Oldest Battery?

bm_sthlm

bm_sthlm

A2OC Donor
During the winter period I noticed that my battery is starting to give up.

So I have been at 2 different battery dealers to look at replacement batteries and they both, and me, got really surprised to see that it was the original battery in the car. According to the date on the battery it was manufactured 2001, which would make it 15 years old. It have spent most of its life in Germany some where. Its certainly the oldest battery I have seen, by some distance.

Anyway, I seen that a lot of ppl recommend the Varta F19 battery, but I cant find it here unfortunately. Any thoughts on the varta blue dynamic batteries?
 
A2 batteries tend to last a long time for some reason. It may be down to them being kept slightly warmer by being stored in the boot compartment and therefore not being exposed to the elements as much.
 
Can't match your 15 years but I took mine out last year, must have been manufactured in the latter part of 2001.
 
Mine is dated 2002 and still going strong! :cool: Must be the fact that it is stored away in a dark, hopefully dry and safe place that makes in last. The generator must be good to, I think mine was replaced at some point according to the service history but I have never had to charge the battery and it is still giving nice power.
 
Car is on a 53 plate and its original battery, no idea manufacturing date. 4th Jan this year was the 1st time that it laboured somewhat to life but it hadn't moved for over a week. See how it does with the forecast 'cold snap.'
 
bm_sthlm said:
During the winter period I noticed that my battery is starting to give up.

So I have been at 2 different battery dealers to look at replacement batteries and they both, and me, got really surprised to see that it was the original battery in the car. According to the date on the battery it was manufactured 2001, which would make it 15 years old. It have spent most of its life in Germany some where. Its certainly the oldest battery I have seen, by some distance.

Anyway, I seen that a lot of ppl recommend the Varta F19 battery, but I cant find it here unfortunately. Any thoughts on the varta blue dynamic batteries?
Click to expand...

From reading through threads this appears to be the recommended battery. Ive had a quick look through a couple on ebay UK but they don,t appear to post out to mainland europe. :(
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/F18-VARTA...Battery-110-/171426376228?hash=item27e9ceea24
This one is not the cheapest !. Mine was around £78 delivered next day from "Tayna Batterys".

Ta
Dave.
 
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A2Steve said:
A2 batteries tend to last a long time for some reason. It may be down to them being kept slightly warmer by being stored in the boot compartment and therefore not being exposed to the elements as much.
Click to expand...

Batteries will last longer with lower temperatures, i.e. not in the engine compartment. My Lupo 3L (early 2001) still has it's original battery and even now it is only just below the specified capacity.

RAB
 
RAB said:
Batteries will last longer with lower temperatures, i.e. not in the engine compartment. My Lupo 3L (early 2001) still has it's original battery and even now it is only just below the specified capacity.

RAB
Click to expand...

Ah, that makes sense.

How come it is cold weather that kills a battery?
 
A2Steve said:
How come it is cold weather that kills a battery?
Click to expand...

The colder the ambient temperature, the more current you need from the battery. It's not the cold weather that kills it but it is the most likely time when you find out that you have a failing battery!

RAB
 
Wow, that's amazing. I had no idea that its this common for the batteries in the A2 to last this long. I guess the location of the battery and maybe the actual size helps it out a bit(?). Feels a bit bigger then what you expect to find in a car of this size. But I wont complain. Another great feature of the A2.

Btw, they installed the new battery at the workshop. But I forgot to ask them to check the voltage of it. Will the battery be topped up in the car or should I take it home and charge it at home first?


Thnx Dave for your recommendation, unfortunately I couldn't find it here (Live a bit off the map). I had to settle for the F17 Blue Dynamic. I was in a bit of a hurry since we are expecting cold weather here during and after the weekend.
 
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Hi guys, i have some 1 year old battery in my Lupo, that has given me too much trouble this Winter. I thought it was bad, but according to the shop that checked it, the battery was fine, but of lower capacity than i need, 62 or 64mah, instead of 74 they recommended. The guy suggested i should take some expensive battery for cars with start stop systems. I actually turn eco off, the first thing upon starting the engine. What do you make of this? Is it definitelly the underpowered battery, or maybe something else. If the battery, then what type/capacity do you recommend? Cheers!

Sent from my MHA-L29 using Tapatalk
 
RAB said:
Batteries will last longer with lower temperatures, i.e. not in the engine compartment. My Lupo 3L (early 2001) still has it's original battery and even now it is only just below the specified capacity.RAB
Click to expand...

Maybe Lupo batteries are also just good ones? Our Lupo 1.4 auto (car registered April 1999, battery in engine compartment - are they elsewhere in a 3L?) had it's original battery up to 12 months ago and the A2 (Registered May 2004) is still on it's original Varta VAG battery.
 
iwcham1979 - When I have to replace batteries I use Bosch as they prove long lived and reliable. Our Lupo original battery was replaced at 17 years of age with a Bosch S3+ Specifications: 540 CCA, 63Ah, 110 RC, DIN65L. The NZ/Aus Bosch battery number/codes differ from the Bosch UK/Euro ones, but here it's a Bosch 56318.
 
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So guys, ty for the info. Here is the pic of my battery. All seems fine, but during winter, when it was like -10 or so, it died on me 2-3 times, and i had to call a friend to start the car with cables. Now that the winter is gone, i have no problems, but i drive the car every day. If i skip a day, the first start is definitely more difficult. If the batttery is fine, what else might be wrong? The light is green, so im afraid that im going to waste my money buying a new battery! Any ideas? Ty.
94986535a48e4eaac437ab40e249eba8.jpg
83419a86972cfa79fa421d383894e48d.jpg



Sent from my MHA-L29 using Tapatalk
 
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it looks like my 2002 a2 has original battery but cant find the date on it , tho it has the audi logo imprinted into top , is the date on the side so I would need to remove it to check date?
bm_sthlm said:
During the winter period I noticed that my battery is starting to give up.

So I have been at 2 different battery dealers to look at replacement batteries and they both, and me, got really surprised to see that it was the original battery in the car. According to the date on the battery it was manufactured 2001, which would make it 15 years old. It have spent most of its life in Germany some where. Its certainly the oldest battery I have seen, by some distance.

Anyway, I seen that a lot of ppl recommend the Varta F19 battery, but I cant find it here unfortunately. Any thoughts on the varta blue dynamic batteries?
Click to expand...
 
With everything switched off, use a DVM between a battery terminal and its connection to check whether there is any unwanted drain on the battery. A 3L doesn't have central unlocking, so there should be zero drain. Do that before thinking of a new battery.

To those who don't know, early 3L's had the battery under the bonnet but it was later moved to the boot for better weight distribution. Up until this point, with all its weight reduction features (and cost) there were two lead weights incorporated into the rear bumper. After the battery move (and the introduction of the heavier rear steel door) there was still one weight in the bumper! My original rear-mounted 3L battery is still going strong!

RAB
 
I replaced the original battery of my second 2001 tdi this January, so it was 15 1/2 years old, and on my first tdi it lasted 13 years. Never before I saw a battery last as long.
 
Where is the battery... must check it.... but I looked under the bonnet and it doesn't have one! hahaha

Also original Varta, fires first time, everytime and has for the last 15 years.
 
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