Correct battery for Leon 1.4TSI with Stop/Start

[cmberry20]

My battery has all of a sudden started to struggle to start my car. After a long drive its fine but left over night its struggles and a 12v warning pops up on the dash.
My first port of call is to replace the battery, however, I'm a little unsure if the one in there is the correct one for a Seat Leon 2016 1.4 TSI FR 150BHP with Stop/Start feature. Its an Exide EFB 1S0 915 105A. However, looking at a lot of websites they say that I should be using the larger (and a lot more expensive) AGM battery. So my question in this, is the Exide EFB battery ok for my car, because if it is I will just get a direct replacement.

Additionally, I heard that you have to do a software battery reset (BMS?) when a new battery is fitted - is this the case & can it be done without a specialist device?

Cheers

 

[RUM4MO]

EFB will be correct but any AGM alternative would be the same capacity which I'd think is frame size 027 60Ahr 320A (DIN).

The car's system will need to be told that the battery has been replaced and if fitting AGM in place of EFB that needs to be changed as well - and also capacity if that is being increased.

VCDS. Carista etc will be required when a new battery is fitted, or official VW Group workshop tools or whatever any battery shop might have for that purpose.

Edit:- recently I've found that the cost difference between EFB and AGM for a size 027 battery is less than £15.

 

[Walone]

My battery has all of a sudden started to struggle to start my car. After a long drive its fine but left over night its struggles and a 12v warning pops up on the dash.
My first port of call is to replace the battery, however, I'm a little unsure if the one in there is the correct one for a Seat Leon 2016 1.4 TSI FR 150BHP with Stop/Start feature. Its an Exide EFB 1S0 915 105A. However, looking at a lot of websites they say that I should be using the larger (and a lot more expensive) AGM battery. So my question in this, is the Exide EFB battery ok for my car, because if it is I will just get a direct replacement.

Additionally, I heard that you have to do a software battery reset (BMS?) when a new battery is fitted - is this the case & can it be done without a specialist device?

Cheers

This is the battery fitted to my car, same MY etc,

 

[cmberry20]

Ok cheers for the info.
Are AGM considered a better battery type than EFB? I dont mind paying a little bit more & getting the bigger (in size & capacity) AGM one as specified on this website:

Seat Leon 3 (from 2012) - batteries | What Battery

Seat Leon in version 3 is produced from 2012. The following table presents information about batteries that match each of the engines available on the market.

whatbattery.co.uk

These 2 sites seem to offer the Bosch AGM for a fairly good price; especially compared to ECP as they want to charge £250!

Bosch S5A08 AGM Starter Battery: Type 096

The Bosch S5A08 battery with AGM technology provides enough power for frequent starts and stops. Backed by a 5 year car battery warranty.

www.batterymegastore.co.uk

Bosch car battery S5A08 start-stop 12V 70Ah 760A

Bosch S5 A08 car battery AGM Start-Stop 12V 70Ah 760A The S5 A08 is manufactured by Bosch. Batteries from the German brand Bosch use innovative…

batterygroup.co.uk

 

[RUM4MO]

First make sure that you have got all the information from the battery that is presently fitted to your car, the frame size 027 is 242mm Long, 175mm Wide, 190mm High, the frame size 096 is 278mm Long, 175mm Wide , 190mm High.

If and only if your car is fitted with the 027 frame size, make sure that the battery tray can accommodate the longer frame size 096.

My friend's current 2019 and previous 2018 VW T-Roc 1.5TSI 150PS were/are fitted with frame size 027 batteries, EFB, that was why I suggested that your car might have that size of battery - I could be wrong when it comes to SEAT Leon 1.4TSI.

I plan to fit a size 096 AGM Bosch to my wife's 2015 VW Polo 1.2TSI 110PS when or if its original frame size 027 EFB battery fails, but I have had to buy a new battery tray.

