My Nissan 200SX is 5.5 years old and I think the battery is a bit tired. 
It's been parked up for about 10 days and this morning the alarm went off 
for no good reason and when I went to check it out the door locks were 
sluggish and the thing would not turn over.

I'm not sure if it's worth trying some sort of additive or just getting a 
new battery. Finding prices online seems next to impossible - I found one 
website wanting 40.50+VAT including free delivery from 
http://www.batmanuk.com/batteries.htm but that's all. Halfords and ATS have 
nothing useful online and etyres don't stock a battery for my car..

Are additives worth it or after 5.5 years would that be a waste of 
time/money. If a new battery is best does anyone know of decent deals 
anywhere? I live on the London/Essex border.

Thanks,
Tim.

"Tiny Tim" <_> wrote in message 
news:4322c588$0$22939$ed2619ec@ptn-nntp-reader01.plus.net...

> My Nissan 200SX is 5.5 years old and I think the battery is a bit tired. 
> It's been parked up for about 10 days and this morning the alarm went off 
> for no good reason and when I went to check it out the door locks were 
> sluggish and the thing would not turn over.
>
> I'm not sure if it's worth trying some sort of additive or just getting a 
> new battery. Finding prices online seems next to impossible - I found one 
> website wanting 40.50+VAT including free delivery from 
> http://www.batmanuk.com/batteries.htm but that's all. Halfords and ATS 
> have nothing useful online and etyres don't stock a battery for my car..
>
> Are additives worth it or after 5.5 years would that be a waste of 
> time/money. If a new battery is best does anyone know of decent deals 
> anywhere? I live on the London/Essex border.
>
>


45ish isn't bad surely is it?  I assume being a performance machine it 
requires a fairly heavy duty battery?

-- 
Dan

DanTXD wrote:

> "Tiny Tim" <_> wrote in message
> news:4322c588$0$22939$ed2619ec@ptn-nntp-reader01.plus.net...
>> My Nissan 200SX is 5.5 years old and I think the battery is a bit
>> tired. It's been parked up for about 10 days and this morning the
>> alarm went off for no good reason and when I went to check it out
>> the door locks were sluggish and the thing would not turn over.
>>
>> I'm not sure if it's worth trying some sort of additive or just
>> getting a new battery. Finding prices online seems next to
>> impossible - I found one website wanting 40.50+VAT including free
>> delivery from http://www.batmanuk.com/batteries.htm but that's all.
>> Halfords and ATS have nothing useful online and etyres don't stock a
>> battery for my car.. Are additives worth it or after 5.5 years would that 
>> be a waste of
>> time/money. If a new battery is best does anyone know of decent deals
>> anywhere? I live on the London/Essex border.
>>
>>
>
> 45ish isn't bad surely is it?  I assume being a performance machine
> it requires a fairly heavy duty battery?


I have no idea whether 45 is good or bad, since I haven't bought a car 
battery in about 10 years and it's the only price I've found. It doesn't 
sound too bad but if I can spend less then so much the better.

Being a performance car has nothing to do with battery power/strength. It's 
the engine that provides the power; the battery just starts it :-) As the 
car is a 4 pot turbo (running at lower compression than your average family 
saloon, I imagine) I'm guessing the load on the battery is actually quite 
light relative to most vehicles. Now if it were a V8 or a diesel lump then 
I'd agree it should be heavy duty.

"Tiny Tim" <_> wrote in message 
news:4322c86f$0$22948$ed2619ec@ptn-nntp-reader01.plus.net...

> DanTXD wrote:
>> "Tiny Tim" <_> wrote in message
>> news:4322c588$0$22939$ed2619ec@ptn-nntp-reader01.plus.net...
>>> My Nissan 200SX is 5.5 years old and I think the battery is a bit
>>> tired. It's been parked up for about 10 days and this morning the
>>> alarm went off for no good reason and when I went to check it out
>>> the door locks were sluggish and the thing would not turn over.
>>>
>>> I'm not sure if it's worth trying some sort of additive or just
>>> getting a new battery. Finding prices online seems next to
>>> impossible - I found one website wanting 40.50+VAT including free
>>> delivery from http://www.batmanuk.com/batteries.htm but that's all.
>>> Halfords and ATS have nothing useful online and etyres don't stock a
>>> battery for my car.. Are additives worth it or after 5.5 years would 
>>> that be a waste of
>>> time/money. If a new battery is best does anyone know of decent deals
>>> anywhere? I live on the London/Essex border.
>>>
>>>
>>
>> 45ish isn't bad surely is it?  I assume being a performance machine
>> it requires a fairly heavy duty battery?
>
> I have no idea whether 45 is good or bad, since I haven't bought a car 
> battery in about 10 years and it's the only price I've found. It doesn't 
> sound too bad but if I can spend less then so much the better.
>
> Being a performance car has nothing to do with battery power/strength. 
> It's the engine that provides the power; the battery just starts it :-) As 
> the car is a 4 pot turbo (running at lower compression than your average 
> family saloon, I imagine) I'm guessing the load on the battery is actually 
> quite light relative to most vehicles. Now if it were a V8 or a diesel 
> lump then I'd agree it should be heavy duty.


