UK-POLOS.NET - THE VW Polo Forum

hm, we dont seem to have a "general" techincal forum... or perhaps (most likely) there is a proper place for this post and im just too tired to figure that out... mods!

guys n gals, reccommendations on a good cheap place to get a battery from? even a 2nd hand one thats just not quite as shagged out as my current one. i've tried slow charging it, boosting it up off its own engine, a different engine, all sorts of things, but it's had it. the car will run on if started by another battery or alternator, but i dont know if the ignition's up to full strength (seems to slow quite a bit with sidelights on and run a bit rougher??), and it can run the lights at about 80% of the brightness you get with a different power source attached..... and thats about it. makes a pathetic "woow" noise when you try the starter.

so an eight pack of everready "D" cells would probably be an improvement, and in the right price range

(i probably need a new budget tyre as well... got one thats looking oddly torn up... front right! so obvious MOT fail.. and thatll cost to replace, too.)

edit PS bloody cold isnt it!

local breakers yard has got to be worth a try and with luck you may even find a tyre on a rim.

durn, thatll be next weekend now then

suppose there isnt likely anywhere else tho without paying retail

costco allegedly have good prices, but i dont have a card

edit: tell ya what i sure aint going to halfrauds unless they have a sale on... browsed past when doing some other shopping... £43!

hm, ECP doesnt look bad

Two different types of "Lion" (Hella?) batteries for £22.50 +tax, one with "type 085 square terminals" (???), 45Ah
And a bosch one for £27.50 +tax, again with the type 085 square pegs ("Ford", apparently? in a VW?), 43Ah

but my old battery has round pegs, and so are the contacts... maybe i need to look under the mk2 listings again

(which brings up a similar bosch, but "type 063" - which is the number halfords gave them also - a quid cheaper and one Ah more, a couple other lions, and an unbranded Phoenix for £19.50 plus tax... with the same specs - type 063, 44Ah, etc)

edit: though confusingly, they state that Batteries, Fluids And Oils Cannot Be Delivered ... but i can't see an address for a physical shop anywhere... so how do i buy them?!

would i maybe just be able to top the old one up with some distilled water? ive come across a couple unopened one-litre bottles id forgotten about, and its got unscrewable bits

try GSF? have you got a volt meter to test the battery voltage?

looked over gsf website first and absolutely no mention of batteries anywhere - though i suppose i should give them a call tomorrow lunchtime to double check.

dont need a voltmeter - i can tell from the way that the sidelights lose half their brightness when the jump leads are disconnected that it's had it! (plus when i first tried charging it using a mains transformer, it ran at a healthy 3-4 amps ... but not for long ... now it cant even make 2 amps, and i remember something somewhere about that showing its as charged as it'll get)

the thing is of uncertain age, probably ancient anyway, been on the way out pretty much since i bought the car. am wondering if it can be topped up though, as it seemed to lose a good double (in large measures) out of the overflow pipe during the charging process.

edit: its even worse now, when i disconnect, with headlights on, they very nearly extinguish completely. may as well remove it from the engine bay.

The man from GSF, he say...
well actually it was a nice young lady. The battery they supply for pretty much every VW between 1979 and 1995 (!!!) is a 36Ah Bosch, £28.50 plus tax. Can probably do better than that, but it sounds far better than halfords already.

Getting a number to phone ECP on, in the other browser window

square/flat terminals are usually on jap cars
i recently put one on my polo 50AH for 17 squidleys from the swindon battery centre

ECP have a place that's about ten minutes out of work (it's been hidden away there all this time! damn!), so if i can just be in the car and on my way by 5.10pm i can get one of those £19+VAT jobs which looks "ok enough". Doesn't need a four year guarantee or anything, so long as it'll hold a starting charge from one stall to the next

alternately, a browse thru the yellows for a "birmingham battery centre" sounds like an equally good idea