New battery?

[KrisKrk]

Happened it to me few times already.

While doing some work on the car and listening to music for about an hour, battery went dead to the point I had to jump started off another car.

After first occasion, I enabled the battery meter in MMI to monitor the charge on next jobs.

No music but ignition on and it happened again after an hour or so.

If the battery level goes down to a very low level, I start the car and let it running for half to an hour and it charges to about 60%. Next day have no problem to charge the rest of full and continue keep it 100%.

Don't have any drain as even after a weekend parked up, it maintain the same level.

Thinking if the battery health has decreased to a replacement needed level or could a complete drain down and full bench charge up help?
What should I expect from the battery life?

Had the car since 77.5k miles about 3.5 years ago and now 104k and 9 years since first registered.
Doubt the previous owner had it replaced.

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[desertstorm]

A 9 year old battery will probably only have 50% of the capacity of a new battery.

 

[KrisKrk]

A 9 year old battery will probably only have 50% of the capacity of a new battery.

Will any garage be able to test its life or do I need to go to Audi?

Considering this may be the case of replacement, is there a upgraded battery model I can or should replace it with?
Is there a point of upgrading it or just keep it same spec?

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[abmat]

Most Kwik-fit type places should be able to test it.

 

[B5NUT]

The MMI system takes a hell of a lot of power, you have about 6/7 modules (depending on spec) all running and eating into the battery, it's not like the old head units with no screen and an internal amp. Best your ever going to get out is about 1.5 to 2 hours depending on how many modules you have to power and the size of the battery. The battery display on the MMI system is rubbish, it's why they never enabled it from factory.

Also 30min would never be enough time to charge the battery to 60% if it was almost flat, from memory it take about 18 hours to fully charge a flat battery.

 

[KrisKrk]

The MMI system takes a hell of a lot of power, you have about 6/7 modules (depending on spec) all running and eating into the battery, it's not like the old head units with no screen and an internal amp. Best your ever going to get out is about 1.5 to 2 hours depending on how many modules you have to power and the size of the battery. The battery display on the MMI system is rubbish, it's why they never enabled it from factory.

Also 30min would never be enough time to charge the battery to 60% if it was almost flat, from memory it take about 18 hours to fully charge a flat battery.

Well, it takes about hour or just over it to have about 60% from 3 dots on mmi screen. Assuming dots are equal to percentage if the battery.

Usually by the next day drive I can see full charge on mmi.

Will get it check first before taking decision on new battery.

Thx again

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[Neil Woodburn]

Personally I wouldn't go near Halfords but go to a Specialist Battery outfits ie one which only sells batteries - you may need too have the battery code re loaded into the A6 Computer and that is not a simple job. I just had a battery replaced under warrantee at Audi £450 on work sheet !

 

[KrisKrk]

Personally I wouldn't go near Halfords but go to a Specialist Battery outfits ie one which only sells batteries - you may need too have the battery code re loaded into the A6 Computer and that is not a simple job. I just had a battery replaced under warrantee at Audi £450 on work sheet !

Wow! Thank you Neil.
Thought it would be simple swap.
Will do some research on it, if my car need this coding.

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[B5NUT]

Coding is very simple, just swap the battery like for like then change one of the digits in the battery serial number coding. Job done, the battery is not intelligent you just telling the BCM or gateway a new battery is fitted.

 

[KrisKrk]

Coding is very simple, just swap the battery like for like then change one of the digits in the battery serial number coding. Job done, the battery is not intelligent you just telling the BCM or gateway a new battery is fitted.

Does it have to be done through vcds or can be done in mmi?

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[desertstorm]

You don't have to code a battery if the new one you fit is the same specification as the original. The car will learn a new battery has been fitted after a while. Coding a battery tells the car what kind of capacity the battery should have and what technology the battery is normal lead acid, EFB AGM etc.
When a battery gets really low the car starts can start turning things off to preserve the remaining life. If you code a new battery with VCDS the module will immediately know that a new battery has been fitted and normal operation will be resumed. If you don't code a new battery it will take some time for the module to detect the new battery and correct operation will take some time .
Find out what battery you have and get a Varta silver from somewhere like Tayna.

