RJVB

Time flies.. I knew they were starting to be a bit old and have in fact not swapped back my summer wheels since winter 2022. Didn't realise it was going on 10y though! There's surprisingly little wear (I didn't make any long highway trips in the heat of summer) but my garage warned me that they had probably turned hard enough to lose efficiency on wet surfaces, let alone snow. This is making me wonder if I'm not simply going to put a set of all-season tyres on, and see if and how I can get rid of my summer tyres on the stock alloy rims. Which are probably 205/55/R16 or something of the sort; I prefer the comfort and more economical driving of the 195/65/R15 tyres I picked for winter, plus a narrower width is (supposedly but understandably) better in wet/snowy conditions. Not that we get many of those, but I'm too likely to find myself in places where winter tyres are now required by law part of the year. Has anyone ever noticed if winter tyres are less expensive in their off-season, idem for all-season ones? Or is it more likely that there'll be promos in autumn, as my garage suggested? I'm inclined to be a bit chauvinist this time and not get Hancooks but a set of Vredestein Quatracs. Anyone got experience with them? Cheapest I've seen them to date is just under 65€ a piece, which is about what I paid for my Hancook winter tyres 10y ago. Lastly: any reason to take 91V over 91H, or rather the opposite?

So... piece of cake or almost, with a little help from a YT'er to see where the safety latch is. Stupid they didn't think of a version you don't have to fish out! On those videos the cars all have a heat-protective sleeve around them; mine didn't. Should it have, or is that only for more high-performance cars? Apart from that, I almost blew my careful preparation on the electrics side of things with a brain fart; put the battery in the wrong way 🙄 . I'd say who does that but I should have realised that I'm capable of such momentary bouts of dementia. Good thing the terminals aren't the same size (which I didn't know)! I used a Bosch C7 charger for the backup ("support") power, and the OBD power cable from Amazon linked above. Good quality that one. A sealed connector but I checked all pins and mine had no shorts between any pins, just earth on pins 4,5 and 12V on the last pin (16). 10A fuses in the aux. plug connector and in the lead coming from the charger (so good thing I didn't turn on the ignition; I measured almost 13A draw with just the rear lights on). I also discovered a designer brain fart: the central computer sits on the same fuses as the main lighting. I don't know if that computer actually has 2 parallel fuses to protect it, but it seems to me you could rather easily get a short in the light bulbs or their connectors ... Not reassuring if that happens while driving and it disconnects the main computer! Needless to say, I didn't disconnect my front lights by pulling the fuses after all. No need; I wasn't planning to turn on the car while under backup power anyway - no need. I did pull the connectors off the front optic blocks just to be certain. One last question: In one of the tutorial vids the new battery is coded via VCSD. What's the point of that? I suppose the one I put in is close enough to the battery it replaces that there shouldn't be any need for me to have this done? (couldn't get the earth connector any lower on the terminal, sorry )

Wow, garage called me yesterday to inform me the ordered the switch - 90€ official VW price! And a 2-week waiting time. The difference with the sums I've seen here (and confirmed online) is crazy... but I didn't want to bruise the good relationship I have with them by having them cancel their order 😞 Does anyone know if it's safe to disconnect the switch and then turn on the car - and if that would prevent the lights from going on? I'm going to change my battery using backup power so I don't want to have the almost 200W (I guess) draw of low-beams, parking and rear lights. Or should I just pull the fuses?

No more free copies of the manual online?! The old iOS app I had which worked great has also been nuked remotely, I have one "MySkoda" that just wheels and crashes, one called "OneApp" that is supposed to work with multiple cars but doesn't give me a way to add a 2nd (it's set to the wife's car RN) and one I immediately uninstalled because it asked unceremoniously to create a login. I thought I'd found a nicely old-fashioned brand in Skoda ... I'm reviewing that opinion in rapid tempo!

I agree, nothing compared to the see of empty space in old American cars but I find the access to the battery pretty spacey on the 1.6TDI Octy. I haven't yet tried to get it out of course.

Hydrogen gas should dissipate very quickly when working outside, no? Somewhere it's surprising to me that manufacturers haven't thought of providing a proper way to keep the old battery connected to the electrical system until the new one is in place (e.g. with proper connectors on the leads and on the battery to connect a pair of long-enough cables). Then again this probably indicates the reality of how many people change their own batteries (just like how "easy" it is to change a light bulb in most cars of the past decade or two).

Determined or maybe rather strongly inclined, but not to the point that I'll discard all warnings Of course the sparks themselves won't do any harm to the car, the potential cause of sparks is a different story. (That said, I've always been warned that sparks caused by a screwdriver or wrench causing the short could supposedly weld the tool in place, preventing you from disrupting the short ASAP.)

I also said I don't have the code Have you looked at modern car manuals? They're generic to the entire series (at least both our Skoda manuals are). Good luck figuring out e.g. exactly which of the engine oil references listed you should (as opposed to could) be using, for instance. Turns out both Oscaro and Amazon knew exactly which size to suggest while even the experts who answered here didn't know which of 2 possible sizes would be appropriate (no offense meant of course). I don't do much work on my car, partly because I don't have a proper place to do so, and partly because the things that do break down (rather reliably I should add) require tools & experience to fix (I'm driving around since '16 with an injector "reconditioned" on the fly by an Italian garage because they received a new one with the wrong mechanical part, and fortunately they figured out that was not the bit that had blown in my car so they mated the 2 working halves so I could continue my journey home). I do have experience working on my own MC and the instrumented ones in a lab I worked at, plus in working with 220V electrics so changing a car battery is something I should be able to learn how to do, even with keeping a backup tension. On the instrumented bikes we usually slipped a rubber glove over the positive terminal to avoid sparks, so I'll be doing the same here.

