DoctorT

ah, no i hadn't, I think that post coincided with my door lock change and the problem going away. I just need to look into how i fool the car into thinking the bonnet is shut as i've got no idea where the sensor is for that, nor how it works, likewise i guess i need to fool the drivers door too so i can get at the fuses in there? although given pulling fuse 19 solves the issue i'm guessing thats the one, although what i wasnt sure of was whether something else, like a lock could be at fault, which keeps the car awake, but without the stereo fuse in, the car being awake doesn't matter because in the 'awake' state its the stereo being awake that is responsible for the noticeable excessive draw?

Okay so i've made a few other posts in the past in my attempts to get to the bottom of my battery drain issue. From pulling out fuses while measuring the amps being drawn from the battery I found that pulling fuse 19 which the manual says is for the radio stopped the drain. However, given the aftermarket stereo i have, had been in for 6 months or so before any sign of a battery drain issue reared its ugly head i was a little concerned about going down the route of blaming the stereo. i thought i had solved it previously when i found that the drivers side rear door wasn't actually locking everytime, and then eventually stopped working all together. I had the lock mechanism changed and all seemed well, then a few weeks ago i went to use the car and it wouldn't start. oddly once i tried to open the book when the car was locked just to check it was locked and it released, evenn though the doors were all locked, i just brushed it off but no i wonder if i'm seeing the start of a problem. I've been out with the car trying to see if anything repeatable is happening and found this, when i lock the car usually the amps drop to read 0.00-0.03 on a 10amp setting. If i lock the car usually i can watch the amps drop from 0.8 after pressing lock on the fob to 0.00-0.03 within a few minutes, however, if i then go and press the lock on the hatchback as if i'm going to open it (it shouldn't open as the car is locked, butyou can feel the push button depress), the amps jump up to 0.7A and stay there (with a periodic fluctuation down to 0.4A) once i've caused this rise in amps by pressing the release button even unlocking and locking the car doesn't help, but if i open and slam the hatchback it seems to solve it. Has anyone else experience this or had to change the release button on the boot? Cheers Gavin

I have just replaced the r1 and r2 relays in my Octavia (its a pre facelift 06 plate 2.0 tfsi VRS model) while trying to sort out an electrical issue (battery drain). In talking to the dealer I was told the r1 and r2 relays are the same, the r4 is something to do with the ABS or something (which i think might be the 458 one you mention) and r4 is something related to an automatic transmission, so it's empty on my manual car. I purchased my relays in June and July this year so this part code could still be the current one. The part that i was told was correct for my car, and my car seems to work fine with them in, was S4H0951253 (description next to part code is 'N/STK RELAY') and each one set me back 17.93 including the VAT. Just by way of a sense check, mine were light green in colour. As has been said above, you really need to use your chassis number to sort this out and ensure you get the correct part, but if your local dealer doesn't seem to be able to help, this infomation could be useful. (obviously you use this info at your own risk, i have no idea if this relay is the correct one for your car). Hope you sort it out.

just to close this off (hopefully), the new battery has solved my problems, i guess judging by the high draw i saw when i connected the multimeter suggests one of the relays I replaced was dying as well, although i couldn't seem to repeat this by swapping the bad ones back in after putting the new ones in, but then i have heard of sticky relays that fire when you put them in or pull them out but then fail to switch in normal use so maybe it's that. Eitherway, £35 on a couple of relays and warranty change on the battery and the car appears to be behaving itself.

