Under 6 Volts on my VW GTI Battery

I think this is probably best. I got the car started and my battery tester now says "good, recharge," but the car is all wonky with multiple errors coming up. I'm not sure I want to drive it.
Good call. Those MILs and DTCs are very common after a low voltage event and for the most part, will resolve themselves after proper voltage is restored. Thing is, if your battery goes low voltage while driving, could cause lots of errors that could result in the car shutting down. Not good.
 
I think this is probably best. I got the car started and my battery tester now says "good, recharge," but the car is all wonky with multiple errors coming up. I'm not sure I want to drive it.
What's holding you up for a new battery? It's more of a headache if you got stranded just because of a bad battery.
 
What's holding you up for a new battery? It's more of a headache if you got stranded just because of a bad battery.
Nothing. The car is under warranty, so I'm hoping roadside assistance will give me one.
 
Its not coming back from 5 volts. Get a new battery.
We had a car abandoned at the shop. Couldn't get a hold of the owner etc..

The battery was new but sat in our lot at least 1 a year. It was 0v.

I took it and put it on my charger. It charged up and worked a couple years in my tractor..

Battery was rated for like 500cca and my tester showed it to be more than that... Odd !

Did the Lein paperwork and I dragged the junk car to the scrap yard at the end of the street.

About 3 days later the owner showed up wanting his car.
 
Before you get a new battery, does your VW require a code to be entered to work properly? I got a new Everststart for my brother's VW, and it did not work properly because the code was different. That was new to me??
That's pretty common on euro cars. It's the 21st century and everyone else came make a charging system that can determine the battery state of health except europeans
 
Well... Uselessness is the order of the day, I guess. Roadside assistance came. Didn't read my notes.

Only had a jump pack. I told the guy I didn't need a jump. Car starts, but cycles through 11 error codes, and I'm not sure that it's safe to drive. Battery is presumed bad.

He says call roadside assistance again and have the car towed.

Call dealer instead. Tell my story. My agent says, too, that it might be best for me to have the car towed.

I started the car again and drove around my street a little. Codes went away.

The dealer is fewer than six miles away, so I think, I'll just drive there....
 
We had a car abandoned at the shop. Couldn't get a hold of the owner etc..

The battery was new but sat in our lot at least 1 a year. It was 0v.

I took it and put it on my charger. It charged up and worked a couple years in my tractor..

Battery was rated for like 500cca and my tester showed it to be more than that... Odd !

Did the Lein paperwork and I dragged the junk car to the scrap yard at the end of the street.

About 3 days later the owner showed up wanting his car.
Wow.
 
Yes, Always jump it from a jump box, avoid battery cables to another car if possible.
Love my GOOLOO GT4000 jump power box: Packs 4000 Amps peak current cranking power,.
 
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Yes, Always jump it from a jump box, avoid battery cables to another car if possible.
Love my GOOLOO GT4000 jump power box: Packs 4000 Amps peak current cranking power,.
Better still is to recharge the battery. Jumping cars and making the alternator do all the work of charging a dead battery is very hard on it. Probaby ok once or twice, but much more than that will take a toll on alternator longevity.
 
6v is kind of low to me. It it was like 9-10 I’d say shorted cell. Given that it’s discharging this low, I’d look at your alternator. I’ve had bad alternators drive a car battery way low…
 
Drove the car to the dealer.
Road assistance gave you no choice. At least you did your homework.

So, the thing about the codes is - they very probably don't matter and will eventually clear, as mentioned above. Those are very likely historical codes of your different systems shutting down as your battery was going low and/or when the car's electrical system came back to life with a low battery.
Most modern Euro cars will have prioritized circuit management - when electrical power is not enough, they will shut down systems deemed less important. So you'll get say your hazard blinkers and stop lights powered to the very last, but your radio and your other peripherals will be shut down. The car will warn about this, even if you start it with a fresh battery. Then will eventually clear them.

Resetting and coding the battery are two other, mostly BMW-specific things, that might or might have not crawled to other cars nowadays. Resetting is telling the car's computer that a new battery has been installed. Coding is telling the car how many Ah the battery is, if that has changed from one battery to the other. The charging system will charge the battery following specific algorithms that will account for Ah and battery age, so these will matter for the battery's longevity.

Now, the reason we advised to get the car towed to the dealership was to have them own the whole chain of events, and get responsibility for it, not because it will hurt your car or battery to drive and charge it. It's usually better, as it takes away responsibility from you. Good luck.
 
1) Turning the wheel lock to lock will turn off all the lights if it has full voltage.

2) Coding the battery is necessary to replace the battery properly.
 
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