General Batteries!

[The Free(welsh)man]

Evening all!

I haven't been in here in quite a few years.
I've just gotten hold of an old 02 plate Stilo 1.6 Dynamic with just shy of 22,000 miles on the clock for not very much money at all. 1 previous owner, garaged for god knows how long. Plenty of oddities to her (like having a tape deck, but the 8 speaker setup, in a dynamic?) but those are minor atm.

One of the first things I wanted to do is change the battery.

I'm not sure how old the battery is, but it seemed like a 63Ah unit. The car has been having some problems starting up in the mornings, taking a few seconds to fire up, that kind of thing, as well as a lot of spurious errors & electrical gremlins.

I had a bit of a search and found a battery by Varta which physically fits.

It's a Varta D39 Silver, Type 078 - 563 401 061 - 12V - 63Ah - 610CCA - A, Standard Automotive - LH+ - B13 - L242 x W175 x H190mm - 15.3Kg - 5 Years - Sealed Calcium battery that I got from batterymegastore.co.uk.

[FONT=&quot]Slight problem though; the terminals are on the wrong side of the battery and the leads won't reach!
Has anyone had this problem before and what did you do to get around this?[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]Advice would be most appreciated!
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[varesecrazy]

Hi

You can't unclip the cables on the inner wing.. and buy some slack?

Charlie . Abertillery

 

[The Free(welsh)man]

Sadly not. They aren't clipped to the wings at all, they come straight out of the loom and are stretched even with the original battery. The original battery has the terminals facing towards the bulkhead when fitted, but to have the terminals the right way around on the new varta (so positive on the correct side), it's flipped 180 degrees to the terminals are now closer to the front of the car, so the leads can't reach.

 

[Zeewulf]

My stilo has terminals towards the bulkhead and positive on the left, thinks it's standard that way round....

 

[The Free(welsh)man]

My stilo has terminals towards the bulkhead and positive on the left, thinks it's standard that way round....

Yes, that's how mine are. The problem is the battery I got is reversed, which isn't something I came across before and was wondering what I might be able to do.
Did anyone buy this specific battery or run into this issue? If so, what did they do?

 

[chris3234]

Return the battery and buy the correct one is the best course of action

 

[Ralf S.]

That's the wrong battery for a Stilo. You wants a 096.

I've seen some Stilo's listed as using 078 but my guess is someone ballsed it up, since my car (which uses a 096) sometimes comes up as a 078.

078 is as you describe - the terminals are on the edge of the battery nearest the front valance panel.. whereas an 096 has them on the edge facing the windscreen.


Ralf S.


Ralf S.

 

[Zeewulf]

That's the wrong battery for a Stilo. You wants a 096.

I've seen some Stilo's listed as using 078 but my guess is someone ballsed it up, since my car (which uses a 096) sometimes comes up as a 078.

078 is as you describe - the terminals are on the edge of the battery nearest the front valance panel.. whereas an 096 has them on the edge facing the windscreen.


Ralf S.


Ralf S.

The Free(welsh)man

Measure your battery tray and then the height you can go to and buy the biggest battery to fit the space.

I have a Varta E44 (096) battery in my 1.9 JTD.

 

[Davren]

096 batteries in both of my Stilo JTDs.

Terminals should be at the back facing towards the rear of the car. If you're involved in a front end accident that bends the bonnet slam panel, it's less likely to short out the terminals.
.

 

[varesecrazy]

Yes, that's how mine are. The problem is the battery I got is reversed, which isn't something I came across before and was wondering what I might be able to do.
Did anyone buy this specific battery or run into this issue? If so, what did they do?

Photo's please

Otherwise half of us are just guessing


If it looks like you can spin the battery 180 degrees.. we may offer solutions

 

[roverp480]

Many batteries of the same size can be purchased with the terminals in either configuration and have different codes, so basically you have purchased the wrong one. Take it back and change it to a RH +(Positive) rather than a LH + . Tayna Batteries show a RH+ for your vehicle . The Left Hand & Right Hand are when you look at the battery side on with the terminals next to you

 

[Maxcaddy]

You can of course get a number of Batteries to fit, but the 096 fits perfectly and is the one I use.

A bigger problem will be if you have bought a cheap Battery online, as sending it back will be a complete nightmare to the extent that it can be easier and cheaper to just keep it in the shed for jump starting.

If you did invest in a 'posh' battery, say a Yuasa with 5 years warranty, buy it from Halfords as you can take it back to any Halfords if it were to fail.