VW won't start
1 Answer
Yes it's a dead battery but you have to determine if it's a bad battery or if you killed it by leaving something on. Here are 2 important things about batteries. 1) Most batteries last between 5 to 7 years and 2) batteries have what is called reserve minutes and as a battery gets older that number drops. You must slow charger the battery, preferably overnight. See if it starts and then test the charging system. If and after it starts turn on the headlights, heater or a/c fan and have someone read your battery voltage with an actual volt meter. Your alternator should be able to continue charging the battery above 12.8 to 13.2 volts even with the lights and heater going. Watch this reading for 5 minutes. If it continues to drop lower and lower or gets below 12.5 volts while the engine is running then the alternator is going bad. I hope this helps.