Change Battery - How To

The other day I changed my battery in my uplander and it was a bit more difficult than expected. Not too bad, just had to remove a bunch of stuff to get at it. The first thing I removed the round steel tubing directly above the battery with a socket with an extension. There are three bolts to be removed. I then slowly slipped the battery towards the engine so I had more room to get at the battery terminal screws. I used a small socket wrench and it worked good. I lossened them almost all the way and left them on the terminals for the time being. I realized there still wasn't enough room to pull the old battery out so I had to move the fuse box out of the way. This was the most time consuming process to replace the battery. I removed the two very small bolts that are holding the fuse tray on the top of the fender. I had to use a regular wrench with the circle end and removed both bolts. I just carefully moved it out of the way to get at the battery. Then I had to removed the battery plactic fastener at the bottom of the battery tray with a socket with long extension piece. Lastly I removed both negative and positive wires and was able to pull the battery out. Its pretty tight fit to get get batteries in and out. Be very careful with the positive and negative wires coming in contact with the terminals. All the wires don't have much room to separate. After I removed both negative and positive wires, I stuffed the negative behind the battery and out of the way. The new battery was tricky to get in. I had to slip it into place at an angle with one hand under the battery and slowly inch its way in while moving the cluster of wires around to place it properly. Then I put everything back together. It took me about an hour and a half to replace the battery for the first time. Next time it will be much easier. I went with a napa battery. Out of O'reilys, champion auto, chevy dealer, walmart, and napa. I went with napa because they were cheapest for a 800 cold crank and 2yr free replacement.

Thanks for the good write-up - on how to replace a battery. Good job!!!

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