Escape battery replacement location

[Linctex]

Originally Posted By: HorseThief
I won't touch chryslers with the battery in the wheel well.


Lord amighty, what was Chrysler thinking?

I did one ONCE - a 1999 Concorde - it was like a 2-3 hour job.
Front right wheel comes off, airbox comes out, and whole bunch of other stuff.
Ridiculousness!!!

 

[Linctex]

Originally Posted By: Ethan1
You have to remove the fender to service the battery on the Solstice.


That's insanity, that's what that is.

 

[StevieC]

It's like they think the battery will last the life of the vehicle or something. ?!?

 

[Smoky14]

Originally Posted By: StevieC
It's like they think the battery will last the life of the vehicle or something. ?!?

No just the length of the guarantee. As an aircraft mechanic, you should see where they hide stuff on airplanes.

Smoky

 

[meep]

that looks very similar to the newer volvo S60s. I wonder if they share the same chassis.

-m

 

[another Todd]

Originally Posted By: JohnnyJohnson
That alone takes the Ford Escape off my buy list!

More bring it back to Ford for maintenance engineering.


Really? A 30 minute job you might do once or twice during 10 years of ownership? Where is your sense of adventure?

 

[Colt45ws]

Originally Posted By: another Todd
Originally Posted By: JohnnyJohnson
That alone takes the Ford Escape off my buy list!

More bring it back to Ford for maintenance engineering.


Really? A 30 minute job you might do once or twice during 10 years of ownership? Where is your sense of adventure?

No 'cause by the time you get to year 6 and go to replace the battery because of a no-start, you finally get to it and find this:

Oh, you could've seen that way back when it was just a bit of green crust on the edge of the terminal, easily cleaned it up and prevented further corrosion if it was visible just by opening the hood.
But since its hidden, buried and takes 45 minutes to access, it went unmonitored and now you need to replace the terminal, or more likely the whole cable since they make it the exact length to reach the battery and no more.
So you either have to access it on say a yearly schedule to make sure its good, or live on a prayer that its not corroding to goop just sitting there.

 

[nthach]

Originally Posted By: Ethan1


I can go on and on. Only Japanese cars are designed for ease of service.

The Lexus LS requires both headlights to be pulled to access the bulbs(or removing the airbox and a hole cover on the RH side to access the bulb. Starters on a Toyota UZ series engine require the intake and fuel rails to be pulled. You have to pull have the cargo area fascia to get to the 12V battery on a 1st-3rd gen Prius.

Honda is now reaching German complex these days.

 

[StevieC]

Originally Posted By: nthach
Originally Posted By: Ethan1


I can go on and on. Only Japanese cars are designed for ease of service.

The Lexus LS requires both headlights to be pulled to access the bulbs(or removing the airbox and a hole cover on the RH side to access the bulb. Starters on a Toyota UZ series engine require the intake and fuel rails to be pulled. You have to pull have the cargo area fascia to get to the 12V battery on a 1st-3rd gen Prius.

Honda is now reaching German complex these days.


My Korean vehicles in the family are the same. With exception of the nightmare the 2.7L timing belt was on my Santa Fe. That was just stupid.

 

[meep]

The manual for our 2009 volvo tells the owner to take it to the dealer for headlamp bulb replacement...

it's hard to escape the complexity for the streamlined, tight packaging used these days.

-m

 

[nthach]

Originally Posted By: meep
The manual for our 2009 volvo tells the owner to take it to the dealer for headlamp bulb replacement...


Toyota slaps a stern warning label on models with HID headlamps in multiple languages warning of serious injury/death from high voltage making an would be DIY job a dealer-only affair unless you are brave.