I finally took the original battery out of my '00 300M tonight.

I was at the point of giving the original battery in my year-2000 300m
an over-night boost with a battery charger about once every week for the
past month, and noticing that the engine wasn't turning over with the
same pep that it should.

I'm sure this god-damn heat we've had this summer hasn't helped.

I really wanted for it to go another 2 months - when it would be 12
years old.

And now I discover that the electrical cord under the hood that I've
been using on some of those cold winter nights is actually connected to
a 70-watt battery warmer/blanket - not a block heater.

I'll get a new battery tommorrow. I'll clean up this old one and take
some pictures of it before it goes to the recycler. I'll try to get a
build-date and manufacturer from it.

Living on the Oregon coast close to Newport area, which has a narrow
temperature range (38 to 70), my 2001 PT is still on its first/original
battery.
I did have to clean corrosion off one of the terminals a few weeks ago.
Nearest "competitive" priced Chrysler dealers is about 70 miles away (one
way).
Local dealer (phased out Chrysler a few years ago) and tried to get $40.00
for law/of/if from me.
Albany (Oregon) dealer is still actively advertising and always has a
"deal."
will have to spend a day there soon, as the PT has 102,000+ miles on it.
5 speed and with miles of travel without lights or stops or traffic and
getting into 5th within .25 miles from home, it gets 27 to 28 MPG
consistently (still).

h

MoPar Man wrote:

> And now I discover that the electrical cord under the hood that
> I've been using on some of those cold winter nights is actually
> connected to a 70-watt battery warmer/blanket - not a block
> heater.

Correction.

There appears to be a block heater AND battery heater.

The under-hood power cord goes to a connector along the front
frame-rail. The other end of that connector goes to the battery heater
as well as some other place near / under the engine (can't trace it
easily).

There are only 2 or 3 battery manufacturers. Last time I checked, the
Costco Kirkland brand was equivalent to the Sears Diehard Gold line,
manufactured by Johnson Controls. The price was not equivalent, the
Kirkland label was about $30 less than the Die Hard label. With either
label, it is an excellent battery.


On 9/4/2011 12:14 PM, howard wrote:
> Living on the Oregon coast close to Newport area, which has a narrow
> temperature range (38 to 70), my 2001 PT is still on its first/original
> battery.
> I did have to clean corrosion off one of the terminals a few weeks ago.
> Nearest "competitive" priced Chrysler dealers is about 70 miles away (one
> way).
> Local dealer (phased out Chrysler a few years ago) and tried to get $40.00
> for law/of/if from me.
> Albany (Oregon) dealer is still actively advertising and always has a
> "deal."
> will have to spend a day there soon, as the PT has 102,000+ miles on it.
> 5 speed and with miles of travel without lights or stops or traffic and
> getting into 5th within .25 miles from home, it gets 27 to 28 MPG
> consistently (still).
>
> h
>
>

On 9/4/2011 6:26 PM, MoPar Man wrote:
> MoPar Man wrote:
>
>> And now I discover that the electrical cord under the hood that
>> I've been using on some of those cold winter nights is actually
>> connected to a 70-watt battery warmer/blanket - not a block
>> heater.
>
> Correction.
>
> There appears to be a block heater AND battery heater.
>
> The under-hood power cord goes to a connector along the front
> frame-rail. The other end of that connector goes to the battery heater
> as well as some other place near / under the engine (can't trace it
> easily).

Correct. The "Cold Weather Group" package that you have contains both
heaters. The block heater is a coil inside a frost plug, the battery
heater keeps it nice and toasty for those cold morning starts. (Or
those re-starts after spending 15 minutes parked in the power outlet
equipped parking lot of the Fairbanks McDonalds.)

It does use quite a bit of juice though, check with a Kill-a-Watt or
similar power meter. I'd recommend using a heavy duty timer to start
2-3 hours before you start the engine.

Greg Houston wrote:

> > There appears to be a block heater AND battery heater.
>
> Correct. The "Cold Weather Group" package that you have contains
> both heaters.

I'm in SW-Ontario (not somewhere way up north) and this "cold weather
group" wasn't an option at the time I bought this car, so I'm assuming
that all Canadian 300m's had this by default.

> It does use quite a bit of juice though

This battery heater says that it's 70 watts.

I put in a new battery yesterday, and I did not re-install the battery
heater. This car has been kept in an insulated garage every evening for
it's entire life. It's probably spent less than 100 winter nights
outside overnight over the past 12 years (probably more like 25 to 50
nights) and this will continue for the forseeable future. The garage
has a small heater and the temp never goes below 45f during the coldest
winter nights. So I really have no use for a battery heater.

I have plugged this cable in maybe a few dozen times to keep the engine
warm in my garage overnight, and I'll keep doing this when-ever I feel
like it, but like I said above I don't need to be heating the battery at
the same time.