Quick Battery Question

[John B.]

if you go into the store, and look for their group 49 battery, there will be a little plastic pouch stuck onto the top or side of the battery with the vent tube and line extender in it.

My wife just called from Autozone & now a different person is saying it does come with the vent kit after I was told several hours ago it didn't. At least the venting issue is solved so now I just have to rig up the factory end of it to connect it to. Unfortunately the $65 price I was quoted 3 hours ago had gone up to $75 by the time my wife got there. I got the price down to $69 after having the guy recheck pricing but I have to say my low opinion of Autozone has not changed after todays experience. The guys at my local Napa are friggin brain surgeons compared to this crew.

[Ross]

My understanding is that the term sealed is a misnomer. Batteries supposedly never requiring water came to be referred to as sealed.

[Elekta]

I bought the sears version with the vent tube, and just last week it took a dump after a 4 day cold snap. I bought it in 2004 and sears popped it out, checked it, and reinstalled a brand new one for free. I think I paid $90 for it in 04. Good deal as of just the other day, I'd say.

$.02

[John B.]

The Interstate battery installed in my 535i back in 2000 is still going strong after 7 years. Comparing the 60 month Interstate I pulled out of the 525i with the Duralast I bought today it's obvious the p/o cheaped out last time. It was about 2/3s the size of the Duralast & down on cca.

[632 Regal]

same battery just didnt get the vent kit. Mine didnt get the vent kit either and after farting around searchin the barn for adequite hoses I gave up. Mine now is officially ventless. I have had a car battery explode before, under the hood, sounded like an M-80 and didnt realize it was the battery until a week later checking oil and fluids. was damn loud, wouldnt want that to happen under the back seat, I'd have a heart attack.

Mine was the 49-DL also...maybe it's a different non-vented version for the '95.

[John B.]

Any trick to entering the radio code after a battery change? Every time I punched in the 5th number the radio beeped & nothing changed. Used up my 3 chances so I guess I'll have to leave it on for an hour tomorrow & try again.

[Tiger]

Keep key in on position and come back again in 3 hours to key in the code... make no mistake.

[KenB]

...my low opinion of Autozone has not changed after todays experience. The guys at my local Napa are friggin brain surgeons compared to this crew.

Their computer told them that there were 2 different air filters for the 525, of course they gave me the wrong one which I didn't realize until I took the old one out, threw it away and tried to put the new one in.

...of course they didn't have the correct one when I took the wrong one back..."we can order one for you, should only take about a week to get it"...they are real rocket scientests, that crew.

[John B.]

Worse then that when my wife was picking up the battery I asked her to get a short length of hose so I could rig up a vent through the floor. I could hear the guy over the cell telling her they didn't have any hose. What autoparts store doesn't sell clear or rubber hose by the foot in various sizes??

[Ferret]

My understanding is that the term sealed is a misnomer. Batteries supposedly never requiring water came to be referred to as sealed.

Batteries are never truly sealed, even the 'sealed' ones that you can mount upside down have burst disks in them.

If a battery were sealed the following would happen in this example:

Take a car with a flat battery - jump start it and then immediately jump on the highway with foot to the floor.

After about 3-5 minutes you'd hear a nice *whump* as your battery explodes...

The current alternators can produce, your batt would just disintegrate.

EDIT : missed the end of that sentance - the current would produce so much hydrogen the battery would explode from being overpressurised.