So after charging the battery for a good 5 hours I took it to halfords yesterday and they tested the battery and agreed it needed replacing. Sadly my local store (less than 5 mins drive) didn't have the correct battery in stock. And no surprise the car wouldn't start again, so they called the next nearest store, told them they'd done the test and reserved a battery for me then jump started my car for me. The new battery appears to be okay, well things are looking good so far, yesterday evening the battery was showing a constant 12.65V and this morning at 9am it was still reading 12.45V. I'll check it a few ties during the day and see how things go.

well this morning at 10am it was down to just over 8V. I've spoken to my local halfords where i got the battery and they agreed it sounded like it needs replacing so i'll charge it up for a few hours then head over for them to test it. fingers crossed they replace it without issue and it solves my problems. It's such a pain having a car you can't rely on.

just been out again, at 11.30pm its down to 10.88V I put the multimeter between the -ve wire and the -ve terminal to complete the circuit and check the draw. Same deal as before, with ecar unlocked it drawing 0.8A but once locked, even with the bonnet up within a matter of 2 or so minutes, its down to reading 0.00 to 0.02 A which should be fine. Unless i'm missing something it looking like all of this has killed the battery. I guess the next step is to disconnect the battery from the car and see if it holds its charge then.

well at 10.30pm it's reading 11.26V I might have to disconnect the battery and check that it's not the battery that's dead, it's only 6 months old and it's a yuasa item but it has been put through the mill over the past couple of months as i try to narrow this issue down.

Ah okay, I had a VCDS scan done by Aston Bodger from this forum a few months ago when this battery drain issue began and it didn't show up any of those codes so i'm guessing i'm okay on that front. I took the car off charge just before 7pm and checked the voltage at 7pm which read 12.54V. I'll check it again later tonight and see if it's heading down by the hour like it was before, hopefully not given the drain is hugely less than when I measured it the first time. It was originally 0.7 - 0.9A and now its 0.01 - 0.02A.

hmmmm, i'm not sure about the can bus wire question. I made this video and at about 7.30 mins in you can see what i connected up. Does that tell us whether i did single or two wire mode? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYKlCtghqk0

so after 20 minutes or so sat locked but with the bonnet open i've see a draw fluctuating mostly between 0.00 to 0.01 amps with the ocassional spike to 0.02 amps, i watched for just over a minute and saw less than a few seconds worth of 0.02 amps being displayed (i have my multimeter set to the 10A scale/setting) If any one has any experience of this i'd appreciate any imput. Cheers

okay so I managed to get another new relay and have put that in the car. I've connected up my multimeter by disconnecting the negative terminal and completing the circuit with the meter. The bonnet is still open and I haven't fooled the car into thinking its shut, which might stop it entering sleep mode. I see a spike of current up to around 8 amps when i unlock the car and holds at 0.84 amps if left sat unlocked, When I lock it, I see a spike to around 2.5 to 3 amps followed by a quick fall to 0.84 amps which over the next 3 minutes or so drops to 0.24 and finally onto a stable/steady fluctuation between 0.03 to 0.00. My understanding is that this means it's drawing 30mA which is less then the 40mA VW say is okay. Does that sound right or can I not tell with the bonnet open. I'll check it again in a minute and then again 15 mins later to see what it's reading.

okay so another twist, there are 2 relays in the fuse box under the bonnet that are the same part code and both seem to be responsible in some way for getting 12V power from the engine bay into the cabin as far as i understand. i replaced one of these with a new part and the problem continued, showing the same temporary fix, that if i removed the radio fuse, the battery drain stopped. Yesterday i swapped over the new relay with the other old one that i left in. This morning the car only just about started, and once 15 minutes down the road wouldn't restart at all even with the radio fuse still being out. Both yesterday and the day before the car had been used for good runs (around 25 miles each way each day) so the battery should be okay. Strange how swapping the relays has drained the battery overnight pretty much whereas without swapping them the car would last 3 weeks and still start without problem. I'm charging the car at the moment and have swapped the original relay that's still in there with the other original one I took out when i put the new one in. Hopefully i'll get something positive from it. Fingers crossed it's just a dead relay that'll cost just over a tenner or so.

oh and just to add, the battery was too low to start the car the following morning, so working central locking hasn't solved the battery drain!!

