Former

Or just charging but if the car doesn't allow start/stop more often because the battery is too low then the battery will be harder to rescue. I do see your point and don't blame you but it's not really a dodgy battery as such. As I put get a new battery and perhaps you might need to treat it more if you want it to last longer. Thinking of it perhaps like some bank accounts, gets depleted because is more taken out more often than is put in. Depends when the reading is taken, just as an example, after the car hadn't been used for (a lot more than) a couple of hours (gets rid of surface charging from use) I quickly unlocked my wife's car and had the bonnet up to take an immediate reading -12.4V, left the car unlocked and bonnet open to settle itself down for 35 minutes then took another reading, 12.6V this time. (A new fully charged settled battery could show 12.7V or 12.8V, then you have to allow for how accurate or not your multimeter is) At a settled 12.3V the battery wants charging, best I think to fully recharge using an appropriate battery charger and maintainer, lower the better for me, 2- amp charger better than 4, 4-amp charger better than 6, 6-amp better than 8. I'd never use a fast charger on a battery that's not at its best, quickest way to kill off a battery in a poor state I've found. Personally I'd (slow) fully charge the new battery before fitting it too* though this isn't or shouldn't really be needed. ETA: I've just thought, if you fit the new battery to the car and charge the new battery on the car with the negative connection of the charger to the body earth point the computer might(?) get the idea of the battery being in a different state of charge (charging) sooner than just fitting the battery and driving to sort things out. ETA 2: Do consult your 'Owner's Manual' about changing the battery, what needs resetting/synchronising (usually just time of day clock if you've not left stuff open) and do consult your 'Owner's Manual' about charging the car battery, lots of good info in the 'Owner's Manuals' and needs looking at even for what you'd think is very simple straight forward job - plenty of posts and threads on the site where people don't, and I sometimes forget to look first and then have to. Figures from my neighbour's Ring battery charger/tester. - 12.7v - 100% 12.5v - 90% 12.4v - 80% 12.3V - 70% 12.2v - 60% 12.1v - 50% 11.9v - 40% 11.8v - 30% 11.6v - 20% 11.3v - 10% VW Charge level No-load voltage 1.28 g/cm3 100% 12.7 V 1.21 g/cm3 60% 12.3 V 1.18 g/cm3 40% 12.1 V 1.10 g/cm3 0% 11.7 V

Just thought, when you did this, did you hold down the remote fob's boot button as just pressing that button gives silent unlocking and lights flash, the remote fob's boot button has to be held down to unlock and open boot lid, giving some noise.

Are you sure you need a new battery or does your existing battery just need a full recharge using an appropriate battery charger and maintainer now and in future before the car battery gets too low again. The battery may need a long or very long recharge preferably on a lower rate charger than higher rate (see your Owner's Manual for more detains) but the lower the slow to get to fully recharged, however if required you could do the full recharge in a perhaps couple of sessions (or more) if you run out of time at first attempt. Simply driving the car is not always enough to fully recharge the battery depending on the journey(ies) and battery use and the state of charge of the battery. Once fully recharged and kept from going too low in charge again you could get many more months or a year or two more perhaps out of your existing battery - depending on how much and how often you get and keep the battery charge too low. If you want to replace the battery anyway then not allowing the new battery to get too low in charge and if/when required using a battery charger and maintainer as a preventative rather than always restorative measure might well see your next battery last longer than 5 years. Do bear in mind your car's charging system also has to be in good order and that it's 5 years older at the start of the new battery's life than the previous battery but usually the charging systems are good for many years.

@Pessimal following on from the questions varoom asked you, if you get (got) a new EFB battery of the same Ah (near enough?) you could try as others have done and just fit it and use the car leaving the car's computer program to work it out, provided you haven't run the existing battery so low that the dash is lit up like bonfire night and there's loads of unseen error codes in that case you might have to drive the car on a journey or two for things to settle. Better and quicker to have things sorted would be to 'code' the new battery in and clear any/all error codes just to keep all the computers' programs happy quicker. If you just fit an new AGM in place of an EFB the computer program will running things for the wrong type of battery and probably shortening its expensive life more. As with SomethingSuperbly, and as I did, have look at VCDS owners and see if someone can help you with 'coding' or buy the AGM battery from somewhere that also 'codes' the battery (they won't clear any error codes, if there are any, though unless its a garage). Perhaps there might be someone near you that would do the 'coding', map of VCDS owners. - https://tinyurl.com/yn6mmtyk

Personally I'd not worry about any of that as it seems to me that was about VW statics and monitoring any warranty claims, probably so they could get money back off the battery supplier. As you can see from my previous post my wife's battery was just listed at the factory with supplier (JCB for Moll battery) and serial number of all the ones, the same as I've seen others report so it makes a nonsense of any codes really being required. Perhaps there might be someone near you that would do the 'coding' for less than £20, map of VCDS owners. - https://tinyurl.com/yn6mmtyk

If the only difference is braiding and the other original rear mid hose is still in good condition I can't think of any issues. Any real problems and you would get a warning light.

