jkaetz

I don't know what the dealer is charging for batteries but if you get it from another source it is an AGM H8 battery. The last one I bought was around $170. If the two hours of labor quoted above is correct then that quote seems reasonable.

TNS550

Thanks for the responses. From re-reading the post re a battery load tester, it hit me that I have one at home. Going to test all our vehicle batteries tomorrow, then decide on GLS. Given your responses I'm leaning on proactively replacing the battery given age and quoted cost.

stktyz33

Re: battery charger / maintainer.

I have a CTEK 5A but I wouldn't recommend it, unless you have all the time in the world to wait for the charge to complete or put it on a charger often. It takes 1.5 - 2 days (!) on my Jeep to charge the battery from like 20-30% to full. I eventually bought Noco PRO25 (pay once, cry once) when it was on sale. It's night and day speed wise, quality of the unit is way higher etc. For those who are opposed to higher than 5A charging (not going there), you can just press the downrate button and it will give you 5A charging, so you can use 25A only when you feel like it.

streborx

$462 for the battery + install seems reasonable, especially for an "under-the-seat" mount. Interesting that most folks think nothing of dropping $150 once a year for an oil change, but 3x that once every 3 years for a battery seems exorbitant.

Under the driver's seat seems an unusual mounting location. Both my G550 and X7 have H8 batteries (spec'd at about 58 lbs.) and they're mounted at centerline under the cargo floors. Is there anything under the passenger seat to counter balance this battery weight in your vehicle?

wildta

If your dealer is only charging $150 for an oil change, you better let us know which one and not keep it to yourself! 🤣

If you have the mild hybrid, the 48v lives under the passenger seat which if anyone is curious, it costs around $1280 for a new 48v battery and I assume the labor is around the same as the 12v replacement.

stktyz33

I don't understand why it's designed this way. On my second car - JGC WK2, the 12V and 12V AUX batteries are below the passenger seat but can be accessed by pushing the seat all the way forward and pulling the pre-cut carpet, like 2 mins of work. I understand why MB wants to make 48V battery harder to access but 12V access could be designed better.

mikapen

You just described the procedures for a W164 Mercedes ML. The Jeep JGC W4 is actually a 164 chassis, from when Mercedes owned Chrysler.

The V167 is new, and has the 48v battery, so it's now changed.