New car battery time

[poundy]

Hi folks

Happy Xmas to all

 

L&K estate sIII 2L diesel, 30 months old

car slow turning over last few days (do 2 x 30 mile journeys a day)

Thought might be temp reld but then non starting today - jumped it ok tho

 

Assume new battery time.   Any chance can get on the Skoda warranty - or is it a consumable??

 

Assuming have to buy i new one it appears car need recoding as well so what's the best option (UK).    Quikfit/Halfords charge £170 for battery and fitting.    Local Skoda dealers have been really poor with stuff previously

 

Any advice?

[knocker235]

22 hours ago, poundy said:

Hi folks

Happy Xmas to all

 

L&K estate sIII 2L diesel, 30 months old

car slow turning over last few days (do 2 x 30 mile journeys a day)

Thought might be temp reld but then non starting today - jumped it ok tho

 

Assume new battery time.   Any chance can get on the Skoda warranty - or is it a consumable??

 

Assuming have to buy i new one it appears car need recoding as well so what's the best option (UK).    Quikfit/Halfords charge £170 for battery and fitting.    Local Skoda dealers have been really poor with stuff previously

 

Any advice?

Not sure about the warranty. 

I Bought mine two days ago from Costco, Bosch S5 A08 for £146, I installed my self then I did the programming through Obdeleven, all looks good so far. 

[poundy]

thanks

taking into dealer tomorrow to see what they say!

[Bap33]

@poundy

Hi,

After 30 months, I fear you can forget warranty...

I would recommend replacing it by a stronger one. On L&K, you have many electrical equipment, which consume « a lot » especially in winter / cold season... (windscreen,  rear window and rear view mirrors defrosting system; warming seats...).

If your car « sleeps » outside (no garage), it also contributes to shorten the battery life time, since you use more often these heating equipment.
 

On my former Superb Mk2 (without windscreen heating system) I had to change the battery after only 3 years and a half... I installed a stronger battery. Everything went ok then. 😉

 

 

Edited 31 December, 2020 by Bap33

[MartiniB]

2 hours ago, Bap33 said:

you can forget warranty

replaced after 4 years

-> AGM warranty replace

 

first signs started about 10 months earlier

(Start-Stop almost all the time weren't work)

-> Battery monitoring

 

now i have disabled Start-Stop by additional memory module

 

[poundy]

Update:

 

Skoda Dealers (Derby) were excellent

Battery replaced under warranty and rang me an hour after leaving it there to say all sorted

And even cleaned the car

Cant fault that!

Thanks for all advice

n

 

[Redboy]

9 hours ago, poundy said:

Update:

 

Skoda Dealers (Derby) were excellent

Battery replaced under warranty and rang me an hour after leaving it there to say all sorted

And even cleaned the car

Cant fault that!

Thanks for all advice

n

 

Great result in warranty replacement and very interesting. My L&K is now 16 months old, I always disable stop -start shortly after I leave the driveway as I use it for rural 10 mile commutes and a weekly 20-40 mile trip. Short runs to the shops are done in the wife's 13 year old Sirion. I have never killed a battery and began to look after the Superb's battery by using an Optimizer trickle charger during the the 1st lockdown in March, 6 weeks after purchase. I was surprised to find the battery state in the red and needing to be'saved' rather than simply charged. I also do occasional checks and top ups in colder weather. I use the heated seats, screen and steering wheel but only with the engine running. Yet every time I hook up the Optimizer it has to save the battery usually 60% or under. My last VRS also had heated seats, front screen, stop start and was used for the exact same commute, yet the battery was never in the red. I can only think that the 1st driver at Skoda Mgmt, who ran it for 2500 miles and 6 months, did a lot of short stop start driving and possibly damaged the storage capacity. I don't think it was a pool car as it had child seat indentations on the rear seat base, which have now almost disappeared. Nothing was bought to my attention at its recent 1st service. Or I wonder if owners of other newish cars have found the same thing with their batteries. 

Edited 1 January, 2021 by Redboy
Spelling

[poundy]

I do 2 x 25 mile motorway journeys everyday and so pretty minimal use of stop start system but the battery still failed.

Would disabling the SS system make  a difference, if so will do it from now

 

A voltmeter reading of the old (Moll) battery showed 11.8 volts when cold - was surprised it even started - and 12.3 v after long journey.   

 

 

[Breezy_Pete]

4 minutes ago, poundy said:

Would disabling the SS system make  a difference, if so will do it from now

Almost certainly.

[Micky 32]

On 31/12/2020 at 12:44, MartiniB said:

replaced after 4 years

-> AGM warranty replace

 

first signs started about 10 months earlier

(Start-Stop almost all the time weren't work)

-> Battery monitoring

 

now i have disabled Start-Stop by additional memory module

 

Did it fail to start in the end? The batteries mustn’t last long. My Passat approaching 4 years with the same battery must be failing. The starter doesn’t sound like it has the same kick and on my battery bluetooth monitor it often reports low cranking voltage ( lowest i have seen on a frosty morning was 8.06v but still started instantly)

 

I put a battery tester on it today and it’s down to 430 amps ( 680 amps rated) and reads 40-45% state of health along with a “ replace” message. Funnily enough the start stop still works ok

Edited 2 January, 2021 by Micky 32

[Bap33]

3 hours ago, Micky 32 said:

Did it fail to start in the end? The batteries mustn’t last long. My Passat approaching 4 years with the same battery must be failing. The starter doesn’t sound like it has the same kick and on my battery bluetooth monitor it often reports low cranking voltage ( lowest i have seen on a frosty morning was 8.06v but still started instantly)

 

I put a battery tester on it today and it’s down to 430 amps ( 680 amps rated) and reads 40-45% state of health along with a “ replace” message. Funnily enough the start stop still works ok

 

It's normal conditions. The start voltage limit is set to 7.6V as a default value.  

