What type is the standard battery in the VF Commodore... AGM or Calcium?

[Poor old Dad]

With regard to car batteries, something that may be of interest...

I had a G6E before my current Holden.

On a trip home from Mount Isa, in the middle of nowhere and 45 degree heat, the aircon started playing up.

Nice cool air directed towards face and extremely hot air through feet vents. So hot, in fact, that I had to put shoes and socks on to protect skin.

Got back to Bris, took car to local Ford dealer who called a couple of hours later.

"Battery problem. We've replaced it and all now ok..."

Hmm... car started with no problems. Absolutely no indication of a faulty battery.

I was extremely dubious and fully expected to get caught up in the "dealer dance".

To my surprise, fault was actually fixed by replacing the battery.

The way it was explained to me was that at start the car does a series of electronic checks.

If cranking voltage drops below 9.6v the checks can't be finalised (or perhaps carried out accurately).

In my case it was the aircon that was effected. A trawl through Ford forums revealed all sorts of issues/ faults/ glitches being fixed by replacing battery.

I don't know if Holdens are the same but I'd imagine they'd be similar?

 

[losh1971]

batteries can make modern cars do things that older cars just don't do. I had a Jeep that had a battery that tested fine but my alarm kept going off in the middle of the night. No one could figure out the issue until for some reason I switched on the aux (second battery) and linked it with the main. problem never occurred again. New battery and it was fine until the day I got rid of it. On new cars it only takes a slightly weak battery to cause issues of a peculiar nature.
I would have thought if a batt had dropped to 9.6 you wouldn't even have a hope of cranking little known run checks. Batteries tend to not liked be dropped below 12.2v unless it's an AGM or deep cycle, they like to be no lower than 11.8v, unless in the last few years things have changed.

 

[Poor old Dad]

I would have thought if a batt had dropped to 9.6 you wouldn't even have a hope of cranking little known run checks. Batteries tend to not liked be dropped below 12.2v unless it's an AGM or deep cycle, they like to be no lower than 11.8v, unless in the last few years things have changed.

In the olden days a diy'er would test a battery under load (whilst cranking).

The rule of thumb was that if it dropped below 9v (under load) we'd replace it.

I don't know what the more up to date wisdom is for different types of batteries but that was how it was done and sort of fits in with the 9.6v number.

 

[Noeleter]

When I bought the car I noticed on the Chevrolet SS site that they get an AGM or glass mat battery which demands a particular type of top up charger so I went out and bought the appropriate charger. Today I was at the battery shop for a new battery for the other, non Commodore car, and enquired about the VF battery situation with an eye on the appropriate replacement cycle etc. They have no listing yet for the VF....

So the question remains, what battery exactly is in the VF? AGM or Calcium? Can one go to the AGM style without causing other problems?

Replaced the original battery in the VE with an AGM. No problems and very happy with it so far. Also got about 5 years out of the original which is not too bad.

 

[losh1971]

In the olden days a diy'er would test a battery under load (whilst cranking).

The rule of thumb was that if it dropped below 9v (under load) we'd replace it.

I don't know what the more up to date wisdom is for different types of batteries but that was how it was done and sort of fits in with the 9.6v number.

Guess I was more thinking of damage to a battery. Didn't realise they dropped that much under load.

 

[Dayvo]

I have the original battery in my ve so far have got 5 years out of it . Still going strong but have been thinking about replacing it as i don't want to get caught out .

 

[Anthony121]

I have the original battery in my ve so far have got 5 years out of it . Still going strong but have been thinking about replacing it as i don't want to get caught out .

I sold my VE with the original battery. May 2008 - June 2014.

 

[WeeGee]

I've had a bunch of issues related to battery failure. The weak starting (particularly immediately after the car was run for sometime) was immediately resolved upon the vehicle battery replaced. Do not use any memory savers - the car will only lose the clock upon new battery. Radio and other custom settings like maps etc will not change at all - even if car battery is removed for a full week.

The first time things went pear shaped was when I had to start the SS after it had been driven for 25 km (1/2 hr runtime in traffic). The painfully weak starting only just barely just got it going but it went immediately into Limp mode (lucky as I only moved it 1m away). It immediately threw a "Check ESP" dash message and well some 8hrs later started normally again. When I later on got a OBD reader, it showed up 9 DTCs. Some were for steering wheel button signals, others for Hi Beam circuit, another was for the power saving circuit. One on the engine was for the crank angle/Timing sensor circuit. Then a while later I went to try the auto parking system and it came up as "Park Assistance Not Available". Also the battery voltage on the driver console display would swing from 12.1 up to 15.5volts in the space of 10 minutes as I suspect it was trying to get stability while the internals of the battery was dying.

As all this seems to have occurred (along with the 9 DTCs as a result of the factory fitted weak/deteriorating Philippines made battery causing slow cranking/starting issues)

The battery was then replaced with an AC Delco S57220 battery (do not pay more than $220 max from a Holden/battery dealer). All trouble codes gone, park assist operates normally and now also is starting 100% normal. The factory battery, also labelled AC Delco is junk made by Marshall (apparently under some contract) in the Philippines - total utter unreliable junk and also prone to leaking from the top. The S57220 is made in Korea and is rated at 680 CCA (factory is 610) for same size/weight. Its a fully sealed battery and when tested new packed an eye whopping 755 CCA (FYI factory battery died when got down to barely 300CCA meaning the LS3 need at least 400CCA just to keep going).

See this link for more detail on the battery removal/replacement procedure I developed having just done mine. There is also detail on the AGM battery model number etc.. https://forums.justcommodores.com.a...-left-quater-panel.252776/page-3#post-2944060

 

[Stious]

I recently discussed this battery with the AC Delco battery expert from Holden.

The Response I received is below:

For your reference, the battery is not an AGM type. It is a Sealed Maintenance Free (SMF) Calcium flooded battery.

Regards,
Graeme Swaine
ACDelco Manager
View attachment 193746
ACDelco Australia
MAIL POINT H105B 191 SALMON STREET
PORT MELBOURNE VIC AUSTRALIA 3207

 

[Stious]

,