New Battery

[JonathanK]

My 2014 BiTdi battery is starting to struggle after being left for a few days and I don’t think will last the winter. Does a new battery have to be coded to the car or is it just a straight swap out?

Any recommendations on make and model for my car?

Thanks

J


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[Crasher]

Yes a new battery has to have its details entered into the battery control unit. VCDS can do this but only a limited range of batteries are shown in the coding table so I would replace it with exactly what is in there which means genuine but they are not daft money, at the very worst £234.72 retail inc VAT from the dealer.

[razor77]

My 2014 BiTdi battery is starting to struggle after being left for a few days and I don’t think will last the winter. Does a new battery have to be coded to the car or is it just a straight swap out?

Any recommendations on make and model for my car?

Thanks

J


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Are you driving less this year? It could be the shorter journeys and longer periods between journeys and it’s just not charging enough? When I got my 63 plate new I only did 6k a year for the first four and I was always getting a better low warning. Twice I left it with the the garage for a few days (for other things too) and they left it on charge which generally solved the problem for 8 months or so. Since 2017 doing over 12k a year and I’ve never had a low battery warning.


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[bluezie]

Yes a new battery has to have its details entered into the battery control unit. VCDS can do this but only a limited range of batteries are shown in the coding table so I would replace it with exactly what is in there which means genuine but they are not daft money, at the very worst £234.72 retail inc VAT from the dealer.

Does anyone know what would happen if a battery is fitted without coding it with VCDS? IE, in an emergency when the battery suddenly dies and a (wrong) substitute is temporarily fitted, or even the correct battery but without coding it?
Is this simply a matter that the battery management will get confused, and throw a load of warnings, but eventually adapt itself to the replacement battery with enough driving time?

I seem to remember DPF pressure sensors 'should' be adapted, but will eventually sort themselves out if just fitted and driven.

[Elansear]

I don’t wish to come across as rude, but why don’t you just go to your local Halfords, get the battery checked and if needed get them to replace it. I would expect them to have the kit to do that. Problem solved.

[razor77]

I don’t wish to come across as rude, but why don’t you just go to your local Halfords, get the battery checked and if needed get them to replace it. I would expect them to have the kit to do that. Problem solved.

Elansear, because Halfords would likely just take the OPs symptoms and replace the battery. The OPs come to the forum to clarify what he thinks is the best path forward.

It’s entirely possible per my reply above the ops just not doing the mileage right now to full charge the battery.

The OP like many in the forum probably likes to understand his vehicle and what should be done, either to diy, or if he takes to a garage to ensure they know what they are doing. Especially Halfords!

You don’t come across rude, just ignorant on this occasion.


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[Whippy53]

My 2014 BiTdi battery is starting to struggle after being left for a few days and I don’t think will last the winter. Does a new battery have to be coded to the car or is it just a straight swap out?

Any recommendations on make and model for my car?

Thanks

J


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Hi, yes it will indeed need coding, it's entirely possible that a car battery of that age might need replacement. You can go to Halfords for the replacement or the dealer will be more than happy to take your money.

[Elansear]

Sorry to be, ignorant, Last time I had them do a battery test, about 2 years ago, they do not charge for testing, so nothing to loose, is there ? perhaps I am completely wrong but would that not give an indication as to what may be happening. Is that not what the OP is trying to ascertain, weather or not the battery is on its way out. I only do 5-6k a year and have not had any problems, mostly short journeys with a longer one say every 5-6 weeks and sometimes left standing for a week or two. Now is that ignorance or experience? or just being unhelpful ...

[Crasher]

They tested a battery on a customer T5 a few weeks ago and said it was healthy, yesterday morning it would barely crank over after being in the workshop over night so it is coming back for a new battery. I did a YUASA from TPS on a 4G, the coding was not on VCDS and I could not justify spending 10 Euro and wasting an hour of my life on ODIS so I just lied and it is fine. Really VCDS need to massively expand their list of batteries.

[JonathanK]

I think razor77 might be on the right track. The car hasn’t done any long journeys since mid September and we’d had 2 very cold mornings last week, both with a heavy frost, and the car didn’t struggle to start, it just sounded down on power. Add to that the stop/start hasn’t worked for a couple of months and it adds up to a low battery. At 6.5 years old with 49k on the clock I automatically thought new battery but I’ve put it on a C-Tek and we’ll see what happens.

Out of interest, and to save me looking, is the original an AGM - were they fitting them in early 2014?

[Crasher]

AGM batteries have been widely fitted for a decade now, if it has stop/start it must have an AGM battery. I am definitely noticing that AGM batteries used in SS cars are not lasting as well as the old lead acid batteries; it was not unusual to see conventional batteries last 12 years or more but AGM’s seem to go weak after as little as four years. The best batteries VAG ever fitted were used in the 80’s and made in Yugoslavia by Tesla (not the US company who nicked the name) and we’re always fitted to Yugoslavian built Caddy’s and Spanish built Polo’s, quite often these were still working when 20 years old.

[koon]

hi what is the make of battery? make sure the AH and CCA of the new battery are the same as the old one.
a straightforward swap is fine.the electrics might not operate initially but these can be rectified easily.
you dont need to do any coding.