Hello, fellow smokers. I have a question for ya'll. My wife went out to our newly acquired '82 300D and it would not crank. I will check it out tonight when I get home, but I am wondering if it is the battery, like I believe it is, what are the correct specs for the battery and where is the best place to buy one from?

Thanks.

Edit:Changed car to show '82, instead of our '85. It is confusing having similiar cars.

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'85 300DT--215,000 miles
'82 300DT--255,000 miles

I have 300D turbo 1985, I am not sure if my specs are same as yours. So check the specs.
I got mine from Pepboys about 3 yrs back for 65/- bucks or less.
I had one bad glow plug, and did not notice it, and in winter used that battery like crazy to start the car. and finally the battery gave up on me. It was about a year old then, went back to them and asked for replacement, paid 12/- additional and got a brand new battery which is just working fine( off course I replaced the bad glow plug). If is about 2 1/2 yrs old now and if it gives me 2-3 more yrs I am happy to go back to pepboys.

YOU LOST ME ON THE YEAR OF CAR IN TITLE YOU SAID 85, BUT THE MESSAGE SAYS 82. WHICH ONE IS RIGHT.
If its 85, let me know I can give you the pepboys part number and specs from my battery.
Hope this helps
MVK

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One penny saved is three penny earned.

1985 300D Turbo 179,000miles

I found out WalMart is selling batteries made by Johnson Controls - the best manufacturer of batteries. So far I've gotten a lawn mower battery and a deep cycle / marine starting battery and am happy. Didn't see anything approaching the size of the diesel MB batteries in stock - maybe they can be ordered.

Avoid anything made by Exide at all costs.

Ken300D

Why no Exide?
I am using prostart by Exide for 2+ yrs and its good. At 65/- bucks I can throw it out every 5 yrs. Its 1000 cca Gr49.
I am happy.

The new prostarts I think are made by Johnson Control. They lso make and I quote from their website
"If it's a specific brand you're after, we offer many of the highest quality, most well-known brand names in the business. Choose from DieHard®, Duralast®, Energizer®, Equalizer®, Eveready®, EverStart®, Interstate, Kirkland Signature, Motorcraft®, OPTIMA®, and ProStart®."

MVK

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One penny saved is three penny earned.

1985 300D Turbo 179,000miles

Just to update:

Went to Pep Boys and they had a "Energizer" badged Johnson Controls battery for $80. FWIW, I hate Pep Boys, but they were close to the parts store I usually use so I stopped in. Anyway, the battery comes with a three year "road-side assistance" warranty and I am very happy.


From what the goon at Pep Boys had to say it seems that they ditched Exide because they had too many come-backs. Take it FWIW.

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'85 300DT--215,000 miles
'82 300DT--255,000 miles

I used two Exide batteries in my old 78 300D. Neither was worth the price of the sales tax. They would crank it over nice and hard for about six months, then the some colder weathter would set in and there she goes.. No start.
No more Exides for me. Still looking for something good to use.

Those factory white batteries sure look nice under the hood and aren't that much more. Depends on whether you are a purist or not and the relative appearance of other components under the hood.

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2008 GL320CDI 6K
1970 280SL 112K
1982 240D 210K (Sold)
1973 220D 220K (Sold)
1967 200D 160K (Sold)
1992 400E 139K (Sold)
1988 300E 148K (Sold)
1987 300D 257K (Sold)
1991 300E 108K (Sold)
1987 300E 131K (Sold)
1978 300D TMU (Sold)
1980 300D TMU (Sold)
MBCA Member

Zach, who said we were smokers?? My car refuses to smoke except under full load and uphill. Then its just a little. LOL

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Orland Park, IL
1985 300SD 215,000 miles

Exide is notorious for "quality control problems" to put it as politely as possible, in my opinion, due to my research and personal family experience. (How's that for a disclaimer, Exide employees?)

One typical "alleged" failure mode of Exide batteries is one day it will be fine, a few days later it will be fully dead and unchargeable. Sudden death, well before the stated service life of the battery.

Sears nearly ruined their "DieHard" brand name during a brief stint with Exide as their supplier. And as the story goes, someone was bribed in Sears procurement to select Exide to begin with.......



Ken300D

Ahhh, you 155,000 milers! Your car is not even broken in yet
Talk to me when you have some more miles on that thing. JK.
Oddly, my "new" '82 300D with 255K smokes less than my '85 300D with just 210K miles I imagine a good injection pump adjustment would cure that, huh?

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'85 300DT--215,000 miles
'82 300DT--255,000 miles

Exide has gone belly up, their products suck!

As for the "proper fit" it is a Group-49. Most places (Such as walmart) Do not sell group-49. This can be interchanged for the lesser Group-41. It has slightly less CCA, and is significantly smaller, but when my glowplugs were dead it would crank the engine over for 2 straight minutes without missing a beat. Other than the fact that it doesnt fill the hole MB left for a group-49, Ive had no problems using a group-41 in its place, both for my volvo diesel (which asks for a group-49 by the book) and in the 300d, as well as a freinds 300SDL living out in utah, and my neighbors 92 300d. They are all running walmart group41 batteries, no problems. at $39, its a deal!

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Matt
2003 Jetta Wagon TDI 145,000MI
1999.5 Jetta TDI 287,000MI
2001 Suzuki SV650S 26,000MI
2008 Yamaha Vino 125 11,000MI
http://www.crazymatt.org

I got my replacement at Pep Boys about 4 years ago. No problems since, and was only about $50.