Hey guys,

Your seriously my last hope.

My Fiance has an '09 Versa Hatch that could use a battery replacement.. So we went ahead and grabbed one from the local Costco only to realize that the battery tie-down actually grabs the little molded "feet" of the OEM battery...

There is no "over-the-top" design and due to this we can't mount the Costco battery correctly because not only does it not have the little molded bottoms to allow the clamp to press down on it and hold it in place.. but it's also about 2.5" shallower than the OEM battery giving it that much extra room to slide forward and backwards.. in addition to not even being close to the clamping bracket anymore..

I've called up every autozone/costcto/pepboys in the area and they all say I have the correct replacement battery (51R) but can't give any advice on mounting..

I've called up every Nissan dealership in the area and they all say I need to use the OEM battery, and have no clue about the mounting either.. (one of them told me they ALL are over-the-top type mounting...)

I did a little searching on here for "battery" and not much really came up, so I'm praying one of you can give me some input on what in the world is going on..

I'm especially confused because when I go to Courtesy Nissan none of the diagrams really match her mounting style..

http://www.courtesyparts.com/versa-hatc ... _6418.html

The bracket that is holding the battery down is the small piece in the second diagram in the separate box with "AT/MT" at the top.. but there are no over-the-top mounts there like there are in 90% of the diagrams on courtesy parts..

That piece is actually holding the battery's "feet" at the front of the battery. (mounted under the small strip fuse box that has the horn and everything on it)

I'm really at a loss with this guys, any information at all is really appreciated.

Thanks!

I believe you might be missing that piece OR, I think when the OEM battery was removed, it might have taken the lower feet with it. I could be absolutely wrong about this though.

I thought that exact same thing..

But the flair out or "feet" are actually molded to the battery shell and aren't removable. I went to the Nissan dealership on my lunch and it looks like there are two different batteries available for the Versa..

I'm not sure what designates which model gets what (seemed pretty random..) but the "fatter" shells all mounted via the clamp at the bottom, while the skinny shells mounted via the over-the-top method..

If it were mine I'd just relocate the thing to the trunk and get whatever aftermarket battery I wanted.. but I don't really want her to have to deal with something like that.

Nissan charges ~$98 for the battery, but hers died pretty early ~2.5 years so they ended up giving it to her for $72. Not too bad as the Costco one was around $60 after the return credit of the old battery.. Stinks we don't get the Costco warranty though..

That seems silly... You should fab something to make it work, usually most of those brackets have j-hooks at the bottom and you could just find a place for the j-hook to snag onto.

you might get some pipe or plumbers strapping. it's a flat metal band about 3/4" wide. has holes in it about every inch. take the battery out. bend one end of the strapping at a 90 deg with one hole at the beginning, fasten that end to the rear clamp, pull the roll up towards the hood, put the battery in, wind the strapping over the battery and down to the other fastener, bend another 90 and put the front bolt thru the hole. a local hardware store should have the stuff.

So a bit of an update..

I went to the Nissan dealer by us and the service tech couldn't have been less helpful. He wasn't a jerk.. and don't really know how to explain it other than he just really didn't seem give a f*** to try and help in any way.

So we took the car to a decent Nissan dealer and they ran some tests for free, and after which said the battery was perfectly fine.. So we're just leaving the OEM battery in for now.. Will probably give it another 6-8 months or so..

In the meantime I'll take a look and think I'm going to see if I can modify the mounting area to accept some J-hooks and mount it via that method.

FYI, Nissan does prorate the OE battery up to 7-years.. so if any of you have to replace it and just go with the OEM option definitely bring that up with them.. We talked to 4 different dealers and only ONE of them told us this..

Glad everything worked out though. Too bad you got some crappy service....

I had this same issue with Costco, they said my 2007 Versa Automatic Hatchback takes a size 11 ($70). When I got it home it was too tall and too narrow to fit the compartment -- and there was no way it was going to use the existing brackets for tie-down -- it was missing those mounting "feet". I found this was the case with all auto parts stores, however at a local PepBoys they offered a 2nd option: size T5. This battery fit almost exactly, had 600 CCA (compared to Costco's 500) and had the built in "feet" brackets that the original did. Cost was about the same ($107) compared to the local dealer ($100), and had 2 yrs replacement, 6 yrs prorated return. Not as good as Costco's price or warranty, but at least they had the size that fit.
http://www.pepboys.com/product/details/ ... quantity=1

It also looks like Advance Autoparts carries one, a Type 90, that might fit:
http://shop.advanceautoparts.com/webapp ... icle=false

Since then, I've heard rumors that Costco's size 3 may fit, just check the dimensions and those mounting "feet".

I went to Firestone for an oil change and they told me my battery has no chargehttp://forums.nicoclub.com/posting.php?mode=edit&f=297&p=6523677# and that they'd replace it with an interstate one. I kindly refused and drove away.
I then searched this thread for more info. I measured my battery's dimensions and checked out its specs. No way was I going to buy the one Interstate recommended for my car, it was too narrow and way tall. I ended up buying the one from advance auto parts that amos posted. There was an internet discount on it, and it has a longer warranty and a higher CCA of 650 compared to 450 from the Interstate brand, the stock one is also 450.
Thanks for a nice thread!!