Battery.....why o WHY..
Battery.....why o WHY..
Author
Discussion

marcob

Original Poster:

35 posts

283 months

Wednesday 2nd June 2004
quotequote all
Weather here in Spain is fantastic and I am itching to get my car out but I have a flat battery. Bought a charger so next step is get the damn thing out.

Why o why is it located in the most awkward place!!!
Answer to this won't help but to the following will..

First bolt in chassis..no problems but the second one is peeving me off!
Bolt seems to be cross threaded and it won't come out.
I actually tried to force the box out (I know..bad move but it seemed for a few minutes I acquired the local spanish temper). I noticed this plastic tube thingy connected to the battery and well it is not connected to anything else anymore!!..have I balls this up or can I just ignore it?
Any tips on how to get the other bolt off?

jamieheasman

823 posts

313 months

Wednesday 2nd June 2004
quotequote all
Not sure this is the correct forum for this but...

The tube is a breather pipe and is required by the type approval bods and for safety reasons. Those bolts can be a real pain to get in and it may well be that a previous owner or service agent has managed to cross the thread. The bolt goes straight into the bottom of the battery box so at worse you'll strip the thread on that and only have one reliable bolt to hold it in place. Could be the perfect time to relocate it to the boot!

I've relocated my battery. You'll need quite a few metres of good quality cable, an isolation switch (mine is in the secret compartment behind the passenger seat), a small battery box (ideally a race-style gel battery and box would be best but they're bloody expensive) and a method of fixing this to the floor of the right side of the boot. I used some alluminium extrusions bonded into the floor with some fibre glass. This is very strong and looks nice and tidy - if I have an accident this is going nowhere! A friend made a very nice (but heavy) stainless steel case for the battery so once the carpet is back in it'll look the business.

Ballistic Banana

14,706 posts

296 months

Wednesday 2nd June 2004
quotequote all
Where does this tube fix too?? the Box? Is just that sometime ago I found a plastic tube near the battery compartement about 15cm long and M18.

BB

marcob

Original Poster:

35 posts

283 months

Thursday 3rd June 2004
quotequote all
Battery in the boot, interesting idea. Thanks

Is there a danger if the plastic thingy is not in place?

Clearly I'm missing the point but if you are in an accident, I'd imagine the battery moving should be the last thing on your mind?

Plotloss

67,280 posts

299 months

Thursday 3rd June 2004
quotequote all
Leven (I think) do a battery terminal extension kit thing.

Basically its just two terminals in an easily accessible place to connect jump leads...

Might be worth considering?

RichardR

2,907 posts

297 months

Thursday 3rd June 2004
quotequote all
How about this plug and go charger? £16.99 from Halfords.

marcob

Original Poster:

35 posts

283 months

Thursday 3rd June 2004
quotequote all
Thanks
Problem is my car is parked with other residents, so when I connect battery to electric terminal they unplug it because I'm using 'Community' electricity.

I think they are just jealous of the car I've got...

Guillotine

5,516 posts

293 months

Thursday 3rd June 2004
quotequote all
get a solar charger.

small solar panel sits on the dash and charges via the ciggy lighter.

is it sunny in Madrid?

full_chat

287 posts

305 months

Friday 4th June 2004
quotequote all
marcob said:
First bolt in chassis..no problems but the second one is peeving me off!
Bolt seems to be cross threaded and it won't come out.


Had to change my battery recently, first bolt came off no problem, second bolt didn't undo, but the nut glazed into the battery box actually came off so I ended up with the bolt coming off complete with nut and remnants of fibre glass. So the battery box came out and I had to reglaze the nut back in.