battery

[rede30]

my battery on my 89 325i is dead. is there anyway around the high price i will have to pay for this battery, or where would a good place to buy a battery be. i just hate that my battery is soo much more than an American cars would be. thanks

Dustin

[e30Matt]

Just buy something good and get it over with.

Either that, or go to Advance Auto Parts and get one of those value batteries w/like a 2 year free replacement guarantee.

[DaN]

Walmart has decent batteries, I got one about a year and a half ago, and no problems yet.
They also supply 2 year warranties, and they are about $40-$50.

[EverWiser]

If you live in the Artic circle or the Sahara desert, buy the biggest, baddest, name-brand battery you can find. Otherwise, buy the cheapies; they still last 2 or 3 yrs. minimum and you'll have more money for regular maintenance/tune-ups. Even the "big dawg" batteries only last 5 or 6 yrs., typically. Just my .02 but I'd rather save my money for other mods.

[nando]

I'd rather have a quality battery than a cheap peice of shit that dies in 2 years.. my battery is probably over 5 years old and it works great, in fact I had it tested out 6 months ago and it's in perfect operating condition.

I'd rather spend $100 on a good battery than get stuck somewhere because it crapped out on me. Mine's from Sears (lifetime warranty!).

[EverWiser]

Free replacement Lifetime? B.S. No such animal...The lifetime warranty typically means they'll replace it free in the first year or two. After that, they'll prorate it down and you'll be paying damn near full price for a new one. Sears sucks. As far as checking out good, that doesn't really matter. When they go, they go. Most times with little or no warning. I've used Autozone batteries for years and have usually sold the cars or traded them off before any of them ever went bad. Some with over 6 yrs on them. Not bad at all for a $40 "cheapie" if you ask me. A battery is a battery; the technology has changed so little in the last 30 yrs. that one brand is practically the same as another. There are probably only a half dozen companies that make all the batteries in the country and they put whatever brand name on them that the cutstomer wants. To each his own...I just don't spend my money for big, bad, brand name batteries.

[nando]

last time I got a "cheap" battery it was dead right off the shelf. :roll:

and yes they will replace it.. I thought mine was toast because I left my lights on all day (even the central locking was dead). They would have replaced it but it checked out fine and they ended up just recharging it instead.

[BMW BMXER]

My cheap battery expireance.

Got one from Canadian Tire, asked for one for my car specifically. Got it, 8 months later it died.

Got a new one, but they gave me a SMALLER battery with less cranking amps because the one I had was" too big" for my car, meaning that if I used it I would be using it improperly and void my warrenty.

So I am just waiting for another six months to pass for my system to kill this one.

Each battery has a 2 year warrenty from when you got it, so sorta lifetime if it keeps dying every 2 years.

[arnoldgtr]

Wal Mart doesn't sell vented batteries.
I have had excellent service from the Auto Zone 7 year Duralast batteries. They're about $65, and they are vented. The one on the M3 has been on the car since 1999.

[Jarvis]

I'm with Nando on this one. I dropped about $100 at Sears last summer for a new battery. I've left my lights on overnight (about 20 hours) before, and the car started up right away, and everything had full power (no dim lights or anything).
I think it's worth the extra ~$30-50 over a cheapo to get something you know will last with NO PROBLEMS for 5 or 6 years, at least.

[parkerbink]

I had a weak battery issue, if I left something in the cigarette lighter (not powered when ignition off on my Tundra) the truck would crank slowly in the morning. On one of my 3800 7 day roadtrips back to L.A. last January I took it to the dealer for that & bad milage. They said the cam seals & power steering pump were bad and fixed it under warranty, since I was getting 1400.00 dollars worth of work free I let them sell me a 5 year no pro rate Battery. (I can't remember the damn name) It was dead in 3 months! Because I was in Mexico (I told them that they said no problem) there was nothing they would do. So if you are in Culver City don't buy an expensive battery from Miller Toyota!

[mikeedler]

go out and buy a gell cell battery. you will not have to worry about acid leaking in your trunk and rusting it out, and they last alot longer. I have a optima in my M3 and I start the car every 2 months or so, and it never even seems like it is low at all.

[parkerbink]

Tha BMW has a new battery my parents put in it before I bought it so I am set I was just pointing out even a 165.00 supposedly bulletproof battery can fail.

[EverWiser]

That was my original point!

[MR 325]

I'm gonna put an Optima in mine, I can play the stereo for hours and it will fire right up.