Mercedes Benz Battery Source ?

[Doug E]

Anybody know of a source for replacement batteries for an MB C240?

I checked our hosts site and didn't find any available.

The dealer is quoting $380 which I almost choked on.

TIA.

[fingpilot]

Any Interstate Battery dealer will sell you a better one than the dealers' for less than half that.

While you are at it, does anyone know where I can find the cardboard trunk tray for that same C-class MB? (2000 C230K)

[VincentVega]

I picked up one for Mums benz at Costco for ~$75.

[the]

Exactly. Why would you buy a battery from the dealer? It's just a battery. An Interstate is a better battery, will last longer, and is $120 or so.

[Doug E]

Trying to do some research now but something to do with unique type of battery and external venting for the 2001 C class ???

I was going to call the local Pep Boys and Auto Zone in the morning but was just curious about an on-line price check tonight.

Thanks.

[Carrman]

I have that exact same car, and replaced the battery myself. There is absolutely nothing special about the battery. It's just a regular old 12V auto battery.

There is an issue, however, with the early 2000's MBs and disconnecting the battery. I'm not up on all of it, but it can cause all sorts of problems! I read about the problems before replacing mine, and was nervous about problems occurring. When I did mine, sure enough, after I got the new one in, I had all sorts of electrical errors, blinkers didn't work, etc. As it turned out, putting the new battery in caused some module in the rear trunk to blow out ("SAM module?")

From what I read, this is not entirely uncommon with those cars, and there reaily isn't any way to prevent it - it may happen or it may not. (Although I would think that if you disconnected the SAM module before doing the battery swap, that would protect the SAM module, but I'm not sure).

It has nothing to do with the replacement battery (i.e., whether you use a "factory" battery or not makes no difference), but it has to do with disconnecting the old one and reconnecting the new one.

Luckily mine was under extended warranty still, so it didn't cost anything to get the module replaced. I think it was around a $350 part. Supposedly, the new replacement SAM module won't have the same problem.

[VincentVega]

Here's the Interstate version:
http://www.interstatebatteries.com/estore/search.asp?details=1&mscssid=EN5NXDF24XTW9GXVNHM6VWLFG8WJC0MF&N=21+4294574607+2147384743+4294574618+4294574482&part_number=MTP%2D93&part_desc=Mega%2DTron+Plus+%2D+85+Months+%2D+850+C CA&Nu=Part+Number&Ns=product+Type%7C0%7C%7CRank%7C1&js=1

[Doug E]

Thanks for the headsup Carrman ... I'll research that as well.

Wouldn't you know Chris the local Firestone sells interstate batteries

[CARacic]

use a memory saver to prevent those problems, and prevent erasing computer settings. This is a 9 volt battery that gets plugged into the cigarette lighter.

[hytem]

Autozone might be cheaper than Interstate. They are for Boxsters. Go to the websites and find the battery for your car. The site will tell you the nearest dealer.

To retain computer memory, keep a trickle charger connected to the battery leads while disconnecting the old battery and installing the new one.

[ChemMan]

I would check out benzworld. Keep in mind that if you call the roadside service, mercedes will install the battery and only charge the cost of the battery. No delivery charge or installation charge, but $380 is way too much for the battery. I had the battery in our old ML320 replaced for $110 (dealer). The slk has an interstate in it and the 300 SEL battery I picked up at Advance Auto.

[onewhippedpuppy]

My BMW 540 required an external vent battery due to it's under the rear seat location, I picked one up for under $100 at Autozone. Just a battery, nothing exotic about it.

[Palum6o]

Didn't the C's have a notorious problem with the stepper motors getting unsynchronized because the batteries would die, and owners would recharge them or put in new batteries themselves? If the stepper motors become unsynched, some plastic linkage piece would break resulting in an expensive fix because the entire dash board needs to come out. Another issue with the earlier C's was the seat control module (under the seat) slowly drain the battery, you may want to make sure that's not causing an unwanted drain.

[silverc4s]

On our ML320, when I changed the battery, I had to turn the steering wheel lock to lock and back to center to get clear of some ABS computer faults. That and reset the radio code. Better to have the 9v cig lighter kit, no worries then as long as you don't wait too long.

[Ned, NYNA11]

You could connect a battery charger to the car battery leads while disconnecting and replacing the battery.

In this wat the car would never know the battery was removed and all the magic modules would sleep on undisturbed.