I'll drop the glovebox out and see what gateway i have in at the moment as a next step. It just seems odd to me that i've had the stereo installed since last summer, i had a flat battery some time in the winter before christmas, it was the first night the temperature dropped below freezing so i just assumed the battery was past it's best and the cold snap finished it off, i bought a new battery and all was well. Then the problem starts 4 months later. The problem started shortly after i installed a hardwire for a speed camera detector, the first thing i did was remove the hardwire connection (i double checked and the fuse position I used was 100% an ignition switched live) and the problem persisted, i can only assume the problem starting at that time was coincidence. The only other thing obvious I can think of is that, when I was installing the hardwire I put the car in my workshop where I also have a wifi router, typically I leave the wifi off on the stereo but if it was on at the time I wonder if the stereo did any sort of upgrade/update and something changed. i'm just a little lost with the issue given the symptoms.

okay so the car went into the dealers today here in milton keynes and as expected the rear off side door lock was dead. I mentioned my battery drain issue to them so they could have that in mind as they looked at the door lock. They said that the door lock problem was leaving an open circuit and that would indeed drain the battery as the car wouldn't go into sleep mode with the open circuit. Which just leaves the question, with the radio fuse out does the car staying awake drain significantly less from the battery than with the radio fuse in? Rather than try to answer everything i've just put the fuse back in now and i'll see if it starts in the morning. Some things just don't add up in my mind but i'm really hoping it was just an intermittent issue with the lock to start with which lead to my initial drain issues without the door staying unlocked (which i hadn't noticed before) and then finally when the lock failed completely it allowed me to identify the problem and that even in the 'awake' mode, with the radio fuse out the drain just isn't that bad. But i think i'm asking for the moon on a stick and fully expect my car to not start in the morning. Fingers crossed time.

Hi Keith Thanks for the response and I'm glad you found the video useful. I'm a huge fan of forums both for general interest and also because there's so much useful information on them, I figured making that guide was a good way to contribute. I have been meaning to post up a 'living with it and how does it perform' type video but like all good plans it's just be completed. I would be surprised if its the stereo, purely because it's new and has worked fine for 8 months or so before this issue started. The only thing a could think, based on my very limited understanding of what I've read, is that if the can bus system doesn't sleep due to getting a signal from something then it keeps the car awake and part of that will keep the stereo awake, so what I wondered was, if the door issue keep the can bus system awake and that in turns keeps the stereo awake then that could explain what I'm seeing. One symptom I saw that made me think of this was, if I switched the car off and took off the negative terminal from the battery and used my multimeter to complete the circuit I got a reading that was too high and would drain the battery in a day, now if I pull the fuse for the radio the draw falls away to what you'd expect from a car that is asleep/off. Now if I put the fuse back in, the draw comes back up, to me that suggests something is 'looking' for the radio and as soon as it's there, it wakes it up. If the radio was the source of the issue I'd expect it to stay asleep once the fuse has been pulled and replaced, unless I've overlooked something. I've got the car booked into the dealers tomorrow for the lock to be investigated / fixed, I've also asked them if its possible to check the can bus software version too. I'll let you know how I get on.

so after talking to the dealer it looks like the lock mech is at fault. So the next question, just from an interest point of view is, would a faulty door lock keep the canbus system active? (i'm curious to know if there's a link between this part failing and my battery drain issue which can be solved by pulling the radio fuse but didn't start until months after installing the new radio)

