02 models.Get a hydrometer and test battery condition it could have drained in 4 weeks.Harbor freight tools has a trickle float charger on sale for about 6 bucks use it if you don't drive for long periods.
ohlord
Apologize my ignorance, can I use the trickle float charger without disconnecting the battery?, I mean connect the trickle float charger via the battery post under the hood without damaging the sensitive car computer??
I don't think the battery is a maintenace free type (it's made in Canada for Mercedes) because it has screw in type caps, correct me if this is otherwise.
And I'll find out why there is no venting tube in my car!!
Thanks
ohlord gave you wrong information. There is no such thing as "trickle float charger"
Float charger goes to certain voltage and maintain it. Usually it is 13.6 v what might slightly vary between manufacturers. That voltage is perfectly safe for the electronics.
I've been using the cheap HF float chargers for decades. They are perfectly good for big batteries in motorhome, but I had one malfunction killing my motorcycle style battery in PWC. For several weeks storage I would just disconnect the battery terminal. That's what I do with my motorhome batteries for 7 months at the time.
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