At the risk of repeating what's probably been reported elsewhere, I thought I'd report on today's experience.

 

The car is a 2016 1.6 diesel estate DSG with Stop-Start, so needs a big battery.  Almost 86,000 miles on the clock, owned for nearly 6 years. 

 

The Stop-Start had been erratic for a few days but I had put that down to the cold weather.

 

This morning, in Snowdonia, it was -2°C. The car was covered in ice and the doors were almost frozen shut.   The engine turned over a couple times and failed to start. A few minutes later, it didn't turn over at all with warnings on the dash.  I went inside at this point as it was bluddy cold.

I was considering calling the AA for a jump lead start, but decided to try once more first.

 

After 2 or 3 slow turns, the engine started. Phew! But clearly the battery was on the way out after well over 6 years.

 

I drove some 30 miles to ATS Bangor for a battery check and likely replacement.  En route, I noticed the Stop-Start was inactive, the cruise control wasn't working with an error warning on the dash.  The Bluetooth was also disabled and there was a warning about the tyre pressure monitor being inactive.  It seems these secondary services are shut off when the battery is failing to reduce demand on the battery.

 

The battery test showed that the capacity was down by 50% and was only able to put out less than half the maximum cranking power. 

 

The new battery was supplied and fitted, the old one taken for recycling.  It was completed in about 45 minutes at a cost of - gulp! - £190!

 

We had a 90 miles journey home, mostly along the A55 expressway and motorway at 60+ mph, so a good run to charge the new battery.

 

All seems well now 

Stop/start batteries are not cheap, especially if you pay someone else to fit one.

At least it's all working now and £190 over 6 years again (if it lasts that long again) isn't too bad.

Cheers!  You're right.

 

I was considering driving home to buy and fit one myself tomorrow, but I suppose laziness, convenience and cold weather got the better of me! 

 

I did forget to mention that the dash lit up light a Christmas Tree when first started, but after a short drive they sorted themselves out.

 

All the trip monitor/computer readouts were re-set to zero. 

Edited 17 January, 20233 yr by BionicJohn

If it wasn't for the re-coding after fitting the new battery, it's a simple DIY

 

I'm lucky, my original battery is 10 yrs old this month.

2 minutes ago, ords said:

I'm lucky, my original battery is 10 yrs old this month.

Sounds like borrowed time to me!

23 hours ago, BionicJohn said:

Sounds like borrowed time to me!

Maybe. I'm not complaining.

I've just been looking into this tonight, as my battery is apparently on the way out. I wondered why the stop/start was only sometimes working (although this behaviour suddenly began after it came back from a service a year ago, which originally led me to think the mechanic knew a way to turn it off). It was erratic for most of last year. I could never guess when it was going to work or not. As time went on, it seemed to work less and less and it's now been several weeks since it last did a stop/start. I didn't mind too much as I always manually turned it off anyway.

But when I took it to another garage last week to have some work done, I was told that the battery is probably on the way out. It starts OK manually, even in the cold. It takes a couple of turnovers to get going though, and I suppose with stop/start that's just too long a delay, which may be why the stop/start seems to be disabled permanently now.
I was shocked when they reckoned on £200+ for a new stop/start battery!
I've found various articles that seem to be saying a stop/start battery is best left to a garage to fit, as it's not as straightforward as in the old days. Cirkey! Here we go again. . . Soon we'll have cars that you have to take to a main dealer to top up the screenwash or get air in the tyres. . .
So I'm interested in hearing how people have got on, DIY installing stop/start batteries.
At the very least, it may need some re-coding. Is this something that an owner can do easily, or is it hidden away in the system where only a knowledgeable mechanic or enthusiast can find it?
I've also read that the battery has to be fully charged before fitting it. If I bought a battery from (say) Halfords, would it be ready-charged? (Sorry to ask such an obvious question, but I haven't had to install a new battery for years!)

I might just take it to a garage to get done, but if I can save a few quid by doing it myself, then I'd like to have a go.
I haven't yet checked whether I've got an EFB or AGM in my 2015 Octavia 1.6 diesel, but I imagine that the procedure will be the same for both.

I bought the OBDeleven for around £90 I think it was, so I can recode a battery myself and also use it for many other functions. So its a good investment.

You could opt for the VCDS, but i think it works out more expensive.

 

Battery + OBDeleven is the price you pay a garage just to fit a new battery and probably do it wrong.

Thanks, I'll look into this!

"pay a garage just to fit a new battery and probably do it wrong." - that's something else I'm worried about! What are the repercussions of a botched battery fit or coding? Just a failure of stop/start, or a reduced battery life?

28 minutes ago, Bassthang said:

Thanks, I'll look into this!

"pay a garage just to fit a new battery and probably do it wrong." - that's something else I'm worried about! What are the repercussions of a botched battery fit or coding? Just a failure of stop/start, or a reduced battery life?

Take a read.

31 minutes ago, Bassthang said:

Thanks, I'll look into this!

"pay a garage just to fit a new battery and probably do it wrong." - that's something else I'm worried about! What are the repercussions of a botched battery fit or coding? Just a failure of stop/start, or a reduced battery life?

Start/stop can stop working for many reasons even with a healthy battery.

 

You could contact a member nearest you with VCD's who could code a new battery you bought and fitted yourself.  A shortish drive without coding will not do any long term damage or fit the new battery at the members location..

 

A link to VCD owners.

https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=1Td73_uUUqscV3nRm5br_o89PmBU&msa=0&ll=21.259901462991593%2C83.39240985000004&z=2