# DEAD BATTERY at 73 miles!!!



## wy (Nov 3, 2006)

Purchased a brand new EOS at 48 miles. Drove it two separate days (to the local shopping mall) and the battery is dead with only 73 miles on the odometer. Doors and trunk fully closed and no light switches in the "on" position. Hope it is merely a defective battery. Hope batteries are covered under warranty.
With a dead battery - you cannot close the doors. Both driver and passenger windows do not automatically go down to allow the door to close. My new EOS is sitting with two doors open and a dead battery at 73 miles! Very disappointed.


_Modified by wy at 4:08 AM 11-3-2006_


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## Shaka (May 20, 2001)

*Re: DEAD BATTERY at 73 miles!!! (wy)*

Chances are that your battery went dead because the power top was going up/down too many times. You probably did not do enough driving to full re-charge the battery. Or worse yet, if the car was in the showroom and used to demo the top up/down, you may have drained the battery to a point where it is completely unable to be recharged.
Either way with such a small amount of mileage your car is covered under warranty for such a matter. And remember you get free roadside assistance from VW to tow your car. And even more importantly is that they will tow to a local dealer and VW Roadside Assistance makes other financial provisions if you need for a rental car, etc.







Good luck...


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## WolfsburgerMitFries (Jul 4, 2005)

*Re: DEAD BATTERY at 73 miles!!! (Shaka)*

I hope that does not happen to the 3.2L cars with the pair of 6 volt AGM batteries in the trunk, because the batteries are a bit more expensive and harder to access.









So far its looking like the 6V AGM batteries are about $125 each. Hopefully they'll get cheaper as time goes on. Optima advertizes that AGM batteries have up to twice the life of conventional batteries, so if they last 8-10 years that's not so bad.











_Modified by WolfsburgerMitFries at 8:11 PM 11-5-2006_


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## 1stVR6 (Mar 27, 2002)

*Re: DEAD BATTERY at 73 miles!!! (wy)*


_Quote, originally posted by *wy* »_Purchased a brand new EOS at 48 miles. Drove it two separate days (to the local shopping mall) and the battery is dead with only 73 miles on the odometer. Doors and trunk fully closed and no light switches in the "on" position. Hope it is merely a defective battery. Hope batteries are covered under warranty.
With a dead battery - you cannot close the doors. Both driver and passenger windows do not automatically go down to allow the door to close. My new EOS is sitting with two doors open and a dead battery at 73 miles! Very disappointed.

_Modified by wy at 4:08 AM 11-3-2006_

Your battery will be covered under warranty. I have seen this problem before and it sometimes has to do with the amount of time the car sits after production. No worries.


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## PanEuropean (Nov 3, 2001)

*Re: DEAD BATTERY at 73 miles!!! (wy)*

Hello Wy:
Like the others have said, I kind of doubt that there is anything wrong with the battery - the problem is likely that the battery did not have a full charge going out of the dealership when you picked up your car (this as a result of constant demonstrations, etc.), and, you probably used the electrical system quite a bit (no more than any other new car owner on the first day, but quite a bit nonetheless) trying to figure things out.
We had similar problems with the Phaeton when dealers first started delivering them. Here's a post that provides more detail: NAPA Battery Maintainer for a Phaeton. It's Phaeton specific - sorry about that, we don't yet have a big body of knowledge about the Eos - but the concepts all carry over.
And - for all you dealership staff (salespeople, technicians, PDI staff) who might be reading this thread - here's a copy of the instructions that VW sent you, explaining how to hook up a battery maintainer to the Eos in your showroom, so that you don't wind up with problems like Wy had! See the attached PDF file.
Wy, if you razz your dealer enough about their oversight, maybe they'll buy you a nice steak dinner as an apology...








Michael


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## JML (Jun 19, 2000)

*Re: DEAD BATTERY at 73 miles!!! (WolfsburgerMitFries)*

This brings up an intereting issue. Anyone know how to apply a starter kit to a 3.2 when its batteries are drained?


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## WolfsburgerMitFries (Jul 4, 2005)

*Re: DEAD BATTERY at 73 miles!!! (JML)*


_Quote, originally posted by *JML* »_This brings up an intereting issue. Anyone know how to apply a starter kit to a 3.2 when its batteries are drained?

Its probably gonna be just like a BMW where theres a redundant set of terminals under the hood just for jump starting. I always liked the ability to jump start a BMW from the front or the back. We'll find out as soon as someone shows up with a 3.2 and an owners manual.


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## PanEuropean (Nov 3, 2001)

*Re: DEAD BATTERY at 73 miles!!! (WolfsburgerMitFries)*


_Quote, originally posted by *WolfsburgerMitFries* »_Its probably gonna be just like a BMW where theres a redundant set of terminals under the hood just for jump starting...

All the VW Phaetons - which are also two battery cars - also have a set of terminals under the hood for jump starting. There is a picture of those terminals at the link I posted above.
Michael


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## chocoholic_too (Jan 2, 2007)

*Re: DEAD BATTERY at 73 miles!!! (PanEuropean)*

I just came back from a 3 week trip and when I wanted to start my 3.2 Eos on Tuesday morning - guess what ....dead battery! It sounded like machine gun fire with a flashing light show from the headlights.
I had not left anything plugged in and the headlight switch was set to Auto. I also didn't put my top up and down more than twice a day and always with 20 minutes driving in between. My mileage now shows 1300. I find it very curious especially in summer parked in a garage.
Of course the windows wouldn't come up again either.
I jump started it and went for a 15 minute drive. Then I turned off the engine and started it up again the next morning without a hitch. I was pretty nervous though since I don't know how much of a charge a dead battery can get from a short drive.
I have parked my Crossfire for 2 months at a time in winter and it would still start at first try!
Do I actually need to call my dealer or put a charger on the battery? It has started up fine since the jump start but my confidence in it is a little shaken since I've NEVER had a dead battery in any vehicle I've had. ( i've had 2 convertibles before)


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## vweosdriver (Oct 30, 2006)

*Re: DEAD BATTERY at 73 miles!!! (chocoholic_too)*

Remember as has been said before, it's best to have the engine running when operating the top.


