2008 SE rear battery compartment hatch "flappy"

[steve_b]

Hi All. In my 2008 SE the battery flap is "flappy"... As in when you offer it up to the hole, the top just falls inside as there is nothing to restrain it.

I have found a curious piece of plastic which could possibly fit the bill (pictured at the bottom on the door panel). Can someone please confirm if this is the missing door stop and that it should go at the top of the opening?

Thanks

 

[Hotel California]

Not sure about the loose plastic but the panel should secure in place turning the black knob with a flat screwdriver .

 

[Beeechke1]

Yes your correct looks like the white plate )your photo) is riveted to the inside of the battery cupboard leaving a small protruding lip that retains the turn latch.

 

[Hotel California]

Looking at the pictures again , it could well be someone drilled out the rivets to fit that battery as to me it don't looks like the normal battery that should be there.

 

[WelshGas]

Hi All. In my 2008 SE the battery flap is "flappy"... As in when you offer it up to the hole, the top just falls inside as there is nothing to restrain it.

I have found a curious piece of plastic which could possibly fit the bill (pictured at the bottom on the door panel). Can someone please confirm if this is the missing door stop and that it should go at the top of the opening?

Thanks

View attachment 54672

That’s not the correct battery, too tall. As has been mentioned the plate is for the Facia Cover to latch onto.
So what battery have you got fitted under the front passenger seat?
Both Leisure Batteries should be a matched pair. At least they refitted the 50 amp Cube fuse on the +tve .
These are the correct Varta batteries.

LA80 Varta Professional Dual Purpose AGM Leisure Battery 840 080 080

LA80 VARTA Professional Dual Purpose AGM Leisure Battery <i>Innovation with Purpose, Premium Experience, Powerful History</i> VARTA was founded in 1887 Germany, and was established fully in 1904 by delivering the first electric vehicle battery, famously driven by Thomas Edison. Soon after, VARTA...

www.tayna.co.uk

 

[steve_b]

Thanks everyone, that's the mystery solved then. I agree with the diagnosis that someone's probably drilled out the rivets in order to fit the wrong battery...

I had already noticed the rear battery was both wrong and dead. The front passenger seat one is what I assume to be the original black varta, the rear one had clearly been replaced - presumably by someone who we can charitably describe as being "not familiar" with the Cali.

So voltage across the +ve below the ceramic fuse and -ve of this rear battery is a mighty 3.2 volts.
Across the top side of the ceramic fuse and the -ve is 12.7 volts which matches the front battery voltage, so I can reasonably assume that:

a) the fuse is blown (voltage diff between top and bottom of fuse to negative)
b) the rear battery is really really dead (can they be revived from 3.2 volts..)
c) the front battery is probably also quite dead - it gets to 12.7 v but if I do anything like run the webasto it doesn't even have enough time to get warm before it shuts down

Araldite is probably my friend in putting the white door stay back in - maybe when that rear battery was replaced the ceramic fuse also blew so the new battery has been sitting there as a dead weight anyhow..

 

[steve_b]

Follow up seems to confirm the above diagnosis. The battery that was fitted in the rear was too big - 220mm tall against 190 for the original varta. I even found the rivets rattling around inside the battery compartment where they had been what looks like pulled clean out (not drilled out, no obvious swarf)

The ceramic fuse had blown and the rear battery measured about 3v.

I have left the front battery on EHU to charge but it doesn't take long for the charger to drop to 0 Amps so I suspect that the front battery has also had it - original black Varta so maybe 12 years old unless it was replaced by VW at any point.

Time to get new a battery pair it seems.

 

[TripleBee]

Best thing now is indeed to get you a pair of nice and shiny leisure batteries.
Best thing would be the original spec AGM batteries. Get them at VW at gold plated prices (+/- €350), or same specced not original AGM batteries. Get some Varta's like @WelshGas suggested.
Don't forget to replace the fuse too, and test the charging of the new batteries.
Once all is fine, get that latch back in place (rivet, glue, ...), close the lid and enjoy!!

 

[steve_b]

Update to this, I replaced the cube fuse (managed to destroy the old one into 1000 sharp pieces when removing it. On my connector the bolt is fixed into the terminal clip - so when I held the nut still with a spanner and tried to undo the 5mm hex bolt end, the whole terminal twisted and shattered the fuse. Next time I shall hold the bolt still and undo the nut...

Araldite on the door catch and the door fits in nicely again , new Varta LA80 batteries have arrived but I am waiting on a 10mm spline drive in order to loosen the front seat off so that's a job for another day

Thanks all