Golf GT TDI won't start

[daft009]

hi guys, Friday morning the car refused to start.
Fairly sure the battery is not the issue as its less than 12 months old.

made a quick video VID 20120811 114756 - YouTube
if you turn the volume up you can hear the ticking noise that happens when I try and start.

Any ideas?
I don't have roadside assistance however do have the VW Allianz extended warranty.
Not sure the best way to get it back to the service centre, ~5km away.

[kryten2001]

hi guys, Friday morning the car refused to start.
Fairly sure the battery is not the issue as its less than 12 months old.

made a quick video VID 20120811 114756 - YouTube
if you turn the volume up you can hear the ticking noise that happens when I try and start.

Any ideas?
I don't have roadside assistance however do have the VW Allianz extended warranty.
Not sure the best way to get it back to the service centre, ~5km away.

Certainly sounds like a battery related issue to me... See if you can get a jumpstart, that will at least prove it one way or another.

Alternatively put a multimeter onto the batt and see how many volts it shows. Anything less than 12.4 and you should be worried (note this is not an exhaustive battery test as it won't show you available cranking amps, but it will give you a rough indication of charge status).

[Transporter]

Check the battery voltage while starting.

[daft009]

no go with the jump leads.
same problem.

didn't have a multimeter handy but i still feel like its not the battery...hmm

[Transporter]

The jumper leads could be tricky. You have to make sure that the leads are thick enough and the copper wire is soldered to the clamps. If your battery is dead, even the best jumper leads could have a problem to start the engine up.
You could try again with the interior light ON and observe it during cranking, it shouldn't dim too much while cranking, if it goes off, your battery hasn't got enough power (capacity).
When you connect the jumper leads to the battery, leave the donor car engine running while trying to start yours, better still run it at 2000rpm to try to put some charge in your battery before you attempt to start.

[daft009]

Thanks guys you were right! Ended up using a battery charger for 6 or so hours and bingo! It started!

Was running the donor car on idle when trying to jump start and jiggled the clamps too to ensure contact. Lesson for next time!

[kryten2001]

Thanks guys you were right! Ended up using a battery charger for 6 or so hours and bingo! It started!

Was running the donor car on idle when trying to jump start and jiggled the clamps too to ensure contact. Lesson for next time!

Keep an eye on it. If you get any more failed starts, your battery may be on the way out... These diesels take a few amps to crank over so they're pretty hard on the battery.

[Transporter]

Also make sure that you fully charge your battery. The alternator in the car is not designed to recharge your battery from flat. You need a decent battery charger, at least 7Amp and leave it on for 24hours.
After that, get the battery tested. Some places where they sell the batteries, can also test your battery.

[kryten2001]

Also make sure that you fully charge your battery. The alternator in the car is not designed to recharge your battery from flat. You need a decent battery charger, at least 7Amp and leave it on for 24hours.
After that, get the battery tested. Some places where they sell the batteries, can also test your battery.

Good advice. You want a charger that can feed between 5-7 amps ideally. If it has a float function, even better.

If the battery had less than 25% capacity, you might be looking at a dead one very soon anyway. Most Varta batteries (which is what we get in our dubs) should last between 4-6 years. They're pretty good.

[Greg Roles]

I like to play with smaller batteries in the TDI, and they always die in winter. The peak crank from cold, on a sub 10 degree day is immense, and its why the TDI's come with such huge batteries stock. I'm having cold start issues currently with my 1.5 year old Oddessey battery, and it's rated higher than stock, yet it's struggling way before it's time. Remember you have twice the compression as well as glow plugs, and the engine won't start till you crank about 500rpm I think.....

[kryten2001]

I like to play with smaller batteries in the TDI, and they always die in winter. The peak crank from cold, on a sub 10 degree day is immense, and its why the TDI's come with such huge batteries stock. I'm having cold start issues currently with my 1.5 year old Oddessey battery, and it's rated higher than stock, yet it's struggling way before it's time. Remember you have twice the compression as well as glow plugs, and the engine won't start till you crank about 500rpm I think.....

Actually you'll find that all VW's come with fairly beefy batteries. There's nothing particular about the batteries that come in TDIs... In fact, the battery that came in my Mk5 Pirelli is larger than those in the TDI (in terms of both AH and CCA). Not sure why the Pirelli's/Edn30's had larger batteries than the rest (70ah), but both my TDI's have 60ah batts....

I think VW decided to put serious batteries in all their cars. Most are pretty serious nowadays. 60-70ah and 500cca+...

Whenever you buy replacements chaps, don't be surprised why the OEM battery costs so much compared to a cheap local. VW use VARTA batteries as their OEM supplier, and they're really really good (for a non AGM battery).

I recently replaced mine with another OEM, since I couldn't find anybody in Aus who retailed Varta silver tops.

[daft009]

it was a brand new varta battery installed by the dealer (when the car was in with failed injectors) and was done back in March 2012.
charged it at 2A for 6-7hrs and it was enough.
worked without problems yesterday all day (4-5 short trips were made)

[kryten2001]

it was a brand new varta battery installed by the dealer (when the car was in with failed injectors) and was done back in March 2012.
charged it at 2A for 6-7hrs and it was enough.
worked without problems yesterday all day (4-5 short trips were made)

If your charger is only 2A, I'd probably hit it again overnight just for good measure.