Just wanted to pass this along and solicit any comments. I purchased my 300M in August 1998, it is considered a 1999. We now have
Just did a 99 300M today, replaced original battery and replaced the starter solenoid contacts. The customer complaint was 100% attributed to the starter contacts but the battery conductance test showed that the battery was near the end of its life.
If you don't want to be left stranded, do the battery now, on your terms.
I did my 99 300m last year at this time. Car started well but after changing battery, power seats sounded a lot better so clearly battery was suboptimal after 7 years.
I changed my '99 Intrepid's original battery last year at this time. The battery had been working ok, but had seemed a little hesitant on the coldest of days, so I didn't want to wait any longer. I was impressed to get that much life out of a battery, perhaps storing it that low extends life after all. I was glad to do this in the convenience of a driveway during the weekend.
It was a pain to replace though. The hardest part of the procedure is getting the screws and clips back on the wheel well access panel that needs to be removed. It also wasn't fun to clean off the battery tray and get in there. Of course my battery has a heater blanket, so that makes things a little more complicated. Even though you don't absolutely need to, I removed the wheel. I've heard of others removing the headlight too, not sure if that would help with the 300m.
I used a Costco Kirkland battery. ($52, I think). Group 34, 825 or 795 CCA. It is made by Johnson Controls Inc and has the identical specs (including cold weather amps) as the Sears DieHard Gold battery ($93), also made by JCI. Other Johnson Controls batteries had lower values for cold weather starting amps. I was also happy to get a battery that was the exact same size and only had top terminals, not the dual nonsense to simplify someone's inventories.
I'm not sure who made the OEM battery, but it was probably Exide or JCI. I'll be very happy if this one lasts as long.
(JCI runs the website
i hope you get good service out of your new battery but I would suggest that you may be disappointed. cheap batteries are generally cheap for a reason and don't hold up as well as better quality ones.
The battery in my '00 300m is now 9 years and 4 months old.
Helps that I keep the car in a heated garage (temp rarely goes below
45f) but I'll admit that when the car has soaked up the cold for 8 hours at 10f to 15f it's a little sluggish to turn over.
When you pay more for a battery, you're usually buying more months on the warrantee vs better battery.
And remember the rule of thumb. Buy the heaviest / largest battery that will fit.
Battery capacity and CCA are directly proportional to battery size, which is proportional to weight.
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