Battery change on TDI
 

I did not find a HOW TO for changing the battery on a VW Jetta.
The question is how to keep from losing power to the cpu and radio etc when changing the battery.
If done during the day will the solar charger that came with the car provide enough power to keep from having to reprogram the car ?
Another idea was to put jumper wires on the cables to keep power to the car while swaping battery.
What works or is needed? I still have the solar charger that came with the car.

keeping ecu and radio power...
 

Radio Shack and similar stores sell a small inexpensive set-up that plugs into your cigarette lighter. It contains a 9v battery with enough juice to let you make the switch.

Perhaps I am wrong but I thought there are several issues if the battery is removed and there is no power. The radio just needs the code but I think there are issues with the door locks, windows and who knows what else.

Pepboys and other places told me they cannot change VW batterys or they would do it for $45 but in the end they recommened you go to the VW dealer.

I started looking into this because of another post about batteries and the 90 amp hours required for the TDI.

My OEM battery is 1JO915105AG and made in Mexico. The VW dealer wants $125 in the US so I am calling VW in Mexico to see what it cost here. I found the Interstate MTP-H7 for $124 and the ACDELCO 94R6YR for $130

My battery is 5 years old and looks wet like it was starting to gas up and leak. It looked low on acid so I added distilled H2O tonight. but I want to just be ready if it goes out on me.

Get the cheap tool mentioned above from radio shack or the next tool truck you see and stay with the OE battery. It's lasted 5 years and has the lowest price of any of the correct batteries. Or you can take the advice of the pros at Pep Boyz and go to the dealer.

Not sure how true the issues are you are mentioning... I just had to change batteries and it was more out of necessity. It wouldn't hold a charge. I didn't notice any problems after the swap.

I second the OE battery... I called every place I could think of in the area and VW was actually the cheapest and you know it will fit the car.

Battery is really easy to change... flip the battery cover up and secure out of the way. Lossen the battery terminals and remove... and remove the bolt in the battery tie down bracket in the front of the battery- helps to remove the cover for the head light bulb for more clearance.

Unless you have a New Beetle <sigh>

Then, you need to take the fluid container just to the right of the battery completely loose first. As well as the holddown bolt..

Get the tool from Radio Shack, go to Napa They have an exact replacement that must come from the same factory as the oem battery.

I think their part number is 9575R

02 NB: My battery was replaced a few months ago, as part of other work. It was out for about three hours. The radio remembered all its stations when everything was hooked back up.

When the TB was replaced, the battery was out for a longer time, and the radio needed the reset code.

No idea what the difference might have been in the two procedures. I suspect absolute time out of juice was not the issue. But I don't know what else it could have been. Both times the NB was worked on by gurus, although two different gurus.

Just called VW Tijuana

OEM battery is 857 pesos so about $87 out the door for OEM battery

10.5 to 10.8:1 exchange pesos

That's a deal! Glad to see the exchange rate is still holding pretty good. My wife and kids will be down Cozumel way in a couple of weeks. At least in your climate you don't have any cold starting issues. It was -23F here this morning-colder to the north.
Don't try the jumper method in my opinion. I tried that when I had to remove the battery for warranty replacement (not an OEM so that's another reason to buy the VW) and somehow, yes I was careful, it fried the 2 din radio headunit I had put in. No fuses blown, nothing else cooked, odd. I have changed a few things with VagCom, like door locking/unlocking, etc. and none of that was affected by removing the battery w/o trying to keep power "on".

You didn't specify which VW you had, model or year, but the only thing you MIGHT have to reprogram would be the radio anti-theft code. I have replaced the battery in my 2001 Jetta just by popping the old one out and dropping the new one in, but the secret for the 80s Pontiac my daughter had (which did require a whole new program for the ECU) was to use a set of jumper cables, hook the new battery to the clamps while you were between batteries.

I think it was with the 2001 MY that VW got smart and put the radio anti-theft code in the ECU, so after than, no reprogramming needed. Well, except for the station pre-sets.

Beware of the dealer installing the wrong battery. Call them back saying you have the same car, but with a 2.0. also, verify they use VW batteries.

All you need is a battery charger. Get the battery completley ready for removal and put a charger on the cables. I set mine to 2A slow charge. Worked fine for me, only was on there like 1-2 minutes.

The charger will send pulsating DC into the car. A cheap charger will do even more harm. You would be better off not using anything and just swapping the battery. I've had mine off for a while when cleaning the grounds and running wires. No harm done.

I'm not sure if the 2003 would be different from a 2000 , but I had my battery out for 2 days while doing my clutch with out any kind of charge on the system , and no problem . I puchased the radio removal tools just in case , because I don't have the radio code.