This is true :-)  I also havn't bought a car battery for, erm, well, ever, 
so i'll shut up now :)

-- 
Dan

On Sat, 10 Sep 2005 12:37:39 +0100, Tiny Tim wrote:


> Are additives worth it or after 5.5 years would that be a waste of 
> time/money. If a new battery is best does anyone know of decent deals 
> anywhere? I live on the London/Essex border.
> 
> Thanks,
> Tim.


Additives generally don't work as it's more or less impossible to persuade
the lead sulphate off the plates. CostCo are good for batteries if you know
anyone who has membership and there are a few around down there.

In article <4322c588$0$22939$ed2619ec@ptn-nntp-reader01.plus.net>,  
says...

>
> Are additives worth it or after 5.5 years would that be a waste of 
> time/money. If a new battery is best does anyone know of decent deals 
> anywhere? I live on the London/Essex border.
> 

<soapbox>
What is it with Southerners? Are you all really that skint? Always 
seems to be Southerners wanting the skinflint way out.
</soapbox>

It's 5 1/2 years old. It's done well. Time to get another. Try your 
local motorfactor who are more inclined to do everything they can to 
find a battery unlike the sales droids at Halfords who couldn't care.



-- 
Conor

"You're not married, you haven't got a girlfriend and you've never seen 
Star Trek? Good Lord!" - Patrick Stewart, Extras.

Chris Street wrote:

> On Sat, 10 Sep 2005 12:37:39 +0100, Tiny Tim wrote:
>
>> Are additives worth it or after 5.5 years would that be a waste of
>> time/money. If a new battery is best does anyone know of decent deals
>> anywhere? I live on the London/Essex border.
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Tim.
>
> Additives generally don't work as it's more or less impossible to
> persuade the lead sulphate off the plates. CostCo are good for
> batteries if you know anyone who has membership and there are a few
> around down there.


Thanks for that. I did think of Costco - my girlfriend used to be a member 
but that expired long ago and we haven't felt it worthwhile renewing. I 
might check out their prices today, as I'll be in the neighbourhood, and see 
if it's worth signing up again. There's also a Halfords nearby them so I'll 
call in there too.

Cheers :-)

Conor wrote:

> In article <4322c588$0$22939$ed2619ec@ptn-nntp-reader01.plus.net>,
> says...
>>
>> Are additives worth it or after 5.5 years would that be a waste of
>> time/money. If a new battery is best does anyone know of decent deals
>> anywhere? I live on the London/Essex border.
>>
> <soapbox>
> What is it with Southerners? Are you all really that skint? Always
> seems to be Southerners wanting the skinflint way out.
> </soapbox>
>
> It's 5 1/2 years old. It's done well. Time to get another. Try your
> local motorfactor who are more inclined to do everything they can to
> find a battery unlike the sales droids at Halfords who couldn't care.


Unfortunately, being skint tends to go hand in hand with being unemployed 
:-( No sense just wasting money, so if I can get the same thing cheaper I 
will. Now off to Lakeside via local auto spares shop........ if the car 
starts ;-)

Cheers,
Tim.

