The Mk6 Golf Battery Thread

[parso_rex]

If the battery reads just under 12 and still appears to be working it can be that one of the plates has dropped shorting to the adjacent cell so it basically kills of one cell of the battery but the other 5 still work. The danger is that when you jump start the car you are actually charging 5 cells now and not 6 as you would be normally so you will get lots of activity with acid bubbling and crap everywhere and the alternator will be going crazy trying to charge at 14.4 volts
I've seen this type of failure on a Golf R recently and it would still even start the car but with the car off it was drawing over 40 amps from my charger that I use when loading tunes.(Hi Ben )
So yeah try a battery as heaps are failing on the R's at least, mines on the way out too.

[MovieDude]

Did your lights work at the time?

[parso_rex]

Did your lights work at the time?

Not my car but yes. You need more than 12 to start it unless your very lucky. If you have jump leads you can disconnect one of the dead batteries leads to isolate it and see if you can jump start the car directly - you need thick-ish leads though. If it starts then the battery is the culprit.

[MovieDude]

I'm really unsure what to do. I have scheduled the tow man to come over to meet me at the car but it could be money down the drain if it is indeed the battery. I can't decide if I should therefore wing it and cancel the tow and ring a mobile battery service guy.

[MovieDude]

Sorry to ask again but how long should a battery last? I'm the second owner and I'm thinking that if this is the original battery then it is almost 4 years old.

[moda]

Sorry to ask again but how long should a battery last? I'm the second owner and I'm thinking that if this is the original battery then it is almost 4 years old.

~3-5 years, depending on environment, use, battery type etc etc. Some people get a lot less.

Had all these same issues when my battery went caput in the R. Threw heaps of codes. And even showed voltage at the battery. Get a jump and leave it chargibg from the other car for a little while, thats what mine needed then it started and worked fine.

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This. Had the same errors in my car when my battery died. From what I understand, the relay sound is the ECU stopping the car from turning over because it doesnt think there is enough juice in the battery. It still happens if you try to jump start. You'll have to clear the ECU before it will turn over.

Disconnect the battery (which will clear the ECU), put it on a charger and then try again once the battery has had a good amount of charge.

Either way sounds like you need a new battery, but yea.

[tonymy01]

My battery just died a very quick death in the last week too. I noticed the past month the cranking speed had been a bit less, and three days ago went to start in the morning (the day before I had driven a good 20km) and click click. Put a trickle charger on, went green only after about 6 hours (totally flat battery should take a lot longer than that). Drove next day somewhere and click click...uh oh. Good thing I parked on a hill and I have a manual! Just had to wait 10 mins for the car behind me to move so I could roll it. And push started later in the day, again finding a slope to get it going. Battery after a good charge is only just 12V. Now ordered a Federal 9AGM48 and playing the waiting game...not driving as I can't always find convenient slopes..

I figured the battery died due to the deep cycles it went thru at times (e.g the 40 mins to flash stock then bluefin a couple of times, the constantly recording camera, the listening to music while working on car etc).

Had car from new 2.5 years ago, battery 3 years old, presumably would have drained on boat here, slowly drained in delivery dealership etc, so many cycles. Also often I only drive 5km, so possibly not long enough to fully charge it after a start I would say. All this enough to kill the big bugger.

[a239947]

The cold weather is what kills them. Mine died during a cold snap!

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[Reedy]

4 years to the month with my OEM Varta. Never died on me but after a few short trips around the island I would get the ESP fault on the MDI and it would almost not start. Saying that a good long trip to work it was fine bit thought I'd change before it did let me down.


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[tonymy01]

My car is garaged, rarely outside so don't think cold weather is responsible for mine (not to mention the past week in Sydney has had record high temps).