Ghost in the Car

[Linas.P]

25 minutes ago, Neil E said:

 I'm not endorsing them but Halfords will email the receipt for the battery 5 year guarantee too. 

Seems even worst companies sometimes improve for better! Still would not let them fit anything... don't want to repeat for 10th time my experience, but let's just say they have tried to literally scam me on more than one occasion. 

[Boomer54]

Jury is now in courtesy of a Battery test at the garage. Needs replacing. Not totally skunked ,but clearly it is not holding a charge well enough to warrant keeping. If time I will be doing this tomorrow.

[Malc1]

1 hour ago, Boomer54 said:

Jury is now in courtesy of a battery test at the garage. Needs replacing. Not totally skunked ,but clearly it is not holding a charge well enough to warrant keeping. If time I will be doing this tomorrow.

Who did you use for the Battery ? 

Malc 

[Boomer54]

20 minutes ago, Malc1 said:

Who did you use for the battery ? 

Malc 

Malc I had it tested at my Indy garage, but I am going to buy it tomorrow from a local Battery specialist here in Preston and fit it myself. The Indy garage could not have done it anyway in the short time my car was there today. However, they did a grand job at a fraction of the dealer price so came away pleased.

[GMB]

Was everything OK after the change?   It will help us to have the confidence to do our own Battery changes when needed.🙃

[Boomer54]

22 hours ago, GMB said:

Was everything OK after the change?   It will help us to have the confidence to do our own battery changes when needed.🙃

Had limited time today so far due to my Star baker demanding attention !

Been looking for Battery this afternoon online.

What I currently have is an Excell EB741 and as Stew said not  a top of the line Battery. Albeit at 278 x175 size with 74AH AND 680A one would think it capable of doing a decent job.

Here is the bug in the ointment though. A table guide from Battery geeks suggests a car engine this size 4ltr plus should really be in the range 90 to 100 AH ! Now I would happily pay up for that ,because it's been noted the SC 430 is a Battery vampire and it would make a lot of sense to have higher AH capable to meeting it's high demand. However, I have not yet found that AH in the Battery size accommodated by this car. Just beginning to wonder is that Battery tray size a design flaw? I could easily be wrong here ,because I am well outside my area of expertise.

I will keep this issue posted until I get to the point I have a new Battery fitted and everything working.

[Boomer54]

Pretty sure my search for a higher AH Battery for this size tray is not going to work out according to this table.

Car Battery Specification charts - Dimensions, Sizes, Cranking Amps, Voltage, Terminal, Weights and Ampere hours | Pure Tyre 01603 462959

[Boomer54]

For people who might be making this choice in the future.

Your car Battery group designator is 096. This will bring you only batteries that fit the size of your tray with Terminals suited to your car setup. that is Std pin. (bet those Jap imports need a workaround)

Within that you will have various AH rating and A ratings. The former is what your Battery can supply and the latter is a rating for cold starts. The higher the better for both in my view given the nature of this car.

I have so far got it down to;

Bosch S5008  has 77ah 780a+

Varta Silver Dynamic E44 has 77ah 780a

Exide Premium EA770 has 77ah 760a

Now the blurb on the last of those is it is designed to recharge faster. I will be looking further into this to make sure it is not along the lines of our Margerine stops you ageing ('cos it kills you quicker).

All are 5 year batteries and all will be more expensive than say the category that is in my car right now the Exide EB741 that has 74ah and 680a.

Keeping you posted.

 

[Malc1]

I recently used my local GSF motor factor to supply the biggest and best value Battery, 5 year warranty, for my 91 Ls400 Cost £166 discounted and incl vat and my local Indy fitted it for a tenner £10 

Works a treat ….. the old one, same make has lasted 8 years 

Yuasa 335 5000 silver 5yr warranty 

Could it possibly be as simple for you as it was for me ? 

Good luck with it all 

Malc 

[Malc1]

It’s 100 Ah. 830 CCA. £166

Malc 

[Boomer54]

49 minutes ago, Malc1 said:

It’s 100 Ah. 830 CCA. £166

Malc 

Malc,

Clearly I can find the Yuasa 5000 range, but not a code 335. What they have in that range that generates 100ah (which I would love) will not fit the tray size of the SC 430.

Your car must have a larger tray fitted that permits essentially a more powerful Battery. Looks like the SC 430 may have been under specced in this regard.

[Malc1]

1 hour ago, Boomer54 said:

Malc,

Clearly I can find the Yuasa 5000 range, but not a code 335. What they have in that range that generates 100ah (which I would love) will not fit the tray size of the SC 430.

Your car must have a larger tray fitted that permits essentially a more powerful battery. Looks like the SC 430 may have been under specced in this regard.

