Battery life of TDI

[hoi polloi]

5.5 years in my TDI Vrs. Averaged 10,000km a year and lots of short suburban trips so pretty happy with that.

About the same as mine... Could have left it longer but there was a noticeable dropoff in cranking power when cold - I guess I just chickened out...

- A

[bluey]

2008 Polo battery was behaving fine at 6 years (short trip shopping trolley duty) and a couple of months.

I recall reading some time ago that the design life of battery is 18-24 months - well Exide ones anyway. And that is consistent with a lifetime's experience of car batteries karking at about 3 years.

Interested to know if the CTEK battery charger will keep the battery going longer.....

[The_Hawk]

2008 Polo battery was behaving fine at 6 years (short trip shopping trolley duty) and a couple of months.

I recall reading some time ago that the design life of battery is 18-24 months - well Exide ones anyway. And that is consistent with a lifetime's experience of car batteries karking at about 3 years.

Interested to know if the CTEK battery charger will keep the battery going longer.....

I was ready to buy a new battery since mine was 3 years old and starting to slow down a little. After talking with the guy in Battery World (who could have just sold me a new battery) he said he expects 5 - 7 years out of the batteries in the Golf's and that my problem is about 99% short trips with no chance to replenish the battery. In my case if I start the Golf these days it's usually only round the corner to the train station or the local shops.

Long story short, he sold me a CTEK charger instead and it's wonderful. Every other month I plug it in and let it top off the battery and everything is working beautifully.

The Multivan is still on it's original battery and that's 5 years old now, I've run that across the CTEK too for a battery recondition cycle and it still doesn't look like it's slowing down anytime soon (fingers crossed). Of course I'm sure it will just pack it in at the most inconvenient time

[Idle]

I've had a C-Tek charger for years — can definitely recommend.

[jets]

I recall reading some time ago that the design life of battery is 18-24 months - well Exide ones anyway.

I have been buying car batteries for over 50 years & fortunately never had one with that short of life. The last one in my Golf [made somewhere in Asia] only lasted around 3.5 years but although it was the size listed turned out to be a lower CCA than the original.

[Ryeman]

Of course you get a new one EVERY service with a high-end BMW.

[Pinarelloman]

Our Tig is a 2010 model with 105,000km and still going strong.

[drjekl]

Some may think this is a peculiar question but bear with me, do VW's require coding/registering when changing to a new battery?

My BMW requires 'coding' when a new battery is installed, which is done by connecting an autologic to the cars OBD and using the builtin software to register a new battery in the DME. This apparently is required as the batteries wears over time, the DME sends a signal to the alternator to charge the battery at a higher rate. If you whack a new battery in without registering the new battery apparently it can essentially overcharge the new battery causing premature failure.

In my BMW I went for a Bosch S5 (oem was Varta - bmw rebranded and of course they were 4 x times the price of the bosch S5) which had slight different CCA/AH specs and the coding required also included updating the CCA/AH specs in the DME via the autologic tool

So is this all of this similar to the VW's?

[Ryeman]

Some may think this is a peculiar question but bear with me, do VW's require coding/registering when changing to a new battery?

My BMW requires 'coding' when a new battery is installed, which is done by connecting an autologic to the cars OBD and using the builtin software to register a new battery in the DME. This apparently is required as the batteries wears over time, the DME sends a signal to the alternator to charge the battery at a higher rate. If you whack a new battery in without registering the new battery apparently it can essentially overcharge the new battery causing premature failure.

In my BMW I went for a Bosch S5 (oem was Varta - bmw rebranded and of course they were 4 x times the price of the bosch S5) which had slight different CCA/AH specs and the coding required also included updating the CCA/AH specs in the DME via the autologic tool

So is this all of this similar to the VW's?

Oh dear!
What next!?.

[drjekl]

Oh dear!
What next!?.

Sounds absolutely ridiculous I know

I honestly thought the BMW dealer was having a lend of me, until I confirmed it on the BMW forums...