The Mk6 Golf Battery Thread

[parso_rex]

If the battery reads just under 12 and still appears to be working it can be that one of the plates has dropped shorting to the adjacent cell so it basically kills of one cell of the battery but the other 5 still work. The danger is that when you jump start the car you are actually charging 5 cells now and not 6 as you would be normally so you will get lots of activity with acid bubbling and crap everywhere and the alternator will be going crazy trying to charge at 14.4 volts
I've seen this type of failure on a Golf R recently and it would still even start the car but with the car off it was drawing over 40 amps from my charger that I use when loading tunes.(Hi Ben )
So yeah try a battery as heaps are failing on the R's at least, mines on the way out too.

[MovieDude]

Did your lights work at the time?

[parso_rex]

Did your lights work at the time?

Not my car but yes. You need more than 12 to start it unless your very lucky. If you have jump leads you can disconnect one of the dead batteries leads to isolate it and see if you can jump start the car directly - you need thick-ish leads though. If it starts then the battery is the culprit.

[MovieDude]

I'm really unsure what to do. I have scheduled the tow man to come over to meet me at the car but it could be money down the drain if it is indeed the battery. I can't decide if I should therefore wing it and cancel the tow and ring a mobile battery service guy.

[MovieDude]

Sorry to ask again but how long should a battery last? I'm the second owner and I'm thinking that if this is the original battery then it is almost 4 years old.

[moda]

Sorry to ask again but how long should a battery last? I'm the second owner and I'm thinking that if this is the original battery then it is almost 4 years old.

~3-5 years, depending on environment, use, battery type etc etc. Some people get a lot less.

Had all these same issues when my battery went caput in the R. Threw heaps of codes. And even showed voltage at the battery. Get a jump and leave it chargibg from the other car for a little while, thats what mine needed then it started and worked fine.

this message brought to you by the tides and waves in a barnacle encrusted bottle sealed with a cork!

This. Had the same errors in my car when my battery died. From what I understand, the relay sound is the ECU stopping the car from turning over because it doesnt think there is enough juice in the battery. It still happens if you try to jump start. You'll have to clear the ECU before it will turn over.

Disconnect the battery (which will clear the ECU), put it on a charger and then try again once the battery has had a good amount of charge.

Either way sounds like you need a new battery, but yea.

[tonymy01]

My battery just died a very quick death in the last week too. I noticed the past month the cranking speed had been a bit less, and three days ago went to start in the morning (the day before I had driven a good 20km) and click click. Put a trickle charger on, went green only after about 6 hours (totally flat battery should take a lot longer than that). Drove next day somewhere and click click...uh oh. Good thing I parked on a hill and I have a manual! Just had to wait 10 mins for the car behind me to move so I could roll it. And push started later in the day, again finding a slope to get it going. Battery after a good charge is only just 12V. Now ordered a Federal 9AGM48 and playing the waiting game...not driving as I can't always find convenient slopes..

I figured the battery died due to the deep cycles it went thru at times (e.g the 40 mins to flash stock then bluefin a couple of times, the constantly recording camera, the listening to music while working on car etc).

Had car from new 2.5 years ago, battery 3 years old, presumably would have drained on boat here, slowly drained in delivery dealership etc, so many cycles. Also often I only drive 5km, so possibly not long enough to fully charge it after a start I would say. All this enough to kill the big bugger.

[a239947]

The cold weather is what kills them. Mine died during a cold snap!

this message brought to you by the tides and waves in a barnacle encrusted bottle sealed with a cork!

[Reedy]

4 years to the month with my OEM Varta. Never died on me but after a few short trips around the island I would get the ESP fault on the MDI and it would almost not start. Saying that a good long trip to work it was fine bit thought I'd change before it did let me down.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[tonymy01]

My car is garaged, rarely outside so don't think cold weather is responsible for mine (not to mention the past week in Sydney has had record high temps).

[MovieDude]

So this morning I decided to cancel the tow truck and rang RAC mobile battery service. It was the battery after all. The RAC man said the battery voltage was too low. He connected up his mobile battery and the symptoms were the same. Switched in a new one and started first time. He checked that the battery was charging well with the headlights on high beam and I was off.
Still get an ESP error but I was confident that it would stay running. Will check later if the error goes off.
Wasn't fun standing in the rain watching him change the battery over (I suppose I could have sat in the car).
Thanks to all for the advice - saved me some money and time.

[moda]

So this morning I decided to cancel the tow truck and rang RAC mobile battery service. It was the battery after all. The RAC man said the battery voltage was too low. He connected up his mobile battery and the symptoms were the same. Switched in a new one and started first time. He checked that the battery was charging well with the headlights on high beam and I was off.
Still get an ESP error but I was confident that it would stay running. Will check later if the error goes off.
Wasn't fun standing in the rain watching him change the battery over (I suppose I could have sat in the car).
Thanks to all for the advice - saved me some money and time.

ESP error will go away as soon as you start driving it. System just needs to re-calibrate itself after a power outage.

[mfl]

ESP error will go away as soon as you start driving it. System just needs to re-calibrate itself after a power outage.

Mine died at 4.5 years, fortunately it was at my local petrol station, who is also an auto electrician, who had a suitable battery in stock.

Lights and radio was working, but car wouldn't start.

After battery replaced ESP and tyre warnings lights on, both disappeared after driving 500 metres.

Positive terminal covered in green crud,which wasn't there a couple of months ago.

[howsta]

Recommended replacement car battery on a VW golf TSI 118

Hello,
Recently my car battery died and had to get NRMA to jumpstart, and since my car is ~4 years old, it is about time I replaced my battery.

1. I was just wondering if you have any recommendations on a good, long-lasting car battery that's not too adversely affected by extreme cold/heat? By that I mean a low of -6 degrees in winter, and around 40 in summer)

2. NRMA did ring me up with a deal offering to replace my car battery with a 'premium' battery (I forget what brand) & dispose of the old one for about $230. Is it a good deal?

I'm leaning towards #1 at the moment. That is, buy the battery myself and get it replaced.

Thanks very much!

[Mikey1]

Hi howsta. As you are in Melbourne, Everybattery (Every Battery: Buy a car battery online, or a Deep Cycle Battery. All Battery types for sale, cheap! We beat battery world prices in our battery shops daily.) stocks after-market Varta batteries - Blue and Silver Dynamic - where both are available to match the physical dimensions and have superior CCA performance to your Volkswagen OEM Varta battery. There are other stockists of these batteries, which may be more conveniently located. The price of the after-market Varta batteries should be much cheaper than the original.