Battery life

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kavesh02
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Battery life

Post by kavesh02 »

Hi guys

For a while now I have noticed that my battery in my Audi A4, 2.0 TDI multitronic B8 (2011) seems to be struggling.
I have been monitoring it and thus far it has not gotten any worse.

My question is how long does a battery last on these vehicles? This is the original battery from 2011.

Before the maintenance plan expired I tried to get Audi to replace the battery but they refused and just charged it and said it was fine.

With an automatic it tends to just die completely one day and I want to avoid that.

Also any idea what the battery size is. Audi do not work on battery size, I tried to get them to tell me but they said that they use the VIN to see which battery to use, which is a load of bull as it should have a size and CCA rating.

Would be interested to hear your thoughts.

Thanks
Kavesh
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Re: Battery life

Post by Sebz »

kavesh02 wrote: Wed Jul 31, 2019 7:50 am Hi guys

For a while now I have noticed that my battery in my Audi A4, 2.0 TDI multitronic B8 (2011) seems to be struggling.
I have been monitoring it and thus far it has not gotten any worse.

My question is how long does a battery last on these vehicles? This is the original battery from 2011.

Before the maintenance plan expired I tried to get Audi to replace the battery but they refused and just charged it and said it was fine.

With an automatic it tends to just die completely one day and I want to avoid that.

Also any idea what the battery size is. Audi do not work on battery size, I tried to get them to tell me but they said that they use the VIN to see which battery to use, which is a load of bull as it should have a size and CCA rating.

Would be interested to hear your thoughts.

Thanks
Kavesh
I'm not sure how you feel about this, but I simply took my car to a battery centre and got them to replace the one I had. I can't remember the exact size and rating details, but it was on the invoice IIRC. I'm sure if you take the battery out you should see the specs on your OEM battery too
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Re: Battery life

Post by kavesh02 »

I have considered getting the battery tested but then I must hope that the shop is honest enough to give me correct advise and not just want to make a sale, which often happens. Suppose I need to replace the battery, fair enough, then I want to make sure that I buy the correct size and CCA rating.
The OEM battery has no labels on it to determine size or rating. Also its a diesel so would need to be bigger capacity.
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Re: Battery life

Post by OettingerTDi »

8 years off an OE battery is actually quite good. :)

Easiest way to do this, is to drop by or call any battery place and say that you need some quotes for your boss who needs to replace a battery, but that you are unable to bring the car to them just yet. Make sure you ask the battery size, my guess is that it would be a 652 / 70Ah, it's what my S4 takes and I think they are pretty standard across all Audi models. I paid R1500 about 2 weeks ago. I also inquired about the capacity and it seems that you mostly get the battery size only, but rarely a battery size with different capacities. Their catalogues usually specify the right battery for your car.

You don't mention where you are based, that might assist us to recommend battery places. If in Centurion, look up Battery Inn in Botha Avenue, Centurion. They run piggy back power whilst changing your battery to ensure no settings are lost, plus they test the charging circuit too. They also have a machine with a variable load to test the resistance to load of the battery. I have been using them for over 20 years. Their number 012 664 6281.

Do not get duped into getting a battery from the Audi dealer, you will be paying around a 200 to 300% premium.
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Re: Battery life

Post by Belix »

2011 to now is a really good run. I got about 2.5 years on average from my OEM VW batteries.
As for the test, I took a battery through to VW and asked then to stick their battery tester on. It prints out a mini report on the battery.
kavesh02
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Re: Battery life

Post by kavesh02 »

My apologies I have updated my location.

R1 500 is a really good price for a battery What make of battery was that?

I do agree that I have had a really good run with my OEM battery. I also know that replacement battery wont give me much more than 2 years, so trying to get as much time with the OEM without being stupid about it and getting stuck somewhere. Don't want to be boosted either as that can fry up the electronics

Will Audi do a battery test for free, doubt that?
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Re: Battery life

Post by OettingerTDi »

The battery is an Atlas BX. They are also supplied by Tiger Wheel and Tyre, but at R1800. I was also offered a SABAT or Willard at the same price, but the Atlas gave a few Ah more, 70Ah versus 72Ah. The Varta, which is OEM for European cars was R1660.

Remember, if you do a jump start the correct way, you will not have any issues.

The life of a battery is largely determined by the way it is treated. I was told that it could take between 7 to 10km just to replenish the charge of starting a car. Short trips kill a battery. It is also advisable to charge a cars battery once a month to keep it in good nick. I use a Bosch trickle charger for the S4, as it is a high days and holidays car. For my other cars, I use an intelligent charger.

