Battery Deka or OEM Volkswagen

A battery from VW was actually cheaper and had a better warranty than what Advance was trying to sell me. So I just bought the battery from the dealer, installed myself, then returned the old one for the core refund.

Since replacing my battery on 12/18 this code has not returned. The only symptom I've noticed is it appears my battery is going. When I start it in the morning it struggles and then is ok the rest of the day. However just leaving the radio on, without the car being on, for 20 mins or so will drain the battery and the car will barely turn over.

I don't recommend anything less than the DEKA ETX-20L for a car that see true street duties. The ETX-14 is 200 CCA @ 12 lbs, and the 4 lbs weight loss isn't worth it for 70 CCA loss on a small battery in charge of starting a car. The ETX-18L does 270 CCA @ 16 lbs and much more suitable for our 4 banger application. The ETX-18 however is the one I recommend to 95% of readers of this thread. It cranks out 300 CCA at 18 lbs, which is still plenty light.

I've always had sucess with the Deka ETX-20L in the DSMs, two EVOs, a Saturn race car, and now the TT (most of them running on E85 which is hard to start on cold winter mornings). As long as you discipline yourself to not run accessories with the engine off, they are a great option!

Been meaning to post an update on this little saga... Eventually decided to get the LH battery replaced about a month ago and has completely cured the electrical problems. The car feels like new again and I love it again.

My Passat still has the battery it came with lol 6 years in the Arizona weather, I'd say that's pretty good.

My Jetta is a 99 and I've replaced the battery once. The first lasted 6 years and the second is still going at almost 7 years. Unless I'm lucky factory batteries will last longer than store brand.

it was just over 115 for the battery at the dealer, install was easy, as soon as you get creative it could become more difficult. for the money its not a bad battery

I installed a new battery but now the car won't start or turn over.

I just upgraded mine a few weeks ago, ended up getting a DEKA AGM 9AGM47 More CCA and far more reserve capacity than the stock battery (120 mins) I was at ~35k miles and my OEM battery was failing fast.. I couldn't leave it in the accessory position without the engine running for more than a minute or two or it would barely be able to crank. The OEM battery is crap as far as I'm concerned