Hi all. I recently purchased a new AGM battery (Group Size 35) to replace the puny 51R battery in my Sport. I haven’t installed it yet because I need to get a bigger tray and cover. My research has shown that people are all over the place in terms of what they upgrade. Some take everything out of the compartment and just drop the battery on the frame, some replace the negative wire, some don’t. Some ordered Odyssey parts, some CR-V parts. Lots of stuff for size group 24, not so much for 35. I already have the battery, so, I’m not gonna send it back to get a 24. Ordered it from RockAuto.
Some advice I have seen is to just order the parts for the V6 Accord, which seems to be 24-series battery. If the measurements I’ve seen online are correct, a size 35 is only slightly smaller than a 24. A 35 should fit just fine since it’s only an inch narrower. So, I’m thinking of taking that advice and ordering a V6 tray, cover, hold down, J-hooks, and ground wire.
Anyone have experience with this? Does a V-6 battery tray fit in the 4-cyl engine compartment? Thanks ahead of time.
Does a V-6 battery tray fit in the 4-cyl engine compartment? YES, fits great.
Most replace the Group 51(OEM) with a Group 24F which fits perfect with the V-6 battery tray parts (upper retainer, lower plate, heat shield, j-bolts). No replacement battery wire is required if the neg and pos post are in the same positions as the Group 51 your replace. Not sure how the battery post are oriented on your Group 35, you might check that, could save you from purchasing a wire.
I did the swap in a '15 Accord EXL I4. Used a 24F battery and V6 hardware as above.
How hard is it to exchange for the 24f? The 35 packs too much energy into the size which means the plates would be thinner. I would either go to the 24f or just stick with the 51r. Not worth the costs of parts to change to 35.
It's the same as above. buy the parts from Honda if you like and buy a 24F battery. Some here have installed the 24F using the Group 51 OEM parts, however the fit and finish is not as nice.
I think the 35 upgrade using the V6 parts would work since the sizes are so close. But I think the CCA is more on the 24F vs. the 35, and I wanted as much as possible.
I just finished the 51R to 24F upgrade about 1/2 an hour ago. Very plug and play, but I did make two small adjustments:
The small wire on the negative terminal was a little taut with the new battery, so I disconnected the wire tie/clip from the sheet metal so that there would be no chance of the wire being damaged.
The V6 bottom tray just barely touched the control module cooling fins (just behind the positive terminal). Probably didn't matter, but I shaved a little of the plastic tray off with a knife.
On my '17 EX 6MT, the positive terminal has a black plastic case with "legs" on the underside that I believe are there to properly position the terminal on the assembly line. The two legs had to go between the lower battery tray and battery cover, instead of outside of both pieces on the 51R setup. But it really doesn't cause any functional issues.
Looks like what should have come from the factory....the 51R is too puny for the Accord, especially in cold weather states where CCA matters.