I would suggest that you perhaps check with Audi if they can do a test for you. If they do charge you for literally 20 to 30 seconds worth of testing, they are trying to make a quick buck and you could approach any battery dealer to assist. Essentially what a test involves is to add an increasing resistance to the battery to determine how it performs under load. If the needle drops quickly, you will probably need a new battery. If the needle drops to between 9.5 and 10 volts and keeps stable, the battery is still OK.
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Re: Battery life

Post by NHB_R »

I think you can check the size on the willard website based on the car and model. Have a look.
Also do you need to code/register the new battery in order to adjust the charging seeing as there will be a difference between the old battery and the new one, specifically their condition.

Just to add the OEM Willard battery on my daily (Opel Utility) lasted 12 years :crazy:
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Re: Battery life

Post by OettingerTDi »

NHB_R wrote: Wed Jul 31, 2019 3:47 pm Also do you need to code/register the new battery in order to adjust the charging seeing as there will be a difference between the old battery and the new one, specifically their condition.
Here is something I still struggle with. All that I have picked up from VCDS after changing a dead battery is that there are some parameters that indicate low voltage readings. Clearing those codes sorts this out, unless I am mistaken. Perhaps someone could explain the whole coding of the battery, as it doesn't make sense to me.
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kavesh02
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Re: Battery life

Post by kavesh02 »

Before my maintenance plan expired I tried to get them to replace tbe battery as I was planning on keeping the car. They booked it in and charged the battery before testing it. I asked them why and they said that the factory insists on the battery being fully charged in order to be tested. My battery had half a charge, if that makes sense!
I tried to fight them but they would not budge, anyways it was all good once it was charged and tested. I am thinking that perhaps I must get one of those trickle chargers and charge mine. Are they expensive? (I only have one of the other regular battery chargers) I would also use it to charge my 2011 Santa Fe battery as well.
On the Santa fe the original battery lasted over 6 years, the replacement 25 months and now on the new one.(Raylite).

Please advise what is the correct procedure to jump start the Audi or any other vehicle for that matter.
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Re: Battery life

Post by Belix »

The VCDS settings seem to depend on the car. For example, my MK6 had no place to reset the parameters of the battery.
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Re: Battery life

Post by OettingerTDi »

kavesh02 wrote: Wed Jul 31, 2019 7:34 pm My battery had half a charge, if that makes sense!

I am thinking that perhaps I must get one of those trickle chargers and charge mine. Are they expensive? (I only have one of the other regular battery chargers) I would also use it to charge my 2011 Santa Fe battery as well.

Please advise what is the correct procedure to jump start the Audi or any other vehicle for that matter.
Every time you start the car, it drains quite a lot of power from the battery. If you do mainly short trips, all the little bits tend to add up.

A regular charger is perfectly fine. You can hook it up and let it charge overnight. I prefer to use the trickle charger seeing as the S4 has a Netstar tracking unit which can suck the battery dry in a week. As it is mainly a weekend car, I hook up the trickle charger on a Saturday or Sunday to keep the battery sorted to the next trip. I bought a Bosch C3 charger from Goldwagen Delarey here in Johannesburg and it was much cheaper than the C Tek trickle chargers from Outdoor Warehouse. You will be looking at around R900, plus they courier it to you, if required.

To jump start:

1. Make sure both cars are turned off.
2. Connect one end of the red (positive) jumper cable to the positive terminal on the stalled battery.
3. Connect the other red (positive) cable to the positive terminal of the good battery.
4. Connect one end of the black (negative) jumper cable to the negative terminal of the good battery.
5. Connect the other black (negative) cable to a clean, unpainted metal surface under the disabled car’s hood.
6. Start the car that’s doing the jumping; run for 2 to 3 minutes before starting dead car.
7. Remove cables in reverse order.
8. Keep jumped car running for at least 30 minutes to give battery sufficient time to recharge.
Anton van Graan

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2007 Caddy Life 1.9 TDi
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1998 Jetta 3 CLX (Taken by a friendly chap called Jack)
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kavesh02
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Re: Battery life

Post by kavesh02 »

Thanks for the info Anton.

With my A4 the battery is in the boot. There is however a positive and negative point in the engine bay. I assume that I can use these points to charge the battery. Normally I would remove the caps from the battery. I assume that would not be necessary.
I have never charged a battery for the newer cars before, so am always nervous with them. Do I need to disconnect anything before using the normal charger to charge it overnight.
Thanks again.
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Re: Battery life

Post by OettingerTDi »

With my A4 the battery is in the boot. There is however a positive and negative point in the engine bay. I assume that I can use these points to charge the battery.

Correct, both will work. Personally I would actually prefer charging the battery at its location in the boot

Normally I would remove the caps from the battery. I assume that would not be necessary.

The newer batteries are all sealed, no need to top up battery water, you can actually turn them upside down... :) If you do have a battery with caps, what I did was to just loosen the caps and left them loose on top of the holes.

