At the Autozone near my house both Duralast batteries (48-DL & 49-DL) were $74.95. With core trade and tax it was right at $80.

 

Correct, and yes. (The manual actually explicitly deals with how to get the trunk open when the battery is dead.)

 

Huh, never knew that. Learn something everyday.

 

Mike, that may not be a bad idea, because winters are hard on batteries. However, if you are not noticing any change in battery performance, you may not need to replace it.

I have had 4 or 5 batteries crap out on me over the years and here are some first hand observations about the difference between "maintenance free" (sealed) and "non-maintenance free" (you can/should add water to the cells). These observations are based upon cars being driven almost every day, so these observations may be different from "garage queen" cars (and we ALL know who I am specifically referring to here, don't we!).

The good thing about non "maintenance free" batteries is that they usually have given me a warning (slow or sluggish cranking power) that they were near the end of the life cycle. This happened to my battery about a week ago.

However, "maintenance free" batteries are not that way. They just die suddenly with no warning. I have had two "maintenance free" batteries do this, which I thought was quite rude!

 

I also just replaced my battery with a Duralast 48-DL from Autozone.
Great battery at a great price.
875 cranking amps @32f, 700 CCA, RC=110 min. 37lbs. $74.94
These are the same specs as the Sears 48, except the Sears weighs 41lbs and retails for $129.99.
The only downside to the 48-DL is that it has only 24 month Full Replacement Warranty. The Sears and Advance Auto 48's have 36month Full Replacement.

 

1999-2000 has mechanical levers in the door sills. When the door is closed you cannot raise the levers.

When you set the alarm a metal cam operated by a solenoid rotates into position under the levers, so you cannot raise the levers. If the car battery dies while the alarm is set the cam is still in the lock position, so you cannot raise the levers.

 

Interesting Tim.. Autozone does not have uniform pricing. I may have to call several stores for pricing next time. IIRC, 48-DL was cheaper than 49-DL in my store by about $10 and still more expensive than your prices.

 

Most national chains have regional pricing strategies. This allows them to adjust their prices based upon regional pay scales, distribution costs, real estate costs, and pricing structures of their competition.

In general, all of the aforementioned costs would be higher on the east and west coast than in the central US, so east and west coast pricing will reflect the higher operating costs. While the gross margin (markup) percent would be higher than in the central US, the net profit probably would be comparable across the entire country.

 

im having this problem now...HOW DO I GET IN !! Owners manual is in truck and both levers are locked tight ....

 

Gotta check the manual to make sure, but there is some sort of latch mechanism located toward the front of the front-left fender well. There is some sort of access hole that you can get to it, but you have to peel back the protective covering. Someone who knows can tell you for sure.

 

Both levers are locked tight? With mine, once I unlocked the car with the key, just the trunk lever was locked.

Hmmm. Well, there's an emergency release cable behind the right front wheel well. It would open the trunk for you, and you could attach jumper cables to the battery, allowing you to disarm the alarm and get everything else opened up. Try a search for details. I'd do it for you, but wifey is waiting in the driveway...

 

Just had to do this a couple days ago. (go ahead and snicker) Parked it in reverse, and had a couple weeks where I was out of town. That, and it was -4F at the time.

The key manually unlocked the door. I popped open the panel by my left foot and attached the battery charger. I figured it would charge up in a few hours... and I was wrong. It had just enough juice to pop the trunk and was not allowing the 6A charger bring it back.

Once I popped the hood, I had access to the battery. Jumped the car, pulled it into my garage, and charged up the battery.

 

Just a word to the wise... if you can get to the engine compartment, that is by far the better way to jump the car. There's a post for the negative clamp to the right of the strike plate for the hood latch. The post for the positive clamp is behind a little black plastic door a bit north of there. Attaching cables back there will get everything working. It's all in the manual.

 

OK HERE'S THE DEAL !! On my 99 the levers are mechanical not electric, BUT when you lock the car with the remote a locking pin locks the release levers. I unlocked the door with the key (not remote) cause battery was dead, open panel on fuse cover, used a phillips head screw driver and removed the 4 screws holding the fuse panel in and WALLLA !! There lies the cable for the hood latch...quick tug on the cable, popped the hood, removed battery dust cover installed charger and problem solved !!

 

it is colder in CT then NC: my guess is they just charge more in regions that "need" batteries more often?