kajtek1

If you qualify, you will have MB roadside assistance coming to your place and replace the battery free of charge.
If you go to MB service center - they will charge you in the range of $100 labor. That will be pretty expensive coffee.
Last time I bought Bosch flooded battery at PepBoys it was about $95 with 90 months warranty. No coffee and even if they would offer installation, I would strongly decline.
Ignition computer is too expensive on those cars to let guys with 1 month training to deal with it.
Bottom line, $146 for battery who will last about 4 years, or $95 for one that will last closer to 10 years.
You better scratch your head.

cetialpha5

Pepboys used to install the battery for free, but they now charge for it just because it's in the trunk and because they can. That's why I'd go to Advance Auto, the pricing is better there anyway.

EMFAudio

I disagree. I go through lead acid batteries in 3-5 years without living in cold winters. I sell AGM and use them in everything I have when the lead acid dies or I need better performance. The MB battery in my E55 I just got is dated 6/12 and I suspect I will be replacing it within a year. It will be replaced with this http://www.emfcaraudio.com/xs-power-d4900/ and probably won't put another battery in it for 10 years. I have D3400's and D3100's that are 5 years old and work like new. One of the D3400's I have that is 3 years old I accidentally took down to 2.4v last year. I recovered it with a C-Tek charger and I've been using it ever since, rests at 12.8v to this day, in a vehicle I start once every 3-6 weeks and drive virtually none from November to March.

N_Jay

Hot weather shortens the life of a battery much faster then cold weather.

EMFAudio

While hot weather does shorten the life span, many find in the winter the inability to start and replace it when it would be fine in warmer weather. Under hood heat does most of the killing, which isn't the case in W211's. All my other cars are battery under the hood in the examples listed.

kajtek1

Well.... my friend took his black, 2 years old at the time W211 to Las Vegas in summer.
All the parking spots in multi-level garage were taken, so he park it on the roof.
2 hr later the car would have no power.
The sun cooked the battery inside the trunk. His is 2007 E350, so I think he had AMG

EMFAudio

Your buddy had an unfortunate circumstance with a bad battery, meaning, it was going bad before that day. If that's how things worked, tens of thousands of people would be replacing their batteries every day. I have friends that live that have 8-12 batteries in their cars, who don't replace them every day, or even every 2 years for that matter. Extreme heat shortens the life of a battery, it doesn't instantly kill it. You can tell if it's heat damage by looking at the battery. If it's swollen, it could be heat. You can also continue to use the battery perfectly functioning for YEARS with it being swollen in some cases.

The fact still remains that on a 120 day outside in the sun, the cars interior can easily reach 170-180 degrees but the trunk will never get as high as the cabin. Under hood temperatures are routinely 200+ degrees, hotter than the interior will ever get. A 2 year old battery can be defective, I had a battery in a van of mine for less than 24 hrs before the van caught fire in a parking lot at 4 AM with nobody near it.

cetialpha5

Don't worry about him. He's always saying things like that. There are many threads with people whose AGM battery last 8-10 years and he doesn't believe any of them. He likes to talk about how his Spanish flooded battery lasts 13 years. Nice anecdote but useless in the real world. He's always taking the exception for the rule. It's a common logical fallacy. Probably why he got banned in the other forum.

The longest I've ever had a flooded battery last was about 8 years, most of them died in the 4-6 year range.

EMFAudio

Does that mean I should drop the lithium bomb for entertainment? I sell those too, for the people that have thousands of amps of current draw but lack the space for 20 group 31's.

kajtek1

You keep spreading wide propaganda, while you always deny real life facts.
I was not banned on benzworld.
I was voted out of W211 section by spammers and trolls selling batteries and other stuff, where my experience was screwing up their business.
New owners sure make constructive dispute there very hard if not impossible.
Your experience shows only what kind of decisions you make in your life.
When batteries with 100 and 90 months warranties are available for at least a decade, you chose those who die in less than 6 years.
Enough said.

cetialpha5

I always try to be helpful and will change my tune if other things come to light. I'm not banned on the other forum, I still post there and it's a lot more quiet. You on the other hand had many battles with these other so called trolls and spammers. It makes people wonder who the real trolls and spammers were.

Here's something you might find surprising, they don't sell 90 and 100 month warranties in my state. Must be a state thing. The most anyone sells in this state is 3 years. Also the last time I had a battery that was still under the original pro-rated warranty, it was useless because they take the pro-rated amount off the list price of a new battery and wouldn't let you use a coupon code whereas it was just cheaper to just buy a new one with a coupon code. I don't really want to get into a long battle with you because it's a waste of time.

Are you really being helpful if many people disagree with you and you don't have the backing to support your positions? The only thing you ever post is anecdotes. The scientific method is based on repeatable, reproducible results.

EMFAudio

Where are your facts? All I saw was a person that wasn't you one time had an experience that contradicts the rest of the population of Las Vegas. I gave real facts, I even gave facts from my own experience that is a larger sample group in cars I currently own than your one single 3rd party "facts". You haven't documented anything other than opinion, and opinion that contradicts scientific method I might add.

I'd LOVE to see one of those 90-100 month warranties. I've never heard of it, ever, anywhere. The longest I've ever seen was a 60 month pro-rated which as you said, is worthless beyond the free replacement period.

