assault on battery

["Smith, Kirby A" <kirby.a.smith@lmco.com>]

In case any newbies out there are wondering why some of us disparage dealer
maintenance, I relate the following:

According to the maintenance booklet that comes with my S6, the 15,000 mile
checkups are supposed to include checking the battery electrolyte level.  My
maintenance booklet has dealer (Lakes Region (NH) Audi) stamps every 7500
miles to 60,000 miles.  My car now has 81,000 miles.  When I removed the
rear seat to check the battery last weekend, I discovered the electrolyte
was down to the plates in every cell.  This would mean nothing if there
wasn't a shipping inspection sticker, added in the Netherlands, covering
three of the cell caps.  Obviously, none of the dealer's mechanics could be
bothered to remove the seat bottom (which includes disconnecting the seat
heater power cables) to check the battery during the four changes they had.

Of course, an argument could be made that I'm better off without the
consequences of potentially incompetent maintenance, which could include
damaging cables, damaging leather, and spilling electrolyte into the battery
well.

Kirby Smith (sig line temporarily suppressed by Corporate conversion to MS
Outlook, which appears to be inferior to MS Exchange)