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Exide Battery Vent Elbow and Tube Install

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Care, Maintenance & Troubleshooting' started by Siward, Nov 16, 2016.

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  1. Siward

    Siward Active Member

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    I am thinking of buying a Canadian Tire MotorMaster Eliminator 12V battery which is a rebranded Exide battery. The AGM battery should be better quality than the OEM lead acid. I am trying to figure out how to install it.

    Another battery for the Prius. | Page 2 | PriusChat

    For those who have installed the Exide battery before, how did you install the vent tube? Did you simply remove the OEM elbow and attach the new elbow to the OEM rubber vent tube? Or did you have to replace both the OEM elbow and rubber tube?

    [​IMG]
     
  2. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    Do you have to change anything? I replace our OEM with an Optima, a year back, and just hooked up the original vent tube and elbow. The vent port on the battery was the same size/location.
     
  3. Siward

    Siward Active Member

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    I did my share of googling. The Optima battery reuses the OEM vent elbow, so it is a direct drop in.

    According to the other forum posting shown in the link above, the Exide battery has a smaller elbow opening.
     
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  4. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    Oh, ok.

    One thing I found: with Toyota's hold-down bracket design, battery height is critical. Even slight variation mess it up, a poor, unaccomodating design. It's fixable with a bit of shimming under battery or washers under the bracket.
     
  5. David Beale

    David Beale Senior Member

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    I think I used the original elbow on my Canadian Tire battery. I had to pry out the yellow plug on the battery. My battery didn't come with an elbow as I recall.
     
  6. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    And the Canadian Tire battery is likely rebadged Exide.
     
  7. Siward

    Siward Active Member

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    Yep. My main concern is the vent tube. I wanted to know if I had to buy my own, but I will trust David's post and try to use the OEM elbow. Below is the Exide battery. Previous posts have indicated that the vent elbow hole is smaller.

    [​IMG]

    Or maybe I can get away with not venting the AGM battery. Does AGM batteries need to be vented?
     
  8. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    You'd be ok for a few days anyway, till you sort it out.
     
  9. David Beale

    David Beale Senior Member

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    If that is your battery in the picture just pull the elbow off the hose and shove the hose on the installed elbow. Save the original elbow "just in case". ;)
     
  10. StarCaller

    StarCaller Senior Member

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    manufactured in july 2014....??
     
  11. dorunron

    dorunron Senior Member

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  12. CR94

    CR94 Senior Member

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    Top clarify, all AGM batteries, including the original one and the Exide, are a type of lead-acid battery. They have (or don't have, a different debate) equal need for venting.
     
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  13. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    @Siward Please post if/when your Motomaster is installed, how it went. It's definitely better deal than Toyota OEM right now (they're around $270 last time I check), and maybe $10~20 cheaper than Optima. I put in the latter a bit over a year back, but it seems like Canadian Tire is pretty on the ball with batteries: we put CT battery in our son's Civic, and it was dimensionally exact match, and good CCA from the get go.

    Also..., at least at the store I was at: they had a pro-level digital CCA tester, and were more than willing to hook up the battery I was getting. I had brought along my Solar BA5 tester, but they offered. It showed very good CCA, well above spec, and I verified later with mine.
     
    #13 Mendel Leisk, Nov 18, 2016
    Last edited: Nov 18, 2016