I've set it to 8.6V with my VCDS to make the S&S less 'pervasive'.

Edited 2 January, 2021 by Bap33

[Micky 32]

Cranking voltage shouldn’t drop below 9.6v.

[poundy]

failed to start eventually, after i hadn't used it for a couple of days

had noticed it taking a little longer to start but coincided with colder weather

in retrospect it was mainly the battery failing

I wonder as well if that caused a couple of columbus freezes in last 2w, nothing since new battery

 

[Micky 32]

32 minutes ago, poundy said:

failed to start eventually, after i hadn't used it for a couple of days

had noticed it taking a little longer to start but coincided with colder weather

in retrospect it was mainly the battery failing

I wonder as well if that caused a couple of columbus freezes in last 2w, nothing since new battery

 

It Could be possible that it caused columbus freezes. If my voltage drops to 8.5v or lower when i crank my heated steering wheel glitches and turns on by itself.

Edited 3 January, 2021 by Micky 32

[MartiniB]

13 hours ago, Micky 32 said:

but still started instantly

never failed to start, but were slower

 

later i have installed Start-Stop Memory module

 

[blue_boy]

k

[blue_boy]

Don’t know what happened here but trying again. Took my MkIII for a spin yesterday after leaving dormant for a week.  Already had slow turnover worries but it started first time if a bit weary.  Bombed down the motorway in 5th for about 10 miles and then stopped for a fill up.  Went to start after paying and nothing ☹️ .   Hour later got jump and took it home.  Would have thought the journey would have charged and not drained the battery 🤔

[mandp]

13 minutes ago, blue_boy said:

Don’t know what happened here but trying again. Took my MkIII for a spin yesterday after leaving dormant for a week.  Already had slow turnover worries but it started first time if a bit weary.  Bombed down the motorway in 5th for about 10 miles and then stopped for a fill up.  Went to start after paying and nothing ☹️ .   Hour later got jump and took it home.  Would have thought the journey would have charged and not drained the battery 🤔

Time to make use of a battery charger me thinks!

[Hozz]

My car has a 5 year warranty and the battery has just been replaced under warranty at 4 years 11 months.

So it is not deemed to be a wear and tear item if the battery fails under warranty.

[310golfr]

there's been lots of battery failures across the vag range, all moll batteries around 2018, had mine replaced at less than 2 years old with no quibbles

[Colin170CR]

On 24/01/2021 at 15:01, blue_boy said:

Don’t know what happened here but trying again. Took my MkIII for a spin yesterday after leaving dormant for a week.  Already had slow turnover worries but it started first time if a bit weary.  Bombed down the motorway in 5th for about 10 miles and then stopped for a fill up.  Went to start after paying and nothing ☹️ .   Hour later got jump and took it home.  Would have thought the journey would have charged and not drained the battery 🤔

Same thing happened to me. It started at home but wouldn't start after a 5 mile drive to the vets where I was stranded with wife & 2 cats until recovery gave me a jump start. Driving a short distance with lights, heated seats, heated windows all on was not long enough to top up the battery. I've now bought a jump start kit & the car went on a 2.5 day recharge at home so hopefully I'm now covered. I think my battery (AGM) is on its way out. 

[SuperbTWM]

FYI, Halfords AGM batteries have 5 year guarantee, for 096 size £159 or £127 @ trade price. I did some googling and they are made by Yuasa aparently so thought it was a good buy for our S-max which was struggling on original battery.

[Micky 32]

On 01/02/2021 at 23:22, Colin170CR said:

Same thing happened to me. It started at home but wouldn't start after a 5 mile drive to the vets where I was stranded with wife & 2 cats until recovery gave me a jump start. Driving a short distance with lights, heated seats, heated windows all on was not long enough to top up the battery. I've now bought a jump start kit & the car went on a 2.5 day recharge at home so hopefully I'm now covered. I think my battery (AGM) is on its way out. 

How old is your battery? Mine ( AGM)is 4 years and definitely showing signs of weakness especially below 3 degrees. I drove 6 miles and went into a shop. The fans were running because it was in the middle of a regen. I was in about 5 mins. The car started but the starter paused and everything dimmed for a second, it actually nearly didn’t start but it did. My battery monitor recorded a drop in voltage to 7.26v on that crank.

[Colin170CR]

12 hours ago, Micky 32 said:

How old is your battery? Mine ( AGM)is 4 years and definitely showing signs of weakness especially below 3 degrees. I drove 6 miles and went into a shop. The fans were running because it was in the middle of a regen. I was in about 5 mins. The car started but the starter paused and everything dimmed for a second, it actually nearly didn’t start but it did. My battery monitor recorded a drop in voltage to 7.26v on that crank.

Mine is just over 4 years old now (car was reg Dec 2016). However, only 44k on the clock & hardly any mileage in the last 12 months for obvious reasons. My previous 2010 MkII Superb battery also went south at around 4 years. That was an easy DIY replacement but I understand Mk3 Superb need to be recoded after a battery change? On that basis it will be a visit to Halfords for them to supply & fit an new AGM battery - assuming they can do the coding. If not then buy a battery & visit local VAG specialist for coding. 

I do wonder sometimes if all this extra tech & complexity is worth it!! 

It certainly seems that the OEM batteries are not built to last much beyond the 3 year warranty.