nta16

It might not be the battery at all but most owners don't realise how important it is to keep the battery in a reasonable state of charge otherwise the computers can play up in all sorts of unexpected ways if they lack their meagre diet of power. And the very hot weather we had wasn't kind to car batteries, and thus possibly to charging systems too, the effects of which could show up later if not at the time particularly this autumn and winter. Good luck whatever it turns out to be.

And did you read the cause or solution?

How about buy a battery monitor and record what is happening which you can then show the results to the Dealership or perhaps identify any issues with your car or use. Just one example, there are other types. - https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/134074196280

With an intermittent problem like this the car needs checking whilst it is playing up or the circumstances have to be replicated during diagnosis. Live data whilst the car is running and playing up would be very useful and possibly point to the area of the cause of the issue. The computers are showing a problem whether they are the cause or something else is. Perhaps a video of when the problem is happening with good sound quality might help to help you further.

That was my first thought but I thought they parked further to the right but I could well be wrong as I often am. Plugging in an appropriate scan tool might give more info.

A thorough oil change, not just quick cold drain, could help more than expected, also change the air filter and check the inside of the ducting is reasonably clean, for a car and diesel at that, remember GIGO with computers this is SISO. The following video is relevant despite it's title and initial purpose. Good luck

I was thinking of a scan tool such as full reporting of the whole car and bi-directional operation. Again this could be checked with the right tool. Sometimes a simple thing like lack of of gas but also remember the even simpler things like clean filter and clear ducting and vents. That's me out of ideas so I wish you good luck.

Could be the computers - how well up is the charge on your car battery as that affects lots of the computer programs in lots of ways, or perhaps dodgy switch - BUT - it might, or might not, possibly be related to sloppy grease or sloppy assembly as in the following.

Because I used to swap from a new modern car with good modern brakes to a very old car with good but very different braking I often test the brakes just after leaving the hardstanding at home out of habit but I don't think I've ever tested ABS deliberately. I once found out how good modern emergency braking was about 20 years ago when I was looking in the wrong direction halfway across a dual-carriageway in France but that was in a very small Japanese car and they come fully loaded and everything works very well. Mostly for the last 30 years I've had to rely on tyres, pads, shoes (including the ones I wore) bits of metal and hydraulics and a very poor quality and intermittent biological computer system.

No I meant by the style of driving - I'll edit post. Testing of luck and patience of others maybe but that doesn't sound like a deliberate attempt to assess the ABS function to me. ABS, I've not got servo even.

You will find information like this and much else too in the 'Owner's Manual' if you do not have your paper printed copy you can still download a PDF version from the following link. - https://manual.skoda-auto.com/004/en-com/Models

Do you mean traction control perhaps? The idea of the warning lights coming on with ignition is to show you they're working, you should be paying attention to them rather than whatever is distracting you from this. The ABS isn't a toy and you shouldn't be relying on it or abusing it, it's the tyres that are the contact with the road and the computers can only do so much to help out when things are going wrong. If your tyres aren't very good for what you want you will not improve them by being hard on them. For all I know you could be the best driver in the world but I don't like the sound of you provoking ABS judder [ETA: by your style of driving]. We were all young once and did stupid things but mistakes can have serious consequences and it may not be you that comes off worse, which I'm sure you'd agree would be unfair. You can book cheap track days if you want to wear and tear your car or destroy it as the public roads are not so good for this. Let me know if you're ever driving anywhere near Northamptonshire. 😄

Assuming (always dangerous) you car's systems and battery are all working as they should it may pay you well to consider using a suitable battery maintenance charger overnight a few times a week to help top up your battery and take some strain away from your charging system. I would expect more than 2 years from a battery but if your car's monitoring system was faulty before perhaps that has helped to weaken your battery - however, I am not you with your car travelling as you do. If you are not able to regularly recharge your battery then at battery replacement I would look for a high quality battery with as much Ah and CCA as possible that can be fitted. Good luck.

@gruger thanks for reporting back and your comments. A few notes for you to consider for your issue, according to Google Chile doesn't get extreme cold or even cold winters, certainly not compared to the UK anyway but they could be additional electric load on for longer in winter which will lower the battery but the battery and charging system should be able to cope unless the load is well above what is normal and/or lots of very short journeys where the battery and charging system can not catch up. Between 10°C and 30°C (50°F and 86°F) is best for battery charging. If the battery is low in charge often (depending on the journey and circumstances) just driving the car to charge the battery will be insufficient for lasting effect, best to recharge the battery with a suitable battery charger. Despite the start/stop now working I would recommend you check your car battery's state of charge (and charging system if you can) and/or recharge your battery with a suitable battery charger, avoid fast charging aim for at least overnight lower recharge. As well as large loads depleting the battery small constant loads can add up over time, such as if your dashcam has a constant live (whether it is recording or not) so how that is wired may be worth checking. The sound amplifier depends on how power hungry it is in use but it might also perhaps have a constant live(?) and so battery drain. You would probably need a lot of LED lights to be noticeable as they are very low load usually and GPS generally use very little. HTH.

