Dealer put wrong battery in my car?

So my battery in my 2002 golf just failed and I want to get a new one.
Last week i had a new starter installed and the guy mentioned that he thought the battery was way too small just by seeing that the compartment was drastically bigger than the battery.

I told him that CAPISTRANO VOLKSWAGEN of orange county ca put the battery in and they told me diesels need a special battery taht is really hard to find. He said there was nothing special about the battery i had.

So this week it suddenly fails. I look at it and it says "48cca575.

does that sound like a 94r battery to you? I thought it had to have something like 875ca and 780cca. At least that is what the chart floating around says.

That would mean that capsitrano just put in a regular battery?
Believe me I would NOT be suprised, seeing what they they put me though this year already (never ever going back there)

Can I get a battery better than this one at autozone? I went there one time and they said they do not stock the 94r.

Thanks for any help

Doug M

What part number is on your invoice? The correct part number for the Golf Diesel battery is
1JO 915 105 AG.

Yuri

PS: there are even higher-capacity batteries that would fit... suffix AH or DJ...

PPS: WalMart carries 94R batteries for $77... (some stores carry 94RN which is also acceptable...)

They put in the wrong one for your TDI car. I think that's the gasser battery or the one for the NB, which are smaller due to size limitations in the engine compartment.

As mentioned, check your invoice. You probably paid for the one you got, but you didn't get what you thought you were getting/should have got.

I think the proper way to proceed is to go back to Capistrano VW and let them correct the situation ( correct p/n battery for your Golf TDI), at no charge to you. A dealer of all vendors has DIRECT and other accesses to the TONS of correct information.

It is literally as simple ( perhaps not for some) as: look at the p/n in the technical data (old pizza commercial, go to dah freezer, get the box concept) and get the right p/n battery in stock !!!! If not in stock... BO !!!!???? (I am helping!!)

Thanks for the help!
Actually i would gladly spend a hundred bucks somewhere else to avoid looking at those people again. Plus I fully believe that they would still install the wrong battery, and then claim that it is the right one even while I point at the wrong number on the battery.

Actually there is no way possible that Capistrano volkswagen of san juan capistrano would even admit that it is the wrong battery, or if they did admit it, they still would not replace it. They are just that way.

once again that is capistrano VW. Do not go there under any circumstances.
They used to be great about four years ago, but something has changed there. It comes from the top people there.

thanks again

ps... is the 94r larger in size than the 48? the 48 looks really small in there!

doug M

That is sad to hear. Some years back they hosted a GTG @ their facility and seemed like one of the VW dealers that could have made the unofficial "approved" list (service probably being the most important from the consumer perspective) . (I am sure the archives have the thread and posted pictures)

It would still seem that even after problem identification and program implementation an unacceptable percentage of VW dealers appear to be still a very weak VW customer service link.

However to end with a solution, if your car can use a 94R battery, COSTCO has CR rated best buy/ bang for buck in their Kirtland Brand batteries. I forget the full refund time frame (2 years? aka 24 mo?) with a total of 100 mos prorate. (so that is 100-24 mo (full refund)= 76 mo prorate) . I know for a fact, the VW battery has a 1 year 12 mo full replacement and 60 mo total prorate. Costco batteries are like $70 VW oem is like 110 to 120.

Walmart is also another thought.

yeah back then they had a great TDI guy who was very well known. He is in fresno now I think. They changed owership or management or something since then. That place is booming with business on the sales end. I just bought an EOS there in october, then eveything went south in a hurry. No problems with the EOS by the way, awesome car. They just messed up bad on my TDI multiple times in three months

Well forwarned is forearmed. Thanks for the heads up.

Mine fills the battery box.

A series 94 is physically larger that a 48. A 48 series could work, since it's OE in a NB TDI, but I'm guessing they put in a battery without enough AH.