Hi, i'm having problems starting my vRs after it being in the lockup for 3 or 4 weeks. Is it wise to remove the battery and charge it? I know it may be a silly question but my dad said he's not so sure about new cars these days and if it's wise.

If I can remove it is it bolted in as I took the connectors off the top and it would not budge.

I know it's flat as this happened about 6 months ago after leaving it for a while and the AA gave it a boost but I don't want to keep calling them out if I don't have to.

Thanks for any info or advice.

Jifster

If my memory serves me correctly, it's held in place by some kind of metal plate the sits over the bottom lip of the battery. Very difficult to describe, but if you take the covers off you should see a nut in front of the battery base ... slacken that off with a socket and you should be able to free the battery. Replacing the battery is simply the reverse

I learnt this the hard way on a very cold winter's morning in the snow when my battery finally died :(

Chris

Hi, i'm having problems starting my vRs after it being in the lockup for 3 or 4 weeks. Is it wise to remove the battery and charge it? Jifster

Why do you need to remove the battery to charge it? Seems a waste of effort. Just remove the positive terminal (to avoid possible damage to the car electronics from charger voltage spikes) and charge away.

BTW your battery may be dead, but it might also be run down by the car's circuitry. There are various components (alarm etc) which take a small but continuous current and this will add up over 3 or 4 weeks.

-Sal

It is also worth bearing in mind that disconnecting and reconnecting the battery can sometimes cause fault codes to be stored in some of the electronic modules.

If you have VAG-com you can reset these DTC's, if not it may involve a visit to the dealers to have them cleared.

Dougal

Thanks for the advice guys.

I don't have leccy in the garage so thats why I have to remove the battery and it's not right under my flat either, it's a 1 minute walk away with no hope of getting an extention cable down there.

If there are fault codes can they just be cleared when I take it in for it's 1 year service at the end of Sept or will it effect the car running in the mean time?

Thanks,

Thanks for the advice guys.

I don't have leccy in the garage so thats why I have to remove the battery

Understood about that. Just a couple more thoughts:

- Next time you leave the car in the garage for a few weeks (what a waste of a vRS!), disconnect the battery first and you might find it's not flat when you get back to it. The alarm won't be active, but if the battery goes flat it won't work anyway.

- Have you fitted any accessories that might be running the battery down?

- I see from your sig you have fitted a Pioneer. Is it possible you have got the permanent/switched 12v connections reversed? (see the various posts on this). That would run the battery down.

-Sal

The alarm will work if the battery is flat, it has its own battery.

Understood about that. Just a couple more thoughts:

- Next time you leave the car in the garage for a few weeks (what a waste of a vRS!)' date=' disconnect the battery first and you might find it's not flat when you get back to it. The alarm won't be active, but if the battery goes flat it won't work anyway.

- Have you fitted any accessories that might be running the battery down?

- I see from your sig you have fitted a Pioneer. Is it possible you have got the permanent/switched 12v connections reversed? (see the various posts on this). That would run the battery down.

-Sal[/quote']

Yes I know it's a waste of a vRS, I work shifts and only use the car to go home weekends and when i'm off work. There are only 2 or 3 months of the year when the car doesnt get used much and thats when the trouble appears. Apart from this i've had no issues with the car in 11 months and 6.5k miles (I guess thats the way it should be too with a new car).

Yes I was thinking of disconnecting it in future. I'm not sure about the Pioneer as I had it fitted by the store at caraudiosecurity in Tot. Ct. Road, London. I would hope they know what they are doing? :confused:

There is nothing else running as I always remember to unplug the Origin B2 from the lighter socket.

Damn I hate being the most unpractical person in the world.

I want a strut brace, a cupra intake, green cotten filter and eibach vRS springs but I only need to look at a socket wrench and my mind goes blank. :(

I'm not sure about the Pioneer as I had it fitted by the store at caraudiosecurity in Tot. Ct. Road, London.(

Does this sound familiar?

http://www.briskoda.net/forums/showthread.php?t=24303

Sal

Does this sound familiar?

http://www.briskoda.net/forums/showthread.php?t=24303

Sal

I ended up calling the AA after all. I went down to the car this morning and everything I did the alarm went off as the battery was so low. I couldnt even open the doors without it going off lol. I live on an estate and as I didnt fancy waking up the local crack heads thought I better leave it to the professionals.

Anyway as usual the AA were excellent.

After it had been on boost (I presume that is what he was doing) it still wouldnt start so the battery was really dead, then he got it going and did some tests which all failed the upshot being that the battery is draining amps and probably damaged. :(

I will swap it out at the dealers under warrenty when they are open next week. I did take it out for a 10 mile run on his advice just to get some charge into it though and everything seemed ok. Lets see if it starts tomorrow when I take it out for another run.

Even if it starts i'm still gonna get it swapped out and this time i'll run the car every few days and check the battery more often.

Anyone know if you can get an amp meter that you can just touch the battery with to test it's charge? He was using some kind of hand held device with at round clamp at the end that he put around the battery feeds and it was giving out readings, is that an amp meter?

Thanks for everyones advice,

Oh in answer to Sallyann, the engineer said if it was the stereo issue it would drain a lot quicker, I just left it to long basically and perhaps the battery was damaged from the 1st time this happened a few months ago which doesnt help.