Support VWWC

Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast
Results 1 to 10 of 11

Thread: Battery almost exploded

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jul 2009
    Location
    Adelaide
    Posts
    238
    Users Country Flag

    Battery almost exploded

    My Golf R-Line 7.5 was in for its 3rd service on the 27th of December last year. I asked the technician to check the Start-Stop system as the car would not turn off on a regular basis, tendency increasing. On the report it says nothing was found, all is well. Yesterday I noticed a foul smell in the car. When I got home I opened the bonnet to investigate when I saw the battery emitting steam and I could hear it boiling. I rang VW's emergency assist line who sent out a mobile technician. He ended up replacing the battery under warranty. The price of the battery if I had to pay for... $423. WOW!!! I will write a letter of complaint to the service manager at Mile End in South Australia. Not happy.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Apr 2007
    Location
    Canberra
    Posts
    2,393
    Quote Originally Posted by mickofoz View Post
    My Golf R-Line 7.5 was in for its 3rd service on the 27th of December last year. I asked the technician to check the Start-Stop system as the car would not turn off on a regular basis, tendency increasing. On the report it says nothing was found, all is well. Yesterday I noticed a foul smell in the car. When I got home I opened the bonnet to investigate when I saw the battery emitting steam and I could hear it boiling. I rang VW's emergency assist line who sent out a mobile technician. He ended up replacing the battery under warranty. The price of the battery if I had to pay for... $423. WOW!!! I will write a letter of complaint to the service manager at Mile End in South Australia. Not happy.
    I'd keep a very close eye on the voltage at the battery when the engine is running, as that sounds more like an over-charging fault rather than a dying battery. You don't want it to happen again (unless they also replaced something in the battery charging system, in which case you are probably OK.

    From what I've read premature battery failures (can't hold a full charge) are way more frequent with MQB cars than overcharging.
    2017 MY18 Golf R 7.5 Wolfsburg wagon (boring white) delivered 21 Sep 2017, 2008 Octavia vRS wagon 2.0 TFSI 6M (bright yellow), 2006 T5 Transporter van 2.5 TDI 6M (gone but not forgotten).

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jul 2009
    Location
    Adelaide
    Posts
    238
    Users Country Flag Thread Starter
    He did test the voltage while the car was running and it all looked ok. Even the old battery still showed ok voltage so I must have just caught it in time. It looked and sounded like she was ready to blow though.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jan 2012
    Location
    Epping, NSW
    Posts
    512
    Users Country Flag
    Sounds like there was a short circuit on the battery? I.e car electrical issue rather than battery, although i suppose a battery could fail internally to short if something from a plate broke off or distorted enough.
    Anyway, if no issues with new battery maybe it was something internal to old battery after all.

    Sent from my SM-N975F using Tapatalk
    ---
    Manual MY12 RB Golf R | Bluefin Stg2 | Milltek turbo-back

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Mar 2013
    Location
    Australia
    Posts
    19
    Users Country Flag
    We had a similar issue with our work cars.

    Had 3 near new (2yr old) Colorado utes have their batteries fail in the exact same fashion you describe. 6 months later we got a recall letter stating there had been a defective batch of batteries shipped with new vehicles.
    2017 Golf Alltrack 7.5 Premium 135TDI [MY17]
    2015 Tiguan Highline 130TDI [MY15]

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Jul 2008
    Location
    Sydney
    Posts
    393
    What brand / model of battery please ?
    RS
    R

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Nov 2011
    Location
    Semaphore, SA
    Posts
    8,708
    It actually sounds like someone either disconnected the battery temperature sensor and/or there was a faulty sensor that didn’t get picked up/fixed when the first battery got destroyed.

    People will disconnect the sensor as a way to disable stop/start but this is not a good idea as you can boil your battery like the OP. Not saying this is what the OP did as a faulty sensor/connector will have the same result.


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

    2017 Tiguan Sportline - Tigger73's 162TSI Sportline

    2016 Scirocco R, stage 1, 205kwaw (sold) - Tigger73's Scirocco R Build
    2013 Tiguan 155TSI, stage 1, 144kwaw (sold) - Tigger73's 155TSI Build
    2011 Tiguan 125TSI, Stage 2+, 152kwaw (sold)
    - Tigger73's 125TSI Build



  8. #8
    Join Date
    Jul 2009
    Location
    Adelaide
    Posts
    238
    Users Country Flag Thread Starter
    Quote Originally Posted by tigger73 View Post
    It actually sounds like someone either disconnected the battery temperature sensor and/or there was a faulty sensor that didn’t get picked up/fixed when the first battery got destroyed.

    People will disconnect the sensor as a way to disable stop/start but this is not a good idea as you can boil your battery like the OP. Not saying this is what the OP did as a faulty sensor/connector will have the same result.


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
    Nope, None of that. Just a faulty battery.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    May 2017
    Location
    Southern Highlands
    Posts
    65
    Quote Originally Posted by mickofoz View Post
    Nope, None of that. Just a faulty battery.
    That's what it sounds like to me. Probably a plate collapsed and caused an internal short. It would not have exploded.

    Hose out around the battery to make sure none of the vapor is left on the paint or metal as it could cause corrosion problems in years to come.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Jul 2010
    Location
    Brisbane, QLD
    Posts
    222

    Exactly the same thing happened with my 2018 Tiguan in January.

    Roadside assist came out after the car wouldn't start, did a test and battery + alternator passed it. Told me to drive it for a bit to get the charge up.

    Next day driving from Gold Coast back to Brisbane the battery cooked itself. Different roadside assist guy came out and replaced the battery straight away, said it was most probably an intermittent internal short that became permanent.

    All done under warranty for me, new battery was AGM rather than EFB type.

Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast

Tags for this Thread

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •  
| |