P38A What Battery?

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stevef1964

stevef1964

Active Member
Posts
298
Location
Horley, Surrey
Guys, I may need to replace my car battery on my 2000 4.6.

I've looked in Halfords and online, but all I see are batteries with the terminals at the front.

My battery leads will not reach that far. I've even checked in "Rave" and it shows the leads connecting to the battery the way mine does, with the terminals at the rear.

Can someone recommend a battery that will fit and where to get it from please?
 
What Amp hours are you going for? I have a diesel and was thinking of a 1000cca but unsure of ah needed.. I think you need to look for '+ve on the left' so it fits the terminal layout.
 
I managed to find the correct battery (the butler was totally useless!!).

I managed to find the same Bosch unit as I had in the car. Got 30% off too, at Euro Car Parts.

I didn't have much wriggle room in terms of what battery I could get, as I need the car for Monday and places like Halfords, ATS, Kwik Fit etc didn't do the type of battery I needed.

All fitted and working fine now.
 
My battery failed a i want to claim warranty on it and i had it tested and it showed 11.8 volts and 19ENA but the battery warehouse will not replace the battery unless it has 12volts and if it will not charge up to 12 volts its not a warranty claim i will get it charged up and tested again.
surely if a battery cannot be charged its a warranty claim .
 
ovalandrover said:
My battery failed a i want to claim warranty on it and i had it tested and it showed 11.8 volts and 19ENA but the battery warehouse will not replace the battery unless it has 12volts and if it will not charge up to 12 volts its not a warranty claim i will get it charged up and tested again.
surely if a battery cannot be charged its a warranty claim .
Click to expand...

I would think that if a battery cannot be charged or will not hold a charge then it is duff. A fully charged 12 volt battery should read 12.6 volts for a considerable time after disconnection from the charger. If it falls to 11.8 shortly after disconnection from the charger it is duff. Main reason for battery makers going to full calcium batteries is that they hold their charge for a lot longer under storage conditions. They have a much longer shelf life and do not need to be charged like lead acid batteries do to maintain charge under storage. So they are more attractive as a stock item. However they do need a far higher charge rate in use to maintain them at full efficiency. A low charge rate will cause sulfication and render them useless.
 
I've not tried this but they say (!) if you have a fancy new charger then sometimes it won't charge a battery that has gone too far but if you introduce a semi-decent battery in between and connect the duff one in parallel then it will charge the duff one enough to get it reasonable and then you finish it off with a full charge on what was the duff one. As I say, not had to try yet but might be worth a go.
 
Grrrrrr said:
I've not tried this but they say (!) if you have a fancy new charger then sometimes it won't charge a battery that has gone too far but if you introduce a semi-decent battery in between and connect the duff one in parallel then it will charge the duff one enough to get it reasonable and then you finish it off with a full charge on what was the duff one. As I say, not had to try yet but might be worth a go.
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Full calcium batteries that have had to low a charge rate and sulficated can sometimes be returned to normal with an extended temp controlled charge at high voltage,18 volts for instance to burn contamination off the plates. But it does not always work and the battery temp has to be watched very closely. New cars with full calcium batteries run a charge rate of around 14.8 to 15 volts. 14.2 is ok for calcium antimony units 14.4 maybe a minimum for full calcium but even then they need to be charged with a good smart charger every so often specially if there is a lot of load being used whilst driving to prevent as much as possible sulfication of the plates. I would think the problem with up rating charging systems on older cars is that some of the electrical components may not appreciate the higher charge rate But that is speculation. Someone with more electrical nous than me may debunk that.
 
wammers said:
I would think the problem with up rating charging systems on older cars is that some of the electrical components may not appreciate the higher charge rate But that is speculation. Someone with more electrical nous than me may debunk that.
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I can't say for all the components in the likes of the BECM, but most of them that run at 12V are usually rated to at least 16V (or 25 or 30V), as not many components are actually made to run exactly on 12V, but they will run on a range of voltage (MOSFETs etc). All the logic board and control stuff is run on 5V from a regulator. So having the higher set point shouldn't mess with the ECU's. Not sure what the likes of motors and lamps would be like - they might not last as long, but upping the set voltage by 0.5V or something shouldn't make much (if any) difference to the vehicle electrics.
 
martyuk said:
I can't say for all the components in the likes of the BECM, but most of them that run at 12V are usually rated to at least 16V (or 25 or 30V), as not many components are actually made to run exactly on 12V, but they will run on a range of voltage (MOSFETs etc). All the logic board and control stuff is run on 5V from a regulator. So having the higher set point shouldn't mess with the ECU's. Not sure what the likes of motors and lamps would be like - they might not last as long, but upping the set voltage by 0.5V or something shouldn't make much (if any) difference to the vehicle electrics.
Click to expand...

They may not last as long is the point i was trying to convey. Much better to use the battery the car was designed to use rather than a full calcium which if not looked after will fail.
 
I was just replying to the last sentence about components not appreciating the higher charge voltage. I would always recommend fitting the proper battery that the vehicle is designed for too. My point was that if you put 14.8V into the system instead of 14.2 - it shouldn't let the magic smoke out.
 
martyuk said:
I was just replying to the last sentence about components not appreciating the higher charge voltage. I would always recommend fitting the proper battery that the vehicle is designed for too. My point was that if you put 14.8V into the system instead of 14.2 - it shouldn't let the magic smoke out.
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I agree but i would rather run the proper charge rate. Early cars were 13.8 across the board for lead acid. With the 4.6 with the 150 amp alternator being up rated to 14.5 and maybe calcium antimony. Nothing wrong with 14.2 up rate from 13.8 on a calcium antimony unit but 14.8 would destroy that PDQ. Batteries have changed a lot over the last few years i would say stick to the battery for the car if possible and up rate to 14.2 from 13.8. 13.8 is the old lead acid antimony standard not many of those about now i would think. Nothing wrong with them but they need a maintenance charge now and again in storage on the shelf, so retailers don't like them.
 
I've just replaced the battery (a Platinum 642 1000cca) on my Range Rover with a second one after 4 1/2 years, having read this thread regarding batteries using calcium in the plates composition. I checked Platinum's web site it appears all their batteries now use a Calcium composition in the + and - plates. Also talking to our battery supplier it appears that most batteries contain Calcium composition plates these days.

This would possibly explain why the first battery seemed to slowly go flat over a period of time after which the srs warning light came on, it then would take a very long run (150+ miles) to charge the battery enough to turn the srs light off and stay off.

Today I fitted a new alternator voltage regulator (Mobiletron VR-VW010), just have to see if the new battery charges any better and the srs light stays off...
 
Last edited:
zzr1200 said:
I've just replaced the battery (a Platinum 642 1000cca) on my Range Rover with a second one after 4 1/2 years, having read this thread regarding batteries using calcium in the plates composition. I checked Platinum's web site it appears all their batteries now use a Calcium composition in the + and - plates. Also talking to our battery supplier it appears that most batteries contain Calcium composition plates these days.

This would possibly explain why the first battery seemed to slowly go flat over a period of time after which the srs warning light it then would take a very long run (150+ miles) to charge the battery enough to turn the srs light off and stay off.

Today I fitted a new alternator voltage regulator, just have to see if the new battery charges any better and the srs light stays off...
Click to expand...

Overtaken me! I'll be watching carefully. Unfortunately my other car needs sorting first.
 
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