Battery recommendations
 

The battery in my 300CE is toast and no longer holds a charge. The battery that is currently in the car is branded as a Mercedes Benz and based on an old receipt it appears to be nearly 9 years old. I can get a AC Delco replacement from the local auto parts retailer for around $130. The dealer wants another $100 for a OEM one. Is it worth the exta $100 for the Mercedes battery or is there a good aftermarket alternative that will work equally as well?

Go wallmart thats where i got mine 2 mo ago, 80 bucks.

Try another dealer if you can. Some are more reasonable than others. Even in Canadian dollars 230 is pretty high for that. I think my limit would be about 130 USD. They are good batteries, but not 230 CAD good, IMHO.

OPTIMA

John

I ended up going with a $100 AC Delco. It actually has more CCA than the OEM one and a longer warranty as well. While the battery dimensions match, the AC Delco doesn't tighten down with the factory clamp as it doesn't have that bottom lip around the base like the OEM one had. I will have to think of a workaround for the time being. The battery tray is quite large. Even the old battery from Mercedes didn't fill it all in. Believe it or not the receipt for the Mercedes battery from early 2002 had a list price of $134. Hard to believe it could go climb in price so much!

It really may have not gone up in price that much, could be that the dealer you talked to has excessive mark-up.

mbzman, the batteries our local MB dealer sells fit in the battery tray of our 1991 & 1992 300CE's with room to spare. Don't understand why your 1989 300CE battery tray wouldn't be the same configuration. Certainly wouldn't want to have to jerry rig a hold-down for the battery. So I will continue to buy replacement batteries from our local MB dealer.

From what I have read Optima batteries are sealed and maintenance-free; however, the positive and negative terminals may be reversed, requiring a wiring modification.

The batteries for Euro cars are a standard "DIN" design.
The battery for a W124 300 is generally a DIN 66.
I.E, around 550CCA.

However CCA's - (Cold Cranking Amps) aren't the be all and end all.

With modern computerized cars and high output audio devices as well as devices such as alarms that suck small amounts of amperes when the vehicle is idle, it's my opinion that a battery with a large amount of residual Ampere hours is also highly desirable.

Optima's are a fine battery but expensive. There is a specific Optima battery made for all model Mercedes Benz's - right back to the Ponton's.

You don't screw around with the wrong polarities either. There are specific AC Delco batteries designed for Euro cars with the positive pole in the right location and the standard clamp down ledge.

Batteries. You get what you pay for. The O.P has an original OEM MB battery that has lasted him 8+ years - excellent performance. Let him come back in a few years and tell us how long his AC Delco lasted for.

Bosch is one OEM supplier for M.B. Varta is another. You can find them at other battery suppliers other than the dealerships.

Batteries are one of those bits of equipment you always do a little bit of walking around to find the best and appropriate unit that you can afford.

The newer the vehicle i.e. those who now contain a raft of electronic computerized equipment in them, the better the power supply system needs to be - and this starts with the battery.

In another twist. It is illegal in Australia to run a vehicle without the battery being tightened down by OEM clamps.

Batteries. You get what you pay for. The O.P has an original OEM MB battery that has lasted him 8+ years - excellent performance. Let him come back in a few years and tell us how long his AC Delco lasted for.

Maybe I will. What makes you think it won't last as long? From what I've read there are only a few major manufacturers who make automotive batteries. I only paid $100 for the AC Delco. The cheapest battery from Mercedes I could find was $230. Another dealer wanted close to $300. I can certainly justify spending a bit more for the Mercedes battery but for two to three times as much? I don't think that they are that much better.

MB sells (or back when I worked on them) 2 different sizes of batteries. One would use a small wedge to hold the small one in place laterally, and then the part with the bolt to hold it down. If you bought the bigger battery, the wedge would come right out of a couple slots in the battery tray and the big one would fill the tray.