I took my car to my local Interstate Battery Dealer today because the damn Mercedes battery, part # 04 541 02 01 in my car has died overnight for the past three days.

Well, friends, the sad story is that the old MB battery ist kaput undt todt! There's no reviving the old fellow, so I'm afraid that I had to replace him with a brand spankin' new Interstate MTP-93 weighing in at an impressive 52 Lbs, in a case measuring 14 & 3/8" x 6 & 7/8" x 6 & 7/8", with 850 CCA and 1065 cranking amps, a 155 minute reserve and a 72 month warranty with the first year and a half being free replacement time!

Well, the MSRP is $103.95 + tax & core, but I was wise enough to ask if they had a "blem" or "pre-install", so I was able to get a "pre-installed" one for $75.02 out of the door, tax included AND with the original warranty!

The alternatives were a new Mercedes battery (made for them by Interstate) for $109.00 + tax, or an Exide NASCAR for anywhere from $81.32 to $126.54 that had 750/940 to 850/1000, and 60 Mo warranties max.

Find a local Interstate dealer, and ask for a "pre-installed" battery, it'll save you money, comes with the same warranty (from date of purchase) and will work just as well as "new".

BTW, the dead battery was a July '97 model... And the wrong size for this car, which I am sure contributed to the early demise, but I didn't put it in, I bought it this way!

Just out of curiosity, is the new battery you bought a sprial cell type or regular type?

If my battery goes dead, its an interstate already as it came in the car, I'll probbaly end up replacing it with one of those spiral cell optima batteries.

Alon

What test did you run to tell you that the battery is bad?

David

Tote sind tot?...
 

First,

Alon, there is no Optima dealer in my area, and after visiting their website: http://www.optimabatteries.se, and http://www.optimabatteries.com I couldn't even find an application for Optima batteries in Mercedes...

Next,

David, I used the old, "charge it disconnected and let it sit overnight, and see if it starts the car", and "charge it and let it sit overnight and check the specific gravity with a hydrometer", and finally the infallible "Have the Interstate Battery dealer check it under load" test. It failed all three... :(

Scott,

The "pre-installed" battery sounds like a good ideal. I will try it next time when I need one. What is "pre-installed"? Is it same as blemish?

David

Scott,

My father put an interstate - spiral cell battery (made by optima) in his car which he got from an interstate dealer.

The battery has the intersate name, and it also states that it is an optima battery.

Its a very powerful battery, and works very nicely for him.

They may or may not have an application for mercedes, I havent looked into it as my car came with a pretty much new insterstate battery.

But if I do need a new one, I will be looking into the spiral cell batteries. My understanding is that they work quite well, jump easier, and charge very quickly compared to a regular battery. It is also my understanding from a friend who is an optima dealer that you should not charge the spiral cell batteries with a charger but rather jump them with another battery. But this is only second hand knowledge.

Alon

Just a note, recently I got a replacement OPTIMA battery
as a free replacement for the Exide spiral cell under
warantee. I got a 800 series Optima and had to replace the
negative battery cable because it was about 1.5 inches too short. (It was the cable that came with the car from
the factory)

Gary

Battery Research Update...
 

Optima was bought by Interstate, and they are actually one company now. The Optima websites, and their toll-free number were of little help, but now that it's a new business day, this is what I found out.

The Optima battery that is specified for my car when compared to the stock Interstate would cost me about 50 bucks more, wouldn't fit the battery tray properly, could require cable length modifications, has 50 amps less power at 0°F, 15 amps less power at normal operating temperature, 30 minutes less reserve, and has the same overall warranty but less time under free replacement. The only two small advantages would be the vibration resistant spiral cell technology, and the high tech look of it. :confused:

No Thanks, I'll stick with the "big" battery... :D

And for be459, a pre-installed battery can be anything from one that has just had the plastic wrap over it cut open, to one that was put in someone's car, and the customer decided that they didn't want it. Interstate has a policy of taking back batteries from customers within 1 year of purchase, and also turns over battery stock at independent garages, parts stores, and boat shops. All "pre-installs" are fully tested, and come with the same warranty as brand new. Interstate just can't sell them as new anymore, so they discount them. Sears recently got into trouble for re-selling batteries that were "pre-installed" as new stock. I always ask about pre-installs and blems (blems are just cosmetically dinged). I had the last blem I bought outlast any other battery I ever bought. ;)

Dead, or Drowned?
 

