How long did your battery last?

Rico567

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Jun 13, 2003
Location
Central IL
TDI
2013 Passat TDI SEL Premium (Turned in 7/7/18)
tdiDreaming, do you lock the car every night? That could account for the shorter battery life.
Our Passat (SEL with KESSY) is locked at all times when it's not being driven. We bought it new in July '13, and it still has the OEM battery, now going into its 5th winter.....
 

tdiDreaming

Active member
Joined
Oct 22, 2012
Location
DFW
TDI
2013 Passat TDI SE
tdiDreaming, do you lock the car every night? That could account for the shorter battery life.

It's garage kept while at home so I typically do not lock it. The ONLY thing I can think of is that this might be due to the type of driving I typically have to suffer through, although I was tackling this similar drive in my MkIV Jetta and didn't have the same issue:

-40 mile (one way) commute
-average commute time (one way) of about 1hr, 15 minutes in stop and go traffic
-I also tend to make at least a couple of phone calls during the drive via the BT connection but I can't imagine this playing that big of a factor (??)
 

VernK

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 31, 2012
Location
Kelowna
TDI
2012 Passat 2.5L Gas
Sad to announce the original battery gave up the ghost last night after seven years and a month. Car's got 120,000 km on it.

Replaced with a Canadian Tire Motomaster of slightly larger capacity for 158$ with the taxes.

Yours
Vern
 

dak503

Active member
Joined
Oct 20, 2013
Location
northern nj
TDI
2013 passat se
My 2013 TDI is still on it's original battery with a 105 k. I carry a jump box waited for the day it dies.
 

Fixmy59bug

Veteran Member
Joined
Aug 1, 2009
Location
Las Vegas, NV
TDI
2015 Passat TDI SE
I just replaced my battery last week in my 2015 Passat.

Original battery with a date stamp of 0815 (February 2015).
 

Fixmy59bug

Veteran Member
Joined
Aug 1, 2009
Location
Las Vegas, NV
TDI
2015 Passat TDI SE
Well... to be fair for one it was sitting for a year while dieselgate got rolling, and two I live in the desert where it frequently tops 110* in the summer.

4 years is about average here in Las Vegas.
 

06bluebeetletdi

Veteran Member
Joined
Sep 30, 2012
Location
Middlesex, NC
TDI
'14 Passat TDI SEL and '13 Beetle TDI
Proactively changed mine on the passat's 4 year build date birthday (it had sat much of the previous 18 months) - 10/22/17, delivery date is in dec 13. The bug's is original - build date 6/23/13(sold 2/4/14) I had to have a car i could guarantee would start due to medical issues.
I replaced the bug’s battery in January 2018, it died a little less than a year later in my brother’s 2004 jetta. The Passat’s original battery is still going in my dad’s diesel combination.
 

740GLE

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Aug 19, 2009
Location
NH
TDI
2015 Passat SEL, 2017 Alltrack SE; BB 2010 Sedan Man; 2012 Passat,
Well... to be fair for one it was sitting for a year while dieselgate got rolling, and two I live in the desert where it frequently tops 110* in the summer.

4 years is about average here in Las Vegas.

Your's was a NOS correct? If only the stupid dealer ;) did a proper prep and change out the battery before selling it.
 

soot1

Veteran Member
Joined
Nov 6, 2009
Location
Houston, TX
TDI
Currently none. Formerly: 2010 VW Jetta TDI 6M, 1993 Dodge Ram W250 Cummins 5M 4WD, 1990 VW Jetta Diesel 5M, 1986 VW Jetta Diesel 5M, 1980 VW Uabbit Diesel 4M. Currently driving 2018 Toyota 4Runner SR5 4WD.
Well... to be fair for one it was sitting for a year while dieselgate got rolling, and two I live in the desert where it frequently tops 110* in the summer.

4 years is about average here in Las Vegas.
I had the same experience with my 2010 Jetta. I took delivery of the vehicle in early October of 2009 in Pennsylvania, and moved to Houston 3 weeks later. The vehicle was built in June of that year, and the OEM battery gave up on me in August of 2014, so if you go by the build date, the battery lasted 5 years and 2 months. If you go by the delivery date, then its lifespan was 4 years and 10 months. When I checked with my coworkers, that seemed to be about average car battery lifespan for this climatic zone. In contrast, my brother lives in much cooler climate of Central Europe, and he can easily get 10 years of service out of his batteries, which would support the common experience that hot climate has significant impact on lifespan of car batteries. BTW, I didn't have the chance to see how long the second battery in my Jetta lasted as I turned it back to VW in July of 2018, at which point it had clocked in close to 4 years of service, and it was an OEM battery from VW dealer.
 

Fixmy59bug

Veteran Member
Joined
Aug 1, 2009
Location
Las Vegas, NV
TDI
2015 Passat TDI SE
Your's was a NOS correct? If only the stupid dealer ;) did a proper prep and change out the battery before selling it.
If they tested it and it was above minimum spec, then they wouldnt replace it.

I mean, it lasted an additional two years.

Besides... I got a free battery while I worked there. So I cant complain.

Not too long before I quit, a customer brought in a 2002 Jetta with 52,000 miles on it (you might remember that thread) and the customer wanted us (them) to go through it and see what it needed to get back on the road. The battery was completely dead so first we had to install a battery just to see if it would run and pull any diag codes. Customer approved the battery and it turns out it was suggested abut $5,000 in repairs (to include a turbo).

After about 3 months, the customer fought and said she wanted her car back. She cant afford to do any of the repairs. And if she wasnt getting it fixed, she didnt want the battery either. After some fighting with the service manager and general manager, the battery was taken out and put in the scrap pile because it couldnt be sold as new anymore. Why we didnt bill it to a used car, I dont know. But I'm not going to complain about it.

I asked my manager if I could exchange one of my battery cores for that core and he didnt care as long as he had a core.

So, score for me. I put it on a charger and it measures over 700 mah. I've been storing it for about a year before my original battery died.
 

Smashed Ixnay

Veteran Member
Joined
May 7, 2010
Location
Auburndale, FL
TDI
2015 Passat TDI SEL
Bought my car in Dec 2017 and just changed the battery. No idea how old it was though. Ended up just getting one from the dealer while they were servicing the car.
 

740GLE

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Aug 19, 2009
Location
NH
TDI
2015 Passat SEL, 2017 Alltrack SE; BB 2010 Sedan Man; 2012 Passat,
If they tested it and it was above minimum spec, then they wouldnt replace it.
Agreed and that's why I fought with them to replace it regardless of their test. They ate the $200 cost they would have charged to replace it. Sure they lost out on $200 but they still held their line for MSRP + dealer and doc fees minus the VWoA rebates, they made a killing on us in a time they couldn't move a '17 passat any where near MSRP.

VWoA would have authorized a replacement if they failed it, same with rotors and pads.

Sadly all 4 rotors grew deposits, 30K for the front 40K for rears, fronts haven been changed out by me and I'll be tackling the rears possibly this weekend, so about $200 out of my pocket.
 

buffa98

Active member
Joined
Feb 6, 2013
Location
SE PA
TDI
2013 SE DSG White/Cornsilk
Bought my Passat new Oct of 2013, build date of Feb 2013. Just now replaced the battery, I left it at an airport for 5 days, it was a little slow to crank. Had it tested, it was at 65% load capacity after a 2 hour drive. Rather safe than sorry, I dropped a new one in.
 

740GLE

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Aug 19, 2009
Location
NH
TDI
2015 Passat SEL, 2017 Alltrack SE; BB 2010 Sedan Man; 2012 Passat,
IMO, that's pretty good lifetime right there
 
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