On Sat, 10 Sep 2005 13:07:25 +0100, Tiny Tim wrote:


> Chris Street wrote:
>> On Sat, 10 Sep 2005 12:37:39 +0100, Tiny Tim wrote:
>>
>>> Are additives worth it or after 5.5 years would that be a waste of
>>> time/money. If a new battery is best does anyone know of decent deals
>>> anywhere? I live on the London/Essex border.
>>>
>>> Thanks,
>>> Tim.
>>
>> Additives generally don't work as it's more or less impossible to
>> persuade the lead sulphate off the plates. CostCo are good for
>> batteries if you know anyone who has membership and there are a few
>> around down there.
> 
> Thanks for that. I did think of Costco - my girlfriend used to be a member 
> but that expired long ago and we haven't felt it worthwhile renewing. I 
> might check out their prices today, as I'll be in the neighbourhood, and see 
> if it's worth signing up again. There's also a Halfords nearby them so I'll 
> call in there too.
> 
> Cheers :-)


25+vat to join, after a battery and two tyres you've probably broke
even....

In article ,
   Conor  wrote:

> Try your local motorfactor who are more inclined to do everything they
> can to find a battery unlike the sales droids at Halfords who couldn't
> care.


Halfords is self service. You look up their lists yourself in store to
find out if they make a suitable replacement.

But a motor factor may have access to a wider range of makes for a
replacement.

-- 
*When cheese gets its picture taken, what does it say? *

    Dave Plowman        dave@davenoise.co.uk           London SW
                  To e-mail, change noise into sound.

"Tiny Tim" <_> wrote in message
news:4322c588$0$22939$ed2619ec@ptn-nntp-reader01.plus.net...

> My Nissan 200SX is 5.5 years old and I think the battery is a bit tired.
> It's been parked up for about 10 days and this morning the alarm went off
> for no good reason and when I went to check it out the door locks were
> sluggish and the thing would not turn over.
>
> I'm not sure if it's worth trying some sort of additive or just getting a
> new battery. Finding prices online seems next to impossible - I found one
> website wanting 40.50+VAT including free delivery from
> http://www.batmanuk.com/batteries.htm but that's all. Halfords and ATS
have
> nothing useful online and etyres don't stock a battery for my car..
>
> Are additives worth it or after 5.5 years would that be a waste of
> time/money. If a new battery is best does anyone know of decent deals
> anywhere? I live on the London/Essex border.


What I done for my wife's motor was, I got the code from here
http://www.varta-automotive.com/eng/  then searched one of the motor factors
on line
http://www.eurocarparts.co.uk/
http://www.gsfcarparts.com/

As someone has mentioned, Costco are usually cheap. You will get in with
your girlfriends old car. I doubt you will get in if you don't have a card
(even just for a look).  If her card has run out in the last few months they
will accept it. Just plead ignorance when you come to the checkout. They
will just remind you it has run out.  They have done this with me several
times ;o)

"Tiny Tim" <_> wrote in message 
news:4322c588$0$22939$ed2619ec@ptn-nntp-reader01.plus.net...

<snip>


> If a new battery is best does anyone know of decent deals anywhere? I live 
> on the London/Essex border.
>
> Thanks,
> Tim.
>


I live near southend in essex and I always buy my batteries from ABS 
Batteries in Rayleigh, Essex.  They are a Battery manufacturer/wholesaler. 
They are on brook Road Ind Est Which is right on the A127.  I got a Super 
heavy duty battery from them for my mk2 golfGTi 16v for 37.88 inc Vat. 
Give them a try on 01268 776376/745857.  Its always best to pick it up from 
them.  Their postcode is SS6 7UY if you need to look at www.multimap.com to 
find them.

Hope thats of any help to anyone.

Best regards

Chris

Howdy wrote:

> "Tiny Tim" <_> wrote in message
> news:4322c588$0$22939$ed2619ec@ptn-nntp-reader01.plus.net...
>> My Nissan 200SX is 5.5 years old and I think the battery is a bit
>> tired. It's been parked up for about 10 days and this morning the
>> alarm went off for no good reason and when I went to check it out
>> the door locks were sluggish and the thing would not turn over.
>>
>> I'm not sure if it's worth trying some sort of additive or just
>> getting a new battery. Finding prices online seems next to
>> impossible - I found one website wanting 40.50+VAT including free
>> delivery from http://www.batmanuk.com/batteries.htm but that's all.
>> Halfords and ATS have nothing useful online and etyres don't stock a
>> battery for my car..
>>
>> Are additives worth it or after 5.5 years would that be a waste of
>> time/money. If a new battery is best does anyone know of decent deals
>> anywhere? I live on the London/Essex border.
>
> What I done for my wife's motor was, I got the code from here
> http://www.varta-automotive.com/eng/  then searched one of the motor
> factors on line
> http://www.eurocarparts.co.uk/
> http://www.gsfcarparts.com/
>
> As someone has mentioned, Costco are usually cheap. You will get in
> with your girlfriends old car. I doubt you will get in if you don't
> have a card (even just for a look).  If her card has run out in the
> last few months they will accept it. Just plead ignorance when you
> come to the checkout. They will just remind you it has run out.  They
> have done this with me several times ;o)


Thanks for all your replies. The local motor spares place wanted 42.50 
including VAT, with a three year warranty and another local spares place was 
charging just under 40 all in.

