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How to replace your stock Touareg BATTERY

355K views 191 replies 84 participants last post by  jeffnhiscars 
#1 ·
Hey guys, here is a step by step guide I created to show people how to replace the Toaureg stock battery. It wasn't as hard as I first thought it would be. You just have to have the 10 mm triple square bit and some free time. It took me about an hour once I had all the parts/tools.
It saved me a good chunk of money and I didn't have to bring it to the dealer which is what I liked the most.

Enjoy here: Replacing the Touareg Battery

Items needed:
-Stock battery from dealer
-10mm Triple Square bit (see below, $6)
-Socket set and maybe a long handle or a torque wrench with a long handle for leverage
-Small torx set to remove a wire harness although an allen wrench worked for me

DISCLAIMER: Don’t start this job without the proper triple square bit. There are other ways to remove the battery from the one that I describe but this just happens to be the way that I found it possible to access. Others have take the entire seat frame off at once. I decided to take the seat off the frame and than loosen two of the bolts on the frame to get the battery out. Don’t attempt this unless you have a little experience with cars.


VW recommends replacing the main triple square bolts each time you take the seat off.

1.Determine your battery needs replacement. My car battery kept dying over and over again during simple tasks such as leaving the radio on for 5 mins or the headlights.

2.Pick-up a new battery from your dealer ($150) or an after-market replacement that fits the specs and size.

3.Pick-up a 10 mm Triple Square Bit used to take off the seat bolts. I had a hard time tracking one of these down but eventually found it at Napa Auto Parts (# SER 2305 for $6) Other people have reported that Snap-On, Oriely’s and Pep Boys carries these.

4.Plug in a jump pack or jumper cables to your power socket under the hood to maintain voltage while you remove the battery. These will help to persevere your menu settings and prevent the computer from needing a possible reset.

5.Slide the driver’s seat all the way back and remove the small plastic pieces on the seat rails covering the triple square bolts.

6.Be very careful when removing these bolts. Push down all the way hard with your socket wrench and do not let the bit slip at all or it will strip your bolt easily. Mine were already stripped from the VW TSB that was performed. But by keeping the wrench perfectly 90 degrees and pushing down hard I was able to remove them still.

7.Slide the front seat forward and resume the same process to the 2 rear bolts holding the seat rail in place.

8.Remove the plastic covers on the seat rail by sliding them towards the trunk. This will prevent them from bending when you tilt the seat back out of the way.

9.Use the auto seat function to tilt the top part of the seat all the way towards the steering wheel. Now tilt the seat back towards the rear seat and fasten with a bungee cord to keep it out of the way.

10. Remove the two plastic plates that cover two more triple square bolts in the carpet floor. These are located just next to your front floor mats. This will allow you to lift the metal seat frame enough to remove the plastic battery box cover.

11.Remove the battery cover

12.Remove the Battery vent hose

13.Remove the Positive and Negative Battery terminals and store out of the way.

14.Use a small socket (not sure what size) to release the battery from its two mounts. These come of easily.

15.Flip up the two plastic handles on the battery, tilt the battery on its side and lift out of the car.

16.Re-insert the new battery in the proper direction. Note the Pos. vs. Neg cables and poles on the battery (DO NOT PLUG IT IN BACKWARDS!!!)

17.Remount battery using the two bolts.

18.Re-attach the battery vent and tighten down the two battery cables fully (DO NOT OVER TIGHTEN)

19.Put battery cover back into place

20.Re-install the two 10 mm triple square bolts to the floor. These are mounted pretty tight. Not sure if there is a torque spec. but careful not to strip the head.

21.Re-install your bolt cover near the floor mats.

22.Re-install the plastic seat frame covers on the rear of the seat.

23.Slide seat back into place.

24.Re-install two front 10mm bolts(VW replaces these each time)

25.Slide seat all the way forward and Re-install two rear 10mm bolts

26.Reinstall covers to all these 4 bolts.

27.Enjoy your new battery
 

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#68 ·
It takes less than 10 minutes to change the battery under the seat.
 
#70 ·
No - that was from a standing start!

But I had read the forum notes here and elsewhere first!!
 
#71 ·
Right, and you had all the specific tools. And you knew it was under the seat. And you had to spend 15 minutes on the forum reading the step by step.

I was just saying how its over-engineered. Nobody has an XZN set sitting in their garage, just about everyone has a 10mm wrench.

With the ford I opened the hood and it was all very obvious. No special XZN set, no forum reading, no lifting the seat, no removing the spare tire etc.
 
#74 ·
And it should only take about 10 minutes if you've read this thread, got the right tool and realised you only undo the two front floor bolts and not all four!
 
#75 ·
Battery question

OK I have read this entire thread. Very well done, appreciated and it is cool to see experience come together. I have a couple of questions that I could not find a definitive answer for (forgive me if I missed it)!

