Flat Battery.....Bong Bong Bong.....

[Gazdebaz]

I had to call the RAC out as my car wouldn’t start (was at home) and I got the Bong Bong Bong sound followed by “ESP fault on the MFD”. Pus the engine wouldn't even turn over. Guessed it was probably the battery but called out the RAC anyway.(Got to get your money’s worth)

He arrived and quickly diagnosed it was the battery, as he said the first things to show faults with from a flat battery are the ESP and air bags! He got the car started ok and tested the battery, with his hand held tester, and it came up “Battery fault, change battery.”

He then offered to fit a new battery for £100. Which I politely refused, using words I think like F**K off… and robbing B*****D. 

Contacted dealer the same day and dropped the car off. The important thing to note here is that they will change out the battery under warranty, but the head office stand point to all service departments, is that they must do full charge and discharge tests, cold starts etc to prove it is faulty, which will take on average 4 days.   Dropped the car off on the Friday got it back on the Wednesday. (NB. This was before Christmas)

[mkviken]

4 days to diagnose a dead battery? they take the p!ss man.

im a bit worried about a flat battery as my car hasn't moved for a while other than twice taking it out/driving it back into the garage to polish and wax it.


could i use a battery booster to top it up or will it harm it?

I've had BMW bikes where my battery failed after a few weeks and the main dealer tried to claim me for using an optimiser, which wasn't the problem at all incidentally and i got a new bike in the end as it was a dud.

anyway will a battery booster be ok to charge the car for a few hours or will it harm it?

[Gazdebaz]

Sorry I don't know about using a battery booster.

[Keithuk]

There are different types of battery booster. Using jump leads of another vehicle thats running and the portable battery starter packs are both battery boosters.

The other type are mains powered boosters that you can pump in 200-300amps to get the vehicle started. They also have a charging setting so use that for a slow charge overnight putting in about 5amps. Don't use the 200amp boost to charge the battery it will eventually melt and you'll have electrolyte running down the paintwork under the bonnet.

There are cheap trickle chargers you can get for charging your battery overnight but you would need to get one that will put out at least 5amps as some will only do 2 or 3amps. If you don't use your car that must there are solar powered battery chargers no it doesn't need to be sunny for them to work that will put a steady trickle charge in the battery they are from about £49, again there are different outputs.

[JamesR27]

I had a similar thing on mine a whole ago. I had the vw technician out who boost started it and when he did had the Bluetooth making funny noises but could not find anything on the computer. He ran tests on the battery and all was ok so booked it in to vw who ran full tests over days but could not find anything. Might be worth getting it booked though.

[mkviken]

I've got a mains battery booster with jump leads which is also a tyre pump. Pretty sure it has a slow charge feature.

Just wanted to make sure it wouldn't damage anything if I put it on for a few hours.

[Jimble]

I've had a similar problem. 
http://www.golfgtiforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=217083.0

[p3asa]

Today is apparently the breakdown services busiest day, for you've guessed it, flat battery's!!!

People don't use their car over the festive season especially if it is a 2 car house hold. They use the one car throughout.

It was in the BBC news today http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-16389175

[mac7]

If you park your car within reach of a mains socket, I can recommend a ctek battery conditioner to prevent future problems with flat batteries.

[Snoopy]

Got to love VW   
Alfa and Nissan just repace them.
The modern batterys are known to be poor reliability the people in the dealers parts departments will tell you there ordering in replacing batterys under warrenty regular. Especially anything that has stop start on it or not used alot.