 

[dgs2001]

Have just replaced my Varta 019 Battery with an Exide one, Interestingly the old Varta battery was still holding around 70% - 80% charge and showing 12.4 volts.

I was surprised that a battery which was still operational to a level of circa 70% was causing some faults to appear in the elctronics modules, but it was.

Once the new battery was in and coded the faults all cleared and the car is noticably happier

If you purchase from a Battery shop they will have a coding device which will complete the coding. If you end up fitting a battery which has no BEM coding information then you can just change the existing battery seriel number within VCDS ie if the serial number coded is 12345678 then change it to 87654321. The actual serial number is not important although the type and capacity is.

As my old battery was showing some signs of life I have attached it to a reconditioning smart charger to see if it can be recovered and reconditioned.

 

[KrisKrk]

Thank you for useful info.

Didn't got time yet to go the battery shop and test it.
My MOT is expiring next month so thinking, if the garage can test it while I'm there.

Old battery if your held 70-80% and was giving you problems? Wow
Wonder what mine is. No problems, God forbid, but that short charge hold made me wonder

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[bredhurststeve]

Can VDCS tell you the health of the battery?

 

[KrisKrk]

Can VDCS tell you the health of the battery?

Would need to speak to someone who have VCDS and check it that way.

So far, I have encountered few problems battery related.

Recently installed a dash cam and it's hardwired for parking mode. After few weeks, constant feed was ok but switched started to drop voltage by 4-5v for a split second, what put the camera into parking mode only to discover the switched power is back.
Camera ended up in loop reboot every minute and annoyed me so much, I have taken it down.

Send it back to the UK distributor and they tested it to perform as it should untill they mock up power drop fault. It confirmed camera behaviour so the issue is with car's power.

Also, had a car in the garage for rear springs replace and been told, the battery died on them twice.
They must've had it with ignition on all the time as what they were doing had nothing to do with power.

To top it all, thought if finally getting the battery tested so went to QuickFit.
I don't know why, don't ask me.
Think it was on the way so I dropped in.
A guy in there connected the piece and tested the battery saying afterwards "its ok but you need to recharge it, take it for a 45min spin on a motorway and it will charge up".
Pictured print out from the piece he connected.
I asked him "does the machine tell you general health of te battery?" He replied "no".
It is printed at the bottom of the slip.
I told him about the above dying fact at the garage and he said "oh, I don't know".
OMG, what kind of people are working there?

Anyway.
After checking the printout it looks like to me that battery is below 50% but still above minimum to be bad.
Checked the battery meter on MMI and it show full.
I'm confused now.

While I was doing car clear out, took a picture of the battery.

Shall I get a new one?
If so, stronger like a 100 or 110Ah would be recommended?
What brand I should choose and what to avoid?

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[KrisKrk]

Find out what battery you have and get a Varta silver from somewhere like Tayna.

Went to Tayna website and from reg no searches it showed me Enduroline 019 100Ah and by looking it up from car manufacturer and model, Enduroline 096 77Ah.
ECP have more choice to my reg than them.

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[B5NUT]

The battery meter on the MMI is useless, it why they disabled it on later MMI systems. If it's the original battery then it most likely will need changing. Also running the MMI system on battery sucks the life out of it, I got a couple of hours of running the MMI system before it started to shutdown due to low battery. VCDS also won't give you the health of the battery you need a proper tester for that.

 

[KrisKrk]

Had another test in the battery done and it also said the battery is good, just need recharging.
Head scratching started when they tested battery charging option and with ignition/engine off it showed 13.03V and with engine running, lights fan on and whatever that could give load to the battery, it only showed 13.33V. That would indicate alternator fault.
The garage didn't had a space on the ramp so they could bot test it right by it so need to book it for another day.

Where is the alternator located so maybe I can just measure it with multimeter?
Can find the location on PFL models but not mine FL.

As battery might be to replace, I need to get this sorted first so a new battery don't end up like that one.

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[KrisKrk]

The battery meter on the MMI is useless, it why they disabled it on later MMI systems.

I would've thought so now as over 1000miles journey didn't charged up the battery and MMI still show full.

