my California 1988 300 CE with 110,000 miles did an interesting thing today.
I've had the car for a month now. The battery seemed fine. Good charge and clean contacts. But something didn't look right. There's no hold down plate. So today it happens. Can won't start. Completely dead. I go to look at the battery. Now I'm looking at the battery closely for the first time. I notice the negative earth cable has sheered away from the grounding point. There was minimal oxidation and a clean break. Looked like it had been done with a knife or something. I unscrewed the bolt and cut the cable rubber sheathing back one inch and put the cable end under the ring and bolted back to the strut tower.

Question; is there a better ground set-up? perhaps one to chassis and one to block or transmission housing.
Also, what type of battery hold down does the car require?

Thanks
Jason

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1988 300CE 120K RIP(Midnight Blue/Parchment)
1987 300E 202K (Arctic White/Palomino)


Now I see the secret of the making of the best persons. It is to grow in the open air and to eat and sleep with the earth. ~Song of The Open Road

The battery is held down with a bracket (124 626 00 42) that clamps to the lower edge of the battery. The back edge of the battery slides under a lip in the battery tray. Someone might at one time put an incorrect battery in the vehicle and tossed away the bracket because it wouldn't fit.
There is also another bracket that fits into the tray to prevent lateral movement if the short battery is installed (201 626 00 14).
I would replace the negative cable as soon as possible. Stripping the wire and sticking it under the bolt without a proper terminal could result in a bad connection with overheating.

Jason, on my 1988 300ce, also originally a Ca. car, the ground strap also separated from the ground connector. Got a new one installed, no further problems. I didn't have the missing plate, I was missing the short stud which holds the plate in place for the retaining nut. I finally found the correct size screw, which I screwed into the stud's hole, and the plate now holds nicely.

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87 300e (white/black; amg body kit)
88 300ce (red/cream; amg body kit)
93 300ce cabrio (white/blue/blue top)
93 300ce cabrio (black/grey/black top)
98 ml 320 (totaled @ 137,000 miles)
99 clk320 (black/grey/black top)

Better? It lasted 18 years.

Perhaps with maintenance new one would last even longer.

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Kent Christensen
Albuquerque
'07 GL320CDI, '10 CL550. '01 Porsche Boxster
Two BMW motorcycles

yes, it did last eighteen years. I will get a new ground strap and check the hold down plates. saw one on fastlane.

Thanks for the pointers.

__________________
1988 300CE 120K RIP(Midnight Blue/Parchment)
1987 300E 202K (Arctic White/Palomino)


Now I see the secret of the making of the best persons. It is to grow in the open air and to eat and sleep with the earth. ~Song of The Open Road