Avoiding a flat battery

[Umai Naa!!]

Please be mindful that on the B7 Passat, you mustn't connect the jumper leads to the negative terminal, but to another earth point, such as a metal bracket on the engine. These cars have battery monitoring hardware that can be damaged if the car is jumpstarted incorrectly.

[brad]

I thought that was SOP for any vehicle these days.

[Riker]

The best advice here for anyone is to read the manual prior to charging just to be sure...

Please be mindful that on the B7 Passat, you mustn't connect the jumper leads to the negative terminal, but to another earth point, such as a metal bracket on the engine. These cars have battery monitoring hardware that can be damaged if the car is jumpstarted incorrectly.

I thought that was SOP for any vehicle these days.

[MJW]

Riker, I took your advice & read the manual which is quite clear on how to jump start the car. I would prefer to avoid this if possible ( call me a pessimist).

Who would have thought locking the car would draw less power than leaving it unlocked! I am prepared to take advice from those that know more than me. My garage is alarmed but will lock the car anyway.

Thank you all.

[passatpout]

I am told that these cars don't do well to be jump started which may cause a whole lot of problems later on.

I've jump started a 2007 VE Calais from a ride-on mower, with no ill effects... Nothing runs like a Deere...

[booba]

I purchased a c-tek charger from repco, awesome little unit and you can leave the harness connected to the battery coiled up inside the battery cover, i did this with the gti and it worked well.

You could always get the Ctek charger and use itwhen you get back before you start the egine.The 1/2 hour charge will bring the flat battery (not the dead battery) to 80% capacity. I found that in Golf5 TDI and in my T5 when the car is not locked that some control units don't go to sleep and the battery drain is greater (tested overnight and I'm not sure if they power down later). The difference was 15-20mA against some 300mA.

[dopey]

Both of my MK6 Golf's were fine when I was away for 7 weeks, I wouldn't be to worried.

[booba]

Yeah i agree. I left the car for 16 days at cooloongatta when i was away in japan and it was fine.. this was with a battery that had almost carked it and was already not starting properly. had a good run 4.5 years from a brand new battery in 2007 golf.

Both of my MK6 Golf's were fine when I was away for 7 weeks, I wouldn't be to worried.