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[KrisKrk]

Spoken to a mate of mine who knows how to do stuff around the car and he recons I've got a problem with voltage regulator on the alternator.
Small part that can be easily replaced, without taking the alternator out.

Managed to get the code of the alternator and tried my luck for the replacement part on the internet.
Prices shocked me how high they are for the whole alternator or how low they can be for the voltage regulator only.
Couldn't however find the right for the alternator in the car atm by just the code from it.
Rang up Audi but I can now cross that option of my sourcing list.

Before I start thinking of £200-£500 alternator, I want to give this £15-£30 voltage regulator a replacement to see if it helps.
Worse come to worse, I'll change the whole thing but maybe it can be done at the low cost.

Can anyone help with part number or place to look for the voltage regulator for BOSH alternator?
Here's all I could read off of it:

AG
03G 903 016 L
14V 180A
Bosh
0121 715 077 025

Don't even have time during the day to look for parts or go to the proper garage.
Got hell at work from am to pm.

Any help would be appreciated.

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[KrisKrk]

Got the replacement voltage regulator today and tried to fiddle with it.
Undone few bolts from the alternator back cover but two are hard to get and do not budge.
Little to none access in there and all them pipes are in the way.
No spanner, ratchet, allen key or anything to undo these screws will fit there. My palms including.

Can anyone shed some light if voltage regulator replacement can be done with alternator still intact?
If not, do I need to take the front off?

Looked for alternator mounting bolts but can only find one by touch. Not an easy access but think it can be undone, with longer ratchet, as my hands will not fit there either.

Done some voltage test and it doesn't look good.
With lights on, side mirrors and rear screen heating on, fan on and front+rear fogs on, reading show 13.24volt and with just engine running 13.3volt.
11.84 is the reading with nothing on, engine off.
Loosing juice here and not enough charge.

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[KrisKrk]

Another shot last night with the alternator.

This time I tried to remove it whole and than replace the voltage regulator.
Undone top alternator mounting bolt, and another below however the whole thing would not budge out.
Pushed it, pulled it, wiggled it and still nothing.
I couldn't see any other bolts so put it all back together and went to friendly garage.
I'm booked for next week Saturday and the guy will have a go at it.

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[KrisKrk]

Had voltage regulator replaced on the alternator Saturday and when came back home, multimeter showed 14.68-14.7V.
Thought, YAY!, sorted.

When I switched the engine off to check the voltage on the battery it showed 12.27V what was better than before (11.something V).
Than I switched the ignition on and started the engine to see 13.72V in the battery.
Loaded on with headlamps, heaters, A/C and so on and 13.83V shows. WTF?!
Where the 1V gone?

Is there something I'm missing, doing wrongly or just lacking knowledge on?

Someone told me, I need to use a booster or a car battery charger to bring the battery back to life as now, alternator will charge just the "top of the battery".
Another person (guy at kwickfit, so don't think it was a valuable tip) said, to run the car on motorway for about an hour and that should charge the battery up.

Pulling my gray hair out now.

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[KrisKrk]

Had a car professionally diagnosed and scanned for any faults and errors this evening.

Found 20 errors.
What? Where? How?
Must've been old ones and were nothing major.
All cleared and moved on.

System and engine checked. Running smooth and fine. All sound.

Alternator working properly and values are good.

Battery good and have juice.
As it has not been changed in my 4 year ownership and presume it wasn't either during ownership of the previous, first owner, I have been congratulated of having a good/healthy 9 year old battery in the car.
Been only warned that it may not survive cold winter that is forecasted to come this year.

I will leave it for now and see how it behaving. If anything, I'll get it changed.

Been lurking around recommended tayna website but no Varta Silver have same or higher values.
Only one cought my attention: Duracel 100Ah and 850A.

You guys think it's worth it?

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[KrisKrk]

Forgot about this thread. Sorry.

To update,
Had to replace the alternator eventually.

After a nice hour drive, I stopped the car to do the thing and minutes later started it again.
Drove off revving a bit more than the usual, with some wheel spin for fun and noticed right away engine vibration slightly more and rpms up by 200 to a 1000, when stationery.
Drove like that for less than a 1/4 mile with head out of the window to listen up the engine. Stopped on traffic lights and switched the engine off. Started it up and symptoms gone.
Drove off thinking about it when had to accelerate more and symptoms came back.

