Poor Battery?

S4_dan

S4_dan

Fire up the Quattro!
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When I do a short trip of a few miles with lights on, radio on, heated seat and rear window on my car struggles to start quickly after a short break. It Cranks quickly then I can notice a definate drop in cranking speed and eventually it starts with a big puff of smoke from the exhaust.

Normally it will crank and fire up quickly from cold/overnight.

Could it be the battery? I've always had reservations about whether the battery is the right size anyway. Will go and check and report back on battery specs.

Dan
 
Battery is a HCB096 - Halfords branded. Just searched on Halfords site and other sites and none is suggesting the 096 battery, only the 110 batteries.

So it looks like the battery isn't right for the car. Current spec is 70aH/680CCA and correct spec should be 80ah/745CCA

Looks like I need to source another battery then. :-/
 
Bought my car last May and the battery let me down one morning. Annoyed me coz they aren't cheap! Anyway I noticed it was a halfords calcium battery, £110 cost new. I popped in to see them and managed to blag a new one foc. It had a 3 year guarantee so I thought I'd chance it. It worked for me so try yourself mate.
 
What car have you got BakPak?

I think this one is over 3yrs old by looking at it. It's tiny in the battery tray and compared to the 110 battery its a lot shorter.

I couldn't see a manufacturers date anywhere on it?
 
I looked online when mine packed up two winters ago and got a good deal on one. I think it cost half what halfords wanted and it's still going well so can't complain.
 
S4_dan said:
What car have you got BakPak?

I think this one is over 3yrs old by looking at it. It's tiny in the battery tray and compared to the 110 battery its a lot shorter.


I couldn't see a manufacturers date anywhere on it?
Click to expand...
1.9tdi 130 fwd. Give your battery a subtle clean and pop to halfords mate.
 
Just replaced my battery, I used costco for my Bosch 80Ah smaller battery, and euro car parts for the 110Ah one as they don go up to 100Ah in costco.
 
was driving to mot station yesterday knowing my battery never holds charge my a3 18t cut out half way there I tried starting it and just spun over till it went flat so got a mate out with jump leads and still wudnt kick up,so he went home for the tow rope as soon as he pulled up I gave it one last try and kicked up first time after not trying for 20 minutes or so,can anyone reflect on this? cheers
 
Doesn't sound like a battery problem to me. If you are having hot start problems I would suspect the coolant temp sensor has failed on the ECU feed causing incorrect fueling.
 
pauldazzle said:
Doesn't sound like a battery problem to me. If you are having hot start problems I would suspect the coolant temp sensor has failed on the ECU feed causing incorrect fueling.
Click to expand...

The engine doesn't seem to get hot though on the short journeys? (2-3 miles) Barely gets off the min mark. But drive it for 5 or 6 miles and it's up to 90.
 
You could do with someone having a look with VCDS at what the ECU is seeing from the coolant temp sensor.
N.B.The CTS has 2 seperate outputs one to the gauge & the other to the ECU, it's common for one output to fail without effecting the other so the only way to really check the ECU feed is with VCDS.
 
I did some boost logs a few weeks back and checked the engine timing via VCDS. The engine temp was matching the dash display via VCDS and all ok at 90.

I have ordered a new genuine sensor anyway for piece of mind. I will get a drop test on my battery next Monday when I'm at a garage getting some tyres fitted.

Dan
 
I have never been a fan of halfords batteries personally.
I've had one in the past. Known a few people who have had them as well and been let down too when it comes to charge capacity and CCA's after a few years.

When I purchased my A4 2 years ago, it had a recently fitted (one month prior to purchasing the car) battery by the brand of Katana - 85ah 700cca - it seemed to loose charge fairly quickly (if the car was left for a few days it would be slow to crank).
To try and diagnose the issue to figure out if it was the battery or current drain, I "borrowed" a Bosch S4 019 battery (95ah 900cca) from a friend - the battery was around 4 years old at the time and had been under his desk for 6-months.
Its still in my car now - much better than the supposed "new" battery that was in it when I bought it - no signs of age being shown by the battery as of yet, it must be at least 5 years old now.

I still keep the katana battery on float charge every now and again - just in-case its needed.
All the Halfords batteries I have tried to keep as spares have failed current draw tests after around 6-months (even when kept on float charge for periods)
 
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Halfrauds:asskicking:
IIRC on VAG diesel engines cranking speed has to be a minimum of 250rpm for the engine to start. Not sure if the same applies to petrol engines though.
 
Mine is 2.5TDI V6Q.

Will replace the CTS anyway as not sure how old the one currently on is.

New MAF from Stoke Audi ordered as that needs replacing.

Will replace the battery for correct size and see what happens. Then maybe look at crank sensor but no DTC's relating to that at all.
I do however sometimes, when it's taking a little while to crank, get a bulb out warning on dash/sometimes say centre brake light but that's fine. So again, I'm leaning to the battery.....
 
I used battery2u.co.uk
I found them to be pretty competitive on price - plus they were local so I collect, but they offer free delivery.
 
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