Mine was done on a OBDEleven, from EFB to AGM ("Fleece"), altered Ah and added one to lazy factory entry for serial number and although not important the make was changed, put in as BOSCH, and shows as 'BOS' on another scan tool. The coding was done a few days after the battery was fitted and the AGM battery fully charged with a battery charger before being fitted. That was all 20 months ago and all seems fine. The battery was recharged around Xmas as my wife uses the car on lots of very short journeys. Print out below from OBDEleven 'coding' the battery.

From the 05.11 Owner's Manual. -

Wot even those with British 4-60 air-con. 😄

We were stopping in Dingwall and it was 80+ IIRC in that area if not Dingwall itself, all so long ago I forget exact details (I'd probably forget even if it was last year too). We were stopping at a B&B and had a family room with IIRC 2 or 3 double beds and singles all to e two of us and very unusually booked in for a second night instead of moving on. At the time Dingwall was one of the few places around that served good real ale (at an hotel with loads of whiskeys too but that's another story, not that drink whiskey usually).

It's not WD-40 Multi-Use and it is a good thing it isn't as GT85 is better than WD-40 Multi-Use. As I put I remember using GT85 (before the American company bought it) and using WD-40 Multi-Use before that. I've no idea if WD-40 Company has changed GT85 in anyway since they took it over but it stills seems very good to me (and way better than WD-40 Multi-Use). Whether the WD-40 Specialist® Dry Lube with PTFE is as good or even the same stuff as GT85 I wouldn't know as I've never seen let alone tried it. I can remember loyal VW owners recommending (VW?) Gummi-Pflege for use on droptop rubbers as they had issues with their convertible at the time then I looked for more reasonably priced alternatives at the time to discover Gummi-Pflege wasn't a formula or product or product name but rather Gummi-Pflege was just German for rubber care. 😄 Glad you get good results with Liqui Moly, I know the name for their (black) oil and stuff but have never used their products (that I can remember but might have).

In the 2004 Owner's Manual it shows fuse location F17 as Instrument cluster (10 amp) in engine compartment and also in the dash panel fuse box number 6 for Instrument cluster (5 amp). I've no idea if either or neither of these are correct for what you want or if the Owner's Manual has either or neither correctly assigned (the Owner's Manual don't always seem to be correct with fuses). I would disconnect the battery and whilst it is off try spraying with an electrical contact cleaner or suitable lubricant if you dare (GT85 is my choice) turn the switch lever a good few times to hour and minutes to work things in/loose and leave to thoroughly dry before reconnecting the car battery (I'd also take the opportunity to fully recharge the battery but that's a different matter) . For the power steering issue I'd start the car, give it a few seconds at idle then fully turn (or drive) so that the steering wheel goes fully one way, without straining or holding at the extreme and then fully turn (or drive) the steering wheel the other side without straining or holding at the extreme, perhaps do that a couple or few times with the revs up a bit if not driving. But you know your car and power steering and if you say that'd confuse your car fair enough.

Good that you had a listen, shame it wasn't the result you'd hope for but it's cost you nothing really to do and the basics are needed at the start to efficiently progress through the diagnostics and repair. A break in a cable is just one possibility but as before plugging in an appropriate machine should help go some way with further diagnostics. Getting the boot open means physical tests can also be done. Up to you if you want to go the route of a Dealership, indie garage, an auto-electrician or a member with an appropriate machine. It may be a bad wire or connection (electrical/ computer) or a faulty part or parts. As I put I thought toot had put that it's £60 for the Dealership to plug the machine in but I don't know. Some places charge for diagnosis but discount or remove that cost if you have the work done by them. The local Dealership charged my wife £41.40 to code in the new remote key ( the fob itself was an arm & a leg but that's another matter and why the previous one stopped working, so much for German engineering quality, again). Unless you're able to remove trim and/or other bits and use your diagnostic eyes (and camera for photos) I've already put as much as (I think) I know and others would be better if you did put up photos anyway. Unless it's an easy to get at and see connection off or 'furred' up then it might get a bit more involved, but not necessarily, or that much involved, depends. Be interesting to know how you get on whatever path you take, good luck.

