Battery question

I

Intech

Veteran Member
Joined
Jun 25, 2005
Location
S. Central Pa USA
TDI
2003 Jetta GLS, 1999.5 Golf 2 dr
I hope I'm on the right place to ask this. My alternator crapped out on my 03' Jetta, the exact same day that I got a new battery from the dealer. Since I'm pretty much in the middle of nowhere, the two dealers are 46 and 50 miles away. How far, in miles, can I expect to drive, before the engine shuts down? Thanks
 
Powder Hound

Powder Hound

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Oct 25, 1999
Location
Under a Bridge, Crestview, FL, USA
TDI
'00 Golf 4dr White 5sp, '02 Jettachero 5sp, Wife's '03 NB Platinum Gray auto(!)
This sounds more like an alternator question since you just bought a new battery.

A good flaps (friendly local auto parts) should be able to test the alternator and/or sell you a reman. You wouldn't have to go buy an overpriced dealer item and get similarly overcharged for its replacement.

Or is it that you need such services? (Meaning the labor, not the overcharge for the alternator.) If you are up to it, there's at least one good how-to posted up with photos, I believe. You'd need a few tools and a couple of hours. It really isn't horrible.

Also, sometimes you can repair the alternator with just a new voltage regulator. Do some searching on here as there's lots of information, some of it is even really good advice.

Cheers,

PH


PS: Oh, and in answer to your original question, I don't know. But with a really good fully charged battery, no lights (including no DRLs), no ventilation, no radio, nor anything else that will cause more electrons to escape the battery than have to to run the computer, it should get you by for an hour, maybe more. I don't know as I've never had to try it for more than a few miles.
 
Last edited:
I

Intech

Veteran Member
Joined
Jun 25, 2005
Location
S. Central Pa USA
TDI
2003 Jetta GLS, 1999.5 Golf 2 dr
Powder Hound said:
This sounds more like an alternator question since you just bought a new battery.

A good flaps (friendly local auto parts) should be able to test the alternator and/or sell you a reman. You wouldn't have to go buy an overpriced dealer item and get similarly overcharged for its replacement.

Or is it that you need such services? (Meaning the labor, not the overcharge for the alternator.) If you are up to it, there's at least one good how-to posted up with photos, I believe. You'd need a few tools and a couple of hours. It really isn't horrible.

Also, sometimes you can repair the alternator with just a new voltage regulator. Do some searching on here as there's lots of information, some of it is even really good advice.

Cheers,

PH


PS: Oh, and in answer to your original question, I don't know. But with a really good fully charged battery, no lights (including no DRLs), no ventilation, no radio, nor anything else that will cause more electrons to escape the battery than have to to run the computer, it should get you by for an hour, maybe more. I don't know as I've never had to try it for more than a few miles.
Click to expand...

Thank you foir your reply. I already bought a new, not reman, alternator from Impex. Since I posted, I have an appointment with TDI Racing tomorrow. However, he's doing other work for me (brake booster, relay etc.), and this came up suddenly, so he's doing that also. If the battery holds out for a long as you guess, I'll be good, because that's about as far away, as he is. But to CMA, I'm taking along another fully charged battery, and my jumper cables, just in case.
 
Jetta_Pilot

Jetta_Pilot

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Apr 14, 2005
Location
West Hill, Ont.
TDI
2015 Passat Highline TDI Candy White (SEL Premium) long gone 2002 Jetta TDI
A few years ago with my 2002 Jetta I had to stop and shut the engine off to check out why the alternator light came on.

Had to restart the engine and then I had to drive 80 km ( 50 miles ) to find a repair shop.

As said before, no radio, no AC, no opening windows etc. and I made it OK.
 
I

Intech

Veteran Member
Joined
Jun 25, 2005
Location
S. Central Pa USA
TDI
2003 Jetta GLS, 1999.5 Golf 2 dr
Jetta_Pilot said:
A few years ago with my 2002 Jetta I had to stop and shut the engine off to check out why the alternator light came on.

Had to restart the engine and then I had to drive 80 km ( 50 miles ) to find a repair shop.

As said before, no radio, no AC, no opening windows etc. and I made it OK.
Click to expand...

Now that takes away some of the angst I have. Thank you
 
Powder Hound

Powder Hound

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Oct 25, 1999
Location
Under a Bridge, Crestview, FL, USA
TDI
'00 Golf 4dr White 5sp, '02 Jettachero 5sp, Wife's '03 NB Platinum Gray auto(!)
Thanks for the reply, and glad everything worked out well. Questions like this are going to predicate on anecdotal evidence because without that, we just don't know. For some strange reason, nobody seems to want to run a series of objective tests that would probably result in trashing one or more batteries. I for one can think of a lot of other uses for $150 or more.


Cheers,


PH
 
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