2010 Ibiza 1.4 (petrol) battery change

[NateC]

Car wouldn't start just now and it's the middle of the night. The buzz (from fuel injection?) when you turn the key sounds lower than normal and the starter barely turns then dies. Lights are on though and with the ignition switched on, I get three beeps that I've never heard before. Car has always started on first attempt and never had any issues, so this was a bit unexpected.

I suspect it's the battery. Can I just buy a replacement and change it myself or do I need to get one of those memory devices to not have electronic issues after the swap?

 

[NateC]

It's morning and I made another attempt to start the car. First attempt ignition buzz sounded normal. Starter only turned once and died. Second attempt it was much weaker so I suppose it's the battery? I've attached a photo of it. No corrosion on the clamps. I lifted the + flap and checked that is well. No yellow color on the inspection window. Edit: I found a video on how to remove it here:

Since the battery condition indicator seems to be fine, should I purchase a charger and attempt to charge it or buy a new battery? I'd like to point out that I mostly drive the car for trips over 30 minutes and it has never shown any indication of starting issues.

 

[RUM4MO]

I'd certainly buy a cheapish smart charger and get that battery charged back up again, it would be handy if you also bought a cheap digital voltmeter so that you know what/why is going on.

Edit:- as that battery looks like the original, ie an Exide manufactured in ES - Spain, it is probably near the end of its life, so replacing with "the same" should work, but I like to find out why there is a problem and then sort it out.

If you do park off road and can just buy and fit a charger to it, then I'd do that and if its voltage indicated that it was "near end of life", ie charged up okay abut as soon as you started it it did that but the voltage dropped below 8 volts while cranking, I'd suggest that you order in a new battery from Tayna who tends to be unbeatable price wise.

It would be good to have a memory saver, but not essential, you will need to reset the electric window end stops and let it run for short time and then drive it through a normal range of conditions to optimise the base settings, but that is all, same as is needed on most modern cars.

 

[RUM4MO]

One other thing, how long have you owned this car and how often do you drive it?

I am just asking these questions in case that car needs its BCM software updated to avoid it randomly or frequently discharging its battery while it is parked.

I had that problem with my older daughter's late 2009 Ibiza 1.4 petrol SC, and that issue did not show up while she was using it every day, it was only when I was looking after for her while she was abroad working, that it started ending up with a discharged battery that I could easily charge back up and it looked okay although the car was by then 8 years old, getting a SEAT dealership to believe me that that was probably the root cause of that issue took me over 12 months, but when I used another SEAT dealership, they understood this very old issue with some of these Ibizas of that age, and requested support from SEAT "mothership" and they were directed to a BCM S/W patch and that fixed that problem immediately.

 

[NateC]

@RUM4MO Hey thanks for your reply. I did just that, bought a charger and it's been charging for a couple of hours now. Fortunately it died on my parking spot but there's no outlet nearby so I had to remove the battery and it's now charging on the balcony for best ventilation. Thanks for letting me know it might be the original battery. I'll probably end up getting a new battery for peace of mind. What is it I need to do with the windows? Any other things I should keep in mind if I manage to get it running again?

I've had the car for little over a year. It doesn't get used much, I'd say at most once a week. But I do mostly longer drives (at least over half an hour). What surprised me was how there was no indication of battery issues. The car was driven just 4-5 hours earlier and had no issues starting then.

 

[RUM4MO]

Ah, good, so it does not sound like you have the BCM S/W issue hopefully.

To reset the electric windows, if they or the driver's side one does not "auto close" - if it ever had that function, you need to hold down the DOWN button and keep holding it for a second or so after the window has reached its fully down position, then do the same for the fully UP position, after that the window controller will remember its OPEN and CLOSED positions, that is all. Any other side windows that also could previously be opened or closed with a single press of the driver's side window switches, if that car has any, will also need to be reprog'd in a similar way - but maybe your window switches are in the centre of the car and so no driver's door mounted master switches.

 

[NateC]

Perfect timing of your reply. I had just installed a new battery and was about to start the car when I saw your post. I reprogrammed the windows and the car has been running without issues. The charger I bought indicated the old battery was no good which is why I got a new one.

 

[RUM4MO]

Excellent, now should be able to stop worrying about "will it start?".