Yet the interest for/when changing batteries is mentioned explicitly, and also comes up in the comments on a connector lead like this one https://amzn.eu/d/gu6g0zI I know that the negative of jump start cables should be connected to the chassis (on the receiving vehicle but probably on the donor too?). Is there a specific point for that and how is that indicated?

I suppose it's also there to hold the heavy battery in place during a frontal choc or even emergency braking, but from what you describe it sounds like it should go over the battery like in the video shown. I don't see anything in the photo of my battery I posted (and didn't remove it myself).

Remember, 1st time I'm doing this, and we just learnt that there may or may not be a fixation bracket which I haven't noticed and is apparently not easy to access. I need to buy a charger anyway (I plan to charge the battery completely before installing it), so I can just as well get one with a support function. The question is just how I'll connect it, via the aux/cig plug in the trunk or via the OBD port.

Ah, the Bosch C7 charger also has a "support function" (13.6V, which IIRC is more or less what a well-charged battery puts out), and is almost half the price of the CTek. I still prefer not to risk losing any settings

True, I'd jot them down. If I knew it was necessary, otherwise I'd probably forget it

You don't even lose your radio presets and equaliser settings?

I see there are similar power savers that connect to the OBD port, but that feels like a risky business?!

Hmm, yeah, you could create a spike (but from a battery that won't crank the engine anymore??). And in fact, the article does not state explicitly that you need to leave the leads connected. The site name rings a bell from long ago so this may indeed be an old article, but I'd still expect they would have added a warning to watch out that the leads don't disconnect AND don't touch (which I reckon wouldn't be nice for either car if the leads have to stay on). Here's another way (sorry it's in French too, so mute it if that distracts you ) It mentions 1 thing I didn't think of: the autoradio might ask for a code after a powerloss. And I'm not aware that I have one... I'm surprised that there doesn't seem to be a fixation system on my battery other than the 2 cables?!

Sorry, I thought these days everyone has the reflex (if not gets a suggestion) to use google translate for sites in different languages: https://www-mister--auto-com.translate.goog/conseils-entretien/comment-changer-ma-batterie-sans-perdre-mes-donnees/?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en-US&_x_tr_pto=wapp As I said, I did think of it myself but rejected it, without really knowing why.

(Sorry for the machine gun posting, but...) The thought had crossed my mind that once the engine runs the battery is there chiefly as a stabiliser, so should theoretically not be required when not using anything power-hungry like power-steering. I'd rejected the idea as one that was probably a recipe for disaster, but apparently not?! https://www.mister-auto.com/conseils-entretien/comment-changer-ma-batterie-sans-perdre-mes-donnees/ Can that article be trusted?! Truth be told, if I can get cables on reliably from my partner's car there shouldn't even be a need to fire the engine during the swap ...

Looking at 12V supplies I of course get hits on car and MC batteries. This one <https://amzn.eu/d/eNZj6FB> is dirt cheap but still claims to be an AGM?!

I'm also not particularly keen on having to reprogram my audio, or anything else for that matter. The window thingy is something I have to do regularly anyway, at the passenger side at least.

Misfit at the factory, or would that be a replacement installed at a VAG dealership (the car was under a lease contract until I got her)? At least these didn't come off. Someone also forced on a mis-fitting coolant hose (the big one with the "elbow"), which inevitably blew during a heatwave cause all coolant to be dumped at once...

It's a size 3. Depth wasn't very crucial to measure as both types are identical in that dimension. I'll call the workshops tomorrow and see what they propose but "on screen" I'm liking the Bosch that Oscaro proposed. If it's made by Varta but cheaper than one I'd be stupid not to opt for it. Can anyone answer the question about disconnecting the battery please, or maybe just give some tips for an aux 12V supply I can connect safely to the two bolts on the terminal connectors so nothing gets powercycled?

I was hoping I could get confirmation here about the exact model (or specs) that will work, without having to remove the current battery to measure its dimensions... Aren't those known for my engine, or else based off the VIN?

OK, Varta is a name I associate more with reliable batteries than Bosch And no, I don't have start/stop (didn't even know that wasn an option on these "old" diesels). I did see the indication that the model I chose wasn't compatible with that. (That said, if you never use the feature there's no point in getting the more expensive type of battery required, is there?)

Hi, The battery in the 2009 Octy from my sig. died yesterday, I think it must be the original one so it had a rather good run. I have 2 workshops in my village where I could order and have the battery charged, but Oscaro lists this one as compatible: https://www.oscaro.com/batterie-bosch-0-092-s40-080-1777147-2585-p# Are they right and is this a good choice? AFAICT it's not an AGM which is rather a plus in my experience (cheaper and more reliable; I had 3 fail without warning in my MC). Also, can I just disconnect the current battery and swap in a new one and what kind of info/settings will I lose when I don't provide a backup source? (e.g. do I need to jot down how I set up my audio and the things set via the dashboard?)