Re: 740i Battery

["Richard Vaughn" <rav3@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Steve,

The $127 is a little high, depending on what you got. I too have a '95 740i
and have replaced the battery. I did it for about & $75 two years ago. I
think my local dealer quoted me a price of $150-$175 for an OEM. Basically,
this car can takes two sizes of batteries. I don't remember what the
original # was but it was about 2" longer than what I got. The battery
holder will adjust for either length. I put in a group # 49-60, it is the
short version and comes with a vent. Your car already had the vent tube in
it, all you need to do is plug the tube to the battery. This battery is
rated at 750 cca & 950 ca, which is what the car specs out. The reason for
the the vent is that BMW does not use the "maintenance free" batteries that
you can't add water to. It has something to do with the the internals of the
battery. I read an article on it but it was over my head. Typical BMW
engineering...They want it done a certain way. What I found out is that
there is only about 2 or 3 major mfg. of batteries in this country, so no
matter what you buy, it's from one of them. Interstate carries one & so does
Douglas. I believe Douglas supplies BMW Spartanburg. But any of the (2)
groups will work. I just can't remember the other group #. I hope this
helps.
Richard Vaughn
BMW CCA #132931 Tarheel Chapter
'95 740i w/new engine hers
'92 535i 5 speed mine
'90 325i 5 speed (64k)sons & mine
'96 Z71 mine too


    Date: Sat, 30 Jun 2001 09:40:13 -0400
From: "Stephen Robinson" <stever500@domain.elided>
Subject: 95 740i - is $127 too much for new battery?  hosed in silver
spring?

Did I get hosed?  My battery finally died on my beloved boat, eh uhr, 95
740i with 92,000 miles.  I made it over, barely, to my repair shop and they
said " $116.98 plus $4.25 for the vent kit - $0 for labor for a total of
$127.29."  Seemed like a lot to me.  I went over to Battery Warehouse right
after they did the work  to get 2 new batteries for the key (the repair
place was out) so I could get it re-initialized, and they said they could
have put in the battery for $89.  Could a battery place like this do it
right (so Ii know for next time)?  The BMW repair shop said it was sort of
a
tricky job as it had to be specially vented to the outside so fumes, or
something like that, don't build up in the trunk (?!?).  I'm just curious
if
I spent too much and should have gone to the battery warehouse, though they
didn't know how to reinitialize the key at the warehouse...

One more thing, I can't believe how great the A/C works in these old cars.
It's 6 years old, and it keeps plugging along, quite cooly.  My 88 911 is
basically undriveable in these high 90's days, as the A/C is for sh*t.  I
have to leave the windows open and sunroof open and just .... bake like a
hot pie in the oven!

Steve Robinson
1995 740i hopping along fine again on a new battery $$$'s later
1995 540i waiting for the engine to start to die a long slow death
1988 911 the truly fun car...put away till cooler weather presides

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End of bmw-digest V9 #1845
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