Quick Battery Question

[John B.]

Battery failed in our 95 525i Touring last night so I'm going with the Autozone 49-DL. The Interstate battery that was in there had no vent tube like the one in my 90 535i does & there was no sign of a factory venting set up. Did they do away with this on the later cars?

[KenB]

I just put in a Duralast a couple months ago. Look for a hole that the vent hose goes thru in the floor centered behind the battery.(towards the rear of the car)

[John B.]

I just checked & I found where the hole is. On my car its filled with factory sealant & coated with the original paint so it's obvious no battery has ever been vented in this car. Maybe by late 95 production they figured modern sealed batteries didn't require it??

[ryan roopnarine]

then pop it out, and plug it in. i'm thinking that maybe that was supposed to be something that the dealer or unloading point did, as you wouldn't want the "ocean spray" to come in the car.

[KenB]

My car had a BMW vented battery but the tube was not hooked up, the tube didn't fit the vent. The Duralast came with everything needed to vent, including an adapter to connect the battery vent to the tube.

When I bought mine, they had a deal that if you bought a little package with felt terminal protectors and dielectric grease, for $1.99, they gave you 10% off the price of the battery at AutoZone...It was around $65 with tax IIRC.

[John B.]

Not to be argumentative but why is the vent set up necessary with a sealed battery? Obviously my car has gone 11 years & 137k without it and there are no signs of corrosion around the battery.

[John B.]

My car had a BMW vented battery but the tube was not hooked up, the tube didn't fit the vent. The Duralast came with everything needed to vent, including an adapter to connect the battery vent to the tube.

When I bought mine, they had a deal that if you bought a little package with felt terminal protectors and dielectric grease, for $1.99, they gave you 10% off the price of the battery at AutoZone...It was around $65 with tax IIRC.

Which model Duralast did you buy? I just got off the phone with Autozone & they said there is no adapter/vent arrangement included with the #49-DL that they show for my 95.

[KenB]

Mine was the 49-DL also...maybe it's a different non-vented version for the '95.

[ryan roopnarine]

Not to be argumentative but why is the vent set up necessary with a sealed battery? Obviously my car has gone 11 years & 137k without it and there are no signs of corrosion around the battery.

it isn't for corrosion, its more for explosion abatement. if you spend any time around an unenclosed battery (by that i mean one that you can see all of the time), you'll see that vibration, movement, queer electrical loads WILL cause it to spark at the terminals, even if only once in a blue moon. the same is true with lightswitches, occasionally, you can observe a spark come off of a household light switch. unless you are dealing with a truly sealed gel battery (like an optima) that you can mount upside down and such, any other choice will not be truly sealed. even maintenence free batteries have provisions for removing the venting caps with screwdrivers and such. if it is a car battery, and it isn't a gel type, it vents explosive h2 gas to the atmosphere under electrolysis (hence bmw's insistence for a vent kit). if the car was new, maybe then i'd say that one's risk is low, but considering how connections corrode, get worse, &c. as the car gets older, i certainly wouldn't want that thing under my back seat without a vent on it. car batteries explode underhood every day--well maybe not every day, but i've certainly seen one--and the ones underhood don't even NEED vent kits.

[ryan roopnarine]

Which model Duralast did you buy? I just got off the phone with Autozone & they said there is no adapter/vent arrangement included with the #49-DL that they show for my 95.

if you go into the store, and look for their group 49 battery, there will be a little plastic pouch stuck onto the top or side of the battery with the vent tube and line extender in it.

[John B.]

if you go into the store, and look for their group 49 battery, there will be a little plastic pouch stuck onto the top or side of the battery with the vent tube and line extender in it.

My wife just called from Autozone & now a different person is saying it does come with the vent kit after I was told several hours ago it didn't. At least the venting issue is solved so now I just have to rig up the factory end of it to connect it to. Unfortunately the $65 price I was quoted 3 hours ago had gone up to $75 by the time my wife got there. I got the price down to $69 after having the guy recheck pricing but I have to say my low opinion of Autozone has not changed after todays experience. The guys at my local Napa are friggin brain surgeons compared to this crew.

[Ross]

My understanding is that the term sealed is a misnomer. Batteries supposedly never requiring water came to be referred to as sealed.

[Elekta]

I bought the sears version with the vent tube, and just last week it took a dump after a 4 day cold snap. I bought it in 2004 and sears popped it out, checked it, and reinstalled a brand new one for free. I think I paid $90 for it in 04. Good deal as of just the other day, I'd say.

$.02

[John B.]

The Interstate battery installed in my 535i back in 2000 is still going strong after 7 years. Comparing the 60 month Interstate I pulled out of the 525i with the Duralast I bought today it's obvious the p/o cheaped out last time. It was about 2/3s the size of the Duralast & down on cca.

[632 Regal]

same battery just didnt get the vent kit. Mine didnt get the vent kit either and after farting around searchin the barn for adequite hoses I gave up. Mine now is officially ventless. I have had a car battery explode before, under the hood, sounded like an M-80 and didnt realize it was the battery until a week later checking oil and fluids. was damn loud, wouldnt want that to happen under the back seat, I'd have a heart attack.


Mine was the 49-DL also...maybe it's a different non-vented version for the '95.

[John B.]

Any trick to entering the radio code after a battery change? Every time I punched in the 5th number the radio beeped & nothing changed. Used up my 3 chances so I guess I'll have to leave it on for an hour tomorrow & try again.

[Tiger]

Keep key in on position and come back again in 3 hours to key in the code... make no mistake.

[KenB]

...my low opinion of Autozone has not changed after todays experience. The guys at my local Napa are friggin brain surgeons compared to this crew.

Their computer told them that there were 2 different air filters for the 525, of course they gave me the wrong one which I didn't realize until I took the old one out, threw it away and tried to put the new one in.

...of course they didn't have the correct one when I took the wrong one back..."we can order one for you, should only take about a week to get it"...they are real rocket scientests, that crew.:p

[John B.]

Worse then that when my wife was picking up the battery I asked her to get a short length of hose so I could rig up a vent through the floor. I could hear the guy over the cell telling her they didn't have any hose. What autoparts store doesn't sell clear or rubber hose by the foot in various sizes??

[Ferret]

My understanding is that the term sealed is a misnomer. Batteries supposedly never requiring water came to be referred to as sealed.

Batteries are never truly sealed, even the 'sealed' ones that you can mount upside down have burst disks in them.

If a battery were sealed the following would happen in this example:

Take a car with a flat battery - jump start it and then immediately jump on the highway with foot to the floor.

After about 3-5 minutes you'd hear a nice *whump* as your battery explodes...

The current alternators can produce, your batt would just disintegrate.

EDIT : missed the end of that sentance - the current would produce so much hydrogen the battery would explode from being overpressurised.

[Qsilver7]

Battery failed in our 95 525i Touring last night so I'm going with the Autozone 49-DL. The Interstate battery that was in there had no vent tube like the one in my 90 535i does & there was no sign of a factory venting set up. Did they do away with this on the later cars?
Here's a pic of my 1995 e34 Touring's vent tube & Duralast's vent kit:

http://memimage.cardomain.net/member_images/7/web/739000-739999/739005_79_full.jpg

http://memimage.cardomain.net/member_images/7/web/739000-739999/739005_82_full.jpg
http://memimage.cardomain.net/member_images/7/web/739000-739999/739005_83_full.jpg

And...great explanation of why "sealed" as well as non sealed batteries require venting when in an enclosed area! Nothing more I could add...except...VENT YOUR BATTERIES!! :D

[John B.]

Thanks for the pics! The battery's in the car & venting outside.