New battery

bcroninuk

Active Member
Dec 31, 2014
23
0
14 plate FR mk3

First battery replacement done. Read that it may need coding etc? Got a load of errors come up, but they have all gone once I drove the car for a few minutes.

Got the EFB battey from Halfords. Do I need to have it coded?

Thanks
 

SuperV8

Active Member
May 30, 2019
1,753
849
14 plate FR mk3

First battery replacement done. Read that it may need coding etc? Got a load of errors come up, but they have all gone once I drove the car for a few minutes.

Got the EFB battey from Halfords. Do I need to have it coded?

Thanks
Usually you would have an AGM battery if you have start stop. What was your old battery type? My TDI mk3 has an original AGM.
It's not a good idea to down grade from an AGM to an EFB type.
 

Slickric21

Active Member
Feb 23, 2019
554
253
Norfolk
EFB batteries come as standard now sadly in many cars.

I had one in my 2019 R ST, it lasted for about a year then I upgraded it to and AGM which is far better.

As mentioned above you need to code the new battery in, I use OBD11 to do mine, you may be able to do it with Carista also.
 

SuperV8

Active Member
May 30, 2019
1,753
849
EFB batteries come as standard now sadly in many cars.

I had one in my 2019 R ST, it lasted for about a year then I upgraded it to and AGM which is far better.
The other car in my family - Mitsubishi Colt 2009 is still on the original EFB Banner battery! 13 years and still going strong!
 

Walone

Active Member
Feb 10, 2016
1,693
501
Near Heathrow
The other car in my family - Mitsubishi Colt 2009 is still on the original EFB Banner battery! 13 years and still going strong!
Just hope my EFB Banner battery lasts as long, nearly 7 years so far and the Start/Stop works well, sometimes too well, LOL.
 

SuperV8

Active Member
May 30, 2019
1,753
849
Just hope my EFB Banner battery lasts as long, nearly 7 years so far and the Start/Stop works well, sometimes too well, LOL.
Haha, well the start stop no longer works! but the car starts fine so will keep using it!
 

worleyg

Active Member
Nov 13, 2012
41
9
Usually you would have an AGM battery if you have start stop. What was your old battery type? My TDI mk3 has an original AGM.
It's not a good idea to down grade from an AGM to an EFB type.
When start stop first came about they shoved AGM in.to save a few quid they even stuck a EFB in my 2litre TDI. It was programmed to die just after the warranty I think. Upgraded the thing and changed to AGM when I replaced it. Probably will last ten years now.
 

Lord_Nikkon

Active Member
Jul 18, 2020
53
13
Poland
Hello guys,

Here is my story. I have Leon 5F with DKZA (2.0TSI - 190PS) and few days my original battery died it was standard Moll EFB (69Ah 360A). It's simply didn't hold charge and after few hours after charging drop voltage to 11,8V. I decided that i need a new battery (in PL battery has only 2 years of warranty). I chose Varta because I had it in the past. Now i'm a little bit angry because i can use Banner which is (according to what i heard) better.

Battery installed, new battery programmed into car, x-mas on dash, few hundred metres - fine.

Here is my doubts. I had EFB battery and i replaced it for Varta E39 AGM. I read that AGM don't like high temps and shouldn't be installed under bonnet. That's why they put them in the trunk, under seat, etc. I just worry that something will go wrong and i will kill new battery in following summer and morons in Seat will complain that i used "wrong" battery in my car.

Car currently runs great but it's cold outside. What do you think?
 

RUM4MO

Active Member
Jun 4, 2008
8,055
1,101
South Scotland
Most VW Group cars came from the factory with a "thermal blanket" round the battery probably to protect it from some of the car's engine heat. I've jumped the gun and already bought a Bosch AGM the same size as your original Moll EFB for my wife's 2015 VW Polo 1.2TSI, a bit of overkill but that size was slightly cheaper than the correct size for that car, I did need to buy a new, bigger tray for it though. There are also complete plastic boxes or casings that VW Group fit to some cars, maybe to further protect the battery, though I'm not sure if high ambient temperatures as in Poland and rest of Northern Europe will cause an AGM battery serious trouble, yes probably at the extremes of high temperature, slightly more so than for an old style standard lead acid battery. Batteries normally end up in the boot due to lack of space under the bonnet and/or to improve weight distribution in normal cars more so than to allow the use of an AGM battery I think.

Local "brand awareness" sometimes is a strange and not always correct way to assess the quality of some things, I have avoided quite a few brands of car batteries probably wrongly, and I think one of these brands is Banner is one of them, sometimes we just end up being brain washed!

My London based daughter and her husband, new drivers, got into their "not much used" 2019 SEAT Arona Xcellent Lux1.0TSI 115PS, pushed the start button - and not much happened, so they needed to call out their breakdown service the AA who provided them with a new Bosch EFB, I had asked them to try to get the AA to source them a Bosch AGM same size as I feel that would suit the misuse that that new EFB will get due to lack of use, but that was not an option unfortunately.

Edit:- one other maybe positive aspect of these "drop in" replacement AGM batteries might be that they are constructed or packaged more in the same way as the older standard lead acid batteries and so not quite the same as the specialist AGM batteries that are packaged in a way to boast performance for a given weight/volume of battery.
 
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Lord_Nikkon

Active Member
Jul 18, 2020
53
13
Poland
I had same feelings about location of battery. I have this sock which was also installed on my old EFB battery. Also i spoke with many people and they said that this whole story about high temperature is like storm in the bottle. It's a test of AGM battery made by one of batteries seller in Poland where he put 13 months prior AGM battery to Peugeot508 diesel and after one year he perform test using professional tools. Battery didn't lost anything and even report slightly better score that it's stated on label.