All indications are that if you are keeping the car for a long time, then spending an extra maybe £15 and buying an AGM will cost you less per year of ownership than saving the £15 and buying an EFB of the same capacity.

 

[Walone]

Ok cheers for the info.
Are AGM considered a better battery type than EFB? I dont mind paying a little bit more & getting the bigger (in size & capacity) AGM one as specified on this website:

Seat Leon 3 (from 2012) - batteries | What Battery

Seat Leon in version 3 is produced from 2012. The following table presents information about batteries that match each of the engines available on the market.

whatbattery.co.uk

These 2 sites seem to offer the Bosch AGM for a fairly good price; especially compared to ECP as they want to charge £250!

Bosch S5A08 AGM Starter Battery: Type 096

The Bosch S5A08 battery with AGM technology provides enough power for frequent starts and stops. Backed by a 5 year car battery warranty.

www.batterymegastore.co.uk

Bosch car battery S5A08 start-stop 12V 70Ah 760A

Bosch S5 A08 car battery AGM Start-Stop 12V 70Ah 760A The S5 A08 is manufactured by Bosch. Batteries from the German brand Bosch use innovative…

batterygroup.co.uk

https://www.tayna.co.uk/ have a very good reputation and usually good price and service.

 

[Johnny Leon]

Yours is the same battery as in my 2015 1.8FR (Exide EFB 1S0 915 105A - 640A 59Ah 320A). I got an Exide 027 EFB Car Battery 60Ah EL600 from Tayna - https://www.tayna.co.uk/car-batteries/exide/el600/ (or cheaper from here now https://batterygroup.co.uk/batterie...27-efb-stop/start-car-battery-12v-60ah-640cca ). I just swapped mine over with no coding and all warning lights went out after a short drive, didn't even have to reset one-touch windows.

 

[SuperV8]

First make sure that you have got all the information from the battery that is presently fitted to your car, the frame size 027 is 242mm Long, 175mm Wide, 190mm High, the frame size 096 is 278mm Long, 175mm Wide , 190mm High.

If and only if your car is fitted with the 027 frame size, make sure that the battery tray can accommodate the longer frame size 096.

My friend's current 2019 and previous 2018 VW T-Roc 1.5TSI 150PS were/are fitted with frame size 027 batteries, EFB, that was why I suggested that your car might have that size of battery - I could be wrong when it comes to SEAT Leon 1.4TSI.

I plan to fit a size 096 AGM Bosch to my wife's 2015 VW Polo 1.2TSI 110PS when or if its original frame size 027 EFB battery fails, but I have had to buy a new battery tray.

All indications are that if you are keeping the car for a long time, then spending an extra maybe £15 and buying an AGM will cost you less per year of ownership than saving the £15 and buying an EFB of the same capacity.

In the case of the Leon mk3 there is 1x plastic battery tray - with 3x indents for 3 different battery sizes.
Battery tray part number 5Q0915331K

I have just fitted an 096 AGM in my 184 TDI which filled the tray. FYI I used the Bosch 096AGM as this had a 5 year warranty.

 

[cmberry20]

Thanks for the help guys.
To prevent any hassle I'm just going to replace the battery like for like with another EFB Exide 027 battery.

Now, on to the 'programming' bit. I've read that because its a 'like for like' battery replacement that the only thing that needs to change or update is the serial code of the battery. I would like to have the ability to do this myself, but there are so many devices out there that I have no idea what is a decent (but not too expensive) one to get.
I'm guessing that the car should work ok without any warning etc if I dont update the code straight away (because its like for like)

 

[Johnny Leon]

Yes, mine's been ok without any programming (changed 6 months ago). Carista is probably the cheapest solution as I think you get a free 1 month trial of some advanced features which covers battery 'reprogramming'. Also useful to have for the future as can activate a subscription later on if you have problems and want to read fault codes.

