I know people will say how long is a piece of string

,but on a 1.9 TDI how long would you expect the battery to last?

Mine's on a 51 plate and has 75 thousand on the clock and the last few days has only just got the engine to start.

No warning lights on the dash and belt in good order.

My local battery shop do tests on the battery,what should the reading be? as I have known people to be ripped off.

I would say battery life isn't dependent on mileage, it's more how many journeys and in what conditions. Starting the car more times and driving with heater. rear windscreen, lights on etc will kill it earlier.

As for the test, get yourself a multimeter and do it yourself. Rough readings should be around 9 to 11V when engine off and 13V upwards when engine running.

Also, is it a sealed unit? If not, check the fluid doesn't need topped up.

Cheers.

If it's the original battery it's done amazingly well I would say.

If a battery lasted me 4 years I wouldn't feel hard done by. At 5/6 years I would expect it to die come winter.

Shop around for a battery they seemed very pricey last one I bought, but can vary in price greatly from place to place.

The battery tester is either a digital series of lights or the older type with a needle gauge. Either way they will say if there is a dead cell and the battery is not holding a charge.

Make sure the battery is fully charged up when you get it tested tho' otherwise its difficult to get an accurate reading.

One of the biggest factors of the life to expect is where the car is kept, a car that isn't left outside overnight in the freezing cold will last longer than one that is.

I changed SHMBO's battery 18 months ago on her old Fiesta (that had always been garaged overnight from new), that battery was 11 years old!!

A normal life would be anything over 4-5 years, depending on the battery's quality.

HTH.

Battery on my Fabia lasted 4 years (almost to the day ) and about 75k miles. Battery on my Mondeo was still going strong at 5.5 years and 87.5k miles. Both covered the same sorts of journeys and received the same amount of care, although the Mondeo had many more electrical accessories to drain the battery.

Expected life span is 3-5 years apparently.

Chris

My 5 year old Golf i just sold had original battery and was still perfect. Had a lot of use to, nearly 200k.