@markbsac don't you use the air-con in winter to further clear the windscreen, we have to in my wife's 2015 Mk3 if we want to drive the car in the same hour after the engine was started. I exaggerate but it's a good few minutes plus to clear the screen and that's after using dehumidifying bags, synthetic-chamois, angled sunvisors and the (very noisy) heater blower on full - ours is not a climatronic type though.

Those examples do not seem to have the oil at any special offer on price and are in different currencies. Mustafa and everyone else can decide on what oil and at what cost and frequency of the changing the oils they want, to repeat, mine was just a suggestion to be accepted or rejected. The cost of the oil is not that high if the Red Line is kept in for a longer time than a less expensive oil, say the Red Line is £30 a bottle but is kept twice as long as another lesser oil at £15 a bottle, then the Red Line is better value. At even a cost of £90 the cost is not that high on the overall costs of a car that is kept for enjoyment or sentimental reasons rather than regular required use. Over here at least maintaining a 20+ year old car to above legal or necessary requirements would not probably make economic sense, though this might have changed a bit given the covid/chips situation of the last few years where used car prices have gone silly high. You already spend much more than you need to on your Felicia but you have different priorities and you are happy with the gearbox oil you use which is good, I am not trying to, and how could I (?), force you or Mustafa to do anything and I do not have any interests in any oil companies so I do not benefit or lose anything from whatever oils (or anything else) you buy or use. Others with much older and more basic and simple engineered cars have said they have found a benefit to using Red Line gearbox oils and these are "classic" car owners notorious for not wanting to pay too much, or pay much full stop (unless it is cosmetic bling often) so they must find some benefit. Some will tell you that any oil that meets the gearbox requirements is good enough so you should always buy the cheapest oil available and they have a good point depending on your expectations - so that advice would be to buy the cheapest correct spec oil available, which I would guess is not MOTUL MOTYLGEAR or Red Line but either or both could still be the best value depending on your expectations.

Sorry, I wasn't clear, that was my point that IIRC it's not silicone, I struggle to read anything so safety sheets are beyond me I was just going on my wobbly memory. People say about silicone spray on paintwork but I can't remember having any issues on a car that was resprayed but perhaps if the silicone spray is fresh to when the paintwork is being done, I don't know, just nice to has one can of a good penetrating/ releasing fluid and general lubricant than half a dozen taking up space and running out halfway through a job as Sod's Law always applies. I've not tried GT85 on rubber seals just because it's a spray and our cars are always outside, no garage, and even spraying on to a cloth has some spray going elsewhere, plus sprays like this are too thin and fiddly and add too much excess farting about to whatever farting about is being done on the car. At the risk of magicking up my troll, for rubber door and other seals I apply AutoGlym Bumper & Trim Gel or silicone oil to a 35mm cube of old clean sponge and the on to the seal. Having put that I no longer fart about cleaning and maintaining the Fabia anywhere near as much as I used to fart about with cars in the past, not that I ever done it for the 'joy' (?!!?) of such stuck, good luck to those that enough such things but it wasn't really for me other than necessity.

If you wanted you could perhaps use an appropriate battery charger and maintainer to restore the battery now and when required as a preventative measure to stop the battery getting too low in the future, then you could perhaps get many more months or perhaps even a year or more out of it. Or to get a few more months out of it so that you can deal with the VW battery b*ll*cks and farting about in the better weather and when you have the Fabia sorted.

If you get away from Amazon and consider local suppliers you can sometimes find offers and better value and possibly keep revenue profits and taxes more locally. You have made assumptions about priorities and values. Mustafa values his Felicia, and if sensible values himself and his time a lot more than any car Felicia or "super" or "hyper" car. Motul and Mannol may well do a gearbox oil of a quality similar enough to the Red Line oil for use in a Felicia, as I put I do not know what is available to Mustafa but if I remember correctly Mustafa's Felicia is a cherished car that has low use and not used as a daily use car. Red Line is used by many owners of old 1950s British cars and those certainly are not "supercars" in value or engineering. The idea of the use is to improve the operation of the gearbox and protect it as wide as possible for as long as possible, do the change better and less often than with an oil not as good, and save you're valuable time. The Red Line oils appeal to American owners of ordinary old cars of quite modest values because I would guess the oils are sold at a lower cost in America but are still used in the UK because we are used to higher prices for oils generally. The Red Line was just a suggestion, I would normally use and recommend an English oil blenders' products but I do not remember Mustafa living in the UK, he you and every one can use whichever oil they feel is best, as I put many would not even bother to change the oil even at 60,000km.

