Buying car parts

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Sam Plusnet 1 month ago

I'm buying a new car battery since the 'current' one had dropped to 11.4 volts, and (unsurprisingly) wouldn't start the (2 litre diesel) car[1].

Most on-line places have a car registration look-up 'app' which identifies parts suitable for your car. On all the web sites I tried the 'app' looked identical.

I used the app Tayna Batteries and that showed me batteries which were suitable for my car.

I used the app on Halfords (I was feeling lazy and considered NOT DIY-ing) where they showed me batteries which at first sight seemed OK, but the terminal locations were reversed and hence were very much not OK for my car.

I'm not sure how this can happen since the car registration apps look identical on both sites.

(I've ordered a Yuasa battery from Tayna and will DIY.)

[1] I did get it started with my Noco jump starter, but this battery will let me down again at some point, and is overdue for replacement.

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Andy Burns 1 month ago

The Halfords battery lookup from vehicle reg supplied me with a battery that was about 1" too long and had to be returned/exchanged.

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Jeff Layman 1 month ago

I got mine from APD. Excellent service and a good price:

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Brian 1 month ago

I’ve used Tayna and found them good.

GSF - a company with branches around the country- are also good.

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Sam Plusnet 1 month ago

Thanks for that link. I tried their car reg look-up app (which does look slightly different) and it did the same thing as Halford's i.e offered me a range of batteries where the Positive terminal is where the Negative needs to be.

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Sam Plusnet 1 month ago

Me too, but I've only bought Leisure batteries from them to date.>

Don't know that one.

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Jeff Layman 1 month ago

That's really strange. I assume your Tayna battery arrived and was ok, ie the terminals were the same as your original.

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Indy Jess John 1 month ago

I used Tanya Batteries to get a replacement battery for my Triumph

2.5PI. It arrived quickly and has been a good reliable battery. I bought a Varta Heavy Duty because a classic car might be left for a few months between starts so I wanted plenty of battery power, but Yuasa has a good reputation and you should be OK.[1]

I can't be sure, but I think somewhere on their website I found a list of battery types where you can start with the dimensions of the existing battery, then look at which ends the + and - terminals are, then the type of terminal, and finally the battery output options to identify exactly what to order.

[1] Don't forget that modern cars have a continuous drain on the battery for all the alarms and listening for the remote key etc when not being driven. A couple of years ago a friend of mine left his car (a Renault) parked near my house, gave me the keys and said I could use it whenever I liked because it had a full tank of petrol and he had added me to his insurance as an additional driver. He then went abroad for work for 6 months. I discovered that if I left it 3 weeks between starts it turned over a bit sluggishly but did start. If I left it 4 weeks I could only start it using jump leads. I ended up taking it rather than my own car once a fortnight, and that kept it happy.

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Sam Plusnet 1 month ago

It's due on Friday, so I shall see. Certainly their illustrations and photos showed the correct orientation.

Yuasa do two 'identical' batteries the HSB334 and HSB335. They are identical except for the orientation of the terminals.

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Sam Plusnet 1 month ago

Follow up: The battery arrived on Friday as expected and was in the car within 40 minutes[1]. Yes (obviously) it was the correct orientation for my car. I had previously searched for this particular model on the Halford's website, and it firmly told me that it WAS NOT suitable for my car.

[1] It would have been quicker, but the hardest task was opening the tiny tin of Vaseline[2] which I blagged from SWMBO, and that alone must have taken 10 minutes. [2] Best I could do for protecting the battery terminals from corrosion.

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