Battery Rating

[Bowton Lad]

The battery on my T4 2.5 TDI has a ''075'' code on it & is marked ''Heavy Duty''. Is this battery powerful enough for the engine? The van won't start today even though it had a 5 mile run yesterday afternoon. The alternator warning light has not even flickered once. Any advice on battery ratings, please?

[bigherb]

Should be an 017 battery 650A CCA. An 075 battery is 550A but the difference would not make it not start unless it is faulty or it's not charging properly.

[Bowton Lad]

Out of curiosty I phoned Halfrauds & they have a 019 heavy duty battery ie. 830 amps @ £130 A search of online sellers came up with a Bosch S5 Range battery with a 5 year warranty @ £105 and a Varta Blue F17 @ £94.00. Most of these other batteries are 017 coded.

Anyway, it could be the alternator because the battery has taken an external charge & is giving a 'fully charged' reading on my battery charge indicator thingy. I noticed that the leisure battery was also showing 'partially charged''. That made me wonder about the split charge relay being faulty.

[dj biz r]

i bought a battery for £91.00 thought it was expensive 71ah good enough but did do a search online could,ve had same rated for £55 free delivery although i cant remember said company ,,but sure any one could find it think i typed in car battery,,,,.oh and me old battery still holds charge so am gonna put that under passenger seat and put halfrauds £17 split charge on it ,to run me music thingy.ps they say to test alternater ,,while running put screwdriver to back of alternater should have magnetic effect ,strong ,turn lights on etc watch ,,

[Bowton Lad]

Thanks dj biz r. I am keeping an open mind about the need to replace the battery. I am now wondering if there is some sort of drain on the battery when the van is stood. It appears that the van will only start with a fully charged battery, even a partially charged battery won't turn the engine over on a reasonably warm day like today, bearing in mind that is not quite as powerful as it should be. I must also get the alternator output checked. What do garages use to check this?

[Bowton Lad]

Just checked the charge on the vehicle & leisure batteries this afternoon after the van has been stood for two days without being started or electrical equipment used. The vehicle battery is still fully charged but the leisure battery is now only partially charged. There's obviously a current drain somewhere but where do I start checking? I hope the vehicle battery doesn't get affected as I don't want to miss another weekend away ie.Bus Types.

[colinthefox]

Have a look at the voltage regulator on the alternator. They can fail with worn brushes and the charging light won't come on, your elecs just get dimmer and dimmer. Usually causes interference on the radio at higher revs too. Worth changing anyway, only about a tenner to buy, and can often be changed with the alternator in situ.

[faggie]

fit a cut of switch to the battery bolton lad then at least it wont be discharging the battery when your not using it , i have one you can have for a £10 can bring it tomorrow if you like