I have never charged a battery for the newer cars before, so am always nervous with them. Do I need to disconnect anything before using the normal charger to charge it overnight.

Not necessary. What I do is to connect everything up first and at the very end switch on the wall plug and then the charger. Reverse operation when the battery is fully charged.
Anton van Graan

Current:
2009 Touareg 3.6 VR6
2007 Caddy Life 1.9 TDi
2004 Polo 1.6 Comfortline
2000 Jetta 4 TDi
1997 Chico 1.3

Previous:
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1999 Uno Turbo
1998 Jetta 3 CLX (Taken by a friendly chap called Jack)
1993 Uno Turbo
1988 Ford Laser 1600i Sport
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Re: Battery life

Post by chibadd »

Opimate charges are good as well.
I only ever use Varta batteries.
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Re: Battery life

Post by Wade »

I just did this exercise on my A4 B8.

The main question is does your car have stop start?

Mine does have stop start so you need the AGM battery for this. I bought mix tech battery. New technology and was at a very good price. (Google mixtech battery’s) Bought it from battery center in Hillcrest. Been a couple of months running it and no need to code the new battery either.

Mine was a 92ah.
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Re: Battery life

Post by kavesh02 »

Thanks for all the responses guys.
My car is not equipped with stop/start, what did you pay for the battery Wade, do you know the size? Never heard of Mixtech but will check it out. I assume before the battery was removed the battery shop connected another battery to keep your setting before removing your battery. (How long did your battery last Wade).

The Willard battery website does not list the 2011 A4 diesel, only the 2012 diesel A4, would assume that would be me as well. Battery size is 668, AGM.

I charged the battery with my charger that has been in the family for decades. Left it charging for about 8 hours. I used the points in the engine bay.
I think I will use the car for a week or so and see if there is a noticeable change in starting before I get the battery tested.
Incidentally, I went to Audi in PMB and asked them to test the battery and they said it needed to be booked in and would cost me, so didn't bother to ask how much.
I also read the owners manual and apparently the power management system shuts off components to ensure that there is sufficient power to start the car. The manual also recommends charging the battery when vehicle not in use for a long time or if there are mostly short trips.
Will post my results in a week or so depending on how it performs.
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Re: Battery life

Post by NHB_R »

Wade wrote:I just did this exercise on my A4 B8.

The main question is does your car have stop start?

Mine does have stop start so you need the AGM battery for this. I bought mix tech battery. New technology and was at a very good price. (Google mixtech battery’s) Bought it from battery center in Hillcrest. Been a couple of months running it and no need to code the new battery either.

Mine was a 92ah.
Why do you say no need to code the new battery?


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Re: Battery life

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kavesh02 wrote: Wed Jul 31, 2019 12:39 pm I have considered getting the battery tested but then I must hope that the shop is honest enough to give me correct advise and not just want to make a sale, which often happens. Suppose I need to replace the battery, fair enough, then I want to make sure that I buy the correct size and CCA rating.
The OEM battery has no labels on it to determine size or rating. Also its a diesel so would need to be bigger capacity.
Go to batteryworld in berg street and speak to patrick.He and his father own the business and won't mess you around.
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Re: Battery life

Post by Greenz »

Batteryworld tests for free btw
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Re: Battery life

Post by Wade »

kavesh02 wrote: Sun Aug 04, 2019 10:02 am Thanks for all the responses guys.
My car is not equipped with stop/start, what did you pay for the battery Wade, do you know the size? Never heard of Mixtech but will check it out. I assume before the battery was removed the battery shop connected another battery to keep your setting before removing your battery. (How long did your battery last Wade).

The Willard battery website does not list the 2011 A4 diesel, only the 2012 diesel A4, would assume that would be me as well. Battery size is 668, AGM.

I charged the battery with my charger that has been in the family for decades. Left it charging for about 8 hours. I used the points in the engine bay.
I think I will use the car for a week or so and see if there is a noticeable change in starting before I get the battery tested.
Incidentally, I went to Audi in PMB and asked them to test the battery and they said it needed to be booked in and would cost me, so didn't bother to ask how much.
I also read the owners manual and apparently the power management system shuts off components to ensure that there is sufficient power to start the car. The manual also recommends charging the battery when vehicle not in use for a long time or if there are mostly short trips.
Will post my results in a week or so depending on how it performs.
kavesh02 wrote: Sun Aug 04, 2019 10:02 am Thanks for all the responses guys.
My car is not equipped with stop/start, what did you pay for the battery Wade, do you know the size? Never heard of Mixtech but will check it out. I assume before the battery was removed the battery shop connected another battery to keep your setting before removing your battery. (How long did your battery last Wade).

The Willard battery website does not list the 2011 A4 diesel, only the 2012 diesel A4, would assume that would be me as well. Battery size is 668, AGM.

