Volkswagen golf 6 won't start after battery replacement

Question

I have a Golf 6 which stayed in the garage for 6 months untouched. I knew the battery was dead so I replaced it with a Golf 4 battery. After a few keys the engine coughed a couple of times, then the battery died.

While I tried to start the car, there were shown a few errors in the board:

• "Error : ESP"
• "Depress clutch"
• "Service now"

My clutch was not pressed, but I still got the message. Also, I noticed the battery of golf 4 is a little bigger than the golf 6's. Now I took the original battery to charge it.

Could the problem be the air filter or the gas ? What should I do ?

Answer 1

I'd suggest first getting a completely charged battery into the vehicle and trying again. Gas which is six months old really isn't that old and shouldn't have caused a problem getting the Golf started. It isn't optimal, but shouldn't have caused an issue. I usually only see a plethora of codes like you are saying if the battery is low (could have run down during cranking) or if there is a bad connection. You may want to add some fresh gas to the tank as well as putting some fuel conditioner in to help get it started. If the vehicle had sat for a year or so, then I'd start worrying about the fuel.

You mentioned the size of the battery from the Golf 4 being physically larger. This will pose no issue at all with getting it started. It should, in fact, give you a little more reserve in the battery, which would help in getting it started.

Answer 2

After 6 months - well I would have emptied the gas tank and lines of old gas. Then fitted a new filter and put fresh gas in all the way through to the injectors...

So, put fresh gas in, recharge the battery and try again to start it.

Answer 3

I have a Golf 6 and once left the radio playing for three days which flattened the battery. After starting the car from flat, the on board display showed faults on the ABS, the engine management, the emissions control and cruise control systems. It's the closest thing I've ever seen to the old phrase "lit up like a Christmas tree".

The reason for all of this is that the CAN BUS failed any number of components because they did not respond. The reason they did not respond wasn't because they'd failed but because the battery was flat.

I drove the car a short distance, switched it off and re-started it. At this point all of the fault lights extinguished as normal and everything was fine.

NOTE. My Golf 6 says "Depress Clutch" when turning the key because the starter motor will not spin unless you have your foot on the clutch, it's an instruction as opposed to a warning.