Have you ever wondered what battery does your KJ CRD have? And can you fit a more powerful replacement if the old one ever decides to fail? I tried looking up which battery my KJ should have, but confusingly, there were differing opinions between suppliers...An 082 seems to be the right one but then some suppliers said it was an 086...And some an 096R. So I decided to make a list of all the common batteries suitable for Diesel cars and their specs, of similar size to an 082, in order of their capacity:
086: 72AH, 680CCA, L278, W175, H190. 072: 74AH, 680CCA, L278, W175, H190. 082: 74AH, 680CCA, L278, W175, H190. 067: 74AH, 780CCA, L277, W175, H175. 096R: 80AH, 680CCA, L278, W175, H190. 110: 85AH, 750CCA, L315, W175, H175. 017: 95AH, 750CCA, L354. W175, H175. 019: 95AH, 850CCA, L354, W175, H190. 098: 95AH, 800CCA, L353, W175, H190.
If the 082 or 086 are both recommended batteries then the list makes it obvious that there are several, much more powerful batteries that can be used instead (providing the terminals are the right way round and they can fit in the battery tray). Some will obviously be too long to fit in the stock battery tray, but inexpensive, universal aftermarket trays are available that can allow bigger batteries to be fitted so this not an insurmountable problem (And I don't mean the Sasquatch battery tray for the KJ, because at 198 US Dollars, plus shipping, it is hardly inexpensive!). Anyway, then I went out and checked which battery I had in my KJ, and I got a bit of a shock!...It was a 113...In other words, it wasn't even on the list!! To make matters worse, a 113 only has a capacity of 50AH and a pathetic 500CCA...Yet is is expected to crank over heavy 2.8 litre Diesel!!! Something wasn't right here. Next, I measured the dimensions, which were only: L235, W175, H175...This makes it 43mm shorter than the shortest batteries on the list. At first it seemed that it completely filled the battery tray, which would have meant there was no room to fit one of the larger capacity batteries I listed without replacing the battery tray with a larger one. Then I went back and checked again and I could see there was some space either end of the longest side after all, but not that much...Anything longer than a 096R definitely won't fit in the standard tray. So it looks like the previous owner fitted the wrong battery. Now this is not a problem in the summer, but come the winter, the cold will greatly reduce the cranking power of a car battery, meaning I may not be able to get my CRD started...So I have to get a more powerful battery fitted before then. I had a look online and found plenty of universal battery trays on ebay UK from £8-£15 ($12-$20), and once fitted these should allow any battery on the list to be fitted. Some come with an adjustable hold-down clamp that goes across the top of the battery...This may cause an issue if it sits too high, as it might stop the bonnet closing, so I might buy one without a clamp and make my own.
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