Fabia vRS Battery Replacement

[tomsimes]

I've ended up with a Yuasa. Not cheap, and a fairly rare beast in this part of the world (though all my Hondas had Yuasa battereis as OE). Its got a 5 year warranty, so I hope it was worth it.....

If it hadn't been so sudden, I was planning on buying a Varta from eBay.

Paul.

You'll be surprised, Yuasa batteries are not at all rare here - apart from the Bosch Silver batteries, all Halfords batteries are made and supplied by Yuasa.

[Wardy]

For an MY07 BLT engined vRS Halfords still list the Bosch HSB096 as being suitable. But their system may not be taking into account the fact that the battery spec changed from the ASZ cars, to BLT. I didn't know if had, to be honest.

Steve

[DRJ]

For an MY07 BLT engined vRS Halfords still list the Bosch HSB096 as being suitable. But their system may not be taking into account the fact that the battery spec changed from the ASZ cars, to BLT. I didn't know if had, to be honest.

It's not just Halfords - EVERY battery site I've checked only list one battery type for 1.9 diesel Fabias. But having measured the cage thing that clips over the top of mine I can't see how any of the 278mm long batteries that are always quoted would fit...

[ricardo_smooth]

no specialist car battery shops near you? best bet taking it to them and saying 'eeeer replace this pal but not with the old spec listed battery as no bugger lists one for the newer engine!' either that or search for a different car that shares the same setup (do ibizas/polos have the same engine i wonder).

[DRJ]

no specialist car battery shops near you? best bet taking it to them and saying 'eeeer replace this pal but not with the old spec listed battery as no bugger lists one for the newer engine!' either that or search for a different car that shares the same setup (do ibizas/polos have the same engine i wonder).

Thanks - I've only used a specialist once before when I needed a new battery for my "already converted to a wet battery" MX-5 - and they were very helpful then, offering a choice of FIVE batteries of differing capacities with the same external dims as my existing battery - but that's in a back street in Cheltenham - and currently Cheltenham is a no-go area owing to the snow! However since online battery ordering nowadays seems to be so straightforward I thought that might be the easiest and cheapest way to go.

Now that the temperature's risen to a balmy 1 degC today, the car's performing fine - starting is instant - but the "magic eye" still isn't green as it's supposed to be so it looks like a new battery is going to be yet another expense on my very unreliable vRS soon after Xmas when I can easily get about - so I might pop across to Groves Batteries in Tivoli Street then. Why prolong the agony of wondering whether it will start after it only JUST started on Monday having not been used since Saturday! If only I could get the top off (see other thread for details).

[ricardo_smooth]

know how you feel mate, mine let me down one and we are lucky enough to not have any snow so went out the next day to get a new battery as I won't leave it to chance if I can help it. If you are managing to get by I reckon you can't do much more than hold out and take it to the battery place to save having to send back a battery thats too big and if you still can't get the cover off i'm sure the place will fit it for a small fee if they are like most places

[FJW]

I had exactly the same problem as described above when trying to buy a replacement battery for my 2006 Fabia 1.9TDI (AXR engine) - all the battery sites I tried only listed the 096 type battery, which is much bigger than the one originally fitted.

The answer seems to be that the smaller battery fitted to the later TDI Fabia Mk 1 is a type 027 (one option is a Bosch S4005) - I have fitted one today and as far as I can tell it is an exact replacement for the original Akuma battery. The size is 242x175x190mm (LxWxD) and it is rated at 60Ah, 540A CCA (EN/SAE). In fact this is the battery listed for some of the petrol-engined Fabias on most of the battery sites I looked at.

This is my first post, so I hope it helps someone as much as this forum has helped me in solving the occasional weird fault that has occurred on the three Skodas that I have owned since 1997!

[DRJ]

My failing battery is a:

AKUMA 12V 61AH 330A DIN 540A EN/SAE

Part no 1J0 915 105 AD

Dimensions (as far as I could measure) - 238 long x 170 wide x 188 high

Can anyone please point out any other battery manufacturer's specification which will replace this battery - or am I going to have to buy a Skoda one?

