"Well, Mr. Dog, this battery here will do you up just about right; its the biggest, baddest, most powerful battery in the store. I'm sure you can tell just by looking at it that it is going to be the best battery you ever owned. That will be $155.00 please, and that is a very good deal, I can tell you that."

This may sound dumb, but when my wife's Mercedes needs a battery, I'll probably have her call Mercedes roadside assitance unless we are headed toward a local source of decent batteries.

Short Story:
My sister has an '85 300SD. It recently needed a new battery. She and a friend are both competent and decided to change it themselves. They spent an hour trying to get the old battery out so that they could take it into the store to find the right replacement. They called my dad (she lived in another state) who told them the obvious answer about the clamp at the bottom, but they still couldn't get it out. In a last ditch effort, she called the number on the inside of the glovebox and asked how to get it out. The woman on the phone asked her where she was then told her to just stay put. In about 30 minutes an ML service vehicle showed up, and for a touch over $100 the nice man put in a brand new Mercedes battery. What a bargain.

-Tad

THe $60 AUtozone group 49 batteries are $65 now. But I would still recommend them.

P E H

"Thank you very much" , Mr. Carl, "The gorilla battery on the Wally World rack only cost $78 with fixed carrying straps and non-corrosive plastic tray".

Like I said, think 900amp minimum for specs......

how about two full sized 6 volt batteries in series.

__________________
have no worries.....President Obama swears "If you like your gun, you can keep it

I have interstates in all my cars and trucks they seem to last forever...........

William Rogers..............

Yea Dieseldog, I used to have a Diesel that was is such poor repair that it took a 900 amp battery to start it. Now it just install the the battery that will fit the factory battery tray and keep the car tuned up.

Man so many different choices. Sounds like cold weather plays a big part in the selection of a battery. What if you live in the south like me here in Austin, Texas. It gets cold some in the winter, but not much below 38 degrees on the average. I mean we do get some days where it drops down in the teens and 20's, but not more than a few days. Sounds like to me its a choice of a "cheapo" or a "Biggest, Meanest Dog on the Block" Battery. My father used to sell Interstate Batteries for years. I'll probably go for one of those, Big Boys, simply because it takes alot to turn a Diesel engine. You don't want to be 150 miles from home and stuck in a little piss ant town with a cheapo battery to depend on.

When we provide you with advice regarding the Autozone Duralast battery, we do so with the understanding that it will do an adequate job starting a five or six cylinder diesel at a temperature of 0 degrees F.

The battery has a CCA rating of 850 and it has a 7 year pro-rated warranty. good at any AutoZone location, without a receipt. The CCA requirement as specified by M/B is 750.

It sells for $65.00 as PEH has noted.

It is probably the least costly battery that one can find for the cranking power.

But, cheapo? I think not.

Thanks Brian. Well I'm sure that the Auto Zone batteries are good. Do you suppose that the with the Interstate Battery your paying for the brand name? Is there any advantages or disadvantages of having one over the other?

Kip Foss,

On your hard to start diesel, my guess is you neglected valve clearances or possibly the starter motor was going south - unless the engine had millions of miles on it with understandably low compression.

Dieseldog, The other day my daughter left the ignition key on while she was playing basketball, to listen to music for about 45 min. I came out later to go somewhere and my 300 SDL didn't even speak to me. I jumped it off and then the next day I got in it to come home from work and she decided not to speak to me again. I then went to a local auto shop to have the battery checked and he said it was okay, not the strongest but okay. Is there something else that could be a underlying problem?

Batteries are one of those things that you need quite a bit of data from a large group of users to determine if one battery is better than another battery. The reason for this is the variability of the use. I might get 10 years from the Duralast battery if I never deep cycle it and never allow it to fully discharge by leaving my headlights on. Someone else may not even make it to the seven year warranty because of these abuses on a regular basis.

So, without this data being available, the basis for purchase should be the warranty and the CCA. If you can achieve a 7 year warranty on a Duralast battery and you can achieve a 7 year warranty on an Interstate, why would you purchase the Interstate at greater cost? If the battery was truly a better battery, why doesn't Interstate provide an 8 year warranty or a 10 year warranty? The simple answer is that they do not provide the warranty because the battery is no better than any other seven year battery.

It should be noted that all batteries begin to deteriorate commencing day one. Five years down the road, the Duralast and the Interstate cannot provide the CCA that they did when the battery was brand new. Now, most people will never know this because the battery will still start the engine. However, if it is zero degrees outside, and you have no block heater, and you have to crank the diesel for 30 seconds or more, you are going to wish that you have every one of those CCA's available to you. In such conditions, it might be wiser to purchase the battery of lower cost and replace it sooner rather than buy the high cost battery and expect it to go 10 years.

I especially like the warranty on the Duralast because your purchase is in their computer. You do not have to produce the receipt five years later to get the company to honor the warranty, should that become necessary.

D-dog,

I don't have a hard to start Diesel. My 1982 and 1983 Chevy Diesel trucks start literally at the flick of a switch. The minute they take more than about 2 revolutions I check the glow plugs and usually there will be one that has burned out.

My 115/300 Diesel only takes a few (maybe 15) revolutions before it starts. Probably if I held the glow plug button in a bit longer it would start quicker.

I learned from my 2 GM Diesels about using batteries that were rated at too many CCA for the case size. I had my 3/4 ton in Dubai for 5 years and the heat and excessive cranking while trying to prime the engine would bulge the sides on the two batteries. Once they bulged they were toast.

I also learned about installing a manual fuel priming pump and a bleed line from where the fuel line comes into the back of the IP. Open this bleed line, prime the engine until you get clear fuel at the bleed line, a couple of cranks and Bob's your uncle as they say.

Now if I could find a diagram for my 115 vacuum system I'll be set to go.

Thanks Brian, Common Sense on the Warranty issues of these two batteries. You'll pay about 30 to 40 dollars more for an interstate battery and not any more warranty to go with it. Course not many people keep their cars for more than 5 years anyways.