Cutlass Ciera battery--Tough to remove it

[pconrad]

Silly question, but I just bought a '95 Cutlass Ciera and am trying to replace the battery. It might be the original Delco Freedom battery. I unbolted the metal frame piece that goes diagonally from the car's side panel to the front of the car and is a few inches above the battery. This piece is now swung to the side (out of the way) and I unscrewed the battery posts. Now there does not seem to be enough space to turn and lift the battery out. There is space around the battery, just not quite enough to bring it upward. Do I need to remove something else that's in the way? The air filter housing seems to be bolted firmly in place, but I'm open to suggestions. Thanks for any help.

[sleber]

Don't know if is the same as my supreme, but if it is you will probably have to remove the windshield washer resevoir.

[dwalmop]

you can remove the air filter housing with a socket and somewhat long extension, I think it's only a couple bolts. then, you can tip the battery and pull up on it. If you're lucky, I think you can do it without removing the air filter housing, but regardless, the air filter housing isn't difficult to remove to give you some extra space.

[dbrh]

I, too, am trying to replace the battery in my 96 Olds Ciera.
The air cleaner housing is bolted on the underside, firmly in place.
Can someone please tell me how to easily (ha-ha) remove it?
Thank you in advance.

[autotran]

I see this thread is old but it was never answered so here is my answer.
You can tilt it out but with great difficulty. You have to move the top bar out of the way and then disconnect any wires and anything else that might be in the way. Disconnect the battery next. It's very hard to reach the negative post to unscrew so I left it connected and remove the positive post 1st instead. This isn't recommended as you might hit metal and short it when disconnecting. My battery had the original factory rubber sleeve that was on it. This made it harder to remove since it made the battery longer than normal. When you tilt it out it pushes the air filter housing quite a bit and you have to use a lot of force to get past it. Once out, I disconnected the negative post. I then installed the new battery connecting just the negative post. I could not get it in no matter how hard I pushed it against the air filter housing. I finally used my tire pry bar to force the housing far enough over to get the battery past it. I then reconnected everything. Nothing was permanently dented, bent or damaged.

I think that if you can work from under the car, it would be much easier to loosen the 3 bolts that hold the air filter housing in place if they are not rusted too badly. I personally couldn't work from under the car and I couldn't reach them from the top either. I never did find a You Tube video showing how to replace a 1996 (or possibly 1995) V6 Ciera car battery. It is definitely different from the 1994 and earlier model.

We have owned this Ciera V6 since Aug 1996 and it has less than 90K miles on it. It still looks pretty new under the hood, much neater/cleaner than any Ciera's I ever looked at on You Tube. It was ordered from the factory by us 1 week before the factory shutdown, we just made it. It is the best car we ever owned/bought, very reliable with excellent gas mileage. Only an alternator replacement with normal battery, ball joint, tie rod ends, brake pads and rotor replacements. Right now the dash lights are out and it is not a fuse. It looks like they might be hard to get working.