I just removed my battery as it just barely cranked the car yesterday and after driving for awhile it would not charge back up. Manf date on it is Sept 04. Wow, those darn Germans (it is VAG OEM) - only 8.5 years on it. The car has been a DD since I got it third hand in early 2006. 189,000 miles with cold winters. I wonder how much these cost at the dealership? I'm replacing with an autozone duralast.

By the way, those plastic phillips head 'screws' on the plastic trim at the windshield are only quarter turn clips. That's why yours (and mine) are probably stripped, as I kept twisting past quarter turn. cheers

 

OEM batteries are tanks, I bought a B5 this summer with an OEM battery from '03. If you call around you'll definitely be able to get one for less than $150, IMO it's very worth the extra cost.

 

Bosch batteries are good too!

 

did you have a vat test performed on your alternator? odds are theres a reason why the things got no juice.

 

nope. I was getting 14 volts on the dash. no idiot lights. but, good point. I hope all is well.

 

yaya, id say a good 35 percent of the cars i see at the dealership end up having some problem with the alt. voltage regulator, failing in general...shitty bearings lol, id say give it a look see and lmk what you find.

 

35% failures? I wonder if that is because people keep their Toyotas even longer than we keep our Audis?

 

yep daughter has just had to have a new alternator, in her A3 Sportback, as bearings broke up.
We have a 1999.5 1.8QTS,bought new, first battery lasted 7 years 2nd is still fine ( dangerous to say that !!)
Just replaced the battery on my B6 QTS after 8 1/2 years, with hindsight it had been slightly sluggish strating ( used to flick the key and it was running - had to hold the key over for thee seconds + to get it to run) and then without further problems it just wouldn't start one day -- nothing, virtually no volts, but it did start with jump leads . I bought a new battery - 8.5 years is OK in my book !