WARNING■It is prohibited to work with a naked flame and light.■Smoking or any activities which produce sparks are prohibited.■
Never use a damaged vehicle battery – there is a risk of explosion.
■
Never charge a frozen or thawed vehicle battery – there is a risk of explo-
sion and caustic burns.
■
Replace a frozen vehicle battery.
■
Never jump-start vehicle batteries with an electrolyte level that is too low –
risk of explosion and caustic burns.
WARNING■ When you charge a battery, hydrogen is released, and a highly explosive gas
mixture is also produced. An explosion can be caused through sparkling over during unclamping or loosening of the cable plug while the ignition is on.■
Bridging the poles on the battery (e.g. with a metal object, cable) creates a
short circuit - there is a risk of melting the lead terminals, explosion, the bat- tery burning, of acid being ejected.
■
Avoid creating sparks when working with cables and electrical devices.
Strong sparking represents a risk of injury.
■
Before carrying out any work on the electrical system, switch off the engine,
the ignition and all electrical consumers and disconnect the negative termi-
nal ( ) of the battery.
CAUTION
Improper handling of the battery can lead to damage occurring. We recommend
having all work on the vehicle battery be undertaken by a specialist garage.
CAUTION
■ The vehicle battery must only be disconnected if the ignition is switched off,
otherwise the vehicle's electrical system (electronic components) can be dam-
aged. When disconnecting the battery from the vehicle's electrical system, first
disconnect the negative terminal ( ), then the positive terminal ( ) of the battery.■
When connecting the battery to the vehicle's electrical system first connect the
positive terminal ( ), and only then the negative terminal ( ) of the battery. Un-
der no circumstances must the battery cables be connected incorrectly – risk of a
cable fire.
■
Ensure that battery acid does not come into contact with the bodywork – there
is a risk of damage to the paintwork.
■ Do not place the battery in direct daylight in order to protect the vehicle battery
housing from the effects of ultra-violet light.■
If the vehicle has not been driven for more than 3 to 4 weeks, the battery will
discharge. This is because certain electrical components consume electricity (e. g.
control units) also in idle state. Battery discharge can be prevented by discon- necting the negative terminal ( ) of the battery or by continuously charging the
battery charged with very low charging current.
■
If the vehicle is frequently used for making short trips, the vehicle battery will
not have time to charge up sufficiently and may discharge.
For the sake of the environment
A vehicle battery that has been removed is a special type of hazardous waste.
These must be disposed of in accordance with national legal regulations.
Note
You should replace batteries older than 5 years.
Open cover
Fig. 130
Vehicle battery: Open up the
cover
First read and observe the introductory information and safety warn-
ings on page 169.
The battery is located in the engine compartment below a plastic box.
›
Open the cover in the direction of the arrow » Fig. 130.
›
The installation of the battery cover on the positive terminal side takes place in
the reverse order.
170General Maintenance
WARNING (Continued)■The non-insulated parts of the terminal clamps must never touch each other
– there is a risk of short circuit.■
The jump-start cable connected to the positive terminal of the battery must
not come into contact with electrically conducting parts of the vehicle – there
is a risk of short circuit.
■
Do not clamp the jump-start cable to the negative terminal of the dis-
charged battery. There is the risk of detonating gas seeping out the battery
being ignited by the strong spark which results from the engine being started.
■
Route the jump-start cables so that they cannot be caught by any rotating
parts in the engine compartment.
■
Do not bend over the battery – there is a risk of caustic burns.
■
The vent screws of the battery cells must be tightened firmly.
■
Keep any sources of ignition (naked flame, lit cigarettes, etc.) away from the
battery – there is a risk of explosion.
■
Never jump-start vehicle batteries with an electrolyte level that is too low –
risk of explosion and caustic burns.
CAUTION
■ There must not be any contact between the two vehicles otherwise current
may flow as soon as the negative terminals are connected.■
The discharged battery must be properly connected to the system of the vehi-
cle.
■
We recommend you buy jump-start cables from a car battery specialist.
Jump-starting using the battery from another vehicle
Fig. 146
Jump-starting: A – flat battery, B
– battery providing current
First read and observe the introductory information and safety warn-
ings on page 187.
The battery of another vehicle can be used to jump-start your vehicle if the en- gine will not start because the battery is flat. Jump-start cables are required for
this purpose.
The jump-start cables must be attached in the following sequence.
›
Attach clamp
1
to the positive terminal of the discharged battery
A
» Fig. 146 .
›
Attach clamp
2
to the positive terminal of the battery supplying power
B
.
›
Attach clamp
3
to the negative terminal of the battery supplying power
B
.
›
Attach the clamp
4
to a solid metal component firmly connected to the engine
block or to the engine block itself.
Starting engine
›
Start the engine on the vehicle providing the power and allow it to idle.
›
Start the engine of the vehicle with the discharged battery.
›
If the engine does not start, halt the attempt to start the engine after 10 sec- onds and wait for 30 seconds before repeating the process.
›
Disconnect the cables in exactly the reverse order to the one described above.
Both batteries must have a rated voltage of 12 V. The capacity (Ah) of the battery
supplying the power must not be significantly less than the capacity of the dis-
charged battery in your vehicle.
Jump-start cables
Only use jump-start cables which have an adequately large cross-section and in-
sulated terminal clamps. Obey the instructions of the jump start cable manufac-
turer.
Positive cable - colour coding in the majority of cases is red.
Negative cable - colour coding in the majority of cases is black.
188Do-it-yourself