Sooner or later it had to happen, my car showed all the warnings signs of a flat battery. Primarily it was weaker starting in colder temperatures, but it was also my remote key fob not working properly and slow power to winding the electric windows up. After my recent dilemma with a broken rear spring, the last thing I wanted to fork out money for was a new battery, but I knew it was eventually going to be one of those jobs.
Unfortunately. Or rather “sod’s law” I mentioned to the mother about the spring and said I’ll need a battery next as that is starting to show signs of failure….. never ever mention what’s about to go wrong with your car. The damn things are telepathic and just throw pissy fits when they want.
Well.. not really. That’s why they call it sod’s law.
Anyway, I can’t really fault the battery. Turns out it was the original battery installed in the car when it was first manufactured. My car being 10+ years old is quite good going so shows a testament to the quality of batteries used by VW. I tried using my booster pack but it was too low drained. I had no jumper cables around or anyone available to jump start my car so in the end I used my AA membership and called them out. (Hey I pay for Roadside, Relay and Home Start) so why not. Went back in the house and made another cuppa whilst I waited. When the AA were out he hooked up his Battery meter. The car was reading as 11V and 380Amps of power in the battery (batteries need 12V minimum to start) so a battery low in power. Soon as he hooked up his booster pack my car started. We let it run for 10 mins and it was showing as charging again.
The car would still start in warm temperatures but the strain was showing in the colder ones. So that same day I made sure I bought a new battery.
The one problem with diesel cars is they require big beefy batteries to cope with the extra strain on the engine. So it means you can’t just get an el-cheapo £50 battery unless you’re good friends with people in the trade.
After talking with euro car parts and discussing with halfords I managed to score a decent battery. Got it for £81.62
Now, the battery is a 74aH battery (amp hours) and 720 CCA (cold-cranking amps)
For reference to make it easier original battery is 72ah and 680CCA
- Amp Hours – The battery “juice” how long you can run the vehicle components and electrics without the engine running before the battery goes flat (basically it’s run-time)
- CCA – Cold Cranking Amps are how primarily used for cold starting the engine in really low temperatures. When you start your engine in low temperatures it puts extra strain on the battery and components. So a high CCA is needed for the extra “boost” that’s required
Generally speaking with car batteries, you can always go higher. As long as it will still fit in the engine bay
Now.. everything is hunky dory with my car at least, another few years of happy motoring aside from the usual services. I’ve kept the original battery as it would still do as a good spare for a Petrol Vehicle or generally testing with. Always remember to buy a decent battery
