Dodgy batteries

AlS3BE

AlS3BE

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hi guys
Read on here and another forum that there was a batch of dodgy batteries from the factory.
I’ve been getting battery warning on my dash a few times over the past week or 2.
Today was a good example. I went to fill the car and left the mrs and boy in with the radio running and when I got back I got the warning. Car still started but a bit worrying getting any warning in a car a few months old. The other day I used my tyre compressor to check the tyre pressure on the car through the ciggy lighter and same. Didn’t even use the compressor just the pressure gauge on it.
I would expect the battery to be able to cope with the radio for maybe 5-10 minutes especially these modern batteries design to run stop start. I don’t want to get to my car and it doesn’t start or it stops working while I’m driving in traffic.
For those who’s had this battery issue what were the symptoms? What should I expect when it does fail?

Cheers

Al
 
My car is a bit older than yours but if the headlights are in auto and on and the engine is not running it will flatten the battery to the point of a warning in 10 minutes or so. Don’t ignore that warning. I did for just a few minutes and the battery was too flat to start the car. My battery is EFB (enhanced flooded battery). Not as good as AGM (advanced glass mat) which should be standard imho.
 
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I had the keys on me so it was just the stereo.
How can you tell which type of battery you have?
 
AlS3BE said:
I had the keys on me so it was just the stereo.
How can you tell which type of battery you have?
Click to expand...

It says EFB on my battery at the top. Possibly your battery was already in a low state of charge.
 
Svenedin said:
It says EFB on my battery at the top. Possibly your battery was already in a low state of charge.
Click to expand...
Will keep an eye on it. Had the multimeter on it and 12.6v and with car running was 14.7v so looks ok.
 
I became a bit neurotic about the battery for a few weeks after I had the flat battery and the car wouldn’t start. I bought one of those small jump start battery packs. It fits next to the spare wheel and means I don’t have to wait for Audi Assist if it ever happens again. I’m fact, the battery has been fine for several months. It was a one off.
 
Svenedin said:
I became a bit neurotic about the battery for a few weeks after I had the flat battery and the car wouldn’t start. I bought one of those small jump start battery packs. It fits next to the spare wheel and means I don’t have to wait for Audi Assist if it ever happens again. I’m fact, the battery has been fine for several months. It was a one off.
Click to expand...

I know what you mean. Don’t want to get caught out again. My biggest worry is stop start kicks in and refuses to start again and I’m stranded for ages waiting for Audi assist.
 
My car is 2015, the battery died on the previous owner a few months before I bought it (so around the 3 year mark). Don't know if it was dodgy or not as she replaced it with a new one and I've not had any issues so far; there's a temporary traffic light I have to go through on school run, so as soon as a batch of cars goes through I switch the engine off and listen to music, AC on low etc (car is in efficiency mode)
 
There was a couple of posts here with new cars. Just can’t seem to find them.
 
Mine was replaced under warranty. Just a faulty battery. Wouldn’t start one morning so called Audi Assist, they came out and got it fitted for free. All fine so far. Dont buy a new battery whatever you do, waste of money, call Audi, they are aware that there are faulty batteries. Not sure what i had int he before but i know that mine is now a Varta battery. can check for more info if anyone needs me too.
 
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Ormesome said:
Mine was replaced under warranty. Just a faulty battery. Wouldn’t start one morning so called Audi Assist, they came out and got it fitted for free. All fine so far. Dont buy a new battery whatever you do, waste of money, call Audi, they are aware that there are faulty batteries. Not sure what i had int he before but i know that mine is now a Varta battery. can check for more info if anyone needs me too.
Click to expand...

Car if a few months old. Not gonna pay for anything if I can get it under warranty:wink:
If I keep getting it I will have words with the dealer. So far it’s just been a warning. Car still starts.
 
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An update on my battery. Car had a flat battery again and this time Audi replaced the battery (OEM Varta EFB) so the original battery only lasted just over 2 years (24,000 miles). Not only did the battery go so flat that it could not start the car (twice) but it was very noticeable that stop/start hardly ever worked because the battery was never in a high enough state of charge (not that I like start/stop). This is despite the fact that the car is rarely used for short journeys and does most of the miles on long runs. I think the battery had been faulty for some time before it finally gave up.
 