1. Should I use a back up 12 V battery to the jumper points or will a charger suffice? (I know not to allow the positive to go to ground).

2. Varta is the OEM, made by Interstate (according to what I know). Does anyone know what is the best brand battery for replacement? I have now replaced 2 batteries (batteries were determined to be defective, the first one a bad cell the second one only would accept a 11 volt charge). In other words, is a Varta a lessor quality Interstate, or could Interstate be coming from China these days, as this is how the quality appears?

Thanks.
 
#78 ·
My battery is completely dead, so yesterday I called a few of the independent VW/Audi shops in the area to get a new one. I'm in the Pasadena area at the moment, and don't have a regular shop here. Naturally, I just went with the one who gave me the cheapest quote, because I'm swapping it myself.

However, VW recommends changing the bolts, and the shop did not have any. Which struck me as odd, if I had brought the car in for service and had them change the battery, among other things, would they have re-used my old bolts? So, my question is, what size are they? Where can I buy them online? The guides posted here are very useful and without them I wouldn't have a clue how to do this myself, but they never mention where to get the bolts.

Also, the battery was $197 plus tax, which is considerably more expensive than I thought it would be. Also, the sticker says it's an "Interstate Megatron Plus" or something stupid like that. I thought OEM was Varta? And I can't confirm this yet because I'm waiting on my 10mm XZN stubby driver to arrive, but it looks like it's not quite the right size. I might just return this battery and go to another shop that is slightly more expensive, but has flawless reviews.
 
#81 ·
My battery is completely dead, so yesterday I called a few of the independent VW/Audi shops in the area to get a new one. I'm in the Pasadena area at the moment, and don't have a regular shop here. Naturally, I just went with the one who gave me the cheapest quote, because I'm swapping it myself.

However, VW recommends changing the bolts, and the shop did not have any. Which struck me as odd, if I had brought the car in for service and had them change the battery, among other things, would they have re-used my old bolts? So, my question is, what size are they? Where can I buy them online? The guides posted here are very useful and without them I wouldn't have a clue how to do this myself, but they never mention where to get the bolts.

Also, the battery was $197 plus tax, which is considerably more expensive than I thought it would be. Also, the sticker says it's an "Interstate Megatron Plus" or something stupid like that. I thought OEM was Varta? And I can't confirm this yet because I'm waiting on my 10mm XZN stubby driver to arrive, but it looks like it's not quite the right size. I might just return this battery and go to another shop that is slightly more expensive, but has flawless reviews.
Take a peak at this. Perhaps it will help.

Touareg V10 Front Battery Swap
 
#80 ·
You do NOT have to replace the bolts. I replaced my battery a few months ago, using the Interstate model. It fits fine and I have had no problems.
A friend, who is on this forum, had his replaced 'professionally' and suffered months of gremlins until the it was diagnosed that the battery was bad. so that part of the deal is a matter of bad luck if you get a bum battery. But the installation is well within the skills of the average garage hack (like me).
Now lifting the battery in and out of the battery well under the seat is a b***h. The suckers are heavy and the position you are in to lift is awkward.

my .02
 
#84 ·
Ok, thanks for the info. If the Interstate fits then I have no problems with it.

Take a peak at this. Perhaps it will help.

Touareg V10 Front Battery Swap
I did, I went through this whole thread before posting, actually. And thank you for including photos, they made your guide incredibly informative.

Smilit1, thanks for the heads-up on the fuse situation. I do have air, so I will be extra careful not to dislodge anything down there.

Thanks for all the advice, everyone. My only real concern was re-using the bolts, but if everyone here says it's a non-issue, then cool. And I will use blue threadlock, of course.
 
#82 ·
I did mine around a couple years ago and did not replace the bolts. I think if there were any bolts to replace they would have the blue lok-tite goop on the threads... If you are worried about them, I would just reuse the same bolts and get some blue lok-tite thread locker at a local parts store. Don't use the red one because, the next time someone tries to replace the battery, they will have a real fun time trying to get the bolts out. The #1 reason why OEM require bolts to be changed with new ones is because when they are torqued, they are stretched and then no longer any good. Don't worry about this for underneath your seat. However, one thing that I would worry about is what happened to mine, apparently there must be some sort of fuses underneath the seat that controls the air suspension (you might not have air suspension on yours), make sure these are all pushed down when you finish under the seat. One of my fuses was loose and then popped out? to find this problem required a few master techs, and the help from VW of North America tech-line.
 
#83 ·
I replaced mine a couple of weeks ago, bought the new battery at O`Reilly and paid about $168 plus tax.
I did not exchang any bolts and it took me about an hour or so.
The battery is damn heavy but it was really not that big deal at all.

Check out the DIY and just follow it step by step.
 
