Battery for your Diesel - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

#1 09-04-2004, 01:29 AM

Roll call on Batteries for your diesel: Also, I'm looking for a good battery for a 300 SDL, any suggestions for brand and type?

sixto · #2 09-04-2004, 01:34 AM

Whatever Autozone sells for ~$60 works for me but our winter starting conditions are 40F at worst.

Sixto
95 S420
87 300SDL

DCM · #3 09-04-2004, 02:39 AM

Interstate batteries have been very good for me

240_Dizzell · #4 09-04-2004, 02:50 AM

I've had three of them,(in different benz's) and I would rate their battery's as pretty reliable, at least for a diesel benz. The model they make for the benz diesels have a 900+ CCA, which helps out in the winter...

koop · #5 09-04-2004, 03:30 AM

The big interstate. Batteries are one of the few things I'll spend up on.

kmaysob · #6 09-04-2004, 05:41 AM

i have a duralast silver series battery and it works great so far. i had it all winter (even though az winters arnt that cold) and it workes just fine. ive had it for about a year and it still works as good as new.

Mr. FancyPants · #7 09-04-2004, 07:04 AM

Depending on how long you plan on keeping your Benz, if less than five years, buy a middle of the road battery for say 60 or 70 bucks that has high cold cranking amp hours. I never looked to see what my Diehard International specs out to, I'll look tomorrow.

Few people keep cars much past five years on average, but my guess is that people that own older Benzs are an exception to that rule and may keep them far longer. If so, I would consider spending $175. and buy a ROLLS battery of sufficiant size and amp hour output. These batteries can last upwards from 10 years, and I've known several to go beyond 15 years, a few 20 years.

These ROLLS batteries compaired with the defunct SURRETT battery company. Surrett batteries were the finest money could buy, but Surrett I believe went out of business many years ago. Rolls as far as I know, is the only superior quality battery available, better known to the marine business and Electric golf carts. Rolls starting type batteries act like deep cycle batteries but because they have more lead, they have more capacity similar to deep cycle battery. These batteries hold out cranking amps far longer than the average battery and are ideal for diesels!

I mention ROLLS because they will almost never let you down, and if you keep your Benz a long time, it may be cheaper in the long run.

Back in the late 60's, a friend worked at a US AIR FORCE Base near by and was a jet fighter mechanic. When the batteries aboard these jet aircraft reached a predetermined service life, they were replaced with new. My friend had kept a few of the old batteries and sneaked them off the base to home! One of these batteries was a 12-volt battery. What comes to mind was the casings on these batteries, we had never seen a clear plastic battery casing before, you could see everything inside them including a built in gauge to show specific gravity! Wonder what those had cost?

My friend put one of these batteries in the early sixties OLDSMOBILE Holiday 88, big V-8! He proceeded to crank and crank for a very long time trying to get it to start. We were all amazed how long that engine cranked and never slowed a bit in all that cranking (an hour or more) trying to start it. We were amazed! None of us had ever seen a battery last like this before! Any other battery would have been dead long before, yet this battery continued not sweating a drop and never lost it's punch! It was apparent to us back then that the US AIR FORCE had access to a technology that was not known, or available outside the government!

Just a quick mention about another observation while on the subject. While I lived briefly on a farm, I say briefly because the marriage didn't last, I had a amongst other farm macines, I had a 66 Ford F-600 gas dump. The rear tires were Korean vintage army truck tires dated 1952. These tires have been on that dump for more than 25 years and exposed to the eliments yet the rubber on these tires, evan half deflated for years, there are no cracks anywhere in the rubber and the rubber is a s plyable as though it were new yesterday!

I got on a role here but I thought it would be interesting to share this! Funny how these technologies were never made available to the people my guess, I wonder how many other similar technologies available only to the government.

Brian Carlton · #8 09-04-2004, 09:37 AM

I'm with Sixto on this.

The $60.00 Autozone Duralast battery cannot be beat. If it lasts six years and you get a brand new one at that time, you are still way ahead of the game as compared to batteries costing upwards of $100.

Additionally, the $100 battery might last 10 years, however, its last few years will be marginal in cold weather. Far better to buy the $60. battery and keep it six years and get a new one. I believe that it has a seven year warranty on it so, clearly, it is not a battery that is likely to go less than five.

Treeman · #9 12-05-2005, 10:48 PM

Sears Diehard 700cca bought two yesterday. 190.00. 3 year unconditional warranty +100 moth pro rated thereafter. I thought it was a good deal. I hate batteries.

husk · #10 12-07-2005, 02:38 PM

Get an Optima Yellow Top these are the best batteries for diesels, It never leaks acid and has plenty of power. This is the best battery you can buy. PERIOD.

RichC · #11 11-22-2010, 06:13 AM

AutoZone group 49

Get them to order you a fresh one.

Or at least get the one in the back of the rack.

Newer is definitely better

There is a little circular green sticker on their batteries with the date code on it.

I found one that was six months old in the front of the rack, the one in the back was only one month old.

tdelaurier · #12 02-04-2011, 09:37 PM

By the way battery prices have gone up in the past two/three years. Like 20-30$

deltajetfixer · #13 02-06-2011, 11:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tdelaurier

By the way battery prices have gone up in the past two/three years. Like 20-30$

Still waiting on the MB battery in the E300 to go out. From the paperwork I got with the car when I bought it "Starmarked" in 2003, it's the original battery they installed in 1999.

Exchanged an old Wal-Mart Everstart Maxx the other day and noticed their battery prices had gone up $10 across the board.

New Sam's Club openned up last week and their "Energizer" brand batteries are what the old Wal-Mart prices were.

The MB battery is a Group 49 and goes for $77 plus tax with a 3 year free replacement. All my other cars have Wally World batteries and have given plenty of warning when they were getting weak.