The battery caps on the 1991 560SEL are frozen tight. I inserted a quarter into the cap; tried to turn the quarter but these babies are locked on tight! I need to check the water level for each battery cell. Any ideas on how to open these puppies?

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BFS. Failing that, BFS+BFH.

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Whoever said there's nothing more expensive than a cheap Mercedes never had a cheap Jaguar.

83 300D Turbo with manual conversion, early W126 vented front rotors and H4 headlights 401,xxx miles
08 Suzuki GSX-R600 M4 Slip-on 26,xxx miles
88 Jaguar XJS V12 94,xxx miles. Work in progress.
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Use a wrench on the coin .Or a washer make sure it fills up all the slot in the battery insert turn screw

Use a thick flat head screwdriver, or a tool that just fits in the battery cap slot. I use an old drum brake adjustment tool that fits the battery cap slot perfectly ... have never had an issue removing battery caps. You need a tool that will provide adequate torque without trashing the battery cap slot.

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Fred Hoelzle

Some thoughts:
1. Drag link socket
2. Find a chisel that fits and put it in a vise-grip for torque
3. Find a gasket scraper that fits ...
4. There is a drum brake tool (bent up piece of strip steel) that would fit - browse the tool aisles at Sears or Advance Auto and you should find it

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Prost!

Probably time to buy a new battery!
Anziani
'97 CL600

Cheap SkyGeek.Com SG01-001 DZUSŪ Fastener Driver at SkyGeek.com

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Prost!

That looks like a nice tool; I managed to get the caps off using a flat fender washer. I checked one of the cells with a battery tester, the fluid came to the very top of the green "good" just before the white "not so good" part of the battery tester. The battery is not holding a charge; I bought it at O'Reilly's about four years ago, the car is garaged so I don't understand the battery going bad this fast. Battery prices have almost doubled in the past six years or so.......YIKES!!!

Recommend buying a new battery from your local MB dealer. The new batteries are maintenance-free ... no caps to remove, and have a sensor that illuminates when the battery is shot.

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Fred Hoelzle