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        General >> Give/Need advice to/from others >> Recommend a battery
        
(Message started by: Scramble on Jan 17^th, 2009, 2:27pm)

Title: Recommend a battery
Post by Scramble on Jan 17^th, 2009, 2:27pm

Can anyone recommend a battery (or battery specs) for a 1997 Ultima estate? I had a Halfords battery and it went within the guarantee period, and now the replacement one has gone within a year. The guarantee has now run out, but anyway I've decided not to get Halfords again, esp. after I read on the battery section of fordscorpio.co.uk that some other people have had problems with them.

To be fair, I haven't driven the car very much in the last year, as I've been working from home, but from February I'll be back driving most days so the battery hopefully will get recharged more often. But I'd still like to get a better battery, so any advice will be appreciated.

(Yes, I have done a forum search and found a few bits of advice already, plus the advice on the battery page, but there's not a lot there).

And is it the case that not all batteries will fit the Scorpio -- someone mentioned a problem with big batteries with flat terminals?

Update: In case it's relevant, I have the 2.9 litre, 24 valve V6 Cosworth engine.

Title: Re: Recommend a battery
Post by pinto on Jan 17^th, 2009, 2:59pm

If money is no object, then i'd reccomend a Varta Platinum + Simply because they have up to 35% more cranking power than a regular battery of the same size :)

Otherwise, choice is pretty much limited as there are only three companies who manafacture batteries worldwide - Union Carbide (exxide), Varta and until recently, Lucas. So dont matter who is on the side, they pretty much all come from the same place ;D

So... Buy according to cranking amps, not names - the higher it is, the more cells contained inside and the higher the battery quality. Buy the biggest that will fit in the hole - for the scorp, i think thats an 097 or an 094 + (which i have in my 2.3)

One last option - you can buy terminal converters which allow the fitment of your flat terminals to a round post battery - opening up much greater choice.

Title: Re: Recommend a battery
Post by Simmo on Jan 17^th, 2009, 3:38pm

The spec and details of why are Here (http://www.fordscorpio.co.uk/battery.htm) :)

Title: Re: Recommend a battery
Post by Scramble on Jan 17^th, 2009, 4:09pm

>i'd reccomend a Varta Platinum +

Had a look at the Varta automotive webpage, there's no Platinum battery listed, just Ultra, Silver, Blue and Black. Did you mean the Ultra or the Silver perhaps?

>you can buy terminal converters which allow the fitment of your flat terminals to a round post battery

Are these available from Halfords, etc, or are they hard to find?

> The spec and details of why are Here

Yeah, as I mentioned I saw that page, it's useful.

Title: Re: Recommend a battery
Post by Snoopy on Jan 17^th, 2009, 4:44pm

Banner Batteries (http://www.bannerbatteries.com/banner/home/index_en.php) are very good and they have the correct one for the Scorpio and are available at MOST car factors.

Title: Re: Recommend a battery
Post by pinto on Jan 18^th, 2009, 1:43pm

Yep, looks like they've renamed them since i bought my last one :)

Ultra would be the one to go for. And as for the terminal convertors, they should be available from Halfords or a decent aftermarket factors :)

Title: Re: Recommend a battery
Post by Scramble on Jan 18^th, 2009, 4:16pm

Thanks pinto for your help. I'm going to go for Varta (Banner don't seem to sell online -- thanks for the recommendation though, Snoopy).

I'm going to get a Varta Silver (http://www.varta-automotive.com/index.php?id=100) rather than an Ultra (http://www.varta-automotive.com/index.php?id=70
). The point of the Ultra seems to be its vibration resistance -- otherwise its Ah and cold-test current specs are no better than the Silver, and there's only two variations, one of which definitely won't fit my Scorpio and the other may not. It's also much more expensive.

The Varta battery finder page (http://www.varta-automotive.com/index.php?id=14) recommended me the Silver as well for the Scorpio -- the 574 402 075 3162. This has an Ah of 74 and cold-test current of 750. So I'm going with this. I did look at the higher-rated Silvers, but the only one that might have possibly have fitted wasn't available online anyway.

I'm going to buy online (http://www.tayna.co.uk/Type-096-Varta-Silver-Dynamic-Car-Battery-P3197.html) from tayna.co.uk (£88.99 + del.). Tayna also sell the Ford terminal adaptors (http://www.tayna.co.uk/Battery-Terminal-Adaptors-0-022-00-P4361.html).

Title: Re: Recommend a battery
Post by Pegasus on Jan 21^st, 2009, 4:14pm

on 01/18/09 at 16:16:36, Scramble wrote:

Thanks
The Varta battery finder page (http://www.varta-automotive.com/index.php?id=14) recommended me the Silver as well for the Scorpio -- the 574 402 075 3162. This has an Ah of 74 and cold-test current of 750. So I'm going with this. I did look at the higher-rated Silvers, but the only one that might have possibly have fitted wasn't available online anyway.

I'm going to buy online (http://www.tayna.co.uk/Type-096-Varta-Silver-Dynamic-Car-Battery-P3197.html) from tayna.co.uk (£88.99 + del.). Tayna also sell the Ford terminal adaptors (http://www.tayna.co.uk/Battery-Terminal-Adaptors-0-022-00-P4361.html).

This looks good - bought a Ford battery (for a Galaxy)after having same problem as described: for info it was Motorcraft 71AH, 680 CCA, 125RC, Fin1347732, £108 total with adaptors. Had it a year and starts no prob, even after leaving for a week

Title: Re: Recommend a battery
Post by Scramble on Jan 22^nd, 2009, 5:00pm

I fitted the Varta Silver battery today with the terminal adapters, and so far it's working fine.

The only problem I encountered was when I took off the battery's plastic terminal protectors one of them flew off into the bowels of the engine, and I can't find it. Doesn't seem to be lodged anywhere damaging, though.

Anyway, thanks again for the advice.

Title: Re: Recommend a battery
Post by Simmo on Jan 23^rd, 2009, 5:58pm

Probably laying on the engine undertray. :)