battery replacement
craig campbell
08-01-2004, 03:55 PM
My wife is a not-so-proud owner of a '01 Jetta, 1.8t (I think). She just paid over $180 for a battery @ VW dealer. The reason I didn't tackle the job was that the screws and bolts on the battery clamps were wierd, then I found out when she took the car in that the computer has to be re-set when you change the battery. I'd like to know what you have to do to re-set the computer... I'm sure it's something I could have done myself, armed with some knowledge... and apparently worth knowing.
As an aside, getting this car wasn't my idea. My wife got it used for her daughter. It's never run right and neither VW (multiple tries) nor an independent shop (who told us they don't have the $15 or $25,000 diagnostic machine that's VW specific) has been able to diagnose the problem... at least it sort of runs most of the time. That, plus the funky battery clamps and having to re-set the computer really have me disgusted. Sounds like a racket when you're needing to be that dependent on a dealer shop. I'm obviously ranting and I'm sure nobody cares, but this car replaced my step daughter's very high mileage Jeep Grand Cherokee which appeared to be in death throws. We never got around to selling it and thanks to reading posts on the Jeep forum, I gained confidence that the engine might be good 'til 200k miles (we're 130k now). There were a lot of good clues on the forum about how to solve some funky things it was doing, plus I did some of the ignition and other maintenance that should have been done awhile back (It is really easy to work on). Guess what... it runs great now and my step daughter uses it when the VW is in the shop... which happens a lot.
As an aside, getting this car wasn't my idea. My wife got it used for her daughter. It's never run right and neither VW (multiple tries) nor an independent shop (who told us they don't have the $15 or $25,000 diagnostic machine that's VW specific) has been able to diagnose the problem... at least it sort of runs most of the time. That, plus the funky battery clamps and having to re-set the computer really have me disgusted. Sounds like a racket when you're needing to be that dependent on a dealer shop. I'm obviously ranting and I'm sure nobody cares, but this car replaced my step daughter's very high mileage Jeep Grand Cherokee which appeared to be in death throws. We never got around to selling it and thanks to reading posts on the Jeep forum, I gained confidence that the engine might be good 'til 200k miles (we're 130k now). There were a lot of good clues on the forum about how to solve some funky things it was doing, plus I did some of the ignition and other maintenance that should have been done awhile back (It is really easy to work on). Guess what... it runs great now and my step daughter uses it when the VW is in the shop... which happens a lot.
JettBlack313
08-01-2004, 10:14 PM
First off why did you goto a dealer to change a batery what are you afraid of getting dirty. What did the weird parts look like were they allen heads or just 12 points. I don't have any experiance with newer VW's (i own a 98 jetta 2.0 and it has been nothing but good to me) but i believe that the car's computer should reset its self (try going to www.vwvortex.com and ask people under the MKIV topic the ?'s they probly know more than me
Automotive Network, Inc., Copyright ©2026