All the online battery replacement websites ignore the later battery size fitted to (at least) the vRS.

I don't want to fit a physically larger one since Skoda must have provided the insulating jacket for a reason and others have reported leaving that off.

Well I didn't get round to replacing it last year because once the cold weather abated the car was fine throughout 2011 - until this last week when the renewed cold weather sapped its vigour. That's despite the "magic eye" always appearing black. It's just about starting on these cold mornings at temperatures several degrees below zero but I'm unhappy with keeping something that might let me down, particularly if not used for several days.

After a lot of research yesterday on the ratings of 027 sized batteries I've plumped for an Exide Premium Battery 027 with 4 Year Guarantee rated at 64Ah and 640CCA. That's significantly more than the original battery (particularly the CCA figure) and seemed preferable to any of the Bosch batteries in terms of performance figures.

I got mine from Euro Car Parts using the "brisk25" discount code kindly provided by philje123. However the discount applied actually works out at 30% and hence the published price of £74.95 was reduced to £51.62.

If you want to try looking elsewhere using the automated "what fits your car" sections that most websites rely on, search on a 2.0l petrol Fabia which uses the same battery code.

[DRJ]

I've written up fitting instructions HERE

[gac]

Useful thread, mine's on its way out. I have an 05 plate vRS but with an earlier ASZ engine. Is the general concensus that this engine uses the larger size battery brought up by a numberplate search on the likes of ECP? I'm planning on clicking and collecting one today as I'll be driving past there tomorrow so I can drop in and grab it, but just want to make sure I'll be getting the right one.

Cheers

edit - I'm pretty sure that after looking at your pics of fitting, my battery tray is much less "complicated" and that I just have the fusebox to remove and the main surround, so I'm assuming I have the bigger battery fitted and have reserved one for collection tomorrow...so if anyone knows different then please pipe up so I can cancel it and reserve the right thing!

Edited 4 February, 2012 by gac

[DRJ]

Sounds OK

[gac]

Bought the Exide Excell 096 and it fits a treat. Although it is slightly shorter than the OEM battery it replaced, so wearing the thermal jacket it looks a bit like it's playing dress-up in its dad's suit. But it fits no problem and turned over for the first start and had an hours run in the snow so should be fine. Will see how it holds up on cold mornings for work, the OEM battery would have been 7 years old this year so it's had a good run and hardly surprising it was struggling to turn over...

[robstaaaar]

Hi, I desperately replaced mine a few days ago.  When fitting the new one I realised it was the slightly larger one.  Reading this post, and having the later 2007 mk1 VRS, just wondered if i'm doing any permanent damage.  Just returned from a 300 mile round trip over the weekend and all appears fine. 

 

Cheers, Rob

[SEVrs]

You wont do any damage at all fitting a higher rated battery as the voltage will be the same.  The only differences between any batteries are the CCA rating (think of it as the available cranking torque for start up) and amp hour rating (how long the battery will last without charge under load).  The bigger the better.  I have a 75AH 640CCA battery in my 2007 Mk1 SE.  Unfortunately, checking it today, the magic eye appears not to be lit green so chances are it's on its way out.  I'll be replacing it with a modern AGM high CCA battery.

[robstaaaar]

G

Thanks SEVrs,

 

Reply and info most appreciated.  Ps forgot to mention that'll mean i'll have to knock up a larger heat shield jacket for the bigger battery!  Cheers, Rob

[daunker]

Well I have a 56 BLT vrs and read this and most other topics on the forum about batteries. There was a 027 battery in there, but there was space in the tray for a 096 albeit the jacket would be undersized. I opted for a yuasa as 80a/720.

 

Anyway, fitted fine and the jacket goes almost the whole way around as well. Just doesn't do up but the ends touch when all snugly clipped in I can't see it going anywhere? Best of both worlds?  Remind me in 5 years...