quote:

I cannot imagine what the replacement battery costs, with that funny positive terminal. It certainly is not a regular BCI group number.

The positive post is "normal", just a vertical knob. The connector on the end of the cable is what has the weird angled bolt to allow access from the backseat to something that's almost up to the dashboard.

The group size is 49 I believe, with an H8 designation, and it's apparently used by other cars. Other cars with unhappy home mechanics I suspect.

I know the feeling.
On my 1997 Dodge Viper i need to remove the left rear tire and part of the inner wheel well to get to a tray that holds the battery.The tray is fixed so you need to manhandle the battery out of the hole it is in and try not to drop it.

Doesn't AutoZone do free battery replacements?

Like egregore said, it's that way in American cars too. My 2017 Traverse has it hid behind the front passenger's seat and the rear passenger's seat.

quote:

Originally posted by RogueJSK:
Uh, yeah... When the instructions for some routine car maintenance start with Step 1: Get a knife and cut open the carpet, then you know some "book-smart but world-dumb" engineer really fucked something up.

Absolutely. I still can't get over who thought cutting the carpet up was a good idea.

I'm also wondering why it needs a "battery hold down bracket". Does the battery really need to be secured in that under-seat well? - or, is it German over-engineering?

I think it's the latter, and it's why I prefer Japanese cars.

quote:

Originally posted by CoolRich59:
I think it's the latter, and it's why I prefer Japanese cars.

I could be wrong, but I think car batteries are required to have hold-down brackets -- it's a safety thing in case of collision.

Yeah, I know... it doesn't seem to make sense when one has to wedge the darned thing into place to begin with. But it's an FMVSS* thing, I believe.

Anecdotal: Every car battery I've removed has had a hold-down of some kind.

For what it's worth: To date, I've owned seven Japanese, one German, and one Swedish.

- - - -

* FMVSS: Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard

quote:

Originally posted by vthoky:

I could be wrong, but I think car batteries are required to have hold-down brackets -- it's a safety thing in case of collision.

Thanks, I did not know that.

The thought of German engineers and U.S. regulations is kind of scary.

quote:

Originally posted by Skins2881:
Doesn't AutoZone do free battery replacements?

Advance and O'Reilly also do them, but I seriously doubt if they would do a complicated one like that.

quote:

Originally posted by egregore:

quote:

Originally posted by Skins2881:
Doesn't AutoZone do free battery replacements?

Advance and O'Reilly also do them, but I seriously doubt if they would do a complicated one like that.

Even better when you order this you’re cautioned to have a “professional” installation, not to be attempted by owners.

To the original poster....I have that exact same model 2014 mercedes. I am so not looking forward to changing the battery. I will have to look and see if mine has ever been changed.

Something good came out of this thread for me. I saw that my Durango also had the underseat battery and I went on YT to see how to remove it if the need arose.
And there was a video by some dude who showed a "smugglers box" was located under the front drivers seat. I checked and sure enough, there is a good sized plastic lined box under the seat. I trimmed up some rubber liner and am using it to keep some lesser used stuff in it.
Bonus!

Older (air cooled) VW Beetles had their battery mounted under the back seat. Most of them that I’ve owned also had a rusted-out body pan under the back seat from battery boil-over.

Porsche wants you to bring it in. Even if you were handy enough to remove the driver's seat, swap the battery and put the seat back in, you can't reprogram the computer to recognize that it's got a new battery.

I admit I have a thing for the Panemara, but the difficulty of basic maintenance procedures that I could do in the driveway with my domestic brand cars has me disinclined to purchase one any time soon.

quote:

Originally posted by arfmel:
Older (air cooled) VW Beetles had their battery mounted under the back seat. Most of them that I’ve owned also had a rusted-out body pan under the back seat from battery boil-over.

It didn't do the seat springs any good, either.

GM trucks approx. 2001-05 mounted their windshield washer reservoirs/pumps under the battery tray. Batteries would often leak acid and eat up usually the pump (if a Tahoe, Yukon or Suburban, there are two), but also the line and even the reservoir itself sometimes. The first sign of this would be when you filled the fluid and it all ran out on the ground. But at least their batteries were easy.

Try changing the batteries on a humvee, both are under the passenger seat and are flippin huge and heavy