Had nowhere to stop as it was main road so drove further 1/4 mile.
"Battery not charging" beep came up and then I started to worry.

Eventually stopped in the off street bay, switched the engine off and could not start it up again for few minutes.
Checked the battery with multimeter and it was below 12volt.

Switched off all I could, whatever does come on with ignition and engine to minimise the power draw.
Engine started up and I looked at the auxiliary belt. It was driven as normal but tensioner was bouncing like a anything, causing that vibration felt earlier.

Rung up the guy who was doing the computer diagnostic post earlier and without too much of a thought he pinpointed it to be a faulty clutch on the alternator, what causes that tensioner bounce/vibration + charging message.
As the engine was started, I didn't wanted to switch it off and he said, it is ok to drive but lower rpm and smoother gear change, not to overload the alternator pulley.

That was Tuesday about 2-3 weeks ago and next day, I had already alternator replacement booked for the weekend.

Alternator replaced, £300 less in my pocket and all the time till now, I can say, it is been fine.
Think to run the diagnostics again, to clear up all codes this issue could produce and finally get new battery anyway.

Had this eating my budget by surprise so will have it done soon and with fingers crossed, I would hope it will solve any electrical glitches I had since June.

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[KrisKrk]

With outside temperatures setting lower lately, my car is lacking on juice somehow, somewhere and I can see it.
Coming/leaving lights in the morning and evening after work, do not stay on for set time, only after a drive. They just come on for a second when the locks are undone.
Interior lights also come on for a short moment to eventually dimm down and go off, untill I start the ignition.

Looked through the internet and came across Bosh S5 019 AGM battery.
This has been recommended to me by a guy @ Alpha Batteries, despite the fact my car doesn't have start/stop system.
They said, although I don't have this system, batteries with AGM are longer lasting and would suffice better than a battery larger in size and Ah.

Expecting delivery in 2-3 days and will get it fitted and code in.

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[KrisKrk]

Battery arrived very next day of the order and had it coded in last weekend by @DJAlix.

So far, so good

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[Novica]

Hi @KrisKrk, Thanks for this thread. Very interesting. I have same car but 2011 Year with original battery. Now, when outside temperature is going around 0-5 degrees C I have noticed some hesitation in first cold starting of engine. On MMI battery shows 70-80% but after few kilometers it get fully charge. I have checked few morning the voltage of battery and it shows voltage 11.90-12.10. It is enough to start the car but I see that it is not turning smoothly on first cold start. I checked the voltage supply and sometimes is below 14V and sometimes is above 14V more exactly about 14.4 V. I read that car management is not charging battery all the time so I suppose that sometimes I get voltage below 14V just when it is not charging. Few times got message to keep driving in order to charge the battery. I have charged the battery also with Ctek charger and when I disconnected it and leave car over the night, the battery voltage drops again to 12V. I suppose that my battery, which will have now exact 9 years of service, is on the end of her life. But, I am afraid that, maybe, I need to replace voltage regulator as well? I have replaced alternator roller when I did timing belt service i.e. 4 years ago on 180000km, car now has 243000km on clock. What are symptoms of failing voltage regulator?

 

[KrisKrk]

Hi @Novica
Glad someone find my threads useful. That's what they are here for

I had similar problems and did changed the voltage regulator but it only helped for a while. Clutch on my alternator was on its way out when they took the alternator out. Guy just span the pulley and was noisy a bit and wasn't as it should be, according to him.
Also had aux belt vibrations on the belt tensioner. That was another sign of failed alternator clutch and the tensioner was going mad. Vibrations could be felt inside the car.

There was no point really of me changing the voltage regulator then.

With new alternator, O have changed the battery, had it coded and I have forgotten about any issue ever since.
My dash cam shows me voltage so occasionally I check it during drive and idle and it is fine, as it should.

If you start with battery replacement and have faulty alternator, you might damage the battery.
Someone has advised me that and it does make sense.

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[desertstorm]

Change the battery. If it's 9 years old it will be well past it's best. An old battery with low capacity puts more strain on the engines charging system as it makes the alternator work a lot harder. If it's charging at 14-14.4v then the alternator is working fine.

