New battery? Which type?

birdsd01

birdsd01

A2OC Donor
An obvious but troubling question? Halfords reocmmend a type 096, Bosch recommend a type 100, Eurocarparts say that either will be fine, but only stock the 100(?!). And the car has a 096 on it? My guess is that the 096 is the one to go for, but the cheapest one I can find is £95! Funny how the type and cost are so closely related :D:D

Other question - I have borrowed a charger, is there anything I should do whilst charging the battery? On my old cars I always opened the filler caps so any hydrogen gas generated could be safely released. Do I do the same with this one? or is it sealed? Charging the current one is my last hope, before spending on a new one.

Sorry to ask the easy questions, but if you don't know, then you don't know. :eek:

David
 
Is your current battery a sealed unit ? Most are these days and so therefore can't be opened.
Always worth trying a charge before splurging on a new battery, but in my experience, once a lead-acid car battery has decided to die, there's not much chance to rescue it.
 
Hi dan_b,

I looks like it's sealed, so I guess I have to very careful not to over charge it and cause a pressure build up as the gas bubbles out of the cells. Apart from watching it like a hawk how can I do this? I don't think the charger is clever enough to stop charging once its finished.
This maybe a job for Saturday!

Thanks,

David
 
A2 battery on 2001 1.4 petrol

Hi David,
the Battery on my Car is the Original from new! and it can be topped up!, but you have to remove some of the plasticy tape stuff that cover, the filler plugs/vents, actual battery is as follows; No 8z0915-105D, 12v, 380a, 80ah din, 640a EN/SAE, It's called MAGIC EYE TYPE,
ie; Has 'viewing eye' if it glows GREEN all is correct, I do realise you have a TDI so you may need a different type/size of Battery, just thought i'd let people know that some A2 Batteries can be topped up, Cheers, Alan.
 
Hi David
The O.E battery on my TDi is made by Varta. Not sure of prices but if you buy one from them, the terminal positions and clamping arrangement should be identical to the original - not something which always happens with the Halfords version.
Varta also seem to have loads of distributors nationwide - see link for more info
http://www.varta-automotive.com/index.php?id=18

Cheers Spike
 
I'm now on my third battery, but then again I do inflict quite a lot on it. This one is a Bosch Silver, 74Ah I think, it fits nicely. €110.

Bret
 
Thanks everyone, I have contacted my local National Tyres place and they stock the OE Varta battery (as fitted to my car) and it is £84 fitted, not cheap, but not the £96 Halfords wanted :D

Appreciate the help and advice. Some forums would have laughed at me for asking such basic questions ;) But I think that what makes this site different, and altogether much better for it.

Cheers,

David
 
Hi.My A2 is the same age as yours, AND the old green eye still glows!
It had a breakdown this summer ; I forgot to turn off my 12 v cooler in trunk.
My dealer saw not any reason to change it , I took off tape and filled up with water any tested with the little device with + & - floating : all OK and green glowing, well , I´ll see this winter it can be minus 28 C !!

From Jossi:eek:)
 
Dying battery

pamanal21 said:
Hi David,
the Battery on my Car is the Original from new! and it can be topped up!, but you have to remove some of the plasticy tape stuff that cover, the filler plugs/vents, actual battery is as follows; No 8z0915-105D, 12v, 380a, 80ah din, 640a EN/SAE, It's called MAGIC EYE TYPE,
ie; Has 'viewing eye' if it glows GREEN all is correct, I do realise you have a TDI so you may need a different type/size of Battery, just thought i'd let people know that some A2 Batteries can be topped up, Cheers, Alan.
Click to expand...

Hi Alan, I've got this battery as well. After a 2wk holiday, the car started fine but at parking speed, the lights dimmed and engine cut out. This happened a couple of times since coming back. I checked the voltage, it was 12.6V last Tue which is low, it was 13.8V in the summer. So I took it for a decent drive y'day, about 40min. Came back the engine cut out again! It is now down to 12.26V! Will a top-up be required? and Where is the 'viewing eye' that I can check?