The GT85 is PTFE and fine on plastics and rubber seals but I tend to use silicone on rubber seals including AutoGlym Bumper & Trim Gel or silicone oil as in photo below. Some feel silicone should be kept away from paintwork. Have a look on the can of GT85 you'll see it's one of the products from the WD-40 Company, originally a British company GT85 but like many swallowed up by the large invasive American companies, I used to use it on my pushbikes in the 1980s.

As the driver car owner you should teach your daughter basic driver maintenance like check the brake fluid (level and colour), tyres (condition, tread depth), battery (condition of clamps and are secure, charge), etc., etc.. This will empower her. Once she knows how to do these things she may well decide still to leave the jobs to you but at least she'll know and understand about these things and how to do them if required. My wife went to a night class course of basic car maintenance in the 1980s so that she knew about basic maintenance herself but has always left such stuff to me as she's not so stupid as to be messing and farting about with cars but if I hadn't been around she could do it herself and probably better and certainly with better humour.

Unfortunately you let your existing battery get to low for too long and the trickle charge was too little too late but the good side is that you now have this experience and knowledge and can prevent this happening to the new battery by using an appropriate battery recharger and maintainer in time when required before the new battery gets too low for too long. I think AGM batteries have additional insulation underneath compared to EFB but I fitted an AGM without to my wife's 2015 Fabia regardless as she often does very short journeys (2miles). If you don't use the star/stop much, or even if you did, you could go back to EFB if you want, and avoid 'coding' - see varooom's guide. This is the Varta 096 EFB from Tayna, not a lot less cost to AGM - N70 VARTA START-STOP EFB CAR BATTERY 12V 70AH (570500076) TYPE 096 - https://www.tayna.co.uk/car-batteries/varta/n70/ Don't wait for the warning lights and messages rather recharge the battery before it gets that low with an appropriate battery charger and maintainer and then your replacement EFB could last even longer than the current one. Check your 'Owner's Manual' for disconnecting/reconnecting the battery it's a lot easier and straightforward than many think (those that haven't referred to the 'Owner's Manual') and check the 'Owner's Manual' for advice on charging the battery. Free PDF downloads are available from VWSkoda from this link.- https://manual.skoda-auto.com/004/en-com/Models Check if your existing OBDEleven does battery 'coding', my wife's battery was 'coded' by a member from here using an OBDEleven but I don't know what level it was. Perhaps there might be someone near you if you need them map of VCDS owners. - https://tinyurl.com/yn6mmtyk.

3 and 5 years is for the universal mineral oil and 5 to 7 years (or more) for the Red Line full-synthetic oils - or any similar equivalent oils. I do not know what oils are local or reasonably available and priced to Mustafa. In the USA, where Red Line are, all oils seem lower priced and if you saw how much is spilled from old huge American cars you would realise they expect low priced oil products.

Thanks Bob. I've never had to use as old English cars usually made their oil leaks easy to find and I used a coolant that help find and diagnosis (and cause) leaks easier. From this eBay seller- "To use simply empty the full contents of the dye bottle into the cooling system. Then start the engine and run for 20 minutes at 2000 rpm. Switch the engine off and inspect the area with an ultra violet light for any leaks or signs of the dye." - https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/266152538754 This video seems OK. -

Another reason to keep it in 5 to 7 years (or more) or 60,000 km. As it is American in comes in US Quart or US Gallon bottles and it certainly is not cheap. It may be less expensive to buy it from a local motor racing supplier or some such place and it might even be less expensive to buy a US gallon bottle rather than 3 quart bottles depending on the supplier, stock and offers at the time.

You can also get similar for oil and a/c, last time I looked plenty of kits on eBay (I never look on Amazon) and I went to Ring Automotive direct for hyperlinks though the quantities they listed weren't over clear to me. I'm not sure how carefully you have to be with VW's silly coolants (G numbers and descriptions) so check with Ring or kit supplier unless you're going direct to the (chemical?) company product producer. Ring Dyes - https://www.ringautomotive.com/en/workshop-leak-detection