I got a replacement Yuasa battery under guarantee after about 4 years, from Halfords, after a bit of a fight (not much, after the initial refusal, I just logged the voltage over a few days, charged it, and did the same again, to show how quickly it lost its charge - even when disconnected from the car).
But the replacement is now playing up after less than a year. It loses a fair bit of charge almost instantly, and then more gradually until it’s well below 12 volts. I’ve been monitoring it for about 4 weeks (connected and not) over 4 or 5 charges, so I’ll take the spreadsheet and graph back to Halfords next week.
On my first visit to Halfords, they tested the voltage, said it was 12 volts (after the drive into Grantham) and so hit was OK. I since checked on line about battery voltages - it’s not a linear relationship, but 12 volts is only 25% charged, 12.2 volts is 50%, 12.4 volts is 75% and over 12.7 is 100%. Anything below 12 volts is classed as ‘discharged’, but my car will start below this.

(Source: batterystuff.com)

So, you’ve only really got the range 12-13 volts or there abouts, to play with.


My alternator is charging at 14.2 volts, so I think that’s OK.

I’ll let you know how I get on.

Interestingly I have also had Battery issues on the D2 A8 - bought a new Yuasa Silver YBX5019 last 26th May and it has only lasted a few months. The last straw was Friday when I charged the car over night and it started ok on Saturday morning, so I took the charger off and the following morning it was completely flat again and unable to start the car - pretty rubbish really for such a young battery. I took it in to the Battery Shop on Monday and I bought a new Bosch S5 013 which I paid for and they took the Yuasa Battery to test for a day or two. They rang back the next morning and said "its completely mullered" and come in for a refund . . . . seems like Yuasa have many issues :mad:

That’s a pretty damming statistic - three of us on here that had a new Yuasa battery around a year or less ago, all have problems. If they replace mine again, I suppose it will have to be another Yuasa, but if I have to buy one then it won’t be that brand again.

I have two dead Yuasa 5019s in the workshop waiting for recycling, both with the same fault, one of which was less than a year old. I have a 3rd in Big Red so thats not long for this world either. Its not worth my time to drive to Halfrauds and argue with them over warranty so I just ate the cost and replaced them with Bosch. Jonny Quattro had the same issue so that makes at least six just on the forum.

Interestingly, Neil and I discovered the other day that Bosch batteries are in fact Vartas with different stickers but the Varta is £5-10 cheaper. Funnily enough though, the "Varta is out of stock, but we have the Bosch". Yeah ok :rolleyes:

TPS used to sell sticker-branded Exide, but alas have now also switched to Yuasa :(

Interesting, mines also a Halfords Yuasa 5019, which Adrian (Adrian_E on here) very kindly helped me obtain and fit some time back.

It was fine for a few months but has always been "below par" ever since, though it hasn't died yet.....

Out of interest, what's a typical fault? Mine usually starts the car but always measures a low voltage, as if one cell is damaged or faulty. Lucky to get anywhere near 12.5V after a long session on a charger.

Edit: Just checked it was fitted almost 3 years ago and it has a 5-year guarantee......

They can appear to charge ok, but won't start the car after a short period of inactivity - it can be as short as overnight. Its like there is a mysterious power drain in the car, but its just the battery's internal resistance and it self-discharges. My CTek refuses to charge the two I have though - it does its load test and gives up. BR sits on the CTek when she's in the workshop and still seems to be ok, but I have Tayna Batteries on speed dial for a Varta when the Yuasa dies :D Knowing BR, it'll be on a trip to Tesco of course :rolleyes:

There are a few reasons why a lead acid battery can do this - only Yuasa would be able to tell for sure by taking one apart. Trickle charging helps with sulphation, but I'm not sure whether its that or something else. On all the dead ones I've seen, they still show the green health / charge indicator too which is bizarre.

My Yuasa was less than a year old. The supplier took it back, said it was going away to be tested as MJ suggested. Then they lost the battery and all the paper work so after 2 months they just gave me another Yuasa 3019. Ill see how long this one lasts :ROFL:

This happened to me 5 weeks ago, the battery suddenly pancaked out of the blue & led to the car going back to the garage the following day (it's still there after the wiper linkage fell apart, the RNS-D looks to have packed in & it developed a footwell paddling pool...yaaay!).

Luckily I managed to open the boot manually.

The RNS-D & a relay (which has turned into another Prestige rescue!) were contributing to the problem, but it also had another fault & has been replaced under warranty...a quite recently installed Bosch battery as well.

Well, I took my battery back to Halfords this morning and showed them my month-long log, and the accompanying graph (attached if you’re really that bored) to show that the battery lost charge almost instantly whether it was connected to the car or not. I also took this thread - they’re interpretation of that was that there’s something wrong with our cars!

Anyway, they changed it and cursed at how tight it is to get the battery back in (which it is!).

Data now attached

At least they were right about something!

I was checking through my records and the last battery I bought for mine was a Bosch... and that was April '14, and my car sits outside 24/7.