I charged the battery with my charger that has been in the family for decades. Left it charging for about 8 hours. I used the points in the engine bay.
I think I will use the car for a week or so and see if there is a noticeable change in starting before I get the battery tested.
Incidentally, I went to Audi in PMB and asked them to test the battery and they said it needed to be booked in and would cost me, so didn't bother to ask how much.
I also read the owners manual and apparently the power management system shuts off components to ensure that there is sufficient power to start the car. The manual also recommends charging the battery when vehicle not in use for a long time or if there are mostly short trips.
Will post my results in a week or so depending on how it performs.
My battery lasted 7 years and 6 months. From December 2011 to May 2019. I paid 2500 for it and it came with the best warranty of 30 months. Ask about warranty’s and I never found anything over 25 months. Mixtech has 30 months so I thought if the manufacturer is that sure of their product I would give it a try.

@NHB_R a very good friend of mine works at Audi as a mach. He does work on the side and has VCDS etc. he would not have charged me and said he would code it if I really wanted. According to him coding helps track warranty on battery’s from Audi as is all computerized. From an operating point of view coding does nothing.

The car will pick up a new battery is installed if they don’t put the car on trickle charge. When they changed it they trickled charged from the bonnet, swapped out the new battery and off you go. No issues.

From a charging point of view according to my friend he says the car will notice a a boost of power from a new battery and recalibrate accordingly. I found this to be true. A week after the battery was swapped out the stop start system now turns off every single time I come to a stop unless I turn it off. When the old battery was in it never turned the car off and for about the first week I noticed no changes. Now the stop start works like a charm and when I open the door I with the car off you can hear the pump prime with power. Previous it was a dull whine. Now it’s Audible.
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Re: Battery life

Post by Wade »

Also any decent battery shop will do the print out test of the battery for free.
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Re: Battery life

Post by Sebz »

Wade wrote: Sun Aug 04, 2019 12:03 pm
*SNIP*

@NHB_R a very good friend of mine works at Audi as a mach. He does work on the side and has VCDS etc. he would not have charged me and said he would code it if I really wanted. According to him coding helps track warranty on battery’s from Audi as is all computerized. From an operating point of view coding does nothing.

The car will pick up a new battery is installed if they don’t put the car on trickle charge. When they changed it they trickled charged from the bonnet, swapped out the new battery and off you go. No issues.

From a charging point of view according to my friend he says the car will notice a a boost of power from a new battery and recalibrate accordingly. I found this to be true. A week after the battery was swapped out the stop start system now turns off every single time I come to a stop unless I turn it off. When the old battery was in it never turned the car off and for about the first week I noticed no changes. Now the stop start works like a charm and when I open the door I with the car off you can hear the pump prime with power. Previous it was a dull whine. Now it’s Audible.
From what I've read on all the overseas forums over the past year or so, it would appear that your mechanic friend is wrong. According to my research, coding of the battery when replaced will ensure that the alternator is not working overtime in order to compensate for the age and loss of charge that it is programmed to "expect" with age and that it would have adapted to whence detected.

Yes, your new battery is causing the car to run better - because your old one was very badly under charge. However, the systems that are now working better are not an indication that you do not require coding. Unless you do not mind replacing your battery prematurely due to overcharging, it will be worth your while to get it coded.

Particularly seeing as it won't cost you anything, won't be noticeable to you, and doesn't have any negative side-effects whatsoever, I cannot understand why one would choose to forego the manufacturer's recommendations in this regard.
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Ludicrously lowered K04 '03 Audi A4 Avant B6 1.8T
Sorta slammed '15 VW Polo Vivo GT 1.6
Stock standard '05 Opel Corsa D Ute 1.4
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Re: Battery life

Post by kavesh02 »

Just an update guys, so far the battery is working well. I think I will only get it tested at the next sign of it seemly low on power. Hope it wont just die on me.
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Re: Battery life

Post by kavesh02 »

Finally I decided to change the battery. Car was still starting fine although I could hear it struggling a bit. The Audi computer management system is smart and switches off components to ensure there is enough charge to start the car according to the manual.
I went to Batteryworld and had the battery tested and was advised that the battery was fine for another few months...i think that was a guess.
The Audi takes a 95ah battery which is about a 658. Not the 668 according to the Willard catalogue.
All the research confirmed that the battery needed to be coded with a BEM code that is on the battery (none of the other battery manufacturers have this code). Audi in PMB wanted R2900 for a battery and R1 400 for fitting and coding. So I called other Audi dealers and was able to get a discounted price of R2 400.
Anyways I found an ex Audi mechanic who has his own workshop who said he would charge R500 to code and he was kind enough to speak to Audi PMB to give me the battery for R2400. So in all it cost me R2900 and hopefully this battery lasts for as long as I keep the car.
Happy holidays guys.
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