300M battery replacement

Our '02 300M (purchased May '02) is still on its original battery, it
still starts fine (although the weather isn't yet really cold), and the
indicator on the top of the battery still shows green.

Would I be pushing my luck to let it go a while longer, or would "y'all"
(or "all y'all," if "y'all" is still singular where you live) advise
getting it replaced as a precaution?

And how do I remove the air-cleaner to get at the battery? I haven't yet
figured out how it is held in place. (I've read some old posts that say
the way to remove the battery is to remove the RH front wheel, but
that's not what the Service Manual says.)

Perce

 

So is my '00 300m (purchased Nov 1999). So my battery is slightly older
than 10 years.

I bought a new battery 2+ years ago, and connect it to a charger about
once a month for a few hours. Last winter I kept this new battery in my
trunk, along with a set of jumper cables. During this past summer, the
battery was just sitting on a bench in my garage. As of right now I
haven't yet moved the battery back into my trunk.

My 300m spends every night in my garage, where the temperature rarely
goes below 50f in the dead of winter (but outside it might be 10f).

I honestly can't even recollect if I can see my battery when I raise the
hood. I thought it was burried down deep in there somewhere under the
air intake filter.

I think it's easy to guage the condition of the battery the next time
you have to start the car when the entire car (engine, battery, etc) is
sitting below 40f, and more like 30f. If it turns over more slowly than
you expect, then you know it's near the end if it's life. I could get a
sense of that with my battery last winter.

Does anyone know who made these OEM batteries anyways?

 

Same here these days in MI, but for its first 18 months in NY it stood
outside overnight.

Until I looked at the Service Manual, I didn't realize that there was an
indicator either. On mine it's visible through a gap in front of the air
cleaner. I had to wipe the crud off it (used a wad of paper towel
wrapped around the end of one of those freebie paint stirrers they give
you when you buy cans of paint) before I could see what color was
showing. I also noticed that there was corrosion around one of the
battery terminals and that the SM recommends cleaning that corrosion off
from time to time by painting it with baking soda solution -- but there
is no mention of that in the owner's handbook. The SM also says that
battery leads have to be replaced as a whole sub-assembly that includes
leads going to the alternator, etc.; so corrosion build-up is not a good
thing: you can't just use generic battery leads from AutoZone or the like.

I read on one Web site that cranking ability can go away quite suddenly.
I recall that that is what happened with the battery on our old Stratus:
one day it started as usual; the next day it didn't.

In an earlier thread someone suggested Exide or Johnson Controls.

Perce

 

Y'all is not commonly used as singular, but it can be.

Yun's should replace the battery unless it would not be a big deal for
you for whoever could be driving it at the time to suddenly be stranded
somewhere and have to drop everything to deal with it. You are pushing
it at this point.

There's a vertical post on a brace that you can see. A projection from
the air cleaner housing has a grommet on that post. Just pull up with
large force - hold the force steady and it should slip off the post
after a few seconds. Might not hurt to wet it with soapy water first -
it can be pretty tight. Then - on the fender side of the housing there
are two posts that rest in holes in the fender (the posts are
horizontal, pointing towards the fender) - not a friction fit. Just
move the housing towards the engine, and lift it out. Intake hose would
have been loosened and disconnected prior.

The manual has you remove the battery access panel in the fender well.
To me, if that's the way you're going to do it, the wheel is in the way,
and it would be better to remove it. HOWEVER - many people prefer to
tip the battery up on end and lift it up thru the hole left by removing
the air cleaner, which the manual has you remove anyway to have access
to the hold down bolts and the cable clamps - avoids working thru the
wheel well.

 

I was once told there are only 3 or 4 companies in the entire world making
car batteries. they just sell them to die hard, interstate, NAPA, Eveready,
optima, etc who put their name on them. but i have yet to confirm that.

the two you mention i do know are 2 of the main manufacturers.

The LHS started cranking real slow, is how i knew mine was bad. if you could
get the caps off yours you could check the cells with a volt meter but i
doubt the cell caps are removable on yours. i think a load test might be
good in your situation. you can try the poor mans load test and if it gives
you any indications of something weird, you can get it checked further or
replace at that point if you want.

most of the poor mans tests i have seen involve disabling the ignition ( i
unplug the coil pack when i want to do that) then crank it for 15 seconds
and measure voltage with voltmeter, hoping it stays above 9.6V. make sure
car has been in the garage for a few hours and battery is room temp so to
speak, or if it outside its around 70-80 degrees i think.

 

Everything I've seen out of the local Interstate battery store is marked
made in China and does not seem to hold up as well
as non China made batteries.

 

Correction: Since the Service Manual referred to removal of the air
cleaner (which is above the battery), I assumed that battery was to be
removed by lifting it out through the resulting gap. The SM referred
also to removal of a "battery splash guard," which I could not find
mentioned anywhere else. I now see that the "battery splash guard" is
the plate covering an opening through which the battery can be slid back
into the wheel area -- so, yes, the wheel *does* have to be removed
after all.

Perce

 

<snip>

Replaced the battery but had to do it myself. The sign says "Free
installation with purchase." The guy asked whether I wanted to take it
with me or have them install it. I said, "Installation is free, right?"
"Yes," he replied. I said, "OK. I'll let you install it." But when he
found out that it meant going through the wheel arch, they wouldn't
install it at all. When I pointed to the sign and the absence of any
mention of exclusions, he said, "Oh, we have a whole list of exclusions
here behind the counter." This was at Sam's Club.

No point in arguing any further. Installation took longer than on the
old Stratus, but at least it's done now. Yes. I did have to remove the
wheel; see earlier message.

Perce

 

There are several postings on the various LH car forums where owners got
irritated at places like Walmart, etc. that offer free battery
installation but refuse to on LH cars. Some people take it better than
others.

 

i stepped in some trans fluid at dealer earlier this year and it was raining
out by my car. i slipped and fell because of it and landed on my
wrist....hurt like hell. well i needed a battery bad that day, and they
agreed to put it in for me, but my LHS is 1st Gen, and the battery is up on
top over on the driver side.

 

Oops - yeah - my comments apply to 2nd gen. LH ('98-'04) only.

--
Bill Putney
(To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my
address with the letter 'x')

 

Your original battery probably had at least another year of life in it.

 

Maybe, but for $70 I can be reasonably sure that we are not going to be
stuck somewhere with a car that won't start -- at least not because of a
flat battery.

Perce