Are you sure that the battery didn't die because it drowned under this wonderful weather we're having? :D

Wine Country On Ice!
 

Man, you ain't kidding! The other day, they closed the "Oakdale Grade" because of icy conditions!

We've actually got snow on the higher hilltops around here, including Mt. St.Helena...

With apologies to the other members who live in seriously snowy conditions, it's real unusual to see any here.

Scott & David,

I read in the paper today that the snow level dropped to something like 500 feet in your end of the State. Down here it has gotten as low as 1500 feet (I live at 1300 feet) so it'll probably make before too long. That's just making "ready chilled wine"!!!!

You gotta admit, it is nice to be able to drive a little, enjoy the snow and cold, then get out of Dodge when you've had enough :).

One of the reasons I remain here where the population is "semi-civilized" (the Lakers' Phil Jackson's lovely characterization) is because while this town lacks culture, or even an identity of its own, it is easy to get around here. And most of all, as I tell people considering relocating here, from where I'm sitting right now, it's a left turn to San Francisco, a left and a quick right to the Napa/Sonoma wine country, a left and another left to Santa Cruz and the Monterey Peninsula and a right turn to Lake Tahoe and the Sierra. None of those drives (absent traffic or chain controls) takes very long. You go sort of straight ahead and you're in the Trinity Alps.

I can see the Sierras quite clearly from my office window, which is a good-news/bad-news deal. The bad news, of course, is that I wish I were up there on my skis instead of snowballing to oblivion behind this friggin' desk.

We need a couple more massive winter storms, since you guys down in SoCal are taking all of our water, and we'll need plenty to run all those hydro plants somebody thinks we're going to build......:D

Can't power everything with Interstate batteries.

Mike, You are right. So. Calif is the place to be. dtanesq's place sounds peaceful and "green", but down here in the south it is nomally dry and warm - good for my MB diesels, less rust or battery problems. You can work on cars outside without worrying about snow or rain (except the past few days). Last week, it was summer like weather. This week, you can go to local slope for skiing.

Batteries for diesel cars are expensive. I'll try the pre-install battery next time. Thank for the info, Scott.

David
Los Angeles, Calif

Don't Be Fooled... This Is History...
 

Yeah, Yeah, the telecom yuppies are being sold the same line of drivel by "savvy" real estate agents here too! That's why local residents who have lived here for multiple generations are wondering where their children will be buying property in the future! Perhaps the isolated and job deficient, white-trash Lake County area? Yeah, sure...

But if you closely examine the Hetch-Hetchy water system, and the connected reservoirs and turbines, you will be amazed to find that from the original Hetch-Hetchy (Tuolumne Meadows) Valley to Lake Don Pedro, to the Pulgas Water Temple, PG&E has been stealing water power from the population of SF for generations... The original system was created (against the protestations of John Muir), to allow the city of San Francisco to have sufficient water pressure to fight another devastating fire like the one that destroyed the city after the earthquake in 1906!!! But surprise, it turned into an electrical power generating scandal that has yet to be fully outed...

It's not all about that canal running to the Imperial Valley!

For instance, did you know that there is a tunnel large enough to drive a Earth Mover Truck through (with plenty of room to spare) that runs straight through the hills between Tracy and the East Bay?

You ALL would be AMAZED!!!

Hey, Right now, I'm lookin' at what appears to be the Sierras, or the Frickin' Rocky Mountains right here in Sonoma County!!!!

It's lovely, and quite breathtaking for a change, to see snow capped hills (mountains?) in this area!!!

My son thinks that they are clouds, but he wants to go play in the snow! (and so do I)

[Edited by longston on 02-14-2001 at 12:32 AM]

Even with the foul weather, I envy you Californians.

I spent much of 1999 and early 2000 in Sacramento and Santa Clara (with a few weeks in Portland, OR and Phoenix, AZ) and I'll take your weather over New York City's or Washington DC's any day.

Quit griping, you have the best climate in the country! :-)


Eric Silver
1989 260E