 

[RUM4MO]

The battery management system's charging profile will adapt as it already has adapted from day 1 for the original battery, and so I'd guess that it will eventually get back to optimising the charging profile for this new battery.
What I don't know is, how much if any effect this "leaving it to get on with it" will have on this new battery's service life - and if either buying a diagnostic tool, or ask a battery place - and pay for them making the changes, will meet or exceed the "£s" per thousand miles, if any, that not making these changes will cost in ownership.
It must be a good plan to get this sorted out though, as I have done when replacing a battery, even "like for like".

 

[SuperV8]

The battery management system's charging profile will adapt as it already has adapted from day 1 for the original battery, and so I'd guess that it will eventually get back to optimising the charging profile for this new battery.
What I don't know is, how much if any effect this "leaving it to get on with it" will have on this new battery's service life - and if either buying a diagnostic tool, or ask a battery place - and pay for them making the changes, will meet or exceed the "£s" per thousand miles, if any, that not making these changes will cost in ownership.
It must be a good plan to get this sorted out though, as I have done when replacing a battery, even "like for like".

Exactly this - I have been told by work colleagues (who for what its worth I would say are experts in vehicle electronics) that the car will eventually 'learn' about the new battery without having to 'code' the battery control module to let it know there is a new battery - however during this 'learning' period the control module may well be commanding the alternator to cram the electrons in the new battery thinking it was the degraded old battery?
When you carry out the battery coding no a new battery - all you are doing is resetting the battery control module which enters a learning phase straight away - rather than waiting for several/many charge cycles for the module to notice a change.
How much this would reduce the life of the battery I don't think anyone will be able to say.
So, yes it will work if you don't do the battery coding - but I would say to maximise your battery life it would be beneficial to code your new battery.

 

[cmberry20]

Ok, New battery purchased and fitted. I got the Exide EL600 EFB
Got all matter of warnings upon starting the car - tyre pressure, parking sensor etc etc. But once I drove the car all of them cleared apart from one - the Stop/Start isnt showing an error.
So, I thought I would get the BEM battery code from the new battery & get a friend at work (who, I found out today, has a VCDS device) to enter the codes - however, the new battery doesnt have an BEM code at all - typical.
So, does anyone know what to do in this situation? I would like my Stop/Start back!

Old Battery:

New Battery

 

[RUM4MO]

Easy, you get that friend with VCDS to connect to your car and change the serial number even just by one digit, that will let the car's systems know that the battery has been replaced.

As a side note, I changed the serial number of the Exide EFB in my wife's 2015 VW Polo 1.2TSI by a single digit, ie I increased the number nearest the end by "1" to see if it would improve the charging characteristics and it did, that battery is on its way out, but so far refuses to cause me any trouble, I only spotted the change in charging characteristics because I bought and fitted a plug in 12V DVM into the front power socket! New bigger size AGM is still waiting in the garage for "its time".

 

[SuperV8]

ONLY VAG OEM batteries have a BEM code.
All aftermarket batteries - including Vatra/Bosch etc.. don't have BEM codes.
As mentioned just changing 1 digit in the serial number is enough to reset the battery management.
You also need to update the Ah to the new battery Ah.

 

[Johnny Leon]

I remember now that my stop/start didn't work at first but resolved itself after a few journeys with no intervention from me.

 

[Giuseppe Busso]

If I want to change my EFB 60Ah Varta battery to a new one AGM 70Ah Varta E39 which is bigger size, what about the protection cover? Is there an OEM code for a bigger one from other Vag model?

 

[SuperV8]

If I want to change my EFB 60Ah Varta battery to a new one AGM 70Ah Varta E39 which is bigger size, what about the protection cover? Is there an OEM code for a bigger one from other Vag model?

Yes, there are many part numbers linked to various battery sizes OE.
5Q0915411 is the base part number with many letter suffix's linked to different batteries.
These are 2x numbers I can see for the larger batteries covers.
5Q0915411E 69ah & 72ah
5Q0915411H 68ah
Don't know if these are similar/interchangeable?