Had my 03 Monte JUST over a week, noticed when I got it the little "green eye" on the battery had gone black. No big deal the one on my truck did that about 3 years ago. However a couple of days ago it started cranking hard like the battery was going so I assume I need a new one.

Now the question: Is this a simple DIY project or will I need to hook the car up to life support while I change out the old one? Don't mind reprogramming the clock or radio (especially since I haven't programmed it yet!) but I worry about all the other electronic goodies that are on a modern car. I'm almost positive that the local auto part stores won't change it for me. Too much work in pulling the brace off, they say longer then 10 minutes and they can't do it...

Thanks in advance

 

 

i'm not sure if it's absolutely necessary on your vehicle, but i used to have an old lumina and grand am that i had to hook a jumper pack to while i changed the battery. otherwise it would run like crap after, something about the idle air control valve getting reset.

anyways, if you don't have a jumper pack, find a friend that does and hook the positive to the positive terminal on the fuse box or another positive source, and the neg to the engine block. swap the battery and reconnect. otherwise, call a dealership and ask what will happen when you swap the battery. it will be a good piece of mind and a call that will take no more than 5 mins.

 

I changed my battery probably 6 - 8 months ago. Disconnect the braces, the battery cables, and the battery "wedge" (you'll probably need an extension to get to that) it holds the battery on it's plate. And you'll be set.

I didn't hook up to anything, started up no problem afterwards. took about 45 minutes, because it's a P.I.T.A. to get the new battery in without disconnecting more things.

 

Hey guys thanks for the help. Pretty much already had the how to down, was nice to know what size sockets to have handy though!

Yesterday after filling up the gas tank the car wouldn't crank so that made the decision of when to get a new battery clear!

As an update for others: As chibiblacksheep said there was no need to hook up life support while performing this surgery. Only thing that was lost was the time on the radio, the presets and all the trip computer info were still there. Only real problems I had was dealing with the wiring harness and the overflow tube while pulling the old battery out and putting the new one in. And pulling the old 8x12 battery out of the 6x12 opening! The new battery was smaller so it dropped right in. Was afraid that it might not be held down but it was as wide just not as long so there was no standing it on its end and twisting it like removing the old one.

Once again thanks to everyone for their help.

 

Glad it worked out well for you!