Oh dear   Just another challenge for you 

Malc 

[Neil E]

80AH, 740A cold start should be plenty and the standard alternator should be strong enough too.

It copes well enough with my silly hifi system so unless you're intending to put a significant power sapping piece of kit in there or sleep in the car all night with the lights on 😉, the standard Battery ought to be fine. 

That said, I did slightly modify the Battery tray in the GS to fit 335 model. It's too tall for the SC430 but would perhaps fit with a much flatter tray and possibly a different hold down clamp. I recall when fitting the '0' gauge cable through the SC430 bulkhead that it's quite a thick tray. 

[Boomer54]

Best I have found to fit the tray size is a max 77ah. Ideally I would have liked 90 -100ah. I'll explain. Back in the day this car being a daily drive would have worked well enough with a std 70-74ah even with the drag of a dropped hood et al. As these cars are now almost always 'weekend drivers' that extra AH would be much better to reduce the need for extra charging.

[Malc1]

50 minutes ago, Boomer54 said:

As these cars are now almost always 'weekend drivers'

use it every day then ?

Malc

[Boomer54]

Still getting the info in.

Exide Premium Carbon Boost - Car Battery | Exide (exidegroup.com)

Looking into this for veracity. Certainly I could see the value added in faster recharging.

[Boomer54]

5 minutes ago, Malc1 said:

use it every day then ?

Malc

Like your thinking !

[Boomer54]

This is about as much as I can get.

Exide Unveils New Generation Carbon Boost 2.0 Technology to Empower EFB and Premium Batteries with Unique Benefits | Exide (exidegroup.com)

Hardly an independent objective assessment. However, if the local Battery specialist concurs I think I will buy the Exide Premium EA770.

[Boomer54]

Oh life, it loves to laugh at you. Mr Supernerd here reading a reamful of info on car batteries to ensure he get's the optimum for his car. Filtering it down to 3 potential batteries and from there to one having ascertained the new tech makes one better than the rest. Cut to the chase get to local Battery specialist shop ,he looks, "unusual he say's", looks further, "that's the right Battery in there" he say's. "Why" say's I. "Simple he say's, for this tray size with that terminal arrangement the only Battery that is made to fit is that one the EB741".

So, turns out if you are not modifying your tray and your terminals are set up with positive on the left/front then this EB741 is it,period.

Anyone like to post a pic of their Battery setup on here and let's see if it a standard factory arrangement,or is mine simply different. Also wonder if the facelift models are the same setup.

[Malc1]

I found once, few years back ,  I bought a replacement Ls400 Battery from the Toyota Main Dealer ….. competitive price too and with free fitting …… drinking their coffee whilst waiting 

Toyota has THE spares dept  just along the road from the Lexus Main Dealer in Canterbury ……. wonderfully helpful and supply and fit the correct Yuasa Battery at that time …… wet wintry day ( like today ) and someone free in the workshop to fit my tiny job into the schedule 

Stephen, have you tried the Main Dealer spares dept yet ? 

Malc  

[Boomer54]

4 minutes ago, Malc1 said:

I found once, few years back ,  I bought a replacement Ls400 battery from the Toyota Main Dealer ….. competitive price too and with free fitting …… drinking their coffee whilst waiting 

Toyota has THE spares dept  just along the road from the Lexus Main Dealer in Canterbury ……. wonderfully helpful and supply and fit the correct Yuasa battery at that time …… wet wintry day ( like today ) and someone free in the workshop to fit my tiny job into the schedule 

Stephen, have you tried the Main Dealer spares dept yet ? 

Malc  

No, I bought the Battery and will fit myself. Frankly from a point of view of Battery selection it would make no difference. I would still have ended up with a choice of 1 Battery type. The guy in the local specialist shop knows his stuff and I trust that when he says no one in the world makes a Battery for this configuration other than the EB741 then he is right.

Looked over some other SC 430 online and I can already see they have a different configuration to mine hence do not have my problem. They will have more choice.

[Boomer54]

On 11/18/2023 at 12:01 PM, Boomer54 said:

No, I bought the battery and will fit myself. Frankly from a point of view of battery selection it would make no difference. I would still have ended up with a choice of 1 battery type. The guy in the local specialist shop knows his stuff and I trust that when he says no one in the world makes a battery for this configuration other than the EB741 then he is right.

Looked over some other SC 430 online and I can already see they have a different configuration to mine hence do not have my problem. They will have more choice.

Just to confirm since I fitted the new Battery I have had no issues at all with the car. The Battery has not lost any appreciable charge just standing in the cold weather this week. The old one would have needed trickle charging everyday. Money well spent.