Unofficialbmw.com

klwhalen · Joined: 17 Jul 2003 Posts: 8 Location: San Diego

03 330i wouldn't start this morning, called the dealer, the life is only 4 years. They want to charge $320 to replace it, if we want to do it ourselves, it would be $185. I can get a battery at Kragen for $80. Is there a reason to use the BMW battery or does it not matter? Thanks!

bearing01 · Joined: 22 Jul 2005 Posts: 520 Location: San Diego

you don't need a BMW brand battery. You do need a battery of the same physical size and with a ventilation tube. I use an Autozone Duralast 49-DL which is copy of the BMW OEM battery.

You can chose other types of batteries too, as long as you have the breather tube. You can get by without the breather tube, but it's not recommended.

Your car has the same battery as the E30. Dale has a good info post here:

http://www.unofficialbmw.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=30946