bigspender101

(First I did search the forum and found nothing)

I need a new battery and am wondering if I should go OEM? MB wants $200 for the new one. I hear mixed stories on whether I should stay OEM or just get a Interstate which supposedly is comparable. Also If I call Roadside they wont charge me for install. Any suggestions would help.

bigspender101

Will this Battery work? http://c2c.activant.com/ctoc/index.j...86A10UX3RTO00A

cpbeasley

yellow top optima. hands down... if you plan on keeping the car for a long period of time.

wally AMG

Better way to go... Call Roadside ***. let them install the battery... best way to go... also they have better price I guess (around $150.00)

ncmudbug

Hey Beasley, do you have an Optima? I couldn't find a listing for Mercedes on the Optima website. A guy on this thread (https://mbworld.org/forums/c-class-w...g-battery.html) says there isn't one available.

BTW - I like the Optima pretty well. I have one in my Lotus and it will crank it as long as I need even in cold weather without a choke.

cpbeasley

Hey bug

I don't actually, but there isn't a car in our family that otherwise doesn't crank without an optima under the hood. And you're right, they prove themself time and time again esp in the worst circumstances of cold even on any one of my dad's 8+ muscle car projects. We know an optima rep, I'll hit him up and see what he says.

bigspender101

Hey wally, Where I live, Roadside charges 200 for the battery. Does anyone know about that Bosh in the link? 99 bucks seems cheap! Im only keeping the car for 2 or 3 more years. by the way

OneOfaKindTrini

Did you search up the tread of the list of faults that occur when the battery is removed? Roadside assistance FTW.

phister

You just need to make sure you remove the positive and negative in the correct order. They tell you how to remove your battery correctly in the owners manual in your car.

I would opt for OEM battery IMO if you're only going to keep it for a few years. If you're going to keep it longer, I'd shell out and get an Odyssey battery, had one in my other car it worked great.

ncmudbug

The Odyssey looks nice but for my '05 C230, they go for about $400!
Advance Auto sells a battery for it for about $140... How much better are they? Do they last a lot longer?

cpbeasley

You'd be crazy to spend $400 on that battery!

I know nothing of the Advance Auto battery...? But for that cost, let me see if I can find an Optima (yellow top FTW) that will fit.

MW_ATL

I can't complain about the life I have gotten out of the OEM battery, so I'd go back with it. But that's just me.

cpbeasley

+1
Call up roadside.

Viper98912

5+ years so far on the original battery. Due to the specific size and high power of the stock battery, I'd just stick with OEM, and I'm a fan of optima's (but for other cars).

Glyn M Ruck

Fit the genuine 100Ah battery - they are excellent. Mine is 7 years old & perfect. Just had it load tested at my B service as I asked if I should change it. My service manager said no-way - it's fine. Maybe it will fall over this winter but shows no signs yet.

91RS

I will be the odd one out here, I don't like Optima batteries any more. They are not a good as they used to be, I had one in my Trailblazer and it didn't last as long as the cheap Wal-Mart battery that was in my old Camaro and left me needing a jump. I'll just stick with "regular" batteries. The stock Benz battery is fantastic though, many people on here with 7 or more years on one.

Xhale707

+100000 I replaced my battery a year or so ago.. Replaced with OEM for around 150 with roadside coming into my garage to do all the work =D can't beat that.. I even got to play with the techs mercedes suv for a while =D

Old Battery lasted almost 8 years I plan to get the same life out of this one.

cpbeasley

off-topic but which optima did you have?
We've had issues with the red top as well... however the yellow is built to take a beating

mleskovar

I don't know why, but the spec for the battery is 100ah. You won't find another battery that fits with 100ah besides the one from MB. Mine lasted 5 years and was going strong until it died one day after a long weekend of no driving. I just had roadside replace it because it was 5 years old but in hindsight I bet it was the seat modules that caused the problem and the several days with no driving drained it. Many have replaced the stock battery with a lower rated battery with no problem but I still believe MB put 100ah there for a reason.

Boom vang

I just went though the same thing this week. My Alternator/Battery go to workshop malfunction was on and since my battery is 7.5 years old I decided to get a new one (turns out that was not the problem) but knowing the age and live in a winter country I figured that maybe at the best situation I could get another half year or year out of it and was not worth the chance of getting stranded especially in ski country with no service, eventually it would HAVE to be replaced

The OEM battery in Canada costs $281 which is a lot for lead (maybe the plates are silver lined?)!!! An aftermarket battery is $130 but not exactly the same size ~ 1/2-3/4" lower in height. I made a trip to Mercedes in Buffalo NY the same OEM battery goes for $147, a bargain compared to the Canadian price. Since I got over 7 years from the battery I figured OEM is worth it. I never get more than 4 years out of aftermarket in my other cars.

**Something to note**, seems that MB has 2 suppliers for their OEM battery and while initially they look similar, upon closer inspection the cases are slightly different but have the same part numbers. One is made in Mexico and the other is made in Germany. I went with the German one (it has a small round sight glass on the top) and has a prominent label of where it is manufactured. I figured that made by Hans would probably be better in the long run, than made by Pedro (no offense and not being prejudice), never had any luck in items carrying the Hecho en Mexico unless it was Corona, or Kahlua.
BTW I happened to be at jobber today and there was a display of batteries and the AC Delco was identical in all ways to the MB made in Mexico version even down to where they place the country of origin. I am hoping that my German battery is still made by Varta as the original

To avoid errors and synching windows ESP etc I made a memory saver. Got an old 12V plug, soldered a diode in the positive (pointing to the cig lighter) and crimped a standard female connector on each end and expanded them a bit with a screw driver. Then plugged in the ends to my deWalt 12v XRP battery from my drill (make sure which is + and -) turned the key to the first notch and plugged in to my lighter. After I disconnected my battery put in the new one (all of course in the driveway at MB Buffalo - did not want to pay duty or taxes coming back in to Canada) and when everything is connected did not lose any info.

LILBENZ230

You can put a disclaimer next to anything you want to, but if it is ridiculous and/or racist, it just doesn't help.

Glyn M Ruck

The friends I stayed with in Dallas earlier this year had 2 yellow top Optima batteries fail in 6 months. One in a Dodge truck & one in a Lexus. Maybe they have had a few bad ones lately. I always understood them to be excellent.

Boom vang

I looked into an Optima before I went OEM but on their site there is no listings for MB

bigspender101

Does anyone know what the warranty on the OEM battery is? I know interstate has a 4yr replacement warranty. And Im guessing every dealer charges different prices. They want 200 for the OEM battery

Boom vang

When I was doing my checking, it was $202 in Sarasota FL and $147 in Buffalo NY and $281 in Toronto, maybe dealers are allowed to set whatever price they want for batteries and take it as a profit margin over the wholesale cost