I replaced the original battery on my 110tdi when the car was about 4 years old. As far as i can remember the one i replaced it with was a pretty cheap one, and now two years later its dead.

How long should you generally get out of a car battery? Can i assume that the battery has expired and the cold (had to jump start this morning) has shown that its done, and not a fault of an alternator?

Have been advised to buy a heavy duty replacement, but not sure what in technical terms heavy duty means? is it the voltage rating or what should i be looking for?

Thanks

JD

Buy a decent battery, Bosch, Varta etc.

Do you have a multimeter?

Mine's still the original Varta OE battery, after 7.5 years!

Part number is 1J0 915 105 AC if anyone cares.

But if I leave the car outside for a week in this cold, the starter does sound a bit limp when I go to use it again. It's only started recently so I assume the battery is finally tiring.

If I were you I'd go for a good battery with a good warranty. Bosch or Varta. The Bosch silver S5 batteries sound good with a 5yr warranty. I'd ideally go for another Varta: Car battery - batteries for cars-VARTA Automotive

Varta Blue/Silver or Bosch Silver are good.

FWIW check the operation of your altenator pully as these can stick (internally) and will reduce the charge your battery gets.

Mine's also the original after 7 years, unless it was replaced before I bought the car, in which case it's 3.5 years minimum..

Buy a decent battery, Bosch, Varta etc.

Do you have a multimeter?

Yes i have a multimeter.

Have just ordered the Bosch Silver from Halfords.... £109!!!!!! oh well, it's only money:O.

Now i have to worry about not losing nuts etc when fitting it in the dark tonight. Halfords fitting seems to end when there is any potential of buggering up immobilisers etc (so the girl on the phone told me). That must rule out about 99.9 % of cars now on the roads.

Thanks all for the quick replies.

Should be two 10mm bolts, then job done. Will take a little while for the car to re-adapt.

I got a battery from Eurocar parts 2 years ago to replace the dodgy one I had in my 2001 (which was up to that point original).

10mm spanner to undo the battery terminals, plus something larger (iirc) to indo the battery clamp. My replacement battery seemed to be fractionally larger than the original one.

Interesting to see the amount of original batteries on here. Mine is original too - just waiting for it to pack up at some point over the winter! I can't imagine a battery that is 7 1/2 years old doing another cold winter!

Yep, mine is 7 years old now too.......

Mine's 5.5 years old and still going. The car sleeps in a garage so is kept nice and warm at night

The battery on my old Micra lasted 3 years from new. And the one on my Audi 90 lasted about 4 years.

Might be worthwhile looking at the prices at your local TPS if you need a new battery. I think that they have some offers on at the moment.

Mines just started dying got a replacement from here

car battery, mobility, golf, leisure, car batteries | lucas, trojan, energy, odyssey | Product Info

About £62 delivered for an Exide premium, when i was searching for what size i needed i noticed Exide won an AutoExpress award for the previous version

On our 3rd battery, the first one had a 2 year warranty, lasted 1.5 yrs, (replaced under warranty) second one had a 1 year warranty, lasted 2.5 yrs, now on the 3rd battery (fitted around 1 year ago) 1 year warranty as well

Mine lasted 2 months short of 10 years.

Andy

3-4 yrs is the 'going rate' for a reasonable quality battery these days.

This varies with the use of the car - lots of short journeys in winter will hurt it, as will leaving a light on to drain the battery (a real killer).

As for replacing a battery, you certainly seem to get what you pay for. Personally, I think Varta, Bosch, Yuasa (mainly bike) batteries are worth the extra, but it's down to personal choice (keeping the car, spend the extra; changing soon, get cheaper battery).

Although prices may seem expensive, you should see the costs of the batteries we fitted to aircraft (no good in cars as were 24 volt).

Although it's less of a deal nowadays with all the fault codes that you can access, battery failures can show some strange symptoms. I once had a Golf at just over 1 yr old that got starting problems (1 yr warranty only back then) and it drove me nuts. It would take ages to start but once started would restart 1st time for the rest of the day. I left it with the garage for 3 days, no sign of problem, but as soon as it was back with me then it would start all over again. I checked everything and eventually concluded that it was a fuel system fault as the fuel wasn't pressurizing properly. It was only one morning when the radio station memory failed that I realized the battery was on the way out (voltage was OK and garage had said they'd checked battery) and with a new battery the fault disappeared. All I can assume is that the starter was churning over normally but was depriving the fuel pump of sufficient power from the failing battery.

One point from the above is that the battery voltage is a useful indicator of health but is a poor substitute for a proper load test (which many places give free, but you'll pay for it eventually in a higher battery price)

Got my battery tested at Halfords before i bought the new one. I haven't fitted the battery yet, but from what i could see in the dark when halfords were testing the old battery, it was an Exide with 650mAmp rating. Couldn't see any more than that as it was still in place.

The one which was in the car was tested and the start up capacity was reading 38% with the text below that saying "Battery Unserviceable":(

Have been lucky as it's been mild the past three days, so the car has started (just about at 4 degrees).

Will get some daylight tomorrow (and lots of rain by the looks of it) and change the battery.

JD

My wifes 02 KA and my 53 octy vrs have still got the original battery.

As soon as the weather starts to turn and the nights pull in I charge the batteries once a month for between 12 and 14 hours each with a self regulating charger.

However, my Blade is hopeless.... its got a "gel" battery and it has to be kept on charge permanently .... and needs an expensive "Optimate 4" charger to keep it alive

Mine died 3 weeks after I bought the car. MKG Skoda replaced it under guarantee. The replacement lasted a little shy of 2 years. They put a heavy duty battery in at cost. Since the battery was under 2 years old, I think it should have been under manufacturers warranty, but I had no paperwork.

Been fitting batteries now for thirty nine years and the only battery I ever use is 'Shield'. Shield Car Batteries, classic car battery These people know how to make a battery.

mine died a month ago i had it for two years

I always thought a car battery should last at least 4 years. Our two Fabia's (53 + 04) are still on their original (AKUMA) batterys. I think my dad has has 2 or 3 new batteries for his 13yo (96) Scooby.

As mentioned above, the Exide Xtra Plus came top in Auto Express 2007 test. However we have always bought Halfords as they are (or were) made by Yuasa which were part of Lucas (or the other way round) and are very good.

A good battery charger helps as well, there are some (made by Ctek) that can recondition old batterys as well. Ctek chargers won the Auto Express test this year.

not sure if it was seen above, but the alternator pulley sticking will allow the car to charge, but not enough on lift off and so the battery won't charge correctly.

almost-4-years-to-the-day-thread-resurrection....

 

my battery is starting to turn the engine more slowly than usual....so maybe time for a replacement.Just checked it & it appears to be the oe one,part number varta 1J0 915 105 ac..... not bad as the car is 52 reg, so 11 & a half years old!

 

Got this replacement in mind;

Bosch S5 005;Just under £70 delivered, although I'm gonna check at Costco to see if I can get it cheaper

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/360733065795?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT

Holy threadcromancy Batman!!

 

Since you've posted, mine lasted a little over 9 years before it was pushed over the edge by a period of cold weather.