Okay so I've been having issues with my octavia vrs (2006) draining the battery. It seems to be a bit intermittent in that some times it take a few days to drain and other times it'll drain over night. The problem can be solved by removing the stereo/radio fuse (I've just been away for almost 3 weeks and without the fuse in the car started up straight away on my return, with the fuse is only just lasted a day or two). But given I'd had no trouble from the stereo for the first 10 months or so since I installed it I'm not ready to point the finger just yet. I had heard of the can bus system not letting the stereo sleep if it's having problems from elsewhere, which might tally up with my experience today. I parked up and locked the car using the fob, all doors locked by the rear drivers side door didnt, tried locking the car with key, still no joy, then I opened the rear door, put the child lock on and shut it, locked it with the fob and it locked (I doubt the child lock had any effect, more likely opening and closing the door did 'something'). Back home I had a bit of time to look into the symptoms based on what I've read on here and now I'm hoping someone might be able to offer some advice as it seems most people have a problem with the door not opening rather than not locking. Symptoms are... If I lock the car with all doors shut, then unlock it but don't open any doors it will as expected re -lock itself. If do the above but open the rear passenger door, the car doesn't re-lock itself If do the above but open the rear driver door (which wont lock) the car DOES re-lock itself. Also If listen to closely to the passenger rear door when I do the 'double unlock' on the key fob I can clearly hear two sounds that sound like the mechanism working, if I listen to the drivers rear door I hear the first of those but then just get a series of much fainter sounds (like the sound of a mechanism to being powered sufficiently to work. Any ideas of where to look or what other test I could do to narrow things down? Cheers Gavin

I've got a pro-kit installed on my e36 bmw, i spoke to bilstein Uk and they said that tehy recommend the B8 dampers for pro-kits and eany lowering springs. Essentially I was told that b6 dampers are better than b4 but still standard stroke length, and that in turn the B8 dampers are valved the same as b6 but with a shorter stroke for any lowering springs. I noticed when i ordered my dampers that i could order B8 dampers in twin tube (cheaper and not as good) and monotube (more expensive but better) formats, i went for monotube as i've had a car with monotube coilovers before and the damping was awesome, in my opinion its the damping that you feel as quality and comfort rather than the spring rate, you can get away with higher spring rates and still have a 'relatively' comfortable ride if the damping is good enough to keep it all in control. I'd recommend a call to bilstein UK to check what they suggest from the horses mouth. I ordered my shocks from this website I think, there's a bit more info on the differences between the different models of dampers. Check the 'notes' section and you'll see which ones are monotube. https://balancemotorsport.co.uk/suspension/shock-absorbers-dampers/bilstein-shocks It might still be that the decision is governed by cost (i think i spent almost £600 on dampers springs and rear top mounts once all said and done for my bmw) but at least you'll know whats what and can make an informed decision. I think bilsteins official line of what dampers you use differs slightly from what most resellers say.

i've got a multimeter so i can read the voltage but is there a way to use a multimeter to measure how much current the car is taking off the battery when locked? If so, what setting and where am i taking a reading from?

so it's unlikely to be that then....

Hi everyone so this weekend just gone i didn't use my octvia vrs (pre facelift) at all, did a couple of short runs on friday and then on monday evening i went to use it and the battery is flat. the battery is 7 or 8 month old yuasa item. the only thing i notice that i can't remember if it's always done this is, even after being locked for hours the dash still displays the time and the total mileage. do they all do this? is that right? if not as anyone seen this before? cheers Gavin

Cheers for that Paul. i'd already found out how to change to the skoda logo but havent looked into the door shut yet, it might even be correct already for all i know, good to know it can be changed if needed :-)

when i put it in reverse the screen goes blank and the music stops, the parking sensors beep us usual and there's schematic on the screen splitting the area behind the car into 4 areas which show with coloured bars what areas something is approaching the car. There is a schematic that shows when the doors are open but i've not oaid attention enough to check that it reads the correct door, I read reports of some aftermarket head units getting the left and right side of the car the wrong way around. There's no on screen temperature that i've noticed, but i've set my unit up so the front 'home' screen is all i need so it could be there somewhere, i've just not found it. I have my home screen set up with 4 big (easy to hit) icons, Radio, Sat Nav, Music Player and Bluetooth. There is a diagnositic type function i've found which tells you your speed (digital), rpm (digital), fuel level (in litres) battery voltage amongst other things which i thought was pretty useful, especially when the first cold snap of the year killed the battery. I'l try to shoot a video of it in action so you can see start up times and general functionality as soon as I get a spare moment. For the money, the fuctionality and looks, and given what i started with, it really is very good value.