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Battery Removal


chrisjpainter
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The car's battery's knackered, so needs replacing. Halfords charge £25 for fitting, which I thought was a bit criminal. So, I googled my car, found the Haynes manual video and had a bash at it myself. It's convaluted, but not difficult and in ten mins (including watching the video and pausing and such) the battery was out ready to fit the new one. Two things bother me:

Why don't [more people look to]* save money by trying to figure things like this out for themselves, because it's not that hard?

How can Halford's justify £150/hr for a ten minute job?! I bet the chap who would do it doesn't get the £25.

Edited by chrisjpainter
*Smokersmith's pointed out some do try and save money! ;)
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9 minutes ago, chrisjpainter said:

Why don't people save money by trying to figure things like this out for themselves?

How can Halford's justify £150/hr for a ten minute job?!

1) They do

2) They are a business and need to make money - if people will pay, and I'm sure many do … !

Google videos have literally saved me thousands in garage bills … there's not a lot out there that you can't find nowadays.

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Just had a new battery on my CRV, the garage used a jump start battery box gadget connected across the leads, to avoid losing all the info in the computer thing. Years ago I would have done it myself and the only thing that needed re-setting was the clock, but now with electric everything, it would take me a year to reset it all again  !  It went to the same garage for an MOT, the mechanic had fiddled with the buttons on the steering wheel, trying to get the mileage displayed. It took 3 different people at the Honda agents to reset it. The one that managed to do it was about 12 years old  !

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I have one of those plug in your cigarette lighter socket gadgets, that saves info when the battery is changed. On most cars, you can change the battery in a minute if you wanted. That said, I changed a battery on a Ford Focus for a mate's daughter and it was tucked under the scuttle at the rear of the engine. A real pain.

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When i had a navara the passenger side headlight used to reularly give up the ghost, and it was a pain to try and get out with my fat hands and inevitably i was left with a cut on my hand, so i paid halfords 6 quid to replace the bulb, it took him 45 minutes and he had cuts all over his knuckles and back of his hand, all i had was a warm feeling from the coffee i bought from the cafe next door while watching him.
I don't think he was a happy chap when he finished.

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The only things I do not use my local garage for are light bulbs, batteries and wipers. Bulbs in particular used to be so easy and quick to change.

It is interesting to note that despite it being a lawful requirement in many European countries to carry spare bulbs the eurocrats never did anything as useful as making sure that there was a standard for all cars where the bulbs could be changed by the driver in less than 2 mins without tools and without requiring antiseptic and bandages for aftercare.

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19 hours ago, Gordon R said:

I have one of those plug in your cigarette lighter socket gadgets, that saves info when the battery is changed. On most cars, you can change the battery in a minute if you wanted. That said, I changed a battery on a Ford Focus for a mate's daughter and it was tucked under the scuttle at the rear of the engine. A real pain.

As it happened, that's what mine is! New battery's in and the car works now. Always useful. Mine's a 2012 model. It's a bit of a vexin place for the battery; I guess the idea is to encourage people to get ripped off at their dealers rather than local garages/themselves. Still, Youtube is a wonderful thing

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22 hours ago, JTaylor91 said:

Some cars even need a battery change coding to the car now. I know a lot of BMWs do.

correct.people fit incorrect batterys cars start ok but dash and communicating control units can go bonkers especially on bmw and mini

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Quote

As it happened, that's what mine is!

I remember rolling up at Kate / Lee's and saying this won't take a minute. I then said that it couldn't possibly need parts removing to change the battery. It would come almost all the way out, but not sufficient clearance. I also remember saying that it was designed by an idiot. There is no reason whatsoever to make it so hard.

Edited by Gordon R
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1 hour ago, Gordon R said:

I remember rolling up at Kate / Lee's and saying this won't take a minute. I then said that it couldn't possibly need parts removing to change the battery. It would come almost all the way out, but not sufficient clearance. I also remember saying that it was designed by an idiot. There is no reason whatsoever to make it so hard.

Correct.

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Our Mitsubishi Outlander rear light clusters are an absolute pain to pull out.  They are on a clip at the back and take a bit of effort to get out. £6 for Halfords to change is a bargain..... the last one the guy used a tool behind and it went ping as the plastic light broke.  They just ordered a new one and fitted next time we popped in £120 up on that one we were! 

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Batteries are one thing but headlights can be nuts. I had to partially disassemble the air intake to change one side and the windscreen fluid bottle and feed for the other on my koleos (an xtrail will be the same). Had an mr2 and sx200 that were both pains in the rear also. Easiest was a Vauxhall cavalier. They should make then easy to access, trying to do it at night when a light blows is sometimes like the krypton factor  that requires the hands of a child with the dexterity of a bombmaker and grip strength of a power lifter.  

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some cars can be a pain to work on   batteries in boot / under seat / scuttle panel  a ton of bits to come off before changing a £20 part    not to mention bulbs the amount of cars with one sidelight   mot failure around town not to mention no lights     nobody gets under a bonnet these days and  leave it  until the MOT get it all done and cry about the bill      guts ripped out as have  to have it done          my daughter pulled over to two guys and showed them how to change a spare wheel  they were amazed        I was a proud  dad  😁    

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On 11/03/2020 at 10:05, welsh1 said:

When i had a navara the passenger side headlight used to reularly give up the ghost, and it was a pain to try and get out with my fat hands and inevitably i was left with a cut on my hand, so i paid halfords 6 quid to replace the bulb, it took him 45 minutes and he had cuts all over his knuckles and back of his hand, all i had was a warm feeling from the coffee i bought from the cafe next door while watching him.
I don't think he was a happy chap when he finished.

If I remember correctly it was quicker and easier to remove the air box or take the whole headlight out to change the bulb. 

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