If there is such a thing as a 100 month pro-rated warranty and you're buying those, congratulations, you're the perfect consumer. You fell for it. They know it won't last that long but you can't get that pro-rated discount without buying another just like it. So, they're offering you a 10% discount on a 200% markup knowing you'll take the bait. They will have a never ending streak of sales because of a sales tactic.

kajtek1

You guys are bringing spamming to level higher than Plutoe ever did.
Congratulations.
Here is current page with batteries for W211.
Flooded batteries offer 36/96 months warranty,
AMG offer 48 warranty
https://www.pepboys.com/parts/batter...03.2L%2520SOHC
And yes, there are PepBoys in MA as you can see here http://storelocator.pepboys.com/pepb...on?place=01001
Maybe there is regional change in warranties, but that doesn't require trolling to explain.

kajtek1

Additional observation I just made.
Flooded batteries have 4.9 rating from customers
AMG have 4.6 rating
So much for selling AMG on the forum.

N_Jay

LOL,


AGM!


Having designed DC supply systems, not using and AGM battery is foolish (providing they charging system is designed for it.)

cetialpha5

It would probably help your credibility if you called it an AGM battery instead of an AMG.

The 4 year on the AGM battery is not pro-rated. It's just a 3 year non prorated on the flooded battery. Pepboys occasionally offers a 35% off coupon code, but that seems to be around black friday and Christmas, their discounts seem to vary between 15-30% normally. Also did you notice that they charge about $97 to install the battery? At that rate, you mind as well go to the dealer or just go to a store like Autozone or Advance Auto who will install it for free.

Also even their website claims that AGM batteries last up to 2x longer than flooded batteries.

https://www.pepboys.com/parts/batter...ries_text-link

Bosch
BOSCH PLATINUM AGM BATTERIES
Advanced absorbed glass mat technology – lasts up to 2X as long as normal batteries

cetialpha5

Do you know what a bell curve is? You continually cite things at the extreme ends of it, yet we all know in the real world, things tend to migrate to the center of the curve.

Do you know anything about statistics? One battery that has 42 reviews vs one that has 10, I don't even bother reading them. Not statistically significant when millions of batteries are sold every year.

The only one trying to sell AMG is you. Try thinking Absorbed Glass Mat instead.

EMFAudio

So a given battery technology as a whole is now determined by a star rating of 1 make on Pep Boys website? Perhaps some of those higher ratings are coming from people that think there is an advantage to a pro-rated warranty that is essentially worthless and not actually anything to do with performance. Or perhaps "it works and it's cheaper" vs "it works and it costs more" is a factor. Not how well it works, just it works.

36 month replacement vs 48 month replacement, that in itself tells me what the manufacturer has more faith in. The manufacturer feels they won't have to replace the battery completely on their dime longer with AGM. You can pro-rate anything to get a sucker to buy it. Oh 96 months and I'll get 5% off a new battery?!?!?! I couldn't help but notice IF Pepboys has a breakdown of the pro-rate scale it's near impossible to find. Maybe they aren't making that readily available because they don't want people to see how terrible of a deal it really is.

EMFAudio

http://www.emfcaraudio.com/xs-power-d3100/ This is a 5.0 rating from customers, I guess it's the best battery on the planet.

kajtek1

I just love the typical salesman talk.
"sure you can tow this 15,000lb trailer with your F150"
Bad for you most of MB owners are educated guys and will not fall for primitive brainwashing.

Heatwave

So ... I guess this is what February does to us ....

kajtek1

It has nothing to do with February.
I call it plain corruption.
When some sponsors do register as sponsors and do legitimate advertising here (although annoying) - others are trying to sneak their advertisement under the table.
The worse are "stunt men" who pose as fellow car enthusiast only after few good posts made to gain some trust - start sneaking "I used the XXX brand and it work good for me"
The trouble is that it takes some observation to tell honest car owner with experience from stuntman trying to brainwash you.
Than plain idiots can be found everywhere.

EMFAudio

You fell for the 9 billion year pro-rated warranty so I guess you don't fall under the "most" category. I'd say being educated guys is better for everybody, including myself. Who's doing "primitive brainwashing"? Literally every person but you is stating 3rd party information along with actual first hand experience. Your own "proof" backfired on you when the same website even stated AGM lasts longer which you appear to be avoiding that being pointed out. Also avoiding where it was pointed out the free replacement warranty is longer on AGM, suggesting even the manufacturer thinks it's better.

Some people talk about what they know, sometimes what they know is what they do for a living. It's not all "advertising", it's experience. I personally have more experience with XS Power batteries than any other, therefore, that's my point of reference. It would be inappropriate for me to make a bunch of posts about something I don't actually know about (sound familiar?).

Now, your comments seem to be insinuating that I don't own one, perhaps you should look at my other posts. There aren't many as I bought mine 2 weeks ago, and what do you know, most of the posts have nothing to do with batteries, or even electrical, or audio, or literally anything else I deal with every day.

Thought I gotta say, with how hard you're pushing lead acid batteries as the word of god, I've gotta assume one of 2 things: 1) You have stock in lead or 2) An AGM battery raped your family and pillaged your village.

Heatwave

I don't want to enter the pissin' contest, but for the record: I replaced the OEM Varta AGM battery in my wife's '07 E350 yesterday with a Bosch AGM purchased for $247 at an MB dealership. This car came off the Bremen assembly line on December 14, 2006, and has started dependably and immediately many thousands of times since then and transported us more than 114,600 miles.

The Varta still had life in it ... probably good for the rest of this year, maybe more. But maybe not.

I don't want my wife to have to depend on an old battery "just one more one last time." If I wanted her to worry and wonder whether her car would dependably transport her, I would have bought her a GM or Chrysler product.

One more AGM note: up until a year ago, I rode Harley Road Kings for more than 30 years. The OEM HD batteries are OK ... no better than that. But I never had one last more than 2, maybe 3 (at the most) years. I replaced the factory batteries with AGM batteries; but I never replaced an AGM battery and never had one go south on me.

I don't know where, if at all, these comments place me on the AGM battery bell curves, but wherever you place me pencil me in with a smily face.