How did you determine the age of the battery? What did the date code on the side say? A battery with a date code ending in 3 is much more likely to be 2003 than 1993. Normal battery life is 3-4 years, 16 years is unlikely.

I agree, but if a battery is properly maintained, and a vehicle is stored mostly in a garage through the cold months, I've seen batteries last 10+ but these days, the maintainance free batteries I never expect to last more than 3-4 years.

a GOOD replacement for the batteries is the same batteries in the 04-current Chargers. it's the SAME battery, I'm not sure who makes them but there are alot of parts in those cars bade by Bosch and Behr and lots of (K) logos and VDO. Sizeable chance the batter is Bosch.
I'll look next time one of the police cruisers is in the shop and see if it's Bosch or not.

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RIP: 80 300SD
RIP: 79 450SEL
2002 E430 4matic (212,000km)
2002 ML500 'sport'

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FACEBOOK: PANZER450

Brandlj,

Have always had good service from interstate batteries.

Let us know which battery you chose.

if accurate. I'm highly (though respectfully) doubtful.

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2009 E320 Bluetec 117,000
1995 E300D 306,000 Sold
1996 Ford Taurus LX 130,000 Sold
1985 300TD Still 225,000 Sold
2016 Ford Fusion 24,900

But it sounds like you don't have a Pep Boys near you?

I've read good things about Interstate, although I had trouble finding a reseller in my area that stocked the big international size battery so I went with a Die Hard.

Not an "Odyssey" but ,still puts everything else on the market to shame.

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'84 300SD sold
124.128

thats only 50 CCA less than my group 49 sitting in my car right now and about $110 more.

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1981 300 SD 213k miles "Stock for now"
1999 Super Duty 7.3L 113k miles
1981 300 SD 180k miles "Heavily modified" SOLD

that deka is a good battery. we used them all the time in the heavy equipment field. trojan is another good brand.

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

Batteries last a whole lot longer in the cold than they do the heat. Heat is the biggest killer of batteries. Alot of times batteries are junked when they are still in fact good. The plates become sulfated and no longer take a proper charge. This is especially true on deep cycle batteries.


Heres a question for everyone here. DOES ANYONE ON HERE OWN A HYDROMETER? LET ALONE KNOW HOW TO USE IT? a good hydrometer will tell you a lot about a battery. the battery on my motorcycle would not take a charge due to sulfation. this was caused by improper charging. i had a charging system problem,and i was forced to keep the battery on the battery tender, often charging it from dead. the battery would no longer hold a good charge.

Heres how I fixed it.

Batteries from time to time need to be "cooked" . No I dont mean melt the case or even get the battery hot for that matter. They need a heavy charge, but in doing so, they have to be kept cool. A motorcycle battery would normally melt down when charged at 10a for more than a couple hours.

i got out the trusty old 2a/10a MANUAL(does not shut its self off) charger and set it to the 10a setting. i set the battery in a bucket and filled it with cool water, about 2 inches from the top of the battery. i hooked the charger up and let it charge for 24 hours, keeping a close eye on the water level in the battery its self and making sure the water in the bucket stayed cool. at the 24 hour mark i switched it to the 2a charge rate and allowed it to stabilize. that battery is still like a new battery today.

This is the procedure that exide uses on its industrial batteries for their first charge. When I worked for a forklift company we didn't have the space to set them in water, so we kept close watch on the temp. of course, we also did acid adjusts there too.

Sam's club sells a battery charger with a desulfation mode. This hits the battery with large bursts to help break it off the plates.

It is best to own both automatic and manual chargers.


ok, im done

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

What could go wrong? Kidding.

Curious to know the voltage reading when you start the car with the reconditioned battery? I usually ditch a battery when starter draws it down to 10.3 volts.

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2009 E320 Bluetec 117,000
1995 E300D 306,000 Sold
1996 Ford Taurus LX 130,000 Sold
1985 300TD Still 225,000 Sold
2016 Ford Fusion 24,900

i actually never put a meter on it after intstalling it in the bike. i could tell just by the sound that it didnt drop much.

im sure someone will get on here and argue with me shortly. about how it wont work, or its dangerous, even though i stated that this is close to how exide does it.

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

No argument here. It does work (well not always) and it is dangerous. If it gets too hot, the battery can rupture and spray hot 70% sufuric acid (bad stuff).

My last several have been Interstate and I'm happy if I get 5 years.

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Charles
1983 300D, bought new, 215k+ miles, donated to Purple Hearts veterans charity but I have parts for sale: http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/showthread.php?t=296386

OOPS..... I stand corrected. I pulled my receipts and the battery was installed new in May 1996. That means it is 13 years old. I agree that normal battery life is 3-4 years though on newer cars. Our 2003 Honda Odyssey battery lasted 4 years, my daughter's 2000 Camry lasted 5 years.
Now, the battery in my 1967 VW Beetle that is driven about 1000 miles per year has been in there since I replaced it in 1997. Remember, old cars have like nothing that will draw the battery down while it sits. I do not even have an electric clock in the Beetle. It is garage kept and I charge it about twice a year with a trickle charger.
As I said earlier, the battery in my 07 BMW has to be on a trickle charger when it sits for a week at a time. Even though BMW claims it has a SLEEP mode, this car will continually drain the battery. Too much electronic stuff in it.

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John
1986 300sdl
1985 380se