The Battery in My 98

[shertex]

Took out the battery in my 98 just to see what I could see. It's a Mercedes branded led acid battery. Part number 906 982 00 08. When I pull up the part number sticker, I can see Jan 11, which I assume is the production date.

Two things struck me as odd:

1. The cells don't appear to be serviceable. Every other MB battery I've seen had six cells where you could top off the water....not this one.

2. There is no vent tube and the vent on the battery itself is plugged with a red cap. What's odd about this is that the PO had everything done by the dealer. Why would the dealer install the battery like this?

[tjts1]

Believe it or not MB dealers are not above incompetence and cutting corners.

[jay_bob]

Originally Posted by shertex

Took out the battery in my 98 just to see what I could see. It's a Mercedes branded led acid battery. Part number 906 982 00 08. When I pull up the part number sticker, I can see Jan 11, which I assume is the production date.

Two things struck me as odd:

1. The cells don't appear to be serviceable. Every other MB battery I've seen had six cells where you could top off the water....not this one.

2. There is no vent tube and the vent on the battery itself is plugged with a red cap. What's odd about this is that the PO had everything done by the dealer. Why would the dealer install the battery like this?

AGMs are sealed and not serviceable.

There are 2 vents on the battery, 1 at each end. You're supposed to break the red plug off the positive post protective cover plate and plug the hole that you are not using. The vent tube goes in the other hole. In the 210 there is an elbow fitting that plugs into the battery, and the tube goes straight down through the floor in a grommet.

[shertex]

Originally Posted by jay_bob

AGMs are sealed and not serviceable.

There are 2 vents on the battery, 1 at each end. You're supposed to break the red plug off the positive post protective cover plate and plug the hole that you are not using. The vent tube goes in the other hole. In the 210 there is an elbow fitting that plugs into the battery, and the tube goes straight down through the floor in a grommet.

I don't think mine is an AGM....I can see the water splashing around...but perhaps I'm mistaken.

Thanks for alerting me to the second hole....I thought there was just one. The way the car came to me was one and only one hole plugged and no tube. So now I have one hole plugged and the tube installed.

My 99 has an Everstart battery; it has just one hole and the tube is intact.

[shertex]

Does Mercedes even sell an AGM for the W210? Last time I checked with the two dealers in our area, they only sold lead acid.

[Mxfrank]

I don't think they're AGM, but they are "maintenance-free". When they replaced the battery in my '99 E320, they omitted vent. A couple of years later, the floor was quite rusty. So make sure the battery is properly vented.

[shertex]

Ironically, the car with the tube, the 99, had more rust. But I applied POR-15 to both and both now have tubes so hopefully I'm all set.

[funola]

One trick I learned at the Interstate distributor where I bought a genuine Mercedes H8 AGM battery for $40 was to shake the battery. I did not believe him when he told me the $40 battery is an AGM battery. He shook his battery and there was no liquid sloshing sound. He then shook my core, an AC Delco lead acid H8 and I heard the splashing.

They called it a Mercedes dealer "take off" as I recall and not a "blemish". They told me Interstate provides batteries for Mercedes in the US, batteries rejected by Mercedes for whatever reason are returned to Interstate. 10% of those returns after being tested are found to have nothing wrong with them and are sold at a great discount.

[shertex]

My local Interstate distributor does not carry Group 49 or H8 blems. But the ones they do sell have the vent holes, so that's an economical route to go.