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Not sure if this has been asked and answered, but why are you going through your insurance? I assume the other party was determined to be at fault. Their insurance company is on the hook for making you whole. If you keep the car by buying back at the salvage price, there is a good chance your title will now be marked "Salvage" and you may get virtually nothing if you decide to sell it in the future.
Yes they were at fault and I did buy the car back from my insurance company for $1038. I went thru my insurance b/c it was easier and they were offering a lot more than his. In Massachusetts, if the car is older than 10 years old and the adjustor labels you car "Total, repairable" the title is not changed at all. I even have the same insurance company and policy that I had before the accident. Of course you have to repair the car enough to pass the annual MA state inspection but that is the only requirement, this is straight from my insurance agent. Of course the car fax will have an accident on it as well.
@TimC300@Odd Piggy I forgot to ask, I plan on changing my battery this week, is it safe to completely disconnect the battery from the car? I've read conflicting answers that you need to have it hooked up to another battery to save the engine settings while others say it is perfectly fine. A MB tech with 10 years experience even said it was fine to install without backup power but I wanted to see what you guys think.
As for the strut making the drum/pinging noise only when turning, they called me today after I dropped the car off again this morning. They said they were sent the wrong strut and it was installed. The shop put the wrong part in and that is why it was making noise. They replaced it with the correct one today but want to check the alignment tomorrow. After I talked them up, this happens HAHA but at least they admitted it which I thought was big. Hope it didn't cause any other damage. I only drove the car maybe 50 miles like that but still. Of course now I have another issue, the front tire that was blown in the accident, after putting on 2 new tires, was losing air on the highway! I had to pull over and luckily I had my compressor on me to fill the tire, it was under 10 PSI. So I had broken the valve on that tire back in May 2024 and they fixed it but apparently its losing air but only when driving over 50+ mph. So they are going to check it out and see if the valve/TPMS is bad or if the rim got damaged or has corrosion. I don't want any issues, I might just see if I can buy another rim, its the front 17x7.5 47 offset. I honestly hope this is the last issue I have with this car for awhile, what a pain in the ***. If I wasn't pocketing close to 8K from the accident after repairs, I would have probably bought another car, hope it doesn't come back to bite me and these are they last of the issues.
Last edited by Boston M Benz; 09-30-2024 at 06:45 PM.
In terms of good chargers, I use a Noco genius as well. I have three v8 engines with big batteries. You want a charger that doesn’t take 24 hr to charge. you also want one that offers the repair mode or “desulphate” mode.
In terms of size, always install the biggest battery that fits and comes with the longest warranty. Most batteries are sealed these days so they can not be maintained as easily as in the past. Both my 63 and my lx, I went up a size than was stock. That you are in a cold climate, makes the choice for higher cca a no brainer. Check its fit before returning. Smaller batteries with short warranties are just part of the scam to make our cars unreliable and addicted to repair.
Charging a battery once a week is silly. Either leave it on a trickle charger, or drive it. A trickle charger is not for recharging or repairing but maintaining.
An old battery is time for replacement. Its only a matter of time with cold weather coming. They don’t make batteries that last that long anymore, like a panasonic brand battery.
So Costco told me the Interstate H8 would fit but after reading many forums and comments, it will not. I need the H7, its the same price $170 with a 3 year warranty. I am going to just put in a new battery, with winter coming I really dont want any problems. This H7, while being the same size as the one in there now, its actually more powerful so that's a plus.
@TimC300@Odd Piggy I forgot to ask, I plan on changing my battery this week, is it safe to completely disconnect the battery from the car? I've read conflicting answers that you need to have it hooked up to another battery to save the engine settings while others say it is perfectly fine. A MB tech with 10 years experience even said it was fine to install without backup power but I wanted to see what you guys think.
I always attach a battery tender that provides enough to power the interior lights, head unit and radio. It connects to the OBDII connector under the dash so it is out of the way. You do have to be careful that the positive (+) battery terminal does not contact anything metal with this power, so I put it in a Zip Lock bag. I've never had any issues with blowing fuses doing it. I'm embarrassed that I'm not actually certain that it is still needed, though. It's a holdover because on my ML350 W163 (1998-2005) it was necessary to avoid resetting the radio anti-theft, recentering the steering, calibrating the traction control, and calibrating the electric windows and sun roof. Maybe @TimC300 has something definite.
I got the H7 interstate and will drop it off tomorrow at the shop, see if they can install it. Its got 850 cold cranking amps and 1000 cracking amps. I've ready horror stories about people blowing fuses and worse when replacing batteries in these cars. While I feel like I can do it and don't need to have it hooked up to power while replacing, id rather have them do it.
There a couple of instances where people have shorted something to ground and blown some of the big fuses in the pre-fuse box. With minimum care that can be avoided. But I think you just want to get your car back. No criticisms from me. I’ve got a whole shop and still I do the same thing sometimes.
I had picked up the battery at Mercedes and brought it home, installed it then drove back to return the old one for my core charge refund.
I could have done it in the parking lot but I know myself and how I will want to make a big project out of it and clean everything while the battery is out. There was all sorts of dirt and debris under the battery. Unbolt the clamp on the right side at the bottom of the battery. The negative battery cable clamp nut will fully unscrew but the positive side would not, I think its made that way so it doesnt come off all the way. This wasnt an issue for disconnecting the battery but was a pain when trying to install the harness for my battery charger, had to snip the connector of the charger to make a spade-type connector to slide it under the nut.
I dont remember having to reset anything after connecting the new battery, maybe the time and date on the dash but the radio settings were fine. I've never even changed the radio stations since I bought the car.
When I removed the battery cables I just wrapped them in a towel so they dont touch anything.
09-30-2024, 06:12 PM
