Karsty

Thanks Wired, Will get onto it again asap. K.

Hi Wired, I've taken the metal E off the wire, and put insulating tape on the offending bits. Still have to study it a bit more. There's actually 2 red/brown wires. 1 wire coming into the system which stops where it is patched into the black/blue at the front of the view of last pic. Also a brown/red wire coming out of the black connector going off into the sunset. What are they?

Hi Flapperjack7, "Speaker connector is the brown block. Black is power ,earth , s contact." - Thanks for that info. So when you say Black is power, do you mean both of the black and blue wires?? What do you mean about "earth, s contact"?? Hi Wiredsoftware, I think I've clocked what is the aerial booster. I've uploaded a couple more photos with the unit turned upside down to get a better view of the wires in the black connector... Do you mean the switched live is the thin brown and red wire coming out of the black connector?? Also, the thicker blue/black wire coming out of the black connector has a separate brown/red wire scotchblocked to it. What's that all about? I still need to figure out what that last 0.015 Amp draw is.... How can I do that?? Thanks for everything! K.

Hi Folks, Sorry it's been a while, been dealing with this, that, and everything! Ok, honestly, I was a little confused by the last instructions. But, I heaved it out again, and did my best to make 1 step. I undid the blue scotchlock which attached the White Wire to the Black & Blue Wire, and pulled off the White Wire. Then I tested the drain, and it was 0.025 Amps. Ok, this is apparently acceptable, but with fuse 45 removed, it is 0.01 Amps, so there is still something dodgy going on. Below is a photo of how I left it. The radio seemed to work ok like this. Wiredsoftware, please can you be really specific, Which connector? What colour connector? I don't know what the Head Unit is or Connector A? I don't know which is the Speaker Connector? Wino, I will follow your instructions of course, I just feel a bit wary of going headlong into it. I don't really know what I'm dealing with. Don't worry, I am very practical. It's just a case of "it's easy when you know how"! Many thanks, K.

Just checked the radio, it cannot be turned on without the keys in the ignition. You have to turn the key 1 click and it comes on. If you turn it back again, the radio stays on. If you pull the key out, it goes off. Then I took it out, and these are the wires: Some red, but no yellow. This is the stereo: Any suggestions?

He took it to Citygate Skoda, Chalk Hill, (Bushey) Watford.

Wino, sorry, I meant to say that we did what you suggested in post 17, 2) And yes, all those voltage measurements were made directly between the battery terminals.

Hey folks, keep your cools! (~8 I finally got to test it that way that Mr Freedom explained, and YES, after 2 hours, the drain was EXACTLY THE SAME, 70 milliamps. We will look into this caper with the yellow and red wires, but in the meantime we are CTEK-charging the battery, and keeping the fuse for the radio extracted. Thank you very much for all your helps, it's almost unbelieveable. We can't quite believe my step-dad went through so many mechanics and a Škoda dealer and they couldn't suss it, but your info could. Will let you know how the battery pans out, and how trying to fix the wiring pans out. Stunned. Karsty and step-dad.

Well, I have just spent an interesting couple of hours on the car. Results for battery test: With nothing on at all, 12.63V Engine on, all electrics off, 14.25V With engine off and all electrics on , 11.625V Engine on, all electrics on, 13.93V Are those the signs of a healthy battery or of a bad one? Ok, then I moved on to the fuse box. First I had to find out how to make the driver's door think it was closed when it wasn't. So I googled and found out the switch for the interior lights was actually inside the door lock. So I fiddled with a screwdriver and moved the catch right up, - the lights went out. So I set the multimeter to 10A DC, and connected it between the negative pole and the negative lead. I printed out this fuse panel diagram - http://www.norton42.org.uk/389-broken-windscreen-wipers-on-a-skoda-fabia.html For fuses 1, 43, 44, and 49 there was some strange fluctuations on removal and replacement, but it always settled back to 0.066A Then, something unbelievable happened............... I removed fuse 45, and it dropped to 0.01A ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! This was for the radio (there is no navigation system). None of us can quite believe it, we are actually a bit stunned! All the same, time will tell what is actually the case. So I have left that fuse out of its slot. At the moment, no radio, but (hopefully) no stress. The next thing for me to do is see if I can get anywhere with the wiring circuit for the radio. Any tips, suggestions, advice? Many thanks for all your help and comments!!! (by the way, after all this when I was fiddling about with the door catch and door handle to get the catch back to the open position, the two front electric windows started opening. Should this be any cause for concern?)

Ok, will do.

Hi All, Here's the latest - We completely disconnected the battery, and it read 12.53V We left it like that for 2 days, then tested it again, and it read 12.63V ! Hey presto, battery is not knackered, right? So following the brilliant instructions in the video above, I tested the amperage for parasitic draw - it read 0.065A, ....... Now that, according to the video indicates a faulty draw of current because it is over 0.05A. Ipso facto I have to check it whilst going through all the fuses, with the precautions detailed in the video. Plan to do it tomorrow. Here's a bit of info about the attachable indicator from CTEK - http://www.ctek.com/gb/en/chargers/Comfort%20Indicator%20Eyelet%20M6 We've got one attached to the battery (and one in the cigarette lighter). What was odd was, about 36 hours after fully charging it was flashing red. BUT, the car started perfectly. Also, once I had opened the car doors, it changed from red to amber. What's that all about?

Hi Everyone, Many thanks for your responses! Yes, if the car is left for say 2 or 3 days without driving it anywhere or starting it, then that's when the problem occurs. That was a really interesting video. I'll see if I can persuade my step dad to let me loose on his car. I'm not really sure I can do any testing of the CCA with the multimeter we've got, but it has got V DC and AC, A DC, and Ω. I'll let yous know how we get on. Thanks again.

Hi, Just joined today out of desperation. I'm writing on behalf of my step-dad. He has a September 2003 Škoda Fabia Comfort 16V Petrol Estate. I tried searching this forum to see if the problem was already here so I didn't have to bother you with it, but I couldn't find it. Here goes... The problem is after about 2 days without use, the battery has gone down to about 10V and will not even turn over when he tries to start it. The battery is apparently of good quality, and is 2 years old. It was put in as part of the "cure" to the problem. At the same time he had a new starter motor fitted because they said it was faulty and draining battery charge. He has had autoelectricians come and look at it. They found the glove box light wouldn't go out, so he removed it. The problem persisted. He also recently left it at our local Škoda dealer for 3 days for them to thoroughly check it. They said there is nothing wrong with it. The problem persisted. I recently bought a CTEK MXS 5.0 battery charger, which is apparently all-singing all-dancing, and can recondition a battery if it has not gone beyond a certain point. I left it connected up in the recondition mode for almost 3 full days. The battery showed fully charged. Even the little window in the top had turned green. Then 2 days later the CTEK indicator was flashing red, meaning CHARGE IMMEDIATELY. What puzzles me is that once the battery voltage has gone below a certain point, the engine will not even whimper a few turnovers when we try to start it - literally nothing. Is the onboard computer telling it to do nothing? Is there a cure for this? Many thanks for any help!!! This has literally been going on for more than 2 years.