I pulled the battery from the Vanagon to have a look see. Its an
Interstate 42 but does not state specifically how many amps it has. It
was purchased by the previous owner in CA - for some reason  every bug
shop in CA sells interstate.... Anyway the two most outer cells were half
full. I have the battery inside the 'ouse to get it back up to a
reasonable charge. 

I have found that the only way to remove the battery is to rotate the
pass. seat 180 degrees and pull back the rear most lip of the battery
hold. This also was done by the previous owner. It means a bigger
battery can go in the hold but at the cost of fatiguing that metal lip. 

If the battery shows weakness over the course of the next several days a
new one is in order.  Having that vent hole probably doesn't help matters
much and I am wondering if sealing it would effect these new maintenance
free gell cells?

BTW the CDN vanagon battery is  rated at 63 amp/hr versus 54 for all others.
DC
DC
 

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David Carment
School of International Affairs
Carleton University
Ottawa, Ontario
K1S 5B6
voice - (613) 788-2600-6662
fax - (613) 788-2889
Email address: dcarment@ccs.carleton.ca
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