hoeser
Well-known member
I am thinking there is something wrong with the Battery in my 09 TDI. It provides excellent cranking power but if I use any accessories in the vehicle with the engine off for more than say 10 or 15 minutes, it will kill it to the point of where it wont even turn over or will not turn over fast enough to start the engine.
For example, I drove home from work yesterday (30 minutes all highway) with the alternator working wonderfully (14V on Scangauge)... Got home and was doing some work in the car. I had no key in the ignition, I only had the interior lights on and it couldn't have been for more than 20 minutes, I then turned the scangauge on and noticed the voltage was down to 11.6V, tried to start the car, it cranked over slowly and eventually just stopped cranking. Had to boost it with my pickup, after running the car for 10 minutes the car restarted fine. I cold start this car every morning (20F) and have no issues. It just seems to have next to zero capacity. I thought this was a 60AH battery!?
My question is, if I bring this battery to the dealership - will it fail a load test? It seems to provide full cranking power just not for any length of time. I also have aftermarket Stereo equipment in the car (two amps, 5 ferad cap, sub, deck) and I am 100% sure the stealership will attempt to blame the aftermarket gear the the battery problem... which is BS... It's connected properly and grounded properly and without the deck on the amps are unpowered. I kind of want to just bring them the battery and say "this is the battery out of my 09 tdi, test it" rather than bringing in the entire car.
For example, I drove home from work yesterday (30 minutes all highway) with the alternator working wonderfully (14V on Scangauge)... Got home and was doing some work in the car. I had no key in the ignition, I only had the interior lights on and it couldn't have been for more than 20 minutes, I then turned the scangauge on and noticed the voltage was down to 11.6V, tried to start the car, it cranked over slowly and eventually just stopped cranking. Had to boost it with my pickup, after running the car for 10 minutes the car restarted fine. I cold start this car every morning (20F) and have no issues. It just seems to have next to zero capacity. I thought this was a 60AH battery!?
My question is, if I bring this battery to the dealership - will it fail a load test? It seems to provide full cranking power just not for any length of time. I also have aftermarket Stereo equipment in the car (two amps, 5 ferad cap, sub, deck) and I am 100% sure the stealership will attempt to blame the aftermarket gear the the battery problem... which is BS... It's connected properly and grounded properly and without the deck on the amps are unpowered. I kind of want to just bring them the battery and say "this is the battery out of my 09 tdi, test it" rather than bringing in the entire car.