CLS 63 - Time For A New Battery?

[E55BOF]

2014 CLS 63.

Been standing for nearly a fortnight, started OK, but would not come out of Park, though the selector lever moved as normal. Ran it for about half a minute, turned off, on again, started, back to normal. However, the green 'ECO' (Stop/Start) light did not come on for a good few miles.

I had the same problem on the 2013 diesel 350 CLS, though that had a conventional seven-speed, not the MCT gearbox, and a new battery sorted it. Shades of the consumer battery low on charge on a W211?

I'd say it's time for a new battery; does anybody think otherwise?

 

[Skd884]

Slow charge it slim i bet it will be fine.

 

[Smiley]

Two weeks is about the max time I leave a car without getting a trickle charger on it; I would say get a trickle charger on it now and monitor it. It may last a few months or a few years.

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

Slow charge it slim i bet it will be fine.

I’d try recharging or reconditioning the battery before replacing it too.

If you don’t already have one, then investing in a good quality battery conditioner which you can safely use whilst the battery remains on the car - like the CTEK MXS 5.0 - would be worthwhile, even if it doesn’t fix the specific issue.

Prices can vary considerably between retailers, although Amazon are usually competitive despite their price going up and down almost every day. You can usually pick one up for £50-80 depending on how lucky you time it.

Whether you replace the battery or not, the conditioner will extend the life of the current or replacement t battery. If you drive your car regularly then conditioning it monthly will do it good, if you don’t use it regularly then leave it hooked up whilst parked.

If you replace the battery then choose the replacement carefully. If the car has stop start then it will almost certainly be an AGM battery, don't save money buy buying a cheaper traditional lead acid battery - your car’s charging system expects AGM.

If you don’t have an AGM fitted already then that could be the issue. Stop-start could have taken it’s toll on a lead acid battery and then the charging system is using the wrong AGM charging profile profile to charge a lewd acid battery.

 

[E55BOF]

Varta AGM battery on the car; I'd replace with either the same or a Bosch.

The car stands outdoors all year round. I have a CTEK, and that's fine for the bike, which is in the garage, but in my experience, once a battery starts to lose charge while standing it's only going one way, and the onset of winter is the classic time for a battery problem to show up. I'd rather have the car reliable than muck about trying to prolong the life of a failing battery, only to have it give up again at an inconvenient time.

 

[Skd884]

One of mine gets used once a month just to keep the battery alive, the battery is 11 years young with no problems

C63 AMG W204 2012 Battery | Parts, Maintenance & Servicing

Might help someone A 005 541 10 01 Local MB dealer £190+, local commercial MB dealer £99+ have it on offer, it pays to shop around.

forums.mbclub.co.uk

 

[E55BOF]

Congratulations.

 

[ALFAitalia]

If its the original then it near ten years old and done well. That said I only recently replaced the one in my wife's A Class after over 16 years....it still started Ok....but the crank was slightly slower and it failed on my 50 drop tester.....so was replaced as a precaution against its inevitable failure!!
Modern cars are MUCH more electric hungry than older ones like the 169 A Class.....so are much more sensitive to battery condition.

 

[E55BOF]

Well, after being stood for a week, including a cold soak night before last, the problem did not recur. The battery was made in 2018, and it's a genuine MB Varta, so I wouldn't expect it to be dying just yet; in my experience, eight or nine years is to be expected.

The ECO function has always been temperamental - sometimes it wants to play, sometimes it doesn't. Maybe the sticking in gear was just a glitch? I've got the Ctek doing its stuff now, and I'll see how it goes for the moment, but I won't be surprised if a new battery is needed.