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Svenedin said:
An update on my battery. Car had a flat battery again and this time Audi replaced the battery (OEM Varta EFB) so the original battery only lasted just over 2 years (24,000 miles). Not only did the battery go so flat that it could not start the car (twice) but it was very noticeable that stop/start hardly ever worked because the battery was never in a high enough state of charge (not that I like start/stop). This is despite the fact that the car is rarely used for short journeys and does most of the miles on long runs. I think the battery had been faulty for some time before it finally gave up.
Click to expand...

That’s a good update.
Mine has only came up with the warning a couple of times in the last couple of months and an error logged when I look with vcds. Stop start kicks in all the time so it could be a combo of short journeys and lots of stop starts causing this.
 
Svenedin said:
An update on my battery. Car had a flat battery again and this time Audi replaced the battery (OEM Varta EFB) so the original battery only lasted just over 2 years (24,000 miles). Not only did the battery go so flat that it could not start the car (twice) but it was very noticeable that stop/start hardly ever worked because the battery was never in a high enough state of charge (not that I like start/stop). This is despite the fact that the car is rarely used for short journeys and does most of the miles on long runs. I think the battery had been faulty for some time before it finally gave up.
Click to expand...

Same as mine mate. Replaced by Audi under warranty. My stop/start would always work with the old battery but then 1st thing in the morning it would struggle to start. I guess it just discharged overnight and the quick boost before stop/start kicked in was enough.
 
Svenedin said:
An update on my battery. Car had a flat battery again and this time Audi replaced the battery (OEM Varta EFB) so the original battery only lasted just over 2 years (24,000 miles). Not only did the battery go so flat that it could not start the car (twice) but it was very noticeable that stop/start hardly ever worked because the battery was never in a high enough state of charge (not that I like start/stop). This is despite the fact that the car is rarely used for short journeys and does most of the miles on long runs. I think the battery had been faulty for some time before it finally gave up.
Click to expand...

Do you know which battery was in your car originally? I have one by 'Banner' (never heard of them!) in my 2017 S3
 
alpesh26 said:
Do you know which battery was in your car originally? I have one by 'Banner' (never heard of them!) in my 2017 S3
Click to expand...

Yes, the original battery was made by Moll (pic below). The warranty replacement is Varta, both Enhanced Flooded Batteries (EFB)

IMG 2899
 
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Svenedin said:
Yes, the original battery was made by Moll (pic below). The warranty replacement is Varta, both Enhanced Flooded Batteries (EFB)

View attachment 178198
Click to expand...

Cheers, i'll keep an eye on it but I dont think i've experienced the issues you reported and my battery is a different brand. The car will be 2 years old in September and is currently on 21k miles
 
alpesh26 said:
Cheers, i'll keep an eye on it but I dont think i've experienced the issues you reported and my battery is a different brand. The car will be 2 years old in September and is currently on 21k miles
Click to expand...

Since the battery was replaced, which was only a few days ago, there are a few things that are noticeable. The car starts very quickly rather than weakly turning over and starting only after a few seconds and start/stop is working more or less at all times (when I haven't turned it off that is).

I have been having battery trouble for the last 5 months, the battery slowly getting less and less able to hold full charge. After it broke down the first time I bought one of the small jump starter battery packs to keep under the boot floor next to the spare tyre. I used it twice and this prevented the need to call out Audi Assist. A very useful piece of kit! (https://no.co/gb40)
 
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I know start/stop uses many parameters to decide whether or not it will kick in so investigation can be a bit voodoo, but it has kicked in <5 times in 2 months once my S3 is up to temperature.

Trying to gauge how normal this is on the FL S3?

* This is in Auto but behaves the same way in Comfort (I know S/S doesn’t apply in the same way in Dynamic).

* AirCon is off, Heated mirrors are off, heated rear screen is off - dry weather recently

* Decent & near daily runs - not short journeys

* DIS energy consumption view doesn’t show any power hungry items.

* I know about the brake pedal 3 pressure stages; hold on brake pedal / Hold Assist & green light / start-stop (icon almost always crossed out, but button not set to deactivate start-stop)

Curiously if it kicks in then it’s only ever up to a mile after a cold start - almost never when engine has warmed up.

Had a few low battery warnings but seem a bit random.

I saw the discussions about a possible dodgy batch of Moll EFB batteries. Mine is Moll EFB (2018 week 24 I assume by the stamp on the battery).

Sadly the S3 doesn’t get AGM battery from factory - my old 1.8 8V did.




Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro
 
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Thought I update this thread.
A couple of weeks ago my battery finally gave up and didn’t start after months of random warnings on the dash. Audi assist came out and plugged a tester in and then said it needs replaced.
Went to dealer and got a new battery. Car is only just over a year old.
So far after getting new battery I have noticed;
No warning lights.
Stop start actually works. Even on cold mornings I’ve had it kick in by the time I get to end of my street. Didn’t even really work over the summer months before.
My dashcam gets a couple days of parked footage whereas before it would get a couple of hours at most.
Today I was waiting in the car while my boy was in a class and had the stereo running for half an hour plus and no warning. Before I get 5 minutes before i got a warning.
Car starts on first turn and I can hear the starter turns harder/faster than before.
Been keeping an eye on the charge status using obd11/vcds. Before I could park up at night with it showing 75% and by morning it would be around 60-65%. Now I park up shows close to 80% and by morning it’s around 75%+. Looks like old battery losing a lot more charge overnight. Only the dashcam is left running all the time so expect a little discharge.
No errors on module 09 showing high static discharge anymore.
All in all new battery sorted close to a year of random warnings.
 
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Hmm.....knocking on wood my S3 is almost 3 years old and none of the above issues. Possibly due to a better battery installed for Canadian winters?
I noted that AISBE states that he uses a dashcam, could that be an issue , due to constant discharge whilst parked and taxing the battery?
As an aside I use a portable 12v air compressor to check and inflate my tyree every 2-3 weeks and do not start the car whilst using the compressor and have never encountered any issues after that useage and that compressor draws a lot of current. I also turn off start/stop after starting the car.
 
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audi upgrades
Flying Scotsman said:
Hmm.....knocking on wood my S3 is almost 3 years old and none of the above issues. Possibly due to a better battery installed for Canadian winters?
I noted that AISBE states that he uses a dashcam, could that be an issue , due to constant discharge whilst parked and taxing the battery?
As an aside I use a portable 12v air compressor to check and inflate my tyree every 2-3 weeks and do not start the car whilst using the compressor and have never encountered any issues after that useage and that compressor draws a lot of current. I also turn off start/stop after starting the car.
Click to expand...

think it was just a dodgy battery. It was giving me battery warnings occasionally before the dashcam was installed.
Dashcams load hasn’t changed from old battery to new one and this new battery seems to take the load better.
Not tried my 12v air compressor yet without it started. Will give it a try next time and see how it copes.
 
AlS3BE said:
Thought I update this thread.
A couple of weeks ago my battery finally gave up and didn’t start after months of random warnings on the dash. Audi assist came out and plugged a tester in and then said it needs replaced.
Went to dealer and got a new battery. Car is only just over a year old.
So far after getting new battery I have noticed;
No warning lights.
Stop start actually works. Even on cold mornings I’ve had it kick in by the time I get to end of my street. Didn’t even really work over the summer months before.
My dashcam gets a couple days of parked footage whereas before it would get a couple of hours at most.
Today I was waiting in the car while my boy was in a class and had the stereo running for half an hour plus and no warning. Before I get 5 minutes before i got a warning.
Car starts on first turn and I can hear the starter turns harder/faster than before.
Been keeping an eye on the charge status using obd11/vcds. Before I could park up at night with it showing 75% and by morning it would be around 60-65%. Now I park up shows close to 80% and by morning it’s around 75%+. Looks like old battery losing a lot more charge overnight. Only the dashcam is left running all the time so expect a little discharge.
No errors on module 09 showing high static discharge anymore.
All in all new battery sorted close to a year of random warnings.
Click to expand...

Going through a similar situation I noticed my car battery going low with a warning, nothing on the car which showed this but a warning. I drove the car a good 120 miles here and there but mainly town drive. I did do a small charge of about 30 miles every other day but recently (https://www.audi-sport.net/xf/threads/battery-calibratuon.407205/) I encounter my first failed to start experience.

Changed the battery and all of those issues like no or little (stop start) function started to come back more frequently even on the sorter journeys, dash cams recording happens much more longer than my old battery. So all of the above was due to a old battery.
 
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Schizophonic said:
Going through a similar situation I noticed my car battery going low with a warning, nothing on the car which showed this but a warning. I drove the car a good 120 miles here and there but mainly town drive. I did do a small charge of about 30 miles every other day but recently (https://www.audi-sport.net/xf/threads/battery-calibratuon.407205/) I encounter my first failed to start experience.

Changed the battery and all of those issues like no or little (stop start) function started to come back more frequently even on the sorter journeys, dash cams recording happens much more longer than my old battery. So all of the above was due to a old battery.
Click to expand...

how old is your car?
Talking with the Audi assist guy he said he sees the EFB batteries fail all the time. They seem to last about 2-3 years and some a lot less like mine. His recommendation is replace with an AGM battery as they are much better and less likely to fail and far superior.
 