 

[Novica]

@KrisKrk
Thanks for fast reply. The alternator pulley is changed as well as tensioner, so I suppose that I am free of truoble until next timing belt change interval which I plan to do on 280000/300000 km. As @desertstorm mentioned in above post, maybevis worth changing battery anyhow in order to avoid any further problem.

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[Novica]

This morning I have recorder cold starting @ +4°C



The battery was at 70% according to MMI

What do you think, can this battery survive until next winter?

The price for AGM battery, 92Ah, 850A is going from 150€(Exide) up to 220€(Varta, MagnetiMarelli).

Suppose that is not clever to change it with normal (acid liquid) battery?

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[KrisKrk]

Started alright, no?
Even when car is not used, it still uses the battery and when its on, it has so much to power.

I have changed the battery to acid one, from gel AGM also.
If you don't have start/stop feature, you can still go for AGM battery.

Mine came with 5year warranty so I'm not bothered at all about it's life after that.
I haven't charged with any charger, from new. Just straight in to the car, coded and off I go.
If it start to show signs of decrease in power or life due to fault, will report it back and request a new one.
It will be obvious that, abuse to the battery will drop it's life.

With my old one, I have let it run down entirely couple of times so I couldn't even start the car. Had to jump start it from another car.
That was due ignition on and not starting the engine, while I was doing some mods on the car. Hate sitting quiet so music was on.
Avoid that with sporadic longer motorway trips to run the alternator charging battery properly and you'll be fine.

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[Novica]

The car started OK, but with small hesitation like short pause between turning .

You gave me very interesting information. Your battery is same as mine, your car is almost same as mine, my is 2.0 TDIe 100kw manual from 2011, and they have same battery from factory Varta AGM 92 Ah, 850A party number 4F0 915 105 E.



So, you have changed it from AGM to Acid, normal type and no any issue so far for that? I am asking it because almost all sellers advised me not to change AGM type for normal Acid / Pb type.

 

[KrisKrk]

The car started OK, but with small hesitation like short pause between turning .

You gave me very interesting information. Your battery is same as mine, your car is almost same as mine, my is 2.0 TDIe 100kw manual from 2011, and they have same battery from factory Varta AGM 92 Ah, 850A party number 4F0 915 105 E.

View attachment 196190

So, you have changed it from AGM to Acid, normal type and no any issue so far for that? I am asking it because almost all sellers advised me not to change AGM type for normal Acid / Pb type.

Guy who recommended me a range of batteries to choose, didn't said anything about changing the battery to acid and even Alex, who coded it for me.
They both know whet they doing and have more knowledge about pros & cons of gel/acid batteries so assumed all good.

So far have noticed an issue power related, I think.
Coming/leaving home and interior lighting does not stay on, after car sits for longer time. If I unlock the car in the morning, lights will flash and go off. Interior ambient will come on. Opening the doors will get the lights on but not as long as it used to be.
If I drive the car to work and do same morning routine after say an hour, all good.
Mind boggles

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[ninja3310]

Hello,i have similar problem and i need your help.The batteri is new 95ah EFB ,the alternator charge 14,2-14,6 v ,BUT when the temperature drop doln below 6 C’ my battery starts to drop down every morning ,from 100% ,80% and now shows 10% . I drove 60 km today and the battery meter didn’t move 10% .Two days ago the meter showed 20% in the morning and in the afternoon when the temp rised up to 10 C’ the battery started to get charge and for 5 km reached 80%.
Please help me what is going on.
Any suggestions.


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[ninja3310]

I forgot to mention something ,there is no battery drain when the car is “asleep “ 0.01
Is there any possibility,something or somehow the car wake up during the night and to cause battery drain and if yes what it could be.


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[KrisKrk]

Around May 2020 I was forced again to replace the battery.
Person who advised that you should NOT replace AGM with Pb acid ones, was right. That battery got f..kd within a year. Mainly by constant slow drain from dash cam and short-ish journeys.
Got AGM replacement and no issues since. Even installed now iVolt dash cam batt pack and all glitches with lights are gone.
Need to scan and clear off all power related codes to make it all back 100%

Conclusion: stick to what was originally in the car

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