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Hi All. New to this forum. Based in Cork, Ireland- just added another car to the family 2003 225bhp, has been is storage for 10 years. Putting it back to stock

Stephen. All your voltage readings tell you is that the alternator is working and that there is not a short circuit in the battery. They tell you nothing about the condition of the battery in regard to sulphation of the electrodes or the formation of dendrites which cause loss of capacity and an inability to hold a charge. To do that requires equipment that most owners do not possess so I suggest you get it professionally tested. As to coding, I have read (though I can not recall the source of the information,) that all VAG cars from 2008 require it, and some earlier models too. (My 2007 A3 did.) Uncoded new batteries will still work for a while though their lifespans will be shortened because of wrong charging rates. Incidently loss of radio presets and false dash warnings are symptoms of a battery that is dying. See this post: https://www.audiownersclub.com/forums/topic/28121-ignition-light-disco/#comment-113216

Hi folks, just an update, I still haven't located where the leak is coming from as it still does smoke after repeated short stop/start journeys in traffic etc , to combat it tho I have just been driving the car in dynamic mode to keep the DPF from blocking and take it for a good run out every now and then and its doing the job for me at present!

I would say no Ross. You need to return it to the seller due to not being as described. Kind regards, Gareth.

Glad to hear it's sorted. Giddy up Neddy.

So, my horse has drunk the water and I've fitted a new battery . All good so far but saying that I haven't had disco ignition lights for the week prior. I'll update in a month or so, hopefully it's been put to bed. Andy

I was too until the car suffered simultaneous unexplained electrical problems that all magically disappeared on fitting and coding a new battery. It was a hard lesson to learn. I know of two other threads on the forum in which the owners refuse to accept their batteries are defective because a meter reading says it still has 12 volts. As the old adage goes "you can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink."

The prime candidate to my mind is a dying battery. The recent cold weather is revealing the weaknesses of all batteries. If it is the original five year old battery I would not hesitate to change it; if it is more recent I suggest you get it professionally tested before buying a new one. Make sure you get any new battery coded to the car.

Hi you need to get the battery recoded to the car, the alternator output at the plug [back probed] should be 14-14.5v. Steve.