[Greenmile67]

Good morning, I'm new, well relatively new, to the forum. I've been gleaning pre-knowledge for a 2008 Toureg 2 V10 TDI.
I work at a firm where one of the partners, who owns this beast, is selling it to me for a ridiculously low sum of money. he is a car enthusiast but illiterate when it comes to understanding the functionality and is constantly being taken by the Dealership so he finally got fed up, but two new Tesla's went the EV route and told me that it was mine for the taking. it only has 106k on the odometer, yes there are some issues, but I'm willing to suspend my disbelief for a while to see if I can enjoy this vehicle.

right now, I have it parked in our company garage and the batteries seem to die quickly. I can jump the car, and it looks like it's taking the charge as I'm letting it run, but if I turn it off, it won't start. I'm going to put a trickle charger on it and let it sit for a few days, but what I'm a little concerned with is the fact that he changed the batteries out about 8 months ago.

This leads me to my questions

1. I think I read somewhere that when changing the batteries out there is a proper procedure that has to be done in sequence for the replacements. If that is true, does anyone know of a past post that will help me with this.

2. If i do change out the batteries, what is typically a good American standard that I can get? I don't really see an easy avenue for the Varta batteries.

3. If the batteries are changed out do I need to register them with VCDS? I ordered this product and it is coming today.


I"m both anxious and excited with this new adventure, and hoping that it won't turn out to be a misadventure in the end.

 

[SaVAGeSoot]

First and foremost, read the VCDS site\manual to have at least a general idea of how to use it.
Ross-tech has a youtube channel with lots of very informative videos.... watch them ... they are worth it.

If both batteries are being drained like that, I would suspect a parasitic drain right off the batt. My first suggestion would be to chase that down and address it. The BEM should "step in" and protect the batteries from being killed off like that in a properly functioning system.

If the batteries are OEM (based on dealer mention), you should be able to get them warrantied. Look into it.

 

[SaVAGeSoot]

Read this to gain some understanding about the dual battery system and what to go looking into

http://www.volkspage.net/technik/ssp/ssp/SSP_298_d1.pdf

 

[Greenmile67]

First and foremost, read the VCDS site\manual to have at least a general idea of how to use it.
Ross-tech has a youtube channel with lots of very informative videos.... watch them ... they are worth it.

If both batteries are being drained like that, I would suspect a parasitic drain right off the batt. My first suggestion would be to chase that down and address it. The BEM should "step in" and protect the batteries from being killed off like that in a properly functioning system.

If the batteries are OEM (based on dealer mention), you should be able to get them warrantied. Look into it.

Thank you for the quick response, I will definitely look at the Ross-tech channel. I've been overloading on VCDS procedures via youtube, so I will definitely be utilizing that.

Yeah, I've been looking at the idea that parasitic drain could be the case. I've heard that the Kessy module is a strong candidate for causing issues like this.

 

[SaVAGeSoot]

I won't speculate on what it could be.... as there's just so much..... but yes, KESSY, door handles, and a few others "usual suspects" are very common.
Here's another video that might interest you.

 

[Greenmile67]

I won't speculate on what it could be.... as there's just so much..... but yes, KESSY, door handles, and a few others "usual suspects" are very common.
Here's another video that might interest you.

Very cool, thanks....Let me ask this, if I had to change the batteries should I change the rear one first and the battery underneath the seat or vice/versa. I'm not sure that is what is ultimately needed to be done, but I just want to have the information just in case.

 

[SaVAGeSoot]

Post #3 tells you which battery does what.... it also covers various scenarios of starter battery being low, consumers battery being low, etc. Don't throw any parts at it until you know what problem you're dealing with.

 

[Greenmile67]

Post #3 tells you which battery does what.... it also covers various scenarios of starter battery being low, consumers battery being low, etc. Don't throw any parts at it until you know what problem you're dealing with.

Excellent...thanks again

 

[Greenmile67]

So I bought a NOCO dual battery charger with the hopes of connecting both batteries to charge it. I forgot that if I have no power then trying to adjust the seat to lift it is a moot point. also didn't want to leave any doors slightly ajar while charging. I opted to plug it up under the bonnet and closed the hood and let it sit overnight and came back to it. Still dead and the charger is still at the first level of charge without any progression..

 

[SaVAGeSoot]

Wait a second.... so you have ZERO electrical in the vehicle?
I thought you said you could "jump" start it.