I was thinking. During normal operation engine oil has more or less 90 deg C. This is inside of engine. Battery in Poland is on the right (looking from front of car and besides sock on the battery, between engine na battery we have air duck from air filter box to turbocharger. Tomorrow i need to make some ride and check what is temperature.

The most what made me angry was that Moll which is glorify on some forums died so fast. I made only 32 000 km. In my Parents car (VW T-Roc 1,5TSI) is Exide and checked it and after 5 years it is in perfect condition. In my Leon (pre face lift 1,4 TSI CZCA) i had Varta and it's still working in this car (sold to my friend). I need to say - both are EFB. Even better i had Start/Stop system disabled since day one (hate this crap), so battery didn't had hard life.

Now i just thinking should i stay with Varta (production in same factory as Bosch), or jump in to Banner or Yuasa.
 

RUM4MO

Active Member
Jun 4, 2008
8,055
1,101
South Scotland
I have had a Moll battery in my 2000 VW Passat 4Motion - obviously that was a standard lead acid battery and not even EFB, it lasted for maybe 9 years, and I think that I had "helped" its death by replacing the petrol filter and then could not start the engine, that was due to the oil being retained in the piston rings being washed out by the injected fuel which was not coming in at a high enough rate to allow the engine to "cold start" - that, I discovered, is a known problem with Audi V engines along with Jaguar and some others - but getting that engine started took a lot of cranking, recharging quickly, cranking before I eventually added some fresh engine oil into all 6 cylinders!
Anyway, I also thought that Moll were a reliable battery brand - but, VW Group, soon discovered that many of the factory fitted Moll EFB failed within the new car warranty period, now what I don't know is, if VW Group stopped using Moll as an approved factory supplier of starter batteries, and if so, that lead to the Moll brand maybe disappearing. So, that is my understanding and experience of Moll batteries, Skoda in particular, was hit very badly by Moll EFB early life failures.
Varta is a known and trusted brand and in UK does seem to be the only brand that independent VAG repair workshops will fit to VAG cars, other than branded VW Group batteries.
Yuasa, I always thought MUST be a quality brand as that company has ties to Japan - but in UK they used to be stocked by Halfords which is a high street based "car stuff" shop - and I've read that quite a few people have had bad experiences from buying and fitting Yuasa batteries, I don't know who manufactures Yuasa batteries for sale in Europe. There does seem to have been many changes in who actually manufactures car starter batteries for at least the European maybe aftersales market. My 2011 Audi S4 came from the factory fitted with a VW Group branded Varta battery - but it has the description Varta De printed on it, but it seems to have been manufactured for Varta De by JCB - which are the battery manufacturing arm/division of USA based Johnson Controls, JCB = Johnson Controls Batteries. Sometimes all is not what we first think they are!

Edit:- I do agree that it seems like Varta do manufacture Bosch car starter batteries.

Another Edit:- maybe back in 1960s, roughly, it seems that one or some cars, due to having high under bonnet temperatures, placed the lead acid battery inside a metal box which had an electric fan in it to draw air in, possibly from the wheel arch area, to keep that battery from getting too hot! I discovered that by watching too many "old car" programs on the TV!!
 
Last edited:

SuperV8

Active Member
May 30, 2019
1,753
849
Hello guys,

Here is my story. I have Leon 5F with DKZA (2.0TSI - 190PS) and few days my original battery died it was standard Moll EFB (69Ah 360A). It's simply didn't hold charge and after few hours after charging drop voltage to 11,8V. I decided that i need a new battery (in PL battery has only 2 years of warranty). I chose Varta because I had it in the past. Now i'm a little bit angry because i can use Banner which is (according to what i heard) better.

Battery installed, new battery programmed into car, x-mas on dash, few hundred metres - fine.

Here is my doubts. I had EFB battery and i replaced it for Varta E39 AGM. I read that AGM don't like high temps and shouldn't be installed under bonnet. That's why they put them in the trunk, under seat, etc. I just worry that something will go wrong and i will kill new battery in following summer and morons in Seat will complain that i used "wrong" battery in my car.

Car currently runs great but it's cold outside. What do you think?
My OEM AGM in my TDI lasted 8 years - and was still working 'ok ish' I changed 'just in case'
It has an insulated cover as standard.
Make sure you have changed the battery adaption to AGM.
 
Jun 28, 2021
6
1
Hi everyone, I have a question. I have a bad car battery, but I don't know if it has to be coded when replacing it, and if so, where? Seat Leon FR 2.0 TDI 2014 start stop off. In VCDS, I don't have channel 61 of charge regulation active at all... I will also ask for advice on which car battery to buy, I mean AGM, EFB, normal? Thanks everyone for the help and advice...
 

BillyCool

Active Member
Jan 16, 2020
726
297
Leicestershire, UK
Hi everyone, I have a question. I have a bad car battery, but I don't know if it has to be coded when replacing it, and if so, where? Seat Leon FR 2.0 TDI 2014 start stop off. In VCDS, I don't have channel 61 of charge regulation active at all... I will also ask for advice on which car battery to buy, I mean AGM, EFB, normal? Thanks everyone for the help and advice...
I recently bought my new battery from here:


It's AGM. I used Carista to change the battery serial number.
 

RUM4MO

Active Member
Jun 4, 2008
8,055
1,101
South Scotland
@SuperV8, as you mentioned an insulated cover, was not a thermal wrap round the battery or a hard plastic case, I’m just asking as I will be swopping from EFB to AGM sometime?

Edit:- I seem to have forgotten to post this reply I made a few days ago!
 
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