But I then took a look inside the cells (I couldn't see the water line from 
outside the battery) and discovered that most had the plates sticking out of 
the water so instead of a new battery I went for a tube of batt-aid tablets 
and a litre of distilled water. The battery took the whole litre! So far 
it's all still working, with a total of six starts since I charged it this 
morning and no sign of any problems. Fingers crossed :-)

Tiny Tim wrote:

> Howdy wrote:
> 
>>"Tiny Tim" <_> wrote in message
>>news:4322c588$0$22939$ed2619ec@ptn-nntp-reader01.plus.net...
>>
>>>My Nissan 200SX is 5.5 years old and I think the battery is a bit
>>>tired. It's been parked up for about 10 days and this morning the
>>>alarm went off for no good reason and when I went to check it out
>>>the door locks were sluggish and the thing would not turn over.
>>>
>>>I'm not sure if it's worth trying some sort of additive or just
>>>getting a new battery. Finding prices online seems next to
>>>impossible - I found one website wanting 40.50+VAT including free
>>>delivery from http://www.batmanuk.com/batteries.htm but that's all.
>>>Halfords and ATS have nothing useful online and etyres don't stock a
>>>battery for my car..
>>>
>>>Are additives worth it or after 5.5 years would that be a waste of
>>>time/money. If a new battery is best does anyone know of decent deals
>>>anywhere? I live on the London/Essex border.
>>
>>What I done for my wife's motor was, I got the code from here
>>http://www.varta-automotive.com/eng/  then searched one of the motor
>>factors on line
>>http://www.eurocarparts.co.uk/
>>http://www.gsfcarparts.com/
>>
>>As someone has mentioned, Costco are usually cheap. You will get in
>>with your girlfriends old car. I doubt you will get in if you don't
>>have a card (even just for a look).  If her card has run out in the
>>last few months they will accept it. Just plead ignorance when you
>>come to the checkout. They will just remind you it has run out.  They
>>have done this with me several times ;o)
> 
> 
> Thanks for all your replies. The local motor spares place wanted 42.50 
> including VAT, with a three year warranty and another local spares place was 
> charging just under 40 all in.
> 
> But I then took a look inside the cells (I couldn't see the water line from 
> outside the battery) and discovered that most had the plates sticking out of 
> the water so instead of a new battery I went for a tube of batt-aid tablets 
> and a litre of distilled water. The battery took the whole litre! So far 
> it's all still working, with a total of six starts since I charged it this 
> morning and no sign of any problems. Fingers crossed :-) 
> 
> 


My dad noticed this years ago with a failed so-called "sealed for life" 
battery. He prised open the cover, topped it up, and it went on to give 
a few more years service.

-- 
Halmyre

In article , Dave Plowman (News) 
says...

> In article ,
>    Conor  wrote:
> > Try your local motorfactor who are more inclined to do everything they
> > can to find a battery unlike the sales droids at Halfords who couldn't
> > care.
> 
> Halfords is self service. You look up their lists yourself in store to
> find out if they make a suitable replacement.
> 

But they won;t help you if its not in the list.


> But a motor factor may have access to a wider range of makes for a
> replacement.
> 

And are likely ot help find one that'll do the job.


-- 
Conor

"You're not married, you haven't got a girlfriend and you've never seen 
Star Trek? Good Lord!" - Patrick Stewart, Extras.

In article ,
   Conor  wrote:

> > Halfords is self service. You look up their lists yourself in store to
> > find out if they make a suitable replacement.
> > 
> But they won;t help you if its not in the list.


Would you expect someone in a supermarket to help with things they didn't
stock?

-- 
*If your feet smell and your nose runs, you're built upside down.  

    Dave Plowman        dave@davenoise.co.uk           London SW
                  To e-mail, change noise into sound.