Changing battery on 184 TDi FR

SteveW

Active Member
Jul 1, 2020
102
88
Salisbury, Wiltshire
I need to replace the battery on my 2016 184 TDi. It's been slowly getting slower to turn over over the last few months and this morning it finally didn't manage it.

I've got it on charge at the moment (still on the car) but I think it's probably time to replace it.

Is there anything I need to be careful about when changing the battery? I've done it many times before over the years, but never on a stop/start engine or anything that has required recoding etc.

I've ordered a Carista dongle because they were on offer for Easter (25% off and I already had £6 credit in my Amazon account :) ) so I will register the new battery once I've fitted it.

Aside from the recoding mentioned above, is there anything else I need to be aware of when swapping the battery?
 

RUM4MO

Active Member
Jun 4, 2008
7,784
983
South Scotland
The important parts of the re-coding are only the battery "size", its technology and slightly changing the current serial number, just changing a single digit will be enough.

If you are replacing the battery on a "like for like" basis, then only the serial number needs changing.
 
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SteveW

Active Member
Jul 1, 2020
102
88
Salisbury, Wiltshire
Thanks both.

I did have four errors on the dash after I charged up the existing battery, and doing the "lock to lock" thing got rid of three, leaving just the stop-start system error. This has now also gone after another restart, but the stop-start is disabled at the moment (assume this is working correctly as I guess the existing battery still hasn't got enough charge in it to enable stop-start).

I read the carista blog regarding the battery registering and they have said pretty much exactly what you said RUM4MO, so I'm comfortable with what to do if I do end up replacing the battery I think :)

Carista is arriving today, so I'll just put it in the drawer unopened for now so I don't activate my free month and waste it, until I know for sure whether I need a new battery.

Currently, the battery seems OK after about five hours on charge in situ on the car (only an old battery charger so not that powerful). I've been for a half hour drive and stopped and restarted a number of times and it turns over nice and quick and starts without issue. So I'll see how it is over the weekend and will take it from there.

I might have escaped having to buy a battery! For now at least :D
 

RUM4MO

Active Member
Jun 4, 2008
7,784
983
South Scotland
I now, well since retiring and then Covid, only ever use smart chargers like CTEK when I feel the need to recharge batteries, my own car, an S4 sleeps in the garage only getting an outing once a month, unless pressed into service for longer journeys, it has an AGM battery and using my CTEK battery tester, after over 11 years in service and most of that time connected to a smart charger/maintainer, its health seems to be good. On my wife's 2015 Polo with its EFB, during Covid it did get connected to a second CTEK frequently and once a year I run a "reconditioning" charging profile and seems to bring it back into better health than it was prior to that recon'd charge sequence, until this spring when it does not seem to have regained much and so tests out as a 475A CCA (EN) down from its new rating and checking rating of 640A CCA (EN) and has earned the status of "Replace Battery" - I have a new slightly bigger AGM battery,and I've still to fit it, I'm just keeping on keeping an eye on the DVM plugged into the "ciggy lighter" socket and using the voltage values I see there to gauge how things are, "auto stop/start" is still very quickly getting enabled if I forget to disable it, so that battery is still doing what it needs to.
 
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SteveW

Active Member
Jul 1, 2020
102
88
Salisbury, Wiltshire
Well, I ended up buying a new battery yesterday. I moved the car to wash it, and then it wouldn't start to move it back! It's clearly not holding a charge because I've been for a couple of good runs in it since the problems the other week.

So I'm £140 lighter, but the new battery is in and coded without issues with the Carista :)
 

RUM4MO

Active Member
Jun 4, 2008
7,784
983
South Scotland
Good, coding in new batteries in cars that are "post BEM" is so easy, I still have to fit the new AGM to my car, before we us it to go down South the week after that, but that car is a "BEM" era car!
 
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BillyCool

Active Member
Jan 16, 2020
645
244
Leicestershire, UK
Well, I ended up buying a new battery yesterday. I moved the car to wash it, and then it wouldn't start to move it back! It's clearly not holding a charge because I've been for a couple of good runs in it since the problems the other week.

So I'm £140 lighter, but the new battery is in and coded without issues with the Carista :)
Good to hear. Not that you should need to charge it, but you should only use modern chargers that are compatible with stop start batteries. Using the wrong charger can kill a perfectly good battery.
 
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