 

[Greenmile67]

Wait a second.... so you have ZERO electrical in the vehicle?
I thought you said you could "jump" start it.

that is correct. I was able to use a Portable 12V jumper/starter and got kicked on moved it to it's current spot, had to wait till yesterday when the the NOCO came in so that I could put in on a constant charge.

 

[SaVAGeSoot]

Let's back it up.

Where is the starter battery located?

 

[Greenmile67]

Let's back it up.

Where is the starter battery located?

Well assuming from the PDF you sent me and I looked over, wouldn't it be in the trunk?

 

[SaVAGeSoot]

Well assuming from the PDF you sent me and I looked over, wouldn't it be in the trunk?

Then why would you need to move the seat to get to it?

 

[Greenmile67]

Then why would you need to move the seat to get to it?

No, I guess I didn't explain it well at that top. I have a dual battery charger and I was going to attempt to connect both batteries overnight to charge them at the same time. due to it being totally dead. I would not be able to move the seat in various positions to ultimately get to the battery to connect. 2nd piece is, that even if I did, I would have to have the doors open or cracked a little bit to accommodate the plug cable that comes out. wouldn't that still drain the battery as I'm charging it? Please tell let me know if I'm making the wrong assumption.

 

[SaVAGeSoot]

We don't have any information as to what issues you might be dealing with.
We know you have an electrical issue.... a drain, failed components, controller that don't go to sleep, etc.
As such, we remove all possible issues from the system to charge the battery as a jumping off point.

So, open the trunk, get to the starter battery, disconnect it and put the charger directly on it.
If it takes a charge, connect it and see if it fires up (after a full charge). If it doesn't take a charge, it's toast and you need to replace it.

One thing at a time, until you get VCDS or do voltage drop tests, parasitic drain tests, etc to have more to go on.

 

[SaVAGeSoot]

Also, if you need to move your power seat to access the other battery, why not just put the jumpers onto the under hood posts to give it the juice required to operate the seat to your desired position?

 

[Greenmile67]

We don't have any information as to what issues you might be dealing with.
We know you have an electrical issue.... a drain, failed components, controller that don't go to sleep, etc.
As such, we remove all possible issues from the system to charge the battery as a jumping off point.

So, open the trunk, get to the starter battery, disconnect it and put the charger directly on it.
If it takes a charge, connect it and see if it fires up (after a full charge). If it doesn't take a charge, it's toast and you need to replace it.

One thing at a time, until you get VCDS or do voltage drop tests, parasitic drain tests, etc to have more to go on.

Gotcha, I will pull the rear batter to test

Also, if you need to move your power seat to access the other battery, why not just put the jumpers onto the under hood posts to give it the juice required to operate the seat to your desired position?

Yep that's definitely something I can try to do, as well as pull the rear battery to test.

 

[lgibson]

BTW,
The sequence of battery disconnection and reconnection (front and rear) apparently was only an issue on the early (2003-2004) dual-battery Touaregs. At the very worst you will confuse the steering angle sensor which will self-correct after driving a few feet.
One tip, always lock the car and keep the key some distance removed, putting the electronics "to sleep." And, if you want a V10 you must get a genuine (not Chinese copy) VCDS. I never travel without mine (16 years and 150k miles). VW's dual-battery scheme (linked above) is sophisticated, with four possible states. Two dead batteries will stop you, however. Also, be careful of locking youself out through the rear hatch. Came back from a backcountry hike once, threw my pack (with key) into the rear hatch without unlocking the whole vehicle, then "beep" Touareg locked. Never again!

 

[Greenmile67]

BTW,
The sequence of battery disconnection and reconnection (front and rear) apparently was only an issue on the early (2003-2004) dual-battery Touaregs. At the very worst you will confuse the steering angle sensor which will self-correct after driving a few feet.
One tip, always lock the car and keep the key some distance removed, putting the electronics "to sleep." And, if you want a V10 you must get a genuine (not Chinese copy) VCDS. I never travel without mine (16 years and 150k miles). VW's dual-battery scheme (linked above) is sophisticated, with four possible states. Two dead batteries will stop you, however. Also, be careful of locking youself out through the rear hatch. Came back from a backcountry hike once, threw my pack (with key) into the rear hatch without unlocking the whole vehicle, then "beep" Touareg locked. Never again!

Thank you for the valuable information, and I purchased the VCDS directly from Ross-tech just to make sure that I was getting a legitimate copy..