fittan

Took the plunge and replaced battery today myself. Battery is Duralast Platinum from Autozone. I made sure to get an AGM battery (same as OEM). Car started and drove fine...only difference is that I lost all my radio preset.

It is not necessary to enter new BEM code via VCDS.

$175 vs $560 quoted by dealer.

Diogenes

Thanks. That's good to know. Was there any reason you picked the Autozone battery over the competition? Do you know what manufacturer the dealer uses?

jagtoes

Just an FYI but there are only 3 companies that manufacture all of the different batteries in the US. They are Delphi, Exide and Johnson Controls . If you look them up you will see who they mfg. them for.

fittan

I picked it bec it is cheaper than Advance Auto which charges $195. Autozone sells for $175. Sorry I don't know the manufacturer.

Only thing to note is that there is a vent (a small plastic hose) on the right side of the battery. Make sure you connect it into the battery.

Moviela

The Duralast private label is made by Johnson Controls. The battery is only slightly de-rated from the OEM. Duralast is 92 Ah v. 95 Ah for OEM AGM style. It could be the same battery as there might be a small difference between American and European testing protocols. Johnson Controls might also be the manufacturer of batteries supplied to Volkswagen.

yo vanilla

there are three manufacturers but that doesn't have as much relevance as that sounds. one manufacturer can make the same type of product for 10 different vendors who each have their own specs they want to meet, for quality, cost, etc etc. i.e. if delphi makes a battery for autozone and another for GM, that doesn't necessarily make it the same battery.

jagtoes

That's correct but if you looked at the spec's my bet is there is not to much of a difference.

snagitseven

I've had 5 or 6 batteries replaced in my Audis over the years. None were purchased from an Audi dealer. In fact, AAA came to my house and replaced all of them for around $150-175 including install. The key is to ensure the specs meet or beat the OEM. I've never had a problem and never had to reset anything except the clocks once or twice. I believe there is some period of time allowing for the swap before any losing any settings. Maybe my latest A6 will be different but even then, I believe the car will adjust any energy management systems after a period of time.

fittan

It's been more than a week since I swapped battery on my own. Thus far my A4 runs fine. Actually I think my average MPG has increased. It is showing 28.3 mpg now...don't remember it being this high before. Anyways...

Snagit, I too realized that my radio settings/preset were retained. Quite surprised really. Perhaps the radio some kind of auxiliary battery. I disconnected battery for a good 5 mins.

Hopefully this thread will help others...Go ahead and change it yourself. Audi tried to charge me $560. And when I research online, there are many people who suggested I have to use vag-com to enter new BEM code. Seems like "fear mongering" to me. Similar to the "fact" that you must change engine oil every 3 miles to 5K miles.

snagitseven

I'm not sure of the time the battery can be disconnected without losing some settings but about 1 hour sticks in my mind. Capacitance maintaining memory or some such.