-OvO-

This morning I go out to start to my car and... nothing. Maybe I left the lights on.

Hook up the charger and it says fault - bad battery - replace it. Took a close look at the battery and realized the cells have fill caps, so I pulled one, and sure enough, the level was well below the tops of the plates.

In this day and age, who would have expected to find a battery which can be refilled? Or, needs to be? So I put about a half-gallon of distilled water in the battery and now the charger says "internally shorted cells". I guess it was too low, too long.

So get out there and check that battery! There's a lot of space between the top of the plates and the caps, so you can give yourself some insurance. I don't know if you should add electrolyte powder or not -- I'm going to be walking to the parts store in the morning to buy whatever kind of battery they've got, so it's moot for me.

PaulW

My 97 was just replaced a month or so ago, I took the caps off and found the electrolyte level was just fine.

ttuling

Shining a flashlight through the top of the translucent OE battery case can be enough to show the electrolyte level through the side.

Not that I remember when I did it last.

Tom

svxit

Also, if you don't have an AutoZone nearby, Merchant's Tire & Battery has a battery for the A8. If you put it in yourself, it should run around $90.00. I did the refilling with distilled water thing, too. it lasted about a week before the battery went on to its great reward.