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Guess it’s time to replace my car’s battery, I think. I drive my car almost every week and the longest I’ve let it sit without being on a tender has been 3-4 days. Today when I took it out after 4 days of being parked outside, it started up fine and I drove to work but when I tried to start it again after 6 hours it refused to crank. Just a click and then nothing. It popped up an emission warning error and low tire pressure warning this am and now that I think about it, the past couple of days I wasn’t able to lock or unlock the vehicle with the remote unless I was standing right next to the car despite changing the battery in the remote last month.
Voltmeter showed battery voltage around 9 I tried to jump the battery with cables off of a 6 cyl Mercedes suv and a V8 Tundra with a 750 CCA battery but it didn’t work. I’m going to try to install a new battery and see if it turns over.
Problem is, I can’t seem to find any Group 93 T8 AGM battery in the U.S. All of the ones I found searching online are flooded batteries. H8 AGM batteries are readily available but from what I’ve read, it’s too tall for the battery compartment and the metal brace won’t fit over it. Any recommendations on which battery to get? Thanks!
I just replaced my Rapide battery a few weeks ago. It's not the one listed on the Interstate site. I learned that one the hard way. The only battery from Interstate that fits is the one that's in the car. AGM is not available. There may be a Bosch one.
The correct battery is MT-93/T8. When I told the Interstate store that their website lists the wrong battery, he said "of course it's wrong". You're right, the other batteries are too tall. I got like 4-5 years out of the last battery.
SLI49AGM Duracell Ultra Car Battery | Group 49 | 850CCA | Platinum AGM
I checked the batteriesplus website and they list the above AGM battery for your 2017 Rapide S.
You can check their listing for the WxLxH Group 49 dimensions to see if it will fit..
It's in stock at my local store, but YMMV.
15% off sale ongoing till 2/2.
Update on battery situation. I had a friend bring a commercial truck with an onboard generator to supply 16V/10A for a few seconds to jump the car. It started right up and I was able to drive it home where I parked and removed the battery to get it tested and ordered a new one. The OEM battery was pretty much done with CCA dropping from 700 to 100 when tested. I tested the new battery before install and it gave me full CCA.
Apparently Group 93/T8 batteries only come as flooded lead acid batteries. No AGM options exist, at least not in the U.S.
93/T8 batteries available for sale in the U.S. are manufactured by Clarios (formerly Johnson Controls). I know for a fact that Super Start Extreme and DieHard batteries are manufactured by them. I’m pretty sure the rest of them are too. They are very similar in specs and carry either 2 or 3 years warranty. They are all available for similar price (around $230).
OEM battery is likely made by Clarios as well. The specs for OEM are 700CCA - 88ah - RC 150mins. Price is $520 from the dealer in Atlanta, $336 from scuderia but shipping is $250.
I decided to go with DieHard because it was the closest to OEM specs and had a 3 year warranty. Here’s a list of the brands available.
- DieHard (Advanced Auto Parts) - 3yrs warranty - 800CCA - 90ah - RC130mins. (Made in Spain)
- Super Start EXT (Oreillys) - 3yr warranty - 800CCA - 65ah - RC130mins (Made in Romania)
Group 49/H8 batteries are too tall (by 15mm) but can be accommodated by using nuts as spacers to install the battery brace. In hindsight I should’ve gone with this option as I could get 900CCA and RC 150mins in this size because they’re AGM batteries. Only downside is that AGM battery don’t take too kindly to overcharging and can melt/explode.
