Disconnecting the battery - problem...?

[NotMyName]

Just checking on this one...

Basically my brother changed his brake pads yesterday. He dragged the job out & had dinner during & top+bottom of the story is - he had ignition on & radio going throughout for about 4 hours or so (adapter being used also snapped off so we had to go finding someone with a spare).
Then changed his pollen & air filters.

Come to start it & it's flat as a fart. Wont fire up at all. Go to jump start it - no joy. Bump start it - no. Put the battery on charge for about an hour & half - no nothing.


A workmate who's into his VWs said it may need a good long charge. This lad has a Y-plate (i think) Passat & warned against disconnecting the battery & went on about reprogramming ECU or something on those lines if the power connection is lost. He never said that's what will happen with my brothers Golf, but said that applies to his Passat, so it might be the same.

So i'm here just checking whether disconnecting the battery will cause this issue my workmate mentions. Bit too late if so as my brothers already done it, but we can't get the car started at all now, still.


EDIT: It's a 2002 1.9 TDI 100bhp if that throws any light on the issue.

[Steve_PD]

SO going by your work mate you can never change the battery because the ecu needs reprogramming  :roll eyes:

How long did you charge it for? Might be on its last legs anyway and your brother has killed it off

[evogti]

your battery is gone ,ecu will sort its self out when you start the car takes a couple of mins to set itself .changed mine and no problems and mines mapped still ok

[NotMyName]

He was waffling on & i was only partially listening as we had a lot of work on which i was wanting to get through so we could finish at a decent time - so i'm not 100% on what he was on about. I know he mentioned having a permanent live feed from the battery & there was a bit of hassle changing it. As i say, i switched off.

The battery was only charged for an hour & half last night, which isn't a lot. He's an idiot anyway - i told him he should've had it on charge while we were at work, so that's 10-12 hours easy, but no, he says it's pointless & then when he gets home at 7pm, decides to put it on charge ... idiot.

It also doesn't sound too clever when it starts, but then it never has since he bought it in April. He reckons up it's the starter motor making the strange groaning sound.

[Wayne]

I had my battery disconnected for a week whilst doing the heater matrix with no issues, it ran a little funny when first started but soon cleared all ok.

[Steve_PD]

Put it on charge over night and go from there. If it still doesn't like to start new battery time, check out ECP's and the 25% discount