V6 TDI battery Removal

[THE KICK INSIDE]

Well i have just tried to do the first job on the superb (now its out of warranty) i have had a failure of the central locking/remote electric mirror on the passenger side (window still works!) plus a little misting up in the vehicle. After some reading last night i decided it was probably the dreaded water leak via the pollen filter...

Read the threads and how too's.....went out this morning with a caravan damp detector and 'surveyed' the car to find SLIGHT indications of moister jsut behind the under front passenger seat vents...(swore a bit) then set about clearing the front drains....

Scuttle off=30 seconds....

clear visible crud (particualrly from round the bottom of the pollen filter housing) and note pollen filter has OBVIOUSLY never been changed or inspected (its so blocked its collapsed!) thank you VERY much mr skoda main dealer....
try and get battery out (note this is BIG one as its the 2.5 tdi)...peel wiring loom back (silly design!) pull battery retaining clamp (silly design) drop bolt under brake reservoir - spend 40 minutes getting it out...


now there is NO way the battery is coming out it just CANT the only way i can se to do it is to remove the WHOLE of the skirt assembly under the windscreen wipers which involves removing the wiper arms....now if thats true its just a totally madly stupid piece of design - so mad and so stupid i cant believe its true!

Does anyone have a 'trick' for this - i just cant believe you have to take 3/4 of the car apart to get the battery out!!

I'm not exactly mechanically inept - i wont bore you but stripping and fixing overdrives inst beyond me - but this has just phased me! I can see with a smaller battery it would be ok but this beast just wont go! There msut be an easy way to change the battery im missing!

on the bright side the bottom rains were a bit claggy, but a it of subtle prodding and a modified wheel cleaning brush and a few watering cans of water and the are flowing....so i could ignore them but i would like to see them and clean em properly!

until now i have LOVED the superb, major fan, now im questioning the whole design based on this piece of total stupidity!

also can anyone tell me a good switched live to pick up to wirea relay too for a hands free kit?

[Supurbia]

You have to prise off the loom that runs across the bulkhead at the rear of the engine, it's a fat rubberised one, you pull forwards on them to release it from the clips iirc, then comes the awkward bit, I've read that you then lift it out towards the brake servo, but when I had mine out I took the pollen filter out and wiggled it, be careful it is heavy.

[THE KICK INSIDE]

yep i had removed the loom - didn't help its still trapped under the lip under the screen....the battery on the v6 looks considerably bigger than the one in the post that describes in pictures how to do it. The end whole length of the battery the width means its 10mm under that lip under the screen - and there is a bar under the main battery live cables that stops you tilting it....as you say its also not in a great place to lift it anyway!

their has to be a trick i just cant believe you have to remove the wipers to change the battery thats loopy!

[Supurbia]

You have to tilt it a bit and slide it towards the NSW, it is a pig to get out but it does come out, mines a 1.9 TDi so I'm not sure how much bigger yours is, but if it went in it will come out, wipers won't move, they are very tight on the stems.

[rotodiesel]

This whole area of the Passat is a really dumbo design. The battery does come out as described above, but it's about the worst lift imagainable - if you don't have a bad back before you will afterwards. I strongly recommend getting an assistant.

The whole plenum chamber business has descended into a dishonest farce. In the service book checking and clearing the plenum drains is now (belatedly) included. VAG dealers never do it because it's such a sod of a job getting the battery out and takes ages.

So, you pay for a "service" and half the jobs don't get done - if this one is neglected it will cost you real money in the future. Why Trading Standards allow dealers to operate in this manner is beyond me - if Tesco operated like this the country would be up in arms.

Moral: Do it yourself or find a good independent.

rotodiesel.

[THE KICK INSIDE]

Well i will give the slide a go, but i dotn think it has enough room even to lift over the securing lip at the bottom - trust me i struggled for ages!

To be honest im not much of the 'well it went in it must come out' school of thought as they may well put em in before fitting the windscreen trim in the factory...

its dark but the battery is about the same size as a 110 amp hour leisure battery if that give you any idea it really IS huge (much bigger than the battery in my other car which is 2.8tdi auto!! - good job really co that one sits almost at chest height!)

I agree the whole area looks a bit like an afterthought, shame really....

oh well round two another day, thanks guys for the responses!

[mikes]

So, you pay for a "service" and half the jobs don't get done - if this one is neglected it will cost you real money in the future. Why Trading Standards allow dealers to operate in this manner is beyond me - if Tesco operated like this the country would be up in arms.

Mine's due for a service soon. When I take it in to the dealer I intend to emphasis the drain holes, pollen filter etc. problems. Upon completion, I will ask them to initial the service schedule confirming that the work I specifically mentioned, has been done.

[rotodiesel]

Best of luck, but you won't find out if they've really done it until the car is out of warranty - then dear old VAG won't give a toss.