If I need to replace the battey, does anyone know how to remove that wire which seems to feed the bose sub woofer directly?
 
The Bose sub is a passive one, no onboard amplification, so there will be no power connection to it and no current drain either.

Cheers,

Mike
 
Hi Humps
Cold weather has a big effect on a battery's charging capability, particularly on an A2 where it's under the boot floor and probably stays pretty cold, even on a long journey in winter. As your car starts ok the battery must be in reasonable condition so I'd have the alternator etc checked before changing the battery as there may be other reasons for the engine cutting out.
For info, the PDF shows battery voltage versus percentage charge which may be useful for evaluating your battery condition.

Cheers Spike
 
Last edited:
Thanks Mike, Spike. I drove into central London y'day, taking a risk with lots of slow moving traffic and the car hasn't skipped a beat... I haven't measured the voltage again. Hopefully the battery is being charged back to healthy capacity. I'll keep an eye on it. The only thing isn't right after the holiday is the remote open/close of windows, as if the car had disconnected from the battery.

BTW, I was wondering what the thrid wired is on the battery (apart from the +/-). It is the one next to the +ve terminal with the red dot on the attachment. That seems to go under the bose and doesn't seem to be easily detachable!
 
Could be a venting hose for evacuating any possible gasses produced by the battery.
 
battery vent tube

Humps, Trex is right. What you think is a cable is a plastic vent tube pushed into the hole in the end of the battery. It vents hydrogen out of the battery to under the car. I think there is a vent hole at both ends of the battery. This takes care of hydrogen generated during charging and needs to be refitted after battery changing.
 
Thanks both! Learn something new everyday :)

My car seems fine after a long-ish drive in the weekend. I don't drive during the week so I'll see what happens, may be it is slowly charging up. I don't fancy a spending £100 on a new battery if I don't have to. It is credit crunching festive time!
 
Battery top up

Hi All

Car would not start this morning (cold!) so I thought it was time for a new battery as it has not been turning over very quickly. Unable to get anyone to test the battery without waiting for too long this morning so I checked here.

After I 'bumped' it and travelled a short distance it started just fine so not starter motor. Has not died on me yet so not alternator. After some reading here I striped back the plastic covering and topped up the de-ionized water levels (these were very low but still a green eye) and we will see what tomorrow brings. I imagine that I might have to bump it as the battery has not had a long run today.... Should things improve?

Thanks

Neil
 
Hi folks


How green does the green eye need to be?

Also I've noticed some almost 'gel' like goo round the terminals. To be honest this has been there years! I thought it was the vaseline type grease on the terminals...??

151,000 miles and 6 1/2 years of trusty service makes me think I should treat 'Ratty' to a Christmas Pressie!


bba
 
Halfords calcium or Audi OE?

Right, the battery is certainly at end of life now, another few incidents of cut out during slow crawling traffic...

Quick question then, has anyone got opinions on halfords (lead?) calcium battery with 4yr gaurantee (~£95) or Audi OE?
 
Paul Slater said:
Humps, Trex is right. What you think is a cable is a plastic vent tube pushed into the hole in the end of the battery. It vents hydrogen out of the battery to under the car. I think there is a vent hole at both ends of the battery. This takes care of hydrogen generated during charging and needs to be refitted after battery changing.
Click to expand...

Some stories of fires and/or explosions on older Audi100 and A6s due to the drain not being fitted correctly or not fitted at all. Battery under the rear seats so plenty of nice flammable foam easily to hand.
 
Halfords calcium battery will probably do the job. Their batteries used to be Yuasa who bought out Lucas. Don't know who makes them these days. The OE battery on my A2 Tdi is a Varta 80 Ah low maintenance lead acid job. I cannot see where Varta list these anywhere but they do maintenance-free calcium technology batteries such as the F18 silver dynamic and the E11 blue dynamic for the A2. Why not call any local Varta supplier for a price on one of these.
 
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