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AlS3BE said:
how old is your car?
Talking with the Audi assist guy he said he sees the EFB batteries fail all the time. They seem to last about 2-3 years and some a lot less like mine. His recommendation is replace with an AGM battery as they are much better and less likely to fail and far superior.
Click to expand...

My car is about 6 years old now, i've been hearing different sources of info to say how long car batteries can last but I knew it was time to change it.

Yeah I got it replaced with an AGM battery instead of an EFB. EFB were cheaper but thought instead of getting a cheaper battery I might as well get something more substantial.
 
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Schizophonic said:
Changed the battery and all of those issues like ... dash cams recording happens much more longer than my old battery. So all of the above was due to a old battery.
Click to expand...
What stops the dash cam recording? Does it monitor state of charge somehow, or does the car shut down the 12V accessory supply when the battery is low, or does the dashcam just keep going until the voltage drops below some level that it figures will still let you start the car?

Just wondering whether having a dashcam means that the battery is often in a low state of charge for much of the time (which certainly old lead acids hated, and it shortened their life a lot). I don't have a dashcam, so wondering whether I can expect my 6 year old batter to last a fair bit longer, or whether it's just the age that's done it and I can expect mine to go at some point.
 
AJB said:
What stops the dash cam recording? Does it monitor state of charge somehow, or does the car shut down the 12V accessory supply when the battery is low, or does the dashcam just keep going until the voltage drops below some level that it figures will still let you start the car?

Just wondering whether having a dashcam means that the battery is often in a low state of charge for much of the time (which certainly old lead acids hated, and it shortened their life a lot). I don't have a dashcam, so wondering whether I can expect my 6 year old batter to last a fair bit longer, or whether it's just the age that's done it and I can expect mine to go at some point.
Click to expand...
So my think ware dash cam f760 I think has a built in battery manager. On the app you can set a specific voltage it can drop to and if it detects its that value on the battery it will shut the camera down to stop it from draining the car battery.

Sent from my LYA-L29 using Tapatalk
 
Had no issues at all from mine had from new with over 4 years of ownership.
 
Schizophonic said:
My car is about 6 years old now, i've been hearing different sources of info to say how long car batteries can last but I knew it was time to change it.

Yeah I got it replaced with an AGM battery instead of an EFB. EFB were cheaper but thought instead of getting a cheaper battery I might as well get something more substantial.
Click to expand...
Hi , which battery did you get ? Did you also go for a higher CCA and amp hour rating ?
 
Interesting thread. On the A4 B9 forum there has been a number of 3.0l diesel A4 owners with what appears to be faulty batteries and some dealerships have been replacing them however they are AGM batteries I believe https://www.audi-sport.net/xf/threads/new-battery-needed.382742/

I would say my battery comes in for some punishment, very short urban driving conditions and in the dark this time of year, I also have a dashcam. In total I have only just reached 15,000 miles. However I do check the voltage with ODB11 time to time but it always seems to be just fine. We shall see but no issues at all up to date..
 
cuke2u said:
Interesting thread. On the A4 B9 forum there has been a number of 3.0l diesel A4 owners with what appears to be faulty batteries and some dealerships have been replacing them however they are AGM batteries I believe https://www.audi-sport.net/xf/threads/new-battery-needed.382742/

I would say my battery comes in for some punishment, very short urban driving conditions and in the dark this time of year, I also have a dashcam. In total I have only just reached 15,000 miles. However I do check the voltage with ODB11 time to time but it always seems to be just fine. We shall see but no issues at all up to date..
Click to expand...

I will be checking more than just the voltage.
Voltage only gives an small indicator of Battery health. Mine was showing 12.3-12.5v and 14+v while car was running. However it wasn’t able to hold charge so dropped very quickly. In obd11 you can view live data and see the charge status. This will show how much a battery is charged. On my old battery it was showing around 60-65% after a drive and by morning it could be low around 50s.
new battery shows around 75%+ after a drive and keeps in the 70s overnight
 
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For Info: Just checked my service history and after just 18 months my battery was replaced under warranty due to “an internal fault” - that was about 18months ago now (car just celebrated its third birthday). Everything seems fine with it. There blatantly is a lot of dodgy batteries doing the rounds. My car was registered Nov 2016 (66 plate S3).
 
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