zip5famu

Anyone replaced a battery lately? What replacement battery do you recommend for R230?

Utopia Texas

Mine has two. The one under the hood or the one in the trunk?

Heatwave

The batteries in my '07 R230 are OEM. The car rolled out of the factory in April 2006, so my batteries are a full ten-years old. Both still have the voltage and the CCA required to keep my car running, so I'll keep them until one starts to falter ... then I'll replace both with MB-branded batteries. Having said that ... one or both may be dead as a rock tomorrow morning. Our cars are full of surprises.

anothercar

At the risk of having a dead battery when I return to Ohio on April 24, I'll state that my '03 R230 batteries
are OEM. Only 22k miles on the car and I connect a trickle charger to the trunk battery when the car sits for any length of time. Cranks up like a charm.

horrible

Purchased mine from Advance auto on line with 20% off of $168.00

It fits right in but the upper hold down plate with the two nuts doesn't have a lip to clamp down on.
I tightened it down anyway. The lower clampworked fine.

V8SL500

Replaced mine a couple of months ago. My technician did not recommend aftermarket batteries so I purchased OEM for trunk (main battery) and hood (secondary battery).

It is wise to replace both at the same time.

Ask your technician to test the batteries before replacing them. Sometimes they don't need to be replaced yet.

1054boston

funny you should mention battery...replaced my starting battery over the weekend with an OEM parts mgr at Mercedes-Benz south Orlando good deal $189.00..once you have disconnected the original and replaced with new an error message with a battery pic in red will appear don't let them talk you into a $100 reset fee it will go away after a few startups...

bha

Front battery is used for starting only (and nothing else!). In my W221 it cranked slowly before dying, but in my R230 when the battery died it was fine one day and dead the next. So replace at 10 years at the very most, 7 is probably safer. My W221 made it 7 years and not sure on the R230 as it was preowned.


Back battery is used for all electronics except starting.. windows, radio, etc.


Front battery the dealer has the best battery. It's very unique and I have only ever seen one aftermarket battery and it was more expensive by the time you include shipping. Dealer has a reasonably decent price considering these last 7+ years. Buy from the dealer (call a few as they have different prices)


Back battery is easily replaced with a Walmart EverStartMaxx (it's either size H6 or H8 can't remember). Cheap battery but very very good (Johnson Controls).


The above is what I do with all of my MB's. Front from dealer, back from Walmart. I have tried many things and this is the best bang for your buck.

dRockSL55

Advance auto also sells a front battery for our cars, seems to be the only aftermarket starter battery available now. Appears identical to MB battery in every way, even the stickers save the Mercedes top label. It is slightly cheaper than the dealer, even more so if you use a promo code. When I bought mine it was 30% off and I received a $30 credit for my next purchase. Was in stock for pickup.It was also easier for me to drop the core off as it can be done at any location.

Heatwave

Are the MB-branded starter batteries AGM-type batteries now?

Welwynnick

You can start the V8 or V12 using a small battery from any old shopping runabout. Say 50Ah / 400CCA. No need to be precious about what battery to use. Brand or spec really make little difference, its mostly down to condition.

The thing that kills batteries is parasitic discharge from all the control units, which slowly drain the battery. When the battery drops below 12.4V for any length of time, it starts to sulphate and loose capacity.

If you keep your battery charged to at least 12.4V at all times (easier said than done)it will last a long time (as long as you're not in Arizona!).

Nick

F1BHP

The rear battery would normally last longer than the front as it is AGM however on the SL the rear AGM trickle charges the Front Battery which is why both last so long. So as long as you keep the rear battery topped up both will give you a long life. This is why I would recommend a factory battery most importantly for the rear as that is the one that will keep the starter battery going and save you money in the long term.