Battery life

[Dev]

Hi all,

after six years and a couple of months, it looks like the battery on my 1.4 TDI might be on the way out - though I need to check the electrolyte level.

The battery's lasted much longer than those on my previous cars, and I have no complaints. I just wondered if you've found that batteries for diesel A2s are expected to last this long, or if I just got lucky.

Also, any recommendations for a good replacement?

Ta,

Dev

 

[spike]

Hi Dev
My TDi battery is almost 6 years old. In the cold weather the motor occasionally hesitated before firing up - as if the battery did not have enough power to spin the engine freely. I tried checking the battery 'magic eye' using a torch and it looked black, which is a sign that the battery is on its way out. I recently checked it again, in bright sunlight this time and it was green, indication of a healthy battery??? The car is starting fine so I will leave it a while longer.
I did look at replacements and was considering Varta which is original equipment. There seems to be pleanty of distributors and they list units specifically for the A2 - see links
http://www.varta-automotive.com/eng/content/batteriesuche/Varta_19-50.pdf
http://www.varta-automotive.com/eng/index2.php?p=5&content=siteclick.php?anzeige=5

Cheers Spike

 

[Dev]

Thanks Spike,

I have to confess I've never topped up the battery. The magic eye has always been fine, until now. It's still green, but has a "distant" look about it. The main symptom I have is that it's taking a bit longer for the glow plug indicator to go out when starting. Starting itself isn't a problem (never has been). What a great machine.

I'll check the electrolyte tomorrow and report.

Thanks for the tips on batteries. I'll check them out.

Dev

 

[Dev]

Never followed this up - sorry about that.

I checked the battery and the electrolyte levels seemed fine. Since then the glow plug indicator has gone out fairly quickly when starting, apart from one or two times. I think the glow plugs are "speculatively" warmed when the car is unlocked, but I'm no getaway driver and I doubt I'm trying to start it during this period. Any ideas what else might cause a long warm up time for the glow plugs? Maybe relay contacts on the way out?

Thanks,

Dev