socali.luv

I understand exactly how you feel right now, and how many people must feel. Here's the thing; dealerships, or ANY business for that matter, WILL nickle and dime you unless you are a well known client. The established relationship with that dealer is worth a lot more to them and to you than you my think. If you regularly service your car at one place with a specific advisor, they will ensure you are happy and not nickle and dimed, because more important to any MB Service Advisor than 2 hours of labor is a 100% follow up survey report. The same may be said for many other businesses. We see the end result of your situation, but did you take the time to adequately communicate with your service advisor before the final billing to ensure a good price and fix?

I Like Soup

Yep, the last week or so of driving I've been getting the intermittent variety of the Workshop Visit Red Battery indicator. As it turns out, I went to Autozone to get my main battery checked out since it had been about 2.5 years since that one had been changed. The battery read 12.65V and the alternator was good. So, we checked the accessory battery under the hood and it read 10.33V. I just got that one in October '09 so I'll be getting that one replaced under warranty tomorrow!

GRAFH

Has anyone found an alternate battery that replaces the aux FIAMM Italian battery? I mean 100% bolt in. Using the same OE battery connections with out modifying them?

Tibi

Go to any battery place and they will be able to sell you one. I wasn't driving my car at the time so I took the batteries in, they took one look told me what the battery codes were, and I was on my way in 10mins.

These are not special batteries. I believe my replacement is a motorcycle battery. Exact same size, and terminals.

novae500

Battery below the air filter is similar to motorcycle batteries.

GRAFH

Yes, I know it is similar to motorcycle batteries. I'm more worried about the special terminals it has. So far I checked interstate and optima and neither have a listing for the aux battery.

Tibi

They are not special terminals. My old quad had the same terminals.
http://www.power-sonic.com/powersport_battery_types.php

If you cant pull the battery go to the dealer ask them what battery code is. Then go to a bike shop or atv shop and they will be able to sell you one.

W109 W211 6.2L

I have had Oddessy batteries in the past and they are pricey but worth every penny. Not sure they offer one for the electrical but if they do thats what i will be buying, considering its much better than any Mercedes OEM battery.

Infiniti

i went to walmart and bought one. 73 bucks.

chawkins2001

Good info here guys.

GRAFH

Optima does not make an aux battery for the amg.

W109 W211 6.2L

Odyssey is not an Optima, its actually a better battery than an Optima from all the research I have done and seen. A standard Odyssey battery goes for around $300 while an Optima is around $200

Rmd45021

*Fixed*

Shifter

Good point. They did fix it right? (not like you brought it in saying, replace my battery)

Denroll

^That was from 2008.

In the motorcycle world, people have had luck with genuine Yuasa batteries. I recently purchased a battery from a new company called Shorai that makes lithium based batteries that are amazingly compact and light. Their "weakest" battery still has an output of 102 CCAs (Cold Cranking Amps) and weighs a whopping ONE pound! They also maintain their charge for up to a year. I had a highly modified bike (bored, stroked, cammed) with a bumped up compression ratio. That thing was a bear to start and would chew up a stock battery like it were cotton candy. The "fix" for many of us was to put in a larger battery from a bigger bike with double the CCAs. It woke the starter motor right up, but required hacking up of the battery mount while adding weight (much more noticeable in an off-road bike). These Shorai batteries are offering even better CCAs than their equivalent lead based counterparts and are unbelievably light. The off-road motorcycle community has tested and approved these things, so car duty should be no big deal.

What is the A/h required for the aux battery and terminal polarity position? I can find a battery that will probably cost the same as one from the dealer while weighing about a pound and a half. The batteries ship with blocks of foam to use as shims because they are much smaller than the equivalent lead-based battery. Looks like a simple bracket could be fabricated by anyone with metal working skills (if we only had someone like that on this board!!) and voila, we could end up with a great alternative to the stock battery that will shed 10 lbs or so in the process (maybe worth .01 seconds in the 1/4 mile). If my battery goes out, I will totally guinea pig this concept.

Unfortunately, their largest battery is only rated at 550 CCAs (yet it only weighs 4.95lbs!). They're still a young company so hopefully they will branch out into the car battery business and we can swap to a better battery that will let us lose another 30lbs or so. I emailed their Japanese contact last year before they began selling batteries and they were open to communication. Maybe I can ask them if they plan on branching out into the bigger battery business (BBB!).

Sorry about the novel in this really old thread, but... get over it
Anyone have any thoughts on this idea?

GRAFH

Sorry I meant Optima, Optima does not make a plug and play aux battery for the amg.

GRAFH

Here is the one I found at batteries plus. $65 with coupon. http://www.batteriesplus.com/product...TAX14--BS.aspx Direct replacement.

saffrontiger

Wanted to post my experience. Was getting the 'Convenience features...." error message on start up for a few a weeks. Batteries were over 7 years old. Called MB roadside who came to my home. Checked both batteries and were found to be bad. Replaced in 10 minutes for $160 aux battery and $188 main battery. No other charges for coming out. Saved time and money.

GRAFH

Dam, you got raped by the dealer via roadside.

norway500hp

thats messed up! i had a simular Experience with mercedes here in north palm bch.
its so anoying that they do that all the time!

GregMB

I swapped out the front battery myself this afternoon. Pretty simple DIY.

Does anyone know if the "Visit Workshop" red screen is supposed to go out immediately, or will it shut off by itself after I drive the car around for a while?

I'll be logging about 400 miles tomorrow, so there should be plenty of time for the car to figure out that there's a fresh battery up front.

-G

boschk

I got the red "take to stealer" message last night.

Bought a $30 multi-meter and tested both batteries and the alternator in 15 minutes.

It's 5 minutes to reinstall the trunk trim to get to the battery and now that the trim & cabin airbox are already out to check the auxiliary battery, its now 3 minutes to install the new battery and about the same to install the trim.

So, 30 minutes, soup to nutz. The dealer should have charged you at most 1 hour labor + the battery. That's rape for sure.

novae500

If you can't change a battery then. Deserve to get raped by dealer. Most places like adv auto oreiily pep boys will change battery for you free when purchased.

moosejaw

Holy Marty Macfly...
A thread bumped from 2008

You didnt catch this?

boschk

So what. It's still a relevant topic of discussion. The last time I checked, people are still getting red battery lights for the first time. In fact, I'm going to do a video on the repair, so other aren't duped into getting gang raped at the dealer by what I see if a cleaverly crafted marketing error message, designed to scare drivers into the dealer.

So, if you don't like my reply, don't read it. You have that power, yes? Viva la thead cops! Maybe I should have started a whole new thread on the topic instead of searching and replying to an existing one. I'm sure you'd have beeched about that too.