2017 Tiguan not driven for 8 Months: Battery Life / Replacement

[spicyrambutan]

Hi All,

As I have been interstate for 8 months, my 3.5 year old Tiguan hasn’t been driven all this time and I suspect my battery is flat. The vehicle has been parked undercover, but exposed to the outside temperature fluctuations. As I am still away, I am sending a friend to check on the vehicle but would like advice from others as to whether there is any likelihood that the car will start. Failing that, could someone please share with me the approximate cost of a replacement battery, whether the vehicle can be jump started by a roadside assistance mechanic through National Roadside Assist (With the appropriate electrical safeguards to protect the vehicle’s electronics) or whether the car will need to be towed to the dealer. Also, will the car need to be reprogrammed by the dealer and would this be covered under the extended third party mechanical warranty that I have purchased through the dealer (Brighton WV). My original 3 year VW warranty has already expired. Alternatively, has anyone had any experience in successfully claiming statutory warranty for a car battery replacement or am I being too optimistic?

Thanks for your replies!

S.

[Simonr23]

You can try putting a decent charger on it. Something with a recovery/boost mode is your best bet.
Somewhere around $120+ (brand dependant) if buying locally.

A battery that meets VW specs is probably around $350-$450 from your local roadside assistant group- don’t buy from VW, it’ll likely be $600+ there (if other brands ante anything to go by)

[drivesafe]

Hi S and first off, DO NOT attempt to start the vehicle.

Your battery is most likely dead flat so it won’t start anyway.

But, when a battery is that flat, and has been sitting for such a long time, if the battery is not already stuffed, the huge current draw while trying to start the motor will most likely destroy the battery.

Get your mate to put a battery charger on the battery and leave it on for around 24 hours.

NOTE, make sure it is a SMALL battery charger.

High current charging of a battery that would be in the state that yours is most likely in, will also do damage.

A battery charger of around 5 amps would be ideal.

Your battery is going to be heavily sulphated and will take quite a bit of time to take a charge, because you need to dissolve the sulphration and this takes quite a lot of time to achieve, but it usually can be done.

Just don’t try to start the motor until you have some charge in the battery.


BTW, there is every likelihood your mate will not be able to unlock your Tig because of the low battery.

[Simonr23]

Yeah, don’t start the car until it’s been given a chance to charge. But do get a good charger- which often means it’ll have a higher maximum mode (maybe 5-8amps) it’s the other modes that the dearer models have, that you’ll want in this case.

In my last job (Jaycar) it was the 7 stage and above chargers that had the recovery mode. 5 stage and below didn’t have a ‘boost’ function(silly name for ‘recovery’)

FYI, boost/recovery mode is a higher voltage and very low amperage that is designed to basically “shake off” the build up on the plates. It’ll pulse on and off every second with the aim getting a slow voltage increase as the plates/cells improve. Once it gets above a preset voltage (10ish is common) it’ll revert to its standard mode.

Somewhere around 16-18v and .3-.5 of an amp. So a very low current.

The little cover that flicks of the drivers door will expose the key barrel, to get in the old fashioned way.

[The_Hawk]

My favourite and highly recommended CTEK MXS 5.0 has a recondition cycle which is probably worth using and is around $150
https://www.ctek.com/au/all-products/car/mxs-5-0-aus

If you're using stop start there is a dedicated product for that too, although I don't know what the real differences are.

[drivesafe]

You don’t need anything but a basic 3 stage charger and if S’s battery is actually still useable, he will need to do some rejuvenating of the battery once he gets home.

These Recovery procedures should only be used once in a while as they can be quite hard on batteries, and note, they should not be used on AGM batteries.

The best and safest way to rejuvenate any type of lead acid battery is to charge it with a small current charger and leave the charger on 12 hours, then rest the battery for 12 hours and repeat the process every night for about a week. And you do this even if you are using the vehicle during the day.

This is a safe process and is very kind to the battery.

[Hillbilly]

You don’t need anything but a basic 3 stage charger and if S’s battery is actually still useable, he will need to do some rejuvenating of the battery once he gets home.

These Recovery procedures should only be used once in a while as they can be quite hard on batteries, and note, they should not be used on AGM batteries.

The best and safest way to rejuvenate any type of lead acid battery is to charge it with a small current charger and leave the charger on 12 hours, then rest the battery for 12 hours and repeat the process every night for about a week. And you do this even if you are using the vehicle during the day.

This is a safe process and is very kind to the battery.

Best way is to buy a Smart Charger like a CTEK and let it do its thing In AGM mode will probably take about 36 hours to do it fully


Good article on what to do here https://www.optimabatteries.com/support

[The_Hawk]

Best way is to buy a Smart Charger like a CTEK and let it do its thing In AGM mode

Pretty much that. CTEK in the appropriate mode does everything for you... mine has literally one button to switch modes. It's pretty idiot-proof. The Start/Stop model takes is a step further with zero modes to choose from

[Surly78]

Pretty much that. CTEK in the appropriate mode does everything for you... mine has literally one button to switch modes. It's pretty idiot-proof. The Start/Stop model takes is a step further with zero modes to choose from

I recently bought a CTEK MXS 5.0 and used it on a 2013 Mazda 6 for a while until the battry eventually needed to be replaced.
I disconnected the battery from the car and charged it it fine and when it was connected again I only lost the radio station presets and the trip computer data since the last refill.

I just want to know what the usual process is when charging a MKII Tiguan? The manual says to take it to VW if it needs to be charged.
I assume its best to disconnect the battery when charging with the above device?

Is there there any risk of causing issues with disconnecting the battery, charging it and then reconnecting it again?

I dont need to do this now but just wanted to know in the future.

[Hillbilly]

I recently bought a CTEK MXS 5.0 and used it on a 2013 Mazda 6 for a while until the battry eventually needed to be replaced.
I disconnected the battery from the car and charged it it fine and when it was connected again I only lost the radio station presets and the trip computer data since the last refill.

I just want to know what the usual process is when charging a MKII Tiguan? The manual says to take it to VW if it needs to be charged.
I assume its best to disconnect the battery when charging with the above device?

Is there there any risk of causing issues with disconnecting the battery, charging it and then reconnecting it again?

I dont need to do this now but just wanted to know in the future.

Hook it to the positive terminal and the knobbed nut on the firewall behind the battery, turn it on, open a beer wait 24 hours disconnect and drive away