Wrong car part fitted, dealership refuse to cooperate

[BertBert]

Probably checked the voltage under load, rather than just the voltage. That's the big prongy thing they put on.

pim said:

I didn't know that you need a certain battery for a specific car?

I took my daughter's car to have the battery checked at Halfords.Car is a seven year old Fiat Panda.Chap checked the voltage that is all they do and the battery was fine.Car is only used on short runs a excellent battery.Or just luck.

[C70R]

vxr8mate said:

Thanks, and I get your point.

I have asked Vauxhall customer care to confirm which battery they recommend to be fitted to the VXR8 and as they don't seem to know what the car is I'm still waiting.

If all this were a back street garage i'd have moved on by now, but it's Vauxhall's inability to explain why they have me owning a Monaro (when I own a VXR8 and bought it through their own official network, If the batteries are dissimilar for each car and if so how do we rectify this?

So far, all they've managed to come up with is smoke and mirrors!

I will do some home work.

Good stuff.
As mentioned, you need to be armed with the facts when you approach Vauxhall, not least because you're referring to two cars that the average technician/servicebody has probably never seen before.

If you can prove that the battery which they fitted to your car was below the specification of the original equipment battery (CCA or Ah), it's a simple inference that this is likely to have led to its premature demise. In this case, it should be easy to argue the cost of replacement is theirs to bear.
If it wasn't a lower specification, then I'm afraid it's time to put your hand in your pocket or haggle them for a warranty replacement (if they can find anything wrong with it).

Good luck, and please report back.

[CAPP0]

DrDeAtH said:

Euro car parts... get a voucher code/ click&collect... Get a Bosch/Exide Battery and be done with it.

For reference....

http://www.eurocarparts.com/ecp/c/Vauxhall_VXR8_6....

Edited by DrDeAtH on Thursday 25th August 07:43

BH Weekend 30% off code: HOLIDAY30

[BertBert]

This is all stuff daft rubbish. The OP has a beef that VX can't quite identify his car properly. There's nothing wrong with it and he's clutching at straws on some wild wrong battery fitted goose chase. Talk about the self righteous enjoyment of being 'wronged'. But hey go for it OP.

[TooMany2cvs]

pim said:

I didn't know that you need a certain battery for a specific car?

You do and you don't.

There's several basic differences between different batteries.
- Physical size
- Terminal type and orientation
- CCA - Cold Cranking Amps, how much current the battery can deliver in one go, for the starter motor.
- Ah - Amp/Hours, how much electrickery the battery actually contains.

Then there are different chemistries.

So long as the battery physically fits, and is sufficiently capacious to spin the starter happily and not go flat if you leave the car for a few days unused, then job's a good 'un.

[JonV8V]

TooMany2cvs said:

You do and you don't.

There's several basic differences between different batteries.
- Physical size
- Terminal type and orientation
- CCA - Cold Cranking Amps, how much current the battery can deliver in one go, for the starter motor.
- Ah - Amp/Hours, how much electrickery the battery actually contains.

Then there are different chemistries.

So long as the battery physically fits, and is sufficiently capacious to spin the starter happily and not go flat if you leave the car for a few days unused, then job's a good 'un.

Anyone know why cars like BMWs need to be coded when you have a new battery?

[TooMany2cvs]

JonV8V said:

Anyone know why cars like BMWs need to be coded when you have a new battery?

Because the ECUs lose their memories when there's no power to them.

[catman]

Wouldn't it be as simple as entering your car's details on ECP or Halfords website and seeing what they say is the correct battery, and then comparing it with what you have?

You could then present a printout to Vauxhall if they've supplied the wrong battery. Seems simple to me, unless I'm missing something obvious.

Tim

[HustleRussell]

Can recommend Tayna batteries

Varta silver are the same as Bosch S5 but about 20% cheaper.

[JonV8V]

TooMany2cvs said:

JonV8V said:

Anyone know why cars like BMWs need to be coded when you have a new battery?

Because the ECUs lose their memories when there's no power to them.

Doubt that's why as the battery is disconnected for other reasons without needing a recoding. it's not a recoding of the car, it's telling the car there is a new battery.

[ScoobyChris]

JonV8V said:

Doubt that's why as the battery is disconnected for other reasons without needing a recoding. it's not a recoding of the car, it's telling the car there is a new battery.

IIRC, it's because the IBS intelligently charges the battery based on its performance and so if you add a new battery it will be still using the old reference values. Whether it actually needs doing is another matter

Chris

[4rephill]

ScoobyChris said:

JonV8V said:

Doubt that's why as the battery is disconnected for other reasons without needing a recoding. it's not a recoding of the car, it's telling the car there is a new battery.

IIRC, it's because the IBS intelligently charges the battery based on its performance and so if you add a new battery it will be still using the old reference values. Whether it actually needs doing is another matter

Chris

As I understand it, as the battery ages and starts to lose the ability to hold a charge for as long, the cars intelligent charging system charges it more often to compensate.

If you do not register the new battery with the car then it continues with the previous batteries charging schedule, which can result in the new battery being damaged due to over charging, shortening the life of the new battery.

[C70R]

catman said:

Wouldn't it be as simple as entering your car's details on ECP or Halfords website and seeing what they say is the correct battery, and then comparing it with what you have?

You could then present a printout to Vauxhall if they've supplied the wrong battery. Seems simple to me, unless I'm missing something obvious.

Tim

If you read the thread, you'll notice that we've tried this, and it brought back some discrepancies between specialists and ECP et al.

OP needs Vauxhall's information, not that of a third party.

[catman]

I did read it, but in my defence, I'd forgotten after all this time...

Tim

[WatchfulEye]

JonV8V said:

Anyone know why cars like BMWs need to be coded when you have a new battery?

Many modern cars use fuel saving strategies such as rapid charging the battery during engine braking, and then disengaging the alternator during acceleration (a basic form of kinetic energy recovery, using only parts the car already has instead of a dedicated hybrid system) as well as start-stop type systems. These types of strategy require very high performance from the battery. This necessitates sophisticated performance monitoring of the battery to make sure that a failing battery doesn't leave you stranded in the middle of nowhere.

OEM batteries are capable of this type of heavy duty usage, but this battery technology is expensive. So that a satisfactory repair can be made if a high performance battery is not available, or economically justifiable, the ECU can be programmed with the parameters of the replacement battery so that an inferior replacement battery's capabilities are not exceeded, and so that the battery health monitoring system can correctly diagnose the replacement battery's health.