nta16

😄 Sorry I forgot that bit and I only saw another video on it the other day!

The superglue was just for covering the pin holes if needed. For wiring you can pay a bit and get a hour's worth of all the info you can download, you really need to stuff of the VIN as the wiring usually changes part year to part year and what is actually on the car when built. Do be aware all sources of information from any source are likily to have errors and omissions. For the fan noise sometimes cleaning the fan blade well both sides can lessen noise and have the fan blade going in better balance, course it depends how much crud was on the blades to clean off. The fan my wife brought to me was about a 2.5" wide fan blade, the metal blade was so thin she bent it when I asked her to hold whilst I firmed up the screw.

I forgot to put if the pin holes in the insulation required it superglue was used to fill them in, of course there are many different superglues and no doubt many more now and no telling what ones sourced from Temu and Amazon might be, and the wires and cables weren't as skinny and fragile as those that VW use. With my fat sausages I'd struggle with pins and holding two multimeter probes. I was farting about earlier "repairing" a 5p worth £5 usb fan for my wife and although I have small hands my fingers were two fat to monoverse round and and with the plastic motor housing, flimsy metal fan and plastic covered fan guard. Getting the three tiny screws located to hold the circular black plastic motor housing to fan guard and orientated correctly required, the wire stand to be removed, three big sewing pins and my "glamorous assistant" trying not to shine the bright or reflected light into my eyes so I could line the three holes to put three pins in as locators for the three tiny screws. Tested and proved to be working at all stages after "repair" (just sprayed it with some electrical contact cleaner) confirmed at last two stages by the boss - what's the betting she plugs into her computer at her work tomorrow and the fan doesn't. To be fair it didn't have any VW markings so perhaps it might. 😁

In that case good job I didn't mention using small sharp pins to pierce through the insulator to the wires from end of cable run to what you can get at as mid-point and test this section for yay or nay, possibly adding wiggle, heat, cold, wotever might be a cause for fail/internment, then as required half the half or check the full half you've not checked and do the same to that side. I hope I've made sense, I can get a bit too technical and jargony at times. I don't believe in "German engineering quality" certainly not from this century but to be fair all cars are design and built with some many compromises for various reasons, and not just to pay very large wages, rewards and expenses towards the top of the companies, not that you'd see any of that anywhere in aerospace of course.

You can use ordinary tools to remove the panels but if you have something plastic less chance of scratching, perhaps an old plastic kitchen spatula (or one from the kitchen drawer) can be useful, two is better thin blade and thicker blade, or just can buy plastic tools just for the job, those little orange ones. I bought a Lidl set of 14 car trim removal tools, £7.99, different shapes and sizes but a little big for say removing the number plate light but ideal for removing the rear door interior panel (after removing the T25 screw). That panel comes off very easily the other panels I've not tried yet but I will have to thanks to VWŠkoda very thin fragile wiring. If you have to remove the rear door electric switch take my advice don't bother trying to do it from the exterior take the interior door panel off instead as it's easier, don't ask how I know, oh, the swearing at VW, again. There are a few threads with photos on this forum where members have exposed the wires from body to boot door. Let us know how you get on, if in anyway you enjoy the process I'll let you do similar on my wife's Fabia at no charge, we've (it was her choice of car) yet to get around to sorting the non-working wiring for the boot switch, just pressing the remote fob instead, !"£$%^& VW !! ARRRRR !!

AGM can be in the engine bay they're just supposed to have the additional heat insulation (mainly on the underside IIRC). I put an AGM battery in my wife's Mk3 4 years ago as she does very short journeys, sometimes just two of two miles a day, and I've always know the importance of having a good battery in good condition to not only start the car but when trying to diagnosis and test staring and other electrical issues. That's from decades back and having old bangers but with newer more modern cars having a good battery in good condition is even more important not so much for starting the engine or having bright lights but to keep all the computer systems and program happy or they'll throw up all sorts of unexpected issues, warnings and unseen error codes. I've not worried about fitting the additional heat insulation IF this causes the AGM battery to have a bit shorter life (I doubt any significant effect) in the 90PS engine bay) then so be it. Changing from EFB to AGM will required (correct) data entry by some electronic tool (code reader, scan tool). VBW being VW call AGM fleece. As I do very occasional PREVENTATIVE charging with an appropriate battery charger maintainer follow the instruction in the car's 'Owner's manual' and for charger maintainer and we don't usually use the stop/start function or have too many car heating features or excessive electric users I'm not sur I'd bother swapping from EFB to AGM again or it was worth the extra expense this time. But other uses may well benefit from having an AGM particular those who are heavy users, abusers and neglecters of the car's 12v battery and/or prefer to just change the expensive batteries more often. I don't expect the inadequately(?) insulated AGM battery in my wife's to have any problems or not too last a lot longer than for most other modern car owners/users because of the very occasional preventative charging and different type of battery requirements not being as critical as some think or make out. IF the AGM battery in my wife's car has or causes problems and is short lived I will post about it, I get things wrong multiple times a day so don't worry about admitting if I make such mistakes as wrong battery used. That I don't know but any modern car is less suitable for round town short trips, slow driving and/or infrequent use than older and much older cars.

If you can't physically see it by untaping all the wires where you can then you start at the end connector and go back to the next connector and check power or full power is getting through, for earth points and wires too, if it's not there you check the next section. You can also look for signs of rubbing, water furring up connections, unsecured wire and connections. VWŠkoda does seem to have very thin fragile wiring and a ridiculous amount of different fragile wunderbar fantastic-plastic wiring connectors ("Simply Clever"?). Have a look at some of the videos here. - https://www.youtube.com/@mrautoservices7354/videos

Bad wording, following horn instead of siren, we call it the alarm horn, and yes I thought from previous threads posts here when a member put he got a s/h alarm siren/horn battery is was near the windscreen. ETA: beaten to it again

If you can get a rag in the alarm horn you might, or might not, also be able to disconnect the horn perhaps. Does this still leave bleeps that need programming out through the infotainment menus(?), does it bleep with alarm going off(?). Have you anywhere secure where you could leave the car unlocked. Could you take your car somewhere where the noise of the alarm wouldn't