For the scan tool don't just rely on error codes, or the lack of them, only, live data can often tell you a lot and human senses can often detect stuff the computer program has yet to decide to report or might not be within its reporting or parameters. The over complicated and over complex intertwined computer programs may see a fault with battery or charging system that's there (or it thinks it is maybe). Have you made checks on simple things like a poor connection to the battery monitoring system connector or the wires (perhaps same as one in photo).

Oh, I forgot - unless things have changed(?) Tom's got a VW Polo if that makes any odds clutch wise. Tom, Tom turn around, now who sang that, not Brotherhood of Man, . . .

I thought you beat me but as I'm old and befuddled I'd forgot I was born before Mk1 production started, my second, or third can't remember which, car was a Consul Cortina (1200 with extra long gearstick) in the late 70s, we had a Mk3 in the early 90s and Mk3 Capri in 2004-5, was just happy to have operating clutches and not worried about the types or how close the left knee was to the dash. It was all fields around here when I was a young girl but much has changed since then . . .

Doh ! I might have just blown my chances of adoption and just this morning I'm going to look at a garage to see if it's worth trying for servicing, work my new daddy could have done for us for free, doh! Why is it posh people even aged in their 60s and 70s refer to their mummies and daddies, being from council estates you stop that at Infants School (or whatever it's called now). Anyway - so @Jesspl123 what's the outcome?

Well there's not much you can do with the bloke but for the girls you can only blame the parents. 😉

How good is your mechanic? Did he also plug in a suitable scan tool and do bi-directional active tests? Has the sate of your battery and charging system been checked?

From what you've put unless you're a pretty poor or inexperienced driver it doesn't sound right to me. To me it's either something wrong with what's been installed or the work or it has highlighted another problem elsewhere. Something wrong with the work or new parts is often the case in my experience rather than another fault being shown up, but of course this could and does happen.

You have left things very late if you have waited until the doors will not lock, you have weaken the battery with your use, if you were at home I would advise you to use a suitable battery recharger to save replacing it but now you are best to replace the battery before you cause the car to breakdown. We have different makes and models and car battery capacity figures in the UK, here a Vatra, Bosch labelled Vatra, Yuasa could be considered. 320 DIN is about 540 EN or 600 SAE (according to the table I have anyway). For an idea of different batteries see, for EFB - https://www.tayna.co.uk/car-batteries/types/027-efb/ and for AGM - https://www.tayna.co.uk/car-batteries/types/027-agm/ If you have start/stop EFB is your minimum not standard, you could upgrade to AGM. If you change from an EFB 59ah 320 DIN then possibly to get things working as they should immediately you would need to code the battery to the car. Get the best quality battery Ciak (or other) battery you can, if they can correctly code the battery to the car then a AGM battery should be better but again get the best suitable AGM battery. The EFB 59ah 320 DIN should be your minimum but higher numbers on a poorer quality battery will not last as long. And bear in mind just because a battery is new or not very old it can still be depleted and when it is hot or cold weather the battery will not be at its best causing the charging system to work harder too. As soon as you fit a new battery and have it coded if required, or driven the car enough, you might notice other improvements that had dropped before. If you can also get the car checked and cleared of any stored error codes relating to the battery being allowed to go too low (for free or reasonable low cost) that could also help to speed up getting other stuff right on the car. Good luck, enjoy your holiday.

Typical "classic" owner, no wonder the cars never get the wrinkles let alone problems sorted. I hope that include your grown offspring. You should have your daughter helping out as it's her car. My wife went to 20 weeks evening car maintenance classes when she was young and is much at better at identifying noises and finding parts at shows so knows how to do basic maintenance and realises what's involve - so has me do as she's (like me) more sense than to get dirty, greasy, oily. Even taking the dust caps off to check tyre pressures gets my fingers black from where I've not bothered cleaning the wheels for far too long. Cars are really for driving and nothing else (if you have enough money).

A bit of double-side sticky foam tape might do a better job, or blue tac which can be incredibly strong if left to settle for a few months but you still able to release the item later if required blue tac holds at least three items on to my car. Held some hi-fi speakers to some very heavy ballasted speaker stands too.