New Battery Advise

I finally have to give in and think it is time to change my Battery, its life is becoming less and less. Can anyone recomed a good type of Battery, i know the OPC have one which i dont see the point in spending that much on, I want a middle of the road type of battery anyone who has changed there battery and has good experince of a new one i would appreicated your thoughts on this please. Thanks Phil

I fitted the Bosch Silver (7HN) and I would recommend it. I got mine from Costco and it was about £75, but Euro Car Parts do them for about the same price. See the Technical Articles section for instructions: http://www.porscheclubgbforum.com/fb.asp?m=331718

Hi Philippe. Just try to avoid the Porsche one - it's not even almost good. [ ] Adrian.

Mine has failed tonight. Got back on the drive tonight, went in the house, came out again to put it in the garage and just got lots of ticking, flashing lights, windows going up and down. Porsche assist came out and said it was the battery after trying to give it a boost. What battery is it for a facelift C2 (2003) as i believe it is a bigger battery in the 3.6 to the 3.4? 84 or 86Ah rings a bell ? Do they sell them at Costco Richard ? Steve

Porsche uprated the battery in 2003 from 70AH to 80AH. Costco sell the Bosch range, and I expect they would have an equivalent 80AH. Having said that, I'm sure the 75AH Bosch will be better than the Moll 80AH that Porsche fit as standard.

Thanks Richard i'll get myself down to Costco in the morning and pick one up. Looking at the handbook it is an easy job to fit them. Anything i should be aware off once i re-connect the +treminal ? I have'nt got a radio code but i am sure mine takes it straight from the ECU anyway I'll have a look and see what Ah batteries they do and get one that's near i.e 75Ah. Should be fine. I've suspected for some time that it may be on its way out. Might try and pick up a charger at the same time. At least if and when it goes again i maybe able to get enough charge in it to get it started. Glad it got me back home from work today as it is the first time i have taken it and would have been a little embarrasing if it had been stuck in the car park ! Steve

Just follow the guide in the Technical Articles section for instructions: http://www.porscheclubgbforum.com/fb.asp?m=331718

It says they ar factory fit for Porsche. About time they fitted a decent battery. The Moll ones really weren't very good - if you got 4 years use you were doing well.

That makes sense Richard. Mine has lasted just over 4 years. I'm off to Costco later to pick one up

Just read the article. Excellent advice. I'll let you know how i get on later if i manage to get a battery today Steve

Costco hadn;t got any in. Motormania tried to sell me a Yuasa 68Ah and the Halfords one I have just looked at didn't have an Ah figure on it, although i think it was 680 A cold start. Maybe ok. I'll wait to see what Costco try to seel me in the week

If you have a Euro Car Parts near you, they are a similar price there. http://www.eurocarparts.com/branch_loca.asp

Hello Richard Thank you for your top advice, you're always such a great help. Just charged my battery but will pick up another one in the next week or so. Thanks Phil

I had a right drama with a battery on my Boxster. That said it was also a very lucky drama. I had just been viewing some 911s at a dealer called Top 555 in Oakham Rutland (seemed very nice people and I'm told good things about them by other customers). I had left and was filling up at a petrol station with whom they share a complex with. On return to the car I couldn't get a dodo out of it, dead with no warnings given. Fortunately the staff from Top 555 assisted me jumping me with a powerpack and taking me to their workshop and testing my now next to useless battery. They pulled some strings in Oakham on a Saturday afternoon and got me a battery sorted in minutes and sent me on my way, at a reasonable price of around £65, top blokes!

All I can say is don't bother with Halfords, at least not in Hemel Hempstead. I went in there a few days ago looking to buy a battery and have them fit it (being inherently lazy). After waiting for ages to get some halfwit to serve me, he took a further age to identify the right model and a further age before he located his tools to do the job. Having queued a further age to pay for the damn thing, said halfwit announced that he was'nt allowed to fit batteries to Porsches after all. Something to do with being sued for setting the alarm off. I stupidly decided to take the battery anyway and then queued an age to get my fitting fee credited. Then I lugged the thing across the car park to find, yup, it was'nt remotely the same size as the existing battery. So I lugged it back to the till and waited a further age to get my money back. 90 mins after walking into the shop to buy a simple battery, I left empty handed

I had a look at the batteries in Halfords and i don't believe they are the right Ah anyway regardless of the cold start current quoted on them So today i went back to Costco to see if they has had any in and they hadn't, so at this point i threw the rule book away and had a look at the various types they had in stock (All bosch silver). I had measured the footprint of the battery before going and between me and the guy serving we found a battery that would fit and had the same footprint apart from the height (10mm shorter) at 85Ah. The original Porsche is an 80Ah (for the 3.6 that is) so i paid my money (93 inc VAT with a 5 year warranty) and have bought it home. Will fit it tomorrow and let you knwo how it goes. I am quite sure that it will fit and work no problem and as larger cold start current than the original Porsche battery so hopefully it will spring into life mich better than the one i am taking out It astonished me that the books in Costco and Halfords all quoted the same type of battery from a 73 model to present day. And i think we all know that the 996 battery is large than previous older models (Probably with exception of the 993) Steve

Steve - Let us know the model number of the Bosch Silver. I believe they have revised the range, and have a new numbering system. I saw a new 72Ah Bosch Silver battery on a Boxster the other day and it was numbered S4 or S6 (can't remember which).

Hi Richard Yes its an S5 010 85Ah (bosch Silver) Will be fitting it later if my hangover goes !!! Steve

Battery fitted today with no problems at all after following the instructions from here on how to do it. No blarring alarm and once fitted the car turned over very quickly and into life. Went for a 30 miles spin and the voltage inidcator was about half a needles width over 14volts. Previous 'Porsch' battery was down below 14 at around 13.8volts. So a result using a battery with the same footprint as the original at 85Ah. So i would suggest if you are getting a Bosch Silver then the battery i have listed in my post above, is the one to get Cheers Steve

Good job Steve! Thanks for the info - DIY has been updated.

Steve, where did you get your Bosch Silver from ? Been in touch with a Bosch supplier and he does not recognise the code etc ... I bought one a number of years ago for my 964 but not the battery in the 996 has just died and need to replace! thanks thanks Andy

Andy you have mail. My previous post explains i purchased the battery from Costco Steve

I used the Bosch 85A purchased from Eurparts - they identified the correct one straight away and had it in stock - and I had no problems with codes or alarms etc when I replaced the old one - only problem now is that when the car gets serviced at my local OPC they get great pleasure from stating on the service documents that I have a non- standard part fitted, so my friends you are all going, with me and countless others "on a handcart to hell"" - does anyone think that my cars value has now nosedived?? Happy motoring

it's just a battery. I'm not going to change it cos Porsche don't like the fact that you haven't bought a sub standard and over priced battery from them

I have a friend who runs a truck comapny and talked to a Bosch dealer and I ended up with a Bosch Silver, fitted the same to my 964 ... car turns over faster than something that turns over very fast Apprently Varta have taken over Bosch supply in Uk, so new batteries may soon be Varta and not Bosch. Did scare me at first as the batter is 3cm longer than the OPC version but the battery clamp had an extra hole in the bulk head to allow for it .. phew !! Andy

Yes! I'd say its only worth about £19K now with the non standard bits on it - but I'll give you £20K for quick sale