#85 ·
My battery was replaced under warranty. Before warranty replaced it, I did some digging and here is what I found:

1. The original OEM battery for the Touareg is by Varta
2. Interstate, and Varta are brands manufactured by Johnson Control.
3. Johnson Controls also makes batteries for Walmart
4. Walmart has a replacement battery with a 2 year full replacement warranty for $87.00. This is better then the Varta 1year warranty that is followed by proration for each month past the 12 months.
5. I visually inspected the Walmart battery and it appears to be the same size, CCA, and all, and list the battery on their charts for the Touareg v10. It is the same battery as the Interstate and Varta.
6. My Varta battery was roughly a 860 cold cranking amp rating. The Walmart by Johnson Controls battery has a higher rated cold cranking amps optionally. I don't remember the exact rating but I know it was well over 920.

My next battery will (unfortunately) be purchased from Walmart.
Tourrig
 
#91 ·
I replaced my battery today. It was actually pretty easy to any regular DIYer. Two bolts, tilt the seat and boom!

I did use a ecu saver jumper box while the battery was out. I was also careful to not spark the battery by being quick when reinstalling the connections. The vent tube worked well too.

I installed a Duramax battery from autozone. It was 93 bucks and has a 2 year replacement warranty and 7 year warranty from factory. 850 CCA. 1000 amps.

No issues with computer at all, probably thanks to the jumper box.

Best part.....saved a ton of money from dealer charge of 350 bucks.
 
#92 ·
Good Work! I used a battery minder attached to the battery leads in the engine compartment. Also had no issues with the 'computer' and radio settings.
The only difficult part was lifting the old one out and maneuvering the new one in...also quite heavy.
If I did not say so before, I used an Interstate Battery from my local 'ferrin' car shop.
 
#93 ·
Just a note of thanks to JRiffe108 for the video, Yesterday was able to purchase a battery for my 04 V8 Touareg from Oreillys in Lewiston Idaho 75 miles from where I live,(used to be Schucks),not wanting to start home in the dark with a dying battery,went to Walmart in Clarkston Washington and asked them could they install it and with my help (knowledge cause of the video) they installed it free of charge!! That was certainly going the extra mile! Oh yes got the set of four spline bits to take out the 2 seat bolts from Oreillys for three dollars and some odd cents also!! Now the Touareg is happy and I am also!! Thanks again guys for your help. Old original battery went 7 years and 81,000 miles so I still love my Touareg!! Countryboy
 
#95 · (Edited)
Thanks JRiffe! Excellent video.

Two adds...

Make sure you remove the molding from the rails behind the seat before you rotate the seat back. The molding is a bit tricky and I have left mine off permanently so I dont recall the exact method... but its just plastic molding.

Of note, left side of the battery where that wiring is - if you open that up, its a main fuse box. For V8 and V6, there should be at least one and maybe two open spots to add a high amp fuse to connect a major unswitched accessory such as high-end audio; Ham or CB radio; refrigerator; etc. Keep in mind that if you do this, it is draining the main battery when the car is turned off. I have since installed an isolator (like West Mountain Radio's ISOPwr) to charge up my Yellow Top Optima in the trunk when running; and isolating the the main battery out of the circuit when not running - drawing only off the Optima.

Thanks again JRiffe!

(edit, corrected video source)
 
#97 ·
This is great...It actually help out alot!!

I got the battery for $108.00 took it to my mechanic and he had one of his guys work on it while helped him what to look for.

The video regardless how it was filmed.. VERY helpful and saved me a ton of money!!

Dealer was charging $190.00 for the battery and 2 hour labor $170.00 + rapping taxes...close to $400.00.
 
#98 ·
So I'm on vacation - Martha's Vineyard (yeah Barack is here), we're actually staying on the smaller island of Chappaquiddick. They have a couple of small barges to ferry cars back and forth between the two islands. They take up to three cars at a time.



Sometimes the line for the ferry is pretty long and you may have to wait for an hour or more. Every 5-10 minutes you have to start your car and pull ahead as the waiting line moves forward. My 2004 Toerag starts very easily, but lately it seems that the battery is getting weaker. This morning in the line (of course I'm finally in the first position) my battery gave up the ghost. The ferry operators have probably seen this a millions times before because they offered me one of those tiny emergency jump start batteries. She started right up and I got her over to the main island (no stores on Chappy).

I found a NAPA store that had the battery (freaking huge), but no 10mm triple square - sigh. The German car repair shop told me to come back after September and the other local garage didn't have the tool. Luckily there was one other auto parts store who had the triple square. I bought the triple and two box wrenches (10mm and one for the triple) for a total of $14. Armed only with these meager tools and this DIY post (thank goodness for smartphones), I was able to replace the battery in the parking lot - 45min. Thanks for the DIY help.

Important Lesson Learned -
Any special tools that you acquire for your Treg like the Triple Square wrenches should be kept in the car. Having the exact tool I needed at home didn't help when I really needed it.


PCH
 
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