Can someone tell me your opinion on the thinking of GM placing the battery under the rear seat. Just curious.

2001 SE
117,000 one owner miles and looking for many more.

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2001 SE
130,000 miles. All but 11,000 are mine.
Want to drive it another 130,000! Any tips are welcome.

keeping weight out of the front of the car is my guess

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Andrew - owner/operator of Bonnevilles Unlimited

2004 Bonneville GXP | 60k | White Gold Tricoat | custom built supercharged 3800 hot rod | garage queen
1997 Corvette | 55k | Silver Metallic | Z06 wheels | Date-night Hauler/Parts runner
2014 Town & Country Limited | Cashmere Pearl | 95k | Family Hauler
2002 Ram 1500 Quad Cab Sport | Black| 260k | Official Bonneville Hauler

Help keep it out of the elements a bit too? More room for other stuff in the engine compartment?

Those are my guesses, besides Andrew's suggestion.

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-Joshua-

I agree with all the above

Moving this to General Chat as it is not a mechanical problem

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Ryan

2003 Bonneville SSEi - The Black Mirror SOLD!
2002 Bonneville SE - The Mutt Complete 2004 SLE interior, drivetrain, and body harness swap, ECC swap, HUD swap, black GXP wheels, GXP headlights and tinted tails - SOLD
2003 BMW 540i M Sport, 2001 BMW X5 4.4i, 2010 GMC Acadia, 2017 Grand Design Imagine 3150BH
1982 Cutlass Supreme - The fun one

welp looking at my engine bay there is no where for it to go.

the only other place it could have gone up front is in the fender well.

atleast by the looks of my car



i kind of like it in the back seat.

special compared to the monte carlo i had

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2004 Bonneville GXP, Pearl White
Hifonics, QB Quart, & Pioneer Makes Up My System
Member #550

Moving weight to the rear of a FWD is bad for traction. It evens out the balance in 'basic driving' but nothing else. The primary reason is the redesigned strut towers and firewall pushed forward, plus the 'narrowed in' fenders on the 2k and newer. There was no practical space, just like the first-gen supercharged Buick Riviera.

The body redesign dictated the battery move.

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Click here for mod list for both cars
93 SSEi, 95 SLE (supercharged) 97 Buick LeSabre Limited
PontiacDad at WCBF '04: Cruise control? That's like surrendering!
Comprehensive guide to troubleshooting, rebuilding, and modifying Eaton Superchargers

I wish they would have put the battery under the back seat in the W-bodies. It's an act of Congress to get it out of the GS. I have removed the overflow bottle and body cross-support to get at the battery. Then, it has to be flipped up on end to get it off the tray and slipped out past the huge wire loom.

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2012 Ford Fusion SEL, 2012 Chrysler Town & Country, 2007 Chevy Silverado LT, 1999 Pontiac Firehawk, 1979 Pontiac Trans Am

Let's add that these cars suffered badly from corrosion primarily where the cables hook to battery. I've seens a bunch of the 00+'s and so far the ratio for corrosion is much less than the 90's with the batteries under the hood. Although the battery relocation does employ a much more costly battery.

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97 Ei
97 GS
98 GS

Looking under the hood, its easy to see there just isnt any place for it. I agree with Boosty's assessment of corrosion and it's been great for me to have the battery under the back seat with the electronics required for all my mods.

BillBoost37

What makes the battery more costly?
Thanks

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2001 SE
130,000 miles. All but 11,000 are mine.
Want to drive it another 130,000! Any tips are welcome.

Added labor costs to change it, I would imagine.
.
.
.

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-Dan
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2012 Nissan Maxima SV Premium • Super Black • Charcoal • VQ35DE • Bose • Factory HID • 5000k LED Int/Ext
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__I n n o v a t i o n__T h a t __E x c i t e s

No way, its super easy to change it.

Its just that it has to be a special vented battery.

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Andrew - owner/operator of Bonnevilles Unlimited

2004 Bonneville GXP | 60k | White Gold Tricoat | custom built supercharged 3800 hot rod | garage queen
1997 Corvette | 55k | Silver Metallic | Z06 wheels | Date-night Hauler/Parts runner
2014 Town & Country Limited | Cashmere Pearl | 95k | Family Hauler
2002 Ram 1500 Quad Cab Sport | Black| 260k | Official Bonneville Hauler

They put it there so that if it vents hydrogen gas and explodes, it has a better chance of taking you out.










-Mark

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PontiacDad at WCBF `08: "By any chance, was his name. . .Radomir?"

R.I.P. 10/31/15: 1997 SE: "Silver Shadow"
`05 Mercedes S500

MANY cars have this, not just limited to the Bonneville or GM. The LeSabre has this, as do the Cobalt, Riviera, Aurora, Deville, Seville, CTS, some Audi's/VWs and Mercedes Benz cars, and MANY MANY more.

Porsche Cayenne/Audi Toureg have them under the drivers seat, and BMWs put them under the rear seat or in the trunk. It's VERY common to put the battery under the rear seat - I'm sure I'm missing MANY names here.

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"SLE without the ugly" - leather, climate control, sound, 3.05 gearing, 180* t-stat, tints. http://www.gillsystems.com

sebring too!!

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-Juan

No bonnie!
93 s10 ex cab: 2.8: t5: exhaust: tbi mods. 5.3, 76mm, and a D.r cam on a stand

Corvettes too, at least they did in 1974. (Really bad year for Corvettes, by the way. Too many emissions controls, anemic 350.)

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PontiacDad at WCBF `08: "By any chance, was his name. . .Radomir?"

R.I.P. 10/31/15: 1997 SE: "Silver Shadow"
`05 Mercedes S500

same with the impalas... ugh.

I just replaced what appeared to be my original battery. I couldn't find a group # on it so my buddy hooked me up with what appeared to be the correct replacement in an Interstate at cost. I didn't know the battery had to be of a specific type. I hope I didn't just waste $70...

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Black 2000 SLE

they are listed as an international group...

special venting on them... about 20$ more...

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2 wheels and 2 pedals... much cheaper that way...