ColoradoDriver
Veteran Member
- Joined
- Dec 13, 2003
- Location
- Woodland Park, Colorado
- TDI
- Previously: 2012 Candy White Passat TDI SEL. Sold back to VW. Now: Only gas vehicles, including 2017 Passat V6 SEL Premium
Friday evening we went into the garage to start our 2012 Passat TDI SEL for the first time in about 30 hours and there was apparently not even enough voltage to energize the multiple components let alone the starter. All lights on the display flashed; clock kept resetting; trip meter reset; and display alternated between " key out of range" and "press the brake to start." Since we had somewhere to go that evening, we just switched everything off and took the wife's Mercedes, instead.
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Saturday morning I hooked up my portable battery jump starter. That gave enough juice to avoid the flashing display lights, but not enough to even try to turn over the starter. So I connected my VCDS to see what was going on. There were a couple low/insufficient voltage faults, and most components could not even be reached. I cleared those faults. No joy trying to start using the jumper. And the jump starter ran down very quickly.
So, while it still had some power available, I shifted the DSG transmission into neutral so it would be possible to push the Passat out of the garage.
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Called my dealer service department to give them a heads up, and then VW Roadside Assistance. My plan was to have the Passat flatbedded to the dealership. Roadside Assistance told me that since it was a 2012 Passat (without tow hooks) it could not be flatbedded. They instead wanted the front wheels to be placed on a carriage (like lots of folks use to tow a car behind their motor home) and then towed to the dealership. I did not want to do that for fear of damage to the Passat. So, once VW Roadside Assistance gave me the name and number of the tow service that they dispatched to my home, I called the tow company directly and told them to bring a flatbed, instead. I also searched on the Internet while waiting for the tow service to arrive (only took about 10 minutes) and found excellent instructions for how to hook up tows on a 2012 Passat. One such option was for a flatbed. So I printed that out, with pictures of connection points, and provided it to the flatbed driver.
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It was very easy to flatbed the Passat--even without tow hooks. The driver was able to attach his winch cable to the appropriate frame points in the instructions and just pull the Passat, read end first, up onto the flatbed.
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Dealer gave me 2012 Jetta Sportwagan as a free loaner. Got my Passat back midday on Monday. They had removed and tested the battery Saturday afternoon. After about an hour on their charger/tester, the display said the battery was defective and needed to be replaced. So they put in a new battery. Passat started right up. They tested the charging system. All was good. They let the Passat sit until Monday morning to be certain that the new battery would not drain down. It did not. And they confirmed that there was no drain on the battery while the Passat was turned off.
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Everything seems back to normal now. Even my rain-sensing wipers still work without having to re-code with VCDS. Will run a full auto-scan tomorrow morning, just to be sure that there are no stored faults.
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Has anyone else had their Passat battery fail after only two months and about 2500 miles?
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Saturday morning I hooked up my portable battery jump starter. That gave enough juice to avoid the flashing display lights, but not enough to even try to turn over the starter. So I connected my VCDS to see what was going on. There were a couple low/insufficient voltage faults, and most components could not even be reached. I cleared those faults. No joy trying to start using the jumper. And the jump starter ran down very quickly.
So, while it still had some power available, I shifted the DSG transmission into neutral so it would be possible to push the Passat out of the garage.
--
Called my dealer service department to give them a heads up, and then VW Roadside Assistance. My plan was to have the Passat flatbedded to the dealership. Roadside Assistance told me that since it was a 2012 Passat (without tow hooks) it could not be flatbedded. They instead wanted the front wheels to be placed on a carriage (like lots of folks use to tow a car behind their motor home) and then towed to the dealership. I did not want to do that for fear of damage to the Passat. So, once VW Roadside Assistance gave me the name and number of the tow service that they dispatched to my home, I called the tow company directly and told them to bring a flatbed, instead. I also searched on the Internet while waiting for the tow service to arrive (only took about 10 minutes) and found excellent instructions for how to hook up tows on a 2012 Passat. One such option was for a flatbed. So I printed that out, with pictures of connection points, and provided it to the flatbed driver.
--
It was very easy to flatbed the Passat--even without tow hooks. The driver was able to attach his winch cable to the appropriate frame points in the instructions and just pull the Passat, read end first, up onto the flatbed.
--
Dealer gave me 2012 Jetta Sportwagan as a free loaner. Got my Passat back midday on Monday. They had removed and tested the battery Saturday afternoon. After about an hour on their charger/tester, the display said the battery was defective and needed to be replaced. So they put in a new battery. Passat started right up. They tested the charging system. All was good. They let the Passat sit until Monday morning to be certain that the new battery would not drain down. It did not. And they confirmed that there was no drain on the battery while the Passat was turned off.
--
Everything seems back to normal now. Even my rain-sensing wipers still work without having to re-code with VCDS. Will run a full auto-scan tomorrow morning, just to be sure that there are no stored faults.
--
Has anyone else had their Passat battery fail after only two months and about 2500 miles?
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