Maintaining Your Maintenance-Free Battery : )

cruzingmax · Mar 12, 2006

OEM specs

dieseldorf said:
JasonTDI has pointed out that the batteries in our Mk4 cars appear to be maintenance-free/sealed but aren’t really. I never looked closely until he mentioned it.

This morning I pulled off the thin black vinyl tape that covers the fill holes and sure enough, there is a standard battery hiding.

This battery is no longer installed in my car and I’ll keep it as a spare power supply. I checked it for water level and, of course, it was low but no plates exposed. I did add about a pint of distilled water to bring the levels back up. So, for those who have yet to discover this, it is another point that can be added to the “check list”.
Make sure the water level in the battery hasn't dropped. Add distilled water or DI water if necessary. When the water levels get too low in a battery, the heat will destroy the battery cells. Keep in mind, for those living in warm climates, hot temperatures deteriorate a battery's life quicker by evaporating the water from the electrolyte, and corroding and weakening the positive grids.
Battery inspection should be performed quarterly if not more often. Some suggest every 4 – 6 weeks. /images/graemlins/blush.gif
Always be sure when you check your battery to check the bracket that holds your battery in place. Someone had a floppy battery a couple of weeks ago and all sorts of unexpected problems resulted. Loose brackets will cause a battery to vibrate which in turn will shorten its life. The bracket can be easily tightened and should not be overlooked.

I've recently switched jobs and my daily commute went from 85 miles down to 3 miles daily.

After a wk, my car wouldn't start, so now i charge it up by taking it for a cruise up/down the highway every few days.(My Vector smart charger is coming!)

I have the exact battery pictured:
1J0 915 105 AG
12v 80Ah 380A DIN
640A EN/SAE

Does this mean:
380 CCA
640 CA
80Ah reserve capacity

Question:
The CCA seem kind of low. Are these really OEM specs or did my car came with an inadequate battery?
Thanks!

Doug Huffman · Mar 13, 2006

Water is water and the voltage to disassociate the O and Hs can't change and that's where the battery water level goes, out as gas. Regulators are the key to keeping level - charge volts must decrease with temperature since the H2O sees temperature as energy to disassociate just like the voltage - see 'Temperature Voltage Gassing'. Games are played with the lead alloy that changes some battery characteristics but it is still PbSO4 chemistry.

Doug Huffman · Mar 13, 2006

80AH is capacity - imagine putting out 80A for an hour. 80 x 12 = dang near a kilowatt for an hour, a kilowatt-hour is a bunch of power! and costs about $0.12 A 100+AH battery for my sailboat is about two feet long

Chris B · Mar 14, 2006

cruzingmax said:
I've recently switched jobs and my daily commute went from 85 miles down to 3 miles daily. After a wk, my car wouldn't start, so now i charge it up by taking it for a cruise up/down the highway every few days

Max, I'm not trying to be snide, but with a 3 mile commute, you'd be better off riding a bike or walking! I *wish* I had a commute that short. Save the car for the brutal cold or wet days, and ride the bike the rest!

Chris

tditom · Mar 14, 2006

Max-
Those are the correct OE specs. 380 CCA DIN (Deutsche Industrie Norm) is equivalent to around 640 CCA SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers).

The 80Ah spec is important for this application. This is mainly because of the glow plug current needed for cold start. Remember that this current is needed from the battery before it is being replenished by the regulator- just like the starter. If a replacement battery does not have the correct Ah rating, it might start the car OK for awhile, but its life could be greatly shortened because it is not built to supply this kind of static current. That said, the Optimas that many here swear by are only rated to 55 Ah. Some people have had these fail prematurely, others have reported using them for years without problems. I don't know if this points to the batteries being over-stressed in some environments, or if Optima quality control isn't up to snuff.

IMO, I wouldn't spend $120 on an Optima if I can find a properly spec'd battery for $90.

JB05 · Sep 11, 2006

I just found this thread after the fact.
My Haynes manual states " For technical reasons,
some batteries are equipped with sealing plugs with plastic foil. These batteries are considered
maintenance free."
I found that to be ambiguous and somewhat confusing. Sure enough, despite a sight glass
I did feel that there were plugs underneath the
plastic tape. Looks like I'll be doing some maintenance on the Varta battery in my 05 Golf.
DD and Jason, Thanx for confirming my suspicions.
Great pics and good posts. This is my first VW or foreign car for that matter. I have learned alot about batteries, etc. from reading the posts of this forum. These are things I have taken for granted or that I thought I knew something about.

John in the NW burbs of Chicago

> Luke < · Sep 12, 2012

Cincy_Mike said:
If you have the OEM battery, cover the screw-out caps with electrical tape to keep it clean until the next checkup. [helps alleviate dust near the screws from falling in] (advice stolen from dbw)

Thank You; Nice recommendation

Lightflyer1 · Sep 12, 2012

6 years and a day, old thread to an 8 year old post.

TDISD · Sep 14, 2012

8 year old battery still going strong thanks to this post.

glad someone brought it back up

kiwibru · Sep 14, 2012

10+years on my original OEM Varta. Battery Minder sessions and topped off cells rule.
(Mild climate helps too...)

diesel_dogg · Apr 3, 2014

Lightflyer1 said:
6 years and a day, old thread to an 8 year old post.

another 2 years later & still helping

NarfBLAST · Dec 1, 2014

Here is a battery I bought from VW a few years ago, it has actual marks for the fluid and the case is translucent so you can see the fluid level in these pictures. This battery has obviously been abused and poorly maintained, and may be too far gone to hold a charge again. It was in 2001 Golf that has been in storage for over a year.

I used a black marker to highlight the marks:

I did have to remove stickers to find the fill caps. Also, someone was asking "what are split rings" I guess those are the black half moon things you see down the fill holes?

Before filling I could see plates and acid and white plastic down the holes. After filling I could see nothing but the black fill tubes and water touching the half moon things at the bottom of the fill tubes. So I guess you could say "fill to the bottom of the fill tubes"? I forgot to take a picture before filling and my after picture just shows a black hole so all I can say is, "You will know what I mean when you see it."

kiwibru · Dec 1, 2014

Well, I have to express my loss of the OEM battery from my 2000 Golf. I got in to take the car to town in late Oct. and click, click. The old Varta had finally shorted out. I could not even get it to pass a current when trying to jump-start. But heck, that is a battery that was loved, cared for and given appropriate Battery-Minder sessions for almost 15 years! Amazing.

CourierGuy · Dec 1, 2014

15 years on your battery? Wow.

I'm a fan of the battery tenders too.

I bought the sick top model Genius charger from Canadian Tire last year.. installed the pigtail on the battery, for quick connections.

I doubt anyone would get 15 years in our Canadian climate tho.. -30celcius to +35 .. salt... ugh.

kiwibru · Dec 2, 2014

Well to make the battery feel normal we do a trip up into B.C. for a ski trip each winter.
It saw low teens and even some below 0 stuff every winter. Guess the coastal climate moderates that exposure and adds to life!

aespTDI · May 5, 2016

Old post - new story

Was having troubles the last couple of days with starting. Came across this thread and decided to take a look. After pulling the battery and removing the plugs, I ended up added almost 1/2 gallon of water, yikes!

Might be too far gone but we'll see how it turns out.

Maintaining Your Maintenance-Free Battery : )

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