okolexx

OK....my car won't start and it will also not keep a charge unless I drive it every other day. I need to replace the batteries. Here's my question....Should I replace both batteries?? Also, can you give me a name of a good replacement battery that fits in the original battery compartments.

Thanks,

Les

Peter Zimmermann

Les: Generally speaking, my shop always replaced the batteries in pairs. If one battery has failed, it will drag the other one down. Call around to local battery suppliers, and call a couple of local independent P-car shops. You will get all kinds of suggestions regarding switching to a single Optima, etc., but if the car was mine I would do everything to preserve its originality. It might help to measure one of your batteries, and draw a picture of the terminal positions, before calling a battery house, they might or might not have a listing for them.

theiceman

Hell don't do anything .... honey I just have to drive my car at least every other day .. what's the issye here.. :-)

WitchDoctor

I say combine both recommendations. Get the new batteries, but explain to the wife that, having already made an investment in this hobby, this functional piece of history, preserving it obviously requires a bit more...functioning. Small price to pay, honey, to take care of our investment. It doesn't cost a lot. It's no finicky Ferrari. As such commitments go, it could be worse. She could have been born a golf widow!

-Brent

Oh, PS, Pete, regarding originality...I've been meaning to ask you, would you recommend against getting some nifty steering wheel for my 81 SC? The car's original, and I like it that way, but wondered about the (ugly) steering wheel.

PPS, sorry to hi jack this.

HarryD

I presume your batteries are the same as mine.

If so, Interstate makes a convetional lead acid battery that fits in the box (911 Battery).

For a sealed Gel type, Sonnenscheins are a proper fit (http://www.sonnenschein.org/)

Amber Gramps

Go with Interstate, they buy a ton of stretchwrap off me....and I have one in my car.

Mike Murphy

Too bad Optima and Odyssey don't make 6-volt batteries that you can use to keep everything else original.

HarryD

Why would you get 6 volt batteries when the car is 12 volt and the dual battery setup is wired in parallel?

Mike Murphy

Well then I guess you wouldn't. I assumed that these were 6-volt batteries. Let me then ask the following questions:

1.) Why are there 2 batteries in these cars? Weight distribution?
2.) If they are running 2 12V batteries, then why couldn't someone run a newer battery like an Optima or Odyssey? I don't see how running a modified battery would affect the originality of the car??

I drove a 1949 Chevy Truck in high school and it ran on 6V. To protect the originality, we kept the 6V generator but swapped it out for a 12V alternator and wired 2 batteries in series. The only device that ran on 12V was the starter. This allows us to get the truck started in winter but still keep the original system on 12V.

HarryD

Excactly. When Porsche went to external, fender mounted coolers (on the passenger side), it interfered with the battery box and they went back to a single battery on the driver side.

That would be fine but the batteries are not a standard size and small to boot. As a result, your options are limted. To get an Optima to fit, most owners put it on it's side. I do not know much about the Odyssey but I suspect the same story for an equivalent capacity.

Mike Murphy

Maybe it's just me, but I would definitely be happy with a non-standard size because the smaller Odyssey's might be able to be packaged it in such a way as to not interfere with or change the battery box. And these batteries supposedly last up to 7 years while providing quite a bit more cranking power than a regular battery.

I don't know about the older 911s, but my 88 Carrera never really seemed to require any extra-ordinary power requirements over and above a standard battery. But then again the battery in my Carrera was massive!

SeattlePorsche

I have the interstate batteries on my 69E and they work well, even in a cold start situation at high altitude in the mountains of california.

AYTCH

Unfortunately, the Odyssey is LARGER than the battery box, hence the reason for mounting it on its side, which while effective, doesn't do much for originality or the looks dept. Others have mounted it in the smugglers box. After going through a very expensive pair of correct size batteries ordered from Perf. Prod., I installed a pair of 12v lawn tractor batteries ($30 each), which fit in the battery boxes and work just fine.

okolexx

I'm looking at the Interstate Battery....Do you know the model #?

Brads911sc

U911
http://www.interstatebatteries.com/e...archGroup&js=1