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## mark_d_drake (Aug 17, 2006)

*Re: DEAD BATTERY at 73 miles!!! (chocoholic_too)*

MY 3.2 stood unused for nearly 4 weeks when I was travelling and started first time when I got back...


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## chocoholic_too (Jan 2, 2007)

*Re: DEAD BATTERY at 73 miles!!! (vweosdriver)*


_Quote, originally posted by *vweosdriver* »_Remember as has been said before, it's best to have the engine running when operating the top. 

I've never operated the top without the engine running...


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## chocoholic_too (Jan 2, 2007)

Is there a way to tell if the battery has enough juice or when to charge it?


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## minnvw (Oct 16, 2006)

*Re: DEAD BATTERY at 73 miles!!! (chocoholic_too)*

choc, i would take it to the dealer , if its close/? or any good garage, you might just have a dirty cable? that would prevent your alt from charging while its running,If the cables look good have them put a load test on the battery, it would show if the battery is good.you should have a gauge on there i cant remember ours? it should be up around 12 to 14 volts when running, I run my top up and down all the time with the car shut off, never had any problem, sounds like you have a bad battery? doug


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## solarflare (Mar 28, 2007)

*Re: DEAD BATTERY at 73 miles!!! (wy)*

Doug has a good suggestion to check for tight cables. You would be surprised how just a slightly loose cable clamp on the battery will prevent the car from starting. If not definitely take it back to the dealer because you might have a defective battery (it happens) or an electrical load drain which they can test for. 
You didn't really give enough information such as if you were operating the roof without the engine running or playing with equipment with the engine off (which can drain an already weak battery). You did mention that you drove the car 25 miles so that should have put a decent charge on the battery and I would think that even if a weak battery could not crank the engine it should be able to lower a power window but sometimes a battery can die when a cell shorts out. This will leave the battery with 10 volts rather then 12 and probably will not operate anything. Let us know what they find out.



_Modified by solarflare at 5:48 AM 7-27-2007_


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## Pleshy_GTI_VR6 (Nov 9, 2004)

*Re: DEAD BATTERY at 73 miles!!! (solarflare)*

something you might want to look at are solar power OBDII connection battery chargers. VW's used to come with them but they can still be found on e-bay
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors...ZWDVW


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## solarflare (Mar 28, 2007)

*Re: DEAD BATTERY at 73 miles!!! (Pleshy_GTI_VR6)*

I have one of these but I don't use it with my car. I've put it to other uses. It's a 4 watt solar panel so at 12 volts it will only output about 330mA in full sunlight which would take many days to charge a dead auto battery but these are useful to maintain a battery. The fact that VW ships their cars with these is an indication that they have had problems with dead batteries while in transit or storage. Do they still ship cars with these solar panels?


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## chocoholic_too (Jan 2, 2007)

*Re: DEAD BATTERY at 73 miles!!! (Pleshy_GTI_VR6)*

This would be great for my car if it wasn't parked in a garage all the time....


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## JustinW (Aug 8, 2003)

Quit yer braggin' about the garage -- those of us who park on the street @ home don't want any of that talk....
Tho having a garage to park in @ work at least adds a reason to *go to work*, at least from my car's perspective!


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## chocoholic_too (Jan 2, 2007)

*Re: (JustinW)*


_Quote, originally posted by *JustinW* »_Quit yer braggin' about the garage -- those of us who park on the street @ home don't want any of that talk....
Tho having a garage to park in @ work at least adds a reason to *go to work*, at least from my car's perspective!


Well, if it makes you feel any better, my baby sits exposed to the elements when I'm at work though...








I have a good snow broom and scaper ready for winter! It's just so nice not having to scrape in the mornings ..sorry couldn't resist.


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## chocoholic_too (Jan 2, 2007)

Well, it happened again... twice actually. Last month I was gone on vacation for 7 days. when I got back it was quite cold and had been ( around 15 F) but again, car parked in garage. Would not start and I couldn't even get it to jump start either with a portable starter pack nor hooked up to another car. It was also Saturday when my dealership had nobody there in service.
I called AAA ( I forgot about the free roadside assistance we get from VW) and they were able to start it. 
Last time it happened I took it to the dealer and they said everything was fine!








So this time I thought I'd get the same response from them. I had about 700 miles to go till service so I figured I'd have them check it then.
Then last Thursday night I drove my car home from work parked it overnight and in the morning...you guessed it, dead again. This time I called the dealer right away and they gave me the number to have it towed but only to the nearest dealership which is a different one. I also told them to update my radio to fix that annoying bass spike and had them look into the problem wit the compass being screwed up after operating the top. 
Long story short, they still have my car. Took them till yesterday to get the new batteries in ( that's what I get for having the "rare" 3.2"







) and now they're waiting for some other connector between the batteries that was supposedly not letting the charge through. Seems like one of the batteries was also faulty. 
They think the compass issue might be related to the batteries being low on juice.
Meanwhile we had some pretty nasty weather here and I had to drive my rear wheel drive Crossfire with 19" low profile tires. Let me tell you, I am used to driving in winter conditions but I never had driven a rear wheel drive in snow or ice. I was really scared. That car has traction control and it was still fishtailing all over the place going 10 mph on a straight.
Of course they also had no rentals available yesterday.
Hope I get a definitive diagnose soon. I'll keep you posted....


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