I can't see that initialling the schedule will get you anywhere with what is basically a dishonestly configured dealer setup. When you go back with a knackered CCM in a year's time you will no doubt have "parked under the wrong kind of tree". If you feel the need to check their work, you might just as well have done it yourself in the first place.

My personal view is that the plenum chamber "bungs" have to come out.

rotodiesel.

[THE KICK INSIDE]

To be honest unless those bungs are REALLY blocked i cant see how they effect the pollen filter - what i mean is you have to have about 6" of standing water in there to reach the pollen filter (unless its the slosh of the water sideways that goes up then descends onto the top of the filter...to me of more concern is the dumb foam seal and the ahmmmmm drain round the side of the filter, the slightest bit of clag in there and you have 1-2 mm of water sitting on the side of that 'seal' -couple that with a slight negative pressure on the back of the filer/'seal' and damp must just get sucked in!

when i got abopve aut 2" of water in there with a watering can they opened and cleared themselves, 6" of water would exhibit a LOT of downward push (think taking the plug out of the bath!)

dumb design and i SWEAR no dealer has been near mine as the loom had never been off for sure! anyone know which service intervals they are on the sheet for, as they are trying to sell me a vrs at the moment i might have some fun

[rotodiesel]

The bungs do get blocked and the plenum can fill right up with water until it gets into the car around the pathetic "seal". Remember that this fault can also cause brake failure and engine failure.

The water sits in the well under the servo and rusts the servo body through at the seam. The vacuum in the servo then causes the water to be pulled inside, wrecks the servo and eventually hydraulics the engine (if petrol) or fills the sump with water via the tandem pump if PD diesel.

Given the undertray detail on these vehicles and the heatshield surrounding the oxidation catalyst on the PDs, I just can't see how any road splash could get up there if the bungs were removed. I have looked underneath the plenum on an old B5.5 with a torch and a mirror and it's clean - as is the top of the gearbox.

This is such a serious design error that action is required - it's a scandal that VAG were allowed to get away with it.

rotodiesel.

[THE KICK INSIDE]

Thanks roto ok looking at the DOWN side of removing he bungs IF road splash did go up there what WOULD/COULD happen (bear in mind i have a v6 rather than a pd car)....so there may be less in the way...

[rotodiesel]

Any water splashed in there would drain straight out again - like it does on any normal, well designed car.

rotodiesel.

[Baker21]

I am thinking that there is so much talk about this fault on the forum I am going to have to check this out sooner rather than later........anyone got a suggestion on what happens when the battery is disconnected? Earth first or live? Don't really like messing with the battery to be honest.....

[rotodiesel]

Plug in a slave battery connected to the socket in the boot (observe polarity). When you disconnect the car's battery, immediately insulate the floating positive lead and terminal which will be live. I use an old glove and a cable tie.

If you do have a short whilst keeping the car "alive" on the slave battery, all that will happen is that the fuse for the boot socket will blow.

rotodiesel.

[Burnsey]

I have queried before that with a rather long arm and some dexterity this should be possible from under the car if you were to put it on a ramp. If it is a problem I'd get rid of the plugs.

I understand someone else managed this from under the car.

[Baker21]

Originally Posted by rotodiesel

Plug in a slave battery connected to the socket in the boot (observe polarity). When you disconnect the car's battery, immediately insulate the floating positive lead and terminal which will be live. I use an old glove and a cable tie.

If you do have a short whilst keeping the car "alive" on the slave battery, all that will happen is that the fuse for the boot socket will blow.

rotodiesel.

Slave battery? Don't have one.......has anyone else done then?

Any other suggestions?

[Tom_vRS]

I just took the battery out. Disconnect the negative first, then the positive. You will have to reset the clock, and you will lose the trip computer settings, and MAY lose the head unit settings.

It really isn't any more complicated than that.

I've done the plenum chamber drains on every Passat / Superb I've serviced, its a 15 minute job from start to finish.

[johannapam1]

Hi all

I am a bit confused as there seems two opinions on how long this job takes from your 15 mins to half a day on an earlier post. Which is correct or am I missing something.

Regards

[Tom_vRS]

Not sure why anyone would think it would take half a day...

If you are doing it for the first time, I'd allow an hour, but really shouldn't take any longer than that.

All it invoves is removing the seal and pull off the plenum cover, then gently ease off the big rubber strip. 2 10mm nuts on the battery terminals and the one 13mm nut on the drivers side of the battery tray to remove the clamp. The battery should then slide towards the drivers side of the car, allowing you to angle it upwards and remove it from the car.

Then there is a further 3 13mm bolts to remove allowing the battery tray to be removed. Pop the alarm sounder out of the way and use something flexible to poke through the drain hole under the brake servo. The other drain is under the battery tray and this can be cleared with your fingers. Refitting is the reverse of removal.

I'll happily help anyone do this if they are local

[Baker21]

Originally Posted by Tom_vRS

I'll happily help anyone do this if they are local

If we sort the meet out then I may take you up on this.....