Hi all. Battery on my 2005 Fusion 1.6 TDCI keeps letting me down when the car is parked for a few days. It's just failed to start this morning in an awkward situation away from home. I got it running, but it is quite old - 2015, I think - and I don't have faith in it, and I need to get 250 miles home reliably early Tuesday morning, and it's a bank holiday tomorrow!

I can get a battery today from Euro for £70, looks as though I can't get a calcium one for less than about £111 and may not be able to get it until Tuesday. Do I absolutely have to have calcium on one of these, or will a standard battery do? If it helps, I don't need another 10 years+ life from a battery as I'll likely be changing the car soon.

Thanks

https://www.eurocarparts.com/p/audura-100-car-battery-3-year-guarantee-44477100a

Annoyingly they have a LION calcium battery at the same price, but don't have it in stock anywhere ...

Is there a Halfords nearby? They sell calcium batteries for less than £100.

I'm also not sure '100' is the correct size for a Fusion battery? I would have thought it was the same as Mk6 Fiesta?

Lion batteries are crap so I wouldn't bother with that regardless of calcium. I have seen alternators damaged by standard lead acid batteries on Fords that should have calcium. So it's not a risk I'd want to take personally. But many people seem to get away with it in the short term.

There is a Halfords, but that's where the £111 price is from.

100 is the size that's in it - it seems they have 075 or 100 (depending on engine and year?) but this is 100.

I haven't seen anything about alternator damage; I think you're supposed to have calcium with smart charge but the smart charge on this car hasn't been working for a long time anyway.

The Halfords batteries are made by Yuasa. The quality of those far exceeds Lion or the other one at ECP.

Generally diesels get bigger batteries than petrols on equivalent Fords. Though 100 is Focus size, so I am a bit surprised that was used on the Fusion. I thought it was 075 on Mk6 Fiesta diesel and 063 on petrol, but it's been so long that I might be misremembering now.

Ultimately it's your choice. Personally I just wouldn't risk breaking the alternator for the sake of an extra £30 on a battery.

It's definitely a 100, OEM fit as it came from family and was always Ford serviced (Motorcraft battery).

I'm thinking not keeping the car long, save money, but of course there is always that how much is reliability worth - and at the end of the day £111 is still less than a day's pay.

I have found prices as low as £55 (NAPA via Tayna) but not available over the weekend, unfortunately.