Flat battery or not?

[Danny 57]

For the second time my car would not start and this was after a near 20 mile drive then stood for 7-8 minutes. Call Skoda Assist out thinking it was the talked about battery problem.

Well it was not the battery!

It turns out that there was an intermittent 2-3 amp discharge through the radio/DVD/TV unit in the console. The discharge was discovered simply by using a clip on CT instrument.

It is now in with the dealer and I have a Seat Leon for a few days

The Skoda Assist guy who was very good told me that he has come across this several times. So I have given the dealer a copy of his report so they don't waste time just checking the battery. It almost certainly looks like the centre console unit will need replacing.

[ILOVEMYSUPERB]

How long did he check for a discharge? I had a similar issue at Christmas - car sluggish to or wouldn't start even after a decent run. RAC guy checked for a discharge but it took 5-10mins for the various convenience modules to shut down and stop drawing current. Eventually after a couple of call outs to the RAC I dropped it off at the dealer and they diagnosed a duff battery and replaced it under warranty. Touch wood, it's been fine since.

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[Danny 57]

He did wait a few minutes and we both watched while the ammeter wound down as all the modules shut down but it was still drawing over two amps. After it had settled he simply pulled fuse F 8 and it immediately went to 0.02 amps which is the standby monitoring current draw.

After that when I stopped I also pulled fuse F8! Bingo it then started with gusto.

[SkodaNP]

I'm woundering if I have a draw on power on my Superb, How is the test carrried out?  I have a multimeter.

I never had starting failure but I am encountering electrical failure to the twin boot motors on a regular basis now, twice this week so far.  My way of re-setting is to disconnect the positive end of the battery under the bonnet then reconnect and the boot motors work again. i'm fair confused with the whole issue.

bought new 75AH battery to replace a standard 70AH recently but no change, 1st time this failure occured was when I got a parrot phone kit installed a year ago.

i have it disconnected now to see if that makes a difference.

[Danny 57]

A multi meter will only show mA he had a clamp on ammeter which uses a CT or current transformer this takes the current reading which can be many amps and reduces it as a transformer does thereby taking away the need for a high resistance or shunt that would be required.

I did take out my iPod just in case that was the culprit as at the time I did not know the size of the discharge current.

Edited 24 April, 2014 by Danny 57

[andrehj]

 

I never had starting failure but I am encountering electrical failure to the twin boot motors on a regular basis now, twice this week so far. 

That is most likely not a battery problem, but the well-know problem that all the twin-boot Superbs have: Due to a wiring flaw somewhere in the hatch, the wires break or short-circuit. You should go to your dealer with this problem, they will be familiar with it.

[Danny 57]

Well my dealer contacted me late on Friday and they are unable to repeat the problem of the current drain, typical that it would not repeat the fault. So they are keeping the car for a few days to try and see if the problem returns. Therefore I get to keep the loan car.

I must say that I have been impressed with the dealers (Capitol Skoda, Newport) response.