So last year when the weather was really quite cold the car would be slow to turn over - 2 or 3 turns sometimes.  We had a cold day a couple of days ago and it took an extra turn to start so I figure might as well look at it.

 

I had a look at the battery - and oldish looking Bosch S4, so figure might as well treat the car to a new one.  I had it tested last year and was told it was OK, but I wasn't convinced.  Managed to get an S5 Bosch for £82 from Eurocarparts (ebay click and collect in store) and fitted it Saturday morning after the customary strip down of the wipers etc.

 

Anyhow, ever since the car seems to be running much nicer at idle - could it just be the battery condition making the alternator load the engine less?  

 

When I looked at the old Bosch battery a few things came to mind 

1) the terminals were terribly corroded and blackened - took me 15 minutes to clean them back to brass

2) It was a 2008 manufactured battery - over 5 years old, which might be pushing it on this car - S4 is only a 4 year battery and this car has a lot of consumers

3) Car was built in 2006 - which means the original battery only lasted 2 and a bit years!

 

Batteries are weird things, they can have a long or short life span with no reason for either lol.

Try putting the old one back on seeing that the terminals are shiny and see if it made a difference

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 4

I might do that before I take the old one to the recycling place.  I have a noisy wiper linkage (it makes a single "click" noise on the way back down) that I greased up and it got a better - it was also grindy beforehand) but still clicking, might replace that at the same time.

I replaced battery on my Superb 2 times over 312K miles. Every time it not only sounded nicer, but showed much more energy as if it was a dog you gave a snickers and then some coffee. 

LOL, she's certainly feeling the love at the minute with new battery, gearbox rebuild, winter wheels and tyres, flap motor repair, etc... I wish someone treated me as good!