Think my battery is officially dead after 4 years of service. I tried charging it overnite but still no. What's a good replacement besides OEM (about $250)?
Sears Diehard?

Damn the battery is heavy to pull out from deep inside the hood/trunk.

 

I used an Interstate. Same specs as stock. I think it was $120.

 

collin,
i thought alex can get the light weight battery for u. if not, let me know

 

Douglas Battery is a OEM supplier for Porsche.

 

The premium Pepboys, Autozone, Sam's, and Sears diehards are all made by Interstate. I had my original battery replaced free under warranty. They will not warranty the battery if you don't drive the car regularly or use a battery maintainer.

 

Actually a company called Johnson Controls www.johnsoncontrols.com makes the batteries for Interstate as well as batteries for Autozone, Sears, Costco, Pepboys amoung others. The premimum batteries from Sears and Autozone look identical to the premimum Interstates, excluding the optimas which do not fit in the OEM location without some adapters. I bought a few batteries from Autozone over the past few years and not have any issues with them, they are pretty good with warantee replacement. My only experience with them is that they will replace the batteries within 2 years (on a 7 year battery) at no cost, beyond that there is a cost based on the age of the original battery. I know the group 48 and 49 batteries from Autozone fit perfectly into the 911. I have had Interstate batteries in the past and they are excellent but they are not available from many places besides garages and such.

 

I got the Diehard for $99. Dirt Cheap. 720amps instead of OEM's 380. Also 2/3 the size of OEM which means it's lighter.
3 yr warranty.

 

Anyone retrofit/install the Optima redtop gell cell???
If so, is there a mounting setup/retrofit hardware available to secure it in a 996???

 

The OEM battery doesn't like life without a battery maintainer. Mine lasted just shy of 3 years. I really wanted to do the light weight battery set up but decided that since I sometimes only drive once a week that the Sears route was best. Bought the appropriate Die Hard; interestingly it was listed in thier catalog! And it works great. Don't forget to plug in a little battery to the cig lighter when changing!

 

I bought the 33348 one which is shorter in length than OEM. The 33349 is similar in length to the OEM.

What do u mean by plug in a little battery to the cig lighter when charging? What's the little battery for?

 

I was wondering the same thing. I have disconnected my battery w/o problems or need for this mysterious little battery...

 

I would really like to go to a light weight battery and lower it to the bottom of the bonnet. Does anyone offer a nice "kit" to do this?

 

OK.....he didn't say "when charging"....he said "when changing".
I have personally not changed a 996 battery but in my other cars, I always plug the little 9V adaptor into the cig. lighter during the process........so as to not have to re-program a mess of stuff after the change (nav, radio, etc, etc)....maybe that's not nec w/th 996?.......does it hold everything?