Whats the best battery for the VR???

[godskitchen 0]

Right I replaced my battery just over a year ago but I am having problems again!

 

 

The battery will not hold its charge for more than 2 days at most.

All I really need is a model number and a make of a good quality battery that I wont have to replace every year!!!

 

Thanks in advance!

[Kevin Bacon 5]

GSF - 74AH Bosch Silver top :D It's the one with 2 red handles, and you'll need em!

 

If the battery isn't holding charge, check the alternator output by sticking a voltmeter on the battery terminals with the engine running. If it's 13.8V the alty is fine. If the battery is less than 12V with the engine off, then one or more cells in your battery are dead or dry (bit of water helps the latter).

[Ady_G 0]

I might invest in a one of those Bosch batteries, I got a Halfords branded one that is in the kitchen being charged up - again

[Kevin Bacon 5]

From my experience, VWs only run into battery problems when the alty isn't charging properly or the battery in question is really old and dry.

 

The Bosch Silver is a maintanence free job, so is fit and forget. No topping up with deionised water necessary :D

[godskitchen 0]

Sorry to be pedantic but I really don’t want to order the wrong one, been on the website and can find

97142 / BATTERY-74AH GSF AS 97142H/97143 £39.00

 

Strikes me as quite cheep 39.00+vat

Thanks again

 

Just as an after thought how much am i looking at for a new alty fitted, the battery is easy enough but i am not sure i would want to attempt the ALTY

[Kevin Bacon 5]

I think it's this one 97143 BATTERY-72AH BOSCH(096) £45+VAT

 

They do definitely sell 74AH (biggest you can get in a C) Bosch ones, but may not be listed on the site.

 

Erm, a new Alternator (70 amp) is about £100 exchange from the dealer and it's relatively straight forward to replace. Need to jack the engine up and pull it out through the air filter side of the engine bay.

 

One thing with the new alternator though is it doesn't come with a pulley fitted, so you'll need to take it some where that can remove the pulley and refit to your new alternator properly.

[MikeVR6 0]

Brand New alternators are few and far between.

Reconditioned ones seem to be the norm.

 

I got a 90A one for £120 + exchange.

Fitting basically involves removing the front end of the car.

I know others have said that undoing the engine mounts and jacking the engine up gives enough clearance but this didn't work for me.

 

My mechanic charged me 4 hrs labour for replacing the alternator.

 

You can also get your alternator rebuilt.

I was quoted £80 for this.

Then discovered the coils were completely burnt out on mine, hence the new unit. :(

[craigowl 0]

My personal view is that the batteries in our VR6s are not ALWAYS to blame.

The car is renowned on this forum for draining batteries when sitting around for a few days not being used. I blame current leakage due to poor electrics in this car.

I dispensed with a - probably perfectly good - Varta battery in the car when I got it, suspecting it was needing replaced. I paid about £50 for a new Quantum 62Ah replacement from VAG dealer, only to have same kind of problems return.

One of our experts on forum said Bosch Silver and Halfords calcium are good. I believe that, but dont go throwing money at a new battery before you have had your current(!) one tested by someone who knows what they are doing. Some auto parts places will do this for free.

[godskitchen 0]

Just rang GSF and they are telling me the only one that have that fits the corrado is a 61AH one????? are they just going by whats reccomened to fit and not what CAN fit?

[Jim 2]

Well i've had Bosch Silvers in both of my Corrado's now and i'd strongly reccomend them.. the one in my current G60 has been particularly robust in the past few weeks - my drive to work is only 15 minutes or so, and in that time I have lights on, heater on, stereo (complete with active sub), heated rear screen and wipers on.. and it still fires up like the battery is fully charged every morning after spending the night in below 0 temperatures on the street.

 

The Bosch Silver in my last Corrado never let me down either after I ditched the hugely underpowered and basically shagged item it was running :)

[Kevin Bacon 5]

Just rang GSF and they are telling me the only one that have that fits the corrado is a 61AH one????? are they just going by whats reccomened to fit and not what CAN fit?

 

Probably based on what's recommended.

 

I went to my local GSF outlet and basically sized them up to see which would fit best! The Bosch 61AH and 74AH batteries are the same physical size, so I went for the 74! It sits about 1 cm away from the fan shroud, so it's a tight fit!

[craigbeal 0]

ive was having starting problems and so bought a new battery. Got the 61AH silver top for my 16v and its been starting fine since then. Also had one in my 8v golf and that never drained even with running 12" in both cars. Awsome batterys for the same price as the halfords ones.

[godskitchen 0]

cheers for all the advice people!

 

Kev, the one i have in there now is a very tight fit, about 10mm sounds about right, think i will go to my local GSF on saturday and get the 74AH, whats the main advantage with having higher AH rating? can handel more stuff? (i want to put a Mini Mac and screen in the car)

 

craigbeal, love that MK2, had a 16v before the corrado and i really want one back (to go with the rado of course!)

[Kevin Bacon 5]

i will go to my local GSF on saturday and get the 74AH, whats the main advantage with having higher AH rating? can handel more stuff? (i want to put a Mini Mac and screen in the car)

 

Yeah do that. IIRC, the 61AH hasn't got the two red carry handles, the 74AH has, so that will be the first thing to look for.

 

The bigger the xxAH number, the more juice it can store and dish out. It's the battery's discharge rate from one charge, 74 amps for 1 hour, or 1 amp for 74 Hours, hence the AH bit (Amp/Hour). A battery that size can deliver something like 350 amps cold cranking for a few seconds, so that's more than enough for a VR.

 

Another way of looking at it is you can run a big amplifier at max chat for an hour with the car off :D