Won't Start

2005 Passat 1.8T manual, only owner. Low mileage, about 35,000.

Wouldn't start about 2 months ago. Llights, window, radio, etc. all
worked, but no cranking or ignition sound. Put fresh battery in key.
Still wouldn't start. Came back couple of hours later to jump
battery. Started without jump.

Last night, drove from work to mall and then stopped at son's apt. Car
turned off for just 1-2 minutes. Same problem, but didn't change key
battery or try jumping battery.

Likely cause and solution?

Probably the main battery to the car and not the battery to the remote
transmitter. ;-)
The main battery is probably about 4-5 years old and some factory batteries
don't last that long.
I prefer Delco batteries since I find that they don't seem to vent acid and
they are strong & long-lasting.

Here are two Passat specific yahoo groups you can join.

(http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/vwpassat)


(http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/passats)
--
later,
dave
(One out of many daves)


"Rocco" > wrote in message
...
> 2005 Passat 1.8T manual, only owner. Low mileage, about 35,000.
>
> Wouldn't start about 2 months ago. Llights, window, radio, etc. all
> worked, but no cranking or ignition sound. Put fresh battery in key.
> Still wouldn't start. Came back couple of hours later to jump
> battery. Started without jump.
>
> Last night, drove from work to mall and then stopped at son's apt. Car
> turned off for just 1-2 minutes. Same problem, but didn't change key
> battery or try jumping battery.
>
> Likely cause and solution?
>

On Oct 2, 6:49*pm, "dave AKA vwdoc1" >
wrote:
> Probably the main battery to the car and not the battery to the remote
> transmitter. *;-)
> The main battery is probably about 4-5 years old and some factory batteries
> don't last that long.
> I prefer Delco batteries since I find that they don't seem to vent acid and
> they are strong & long-lasting.
>
> Here are two Passat specific yahoo groups you can join.
>
> (http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/vwpassat)
>
>
> (http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/passats)
> --
> later,
> dave
> (One out of many daves)
>
> "Rocco" > wrote in message
>
> ...
>
> > 2005 Passat 1.8T manual, only owner. Low mileage, about 35,000.
>
> > Wouldn't start about 2 months ago. Llights, window, radio, etc. all
> > worked, but no cranking or ignition sound. *Put fresh battery in key.
> > Still wouldn't start. Came back couple of hours later to jump
> > battery. *Started without jump.
>
> > Last night, drove from work to mall and then stopped at son's apt. Car
> > turned off for just 1-2 minutes. *Same problem, but didn't change key
> > battery or try jumping battery.
>
> > Likely cause and solution?

Yeah, it was the main battery. Since the rest of the electrical system
worked and there wasn't even an attempt to crank the engine, I didn't
think the battery was the likely culprit. When the battery is bad on
my wife's Subaru Outback, the rest of the electrical system won't work
or is weak and, if it's merely weak, the engine will sound like it's
at least trying to start. Turning off the lights, etc. helps when
trying to start when the Subaru's battery is going bad.

The Passat's battery didn'tshow mere weakness. It just wouldn't turn
over the engine at all.

We tried taking out the battery, but in the dark we couldn't seek the
device that holds the battery in. It's not like any battery hold down
I've seen before, and I've never had to fool with the battery before
in this car.