Hi, recently my mk2 petrol vrs tfsi has been been making a slight groaning noise whilst turning the wheels at standstill also its taking a few seconds to start up and the boot mechanism feels really slow and weak when activated with the key fob. Could all this be pointing towards a new battery? I havent any evidence of it ever having a new one.

If so, are they easy to fit ie just a case of old one out and new one in or does it effect the alarm, stereo or anything else?

 

Thank you for your time.

Are you replacing the battery in the car? Or key fob?

There's a 13mm bolt & clamp at the bottom left of the battery in the middle  - it's reasonably easy to get to with an extension socket.  The battery terminal clanps are 10mm.

 

Supposedly you can change the battery & nothing is affected but when I did mine it caused some warning lights for the steering & ABS to iluminate on the dash and I had to do some VCDS magic to get rid of them.

 

Ideally you would hook up a small 12v source to the clamps (or the other end of the cables) to keep the power supply constant.

My dash lit up too, but after a short drive it cleared itself.

Because the Octy's cig lighter socket is a permanent live, I've rigged up my 12v battery trickle charger with a cig lighter plug, for any overnight battery top ups.  Much easier than lifting the bonnet and using battery clamps.  You could use something like this to maintain 12v when you swap out your battery.

My dash lit up like a Christmas tree after changing the battery but all the warning lights went out after pulling out of the drive.

The alarm wasn't t affected and I think the radio was okay too.

It's just a case of taking the old one out and dropping the new one in.

I believe you will need to reset the electric windows to get one touch back and the steering wheel sensor.

 

Windows are done by pushing the down button until it stops then pushing the up button until it stops. This needs to be done on each window.

Steering wheel sensor can be done by going full lock left, full lock right, centre with the engine running.

 

I didn't notice anything else that needed resetting afterwards. Anything in the trip computer will be lost too.

Also make sure when changing terminals that put down your socket and not place the terminals on the battery. I did not put down my socket which resulted in having a tingly arm and sparks everywhere lol. 

 

 

BTW it felt awesome 

Thankyou. Ive fitted it today. Steering feels a lot lighter but still a slight groan when turning full lock with car going slowly......wondering if its the power steering pump.

There's no power steering pump mate. It's an electric motor on the steering rack.

Thankyou. Ive fitted it today. Steering feels a lot lighter but still a slight groan when turning full lock with car going slowly......wondering if its the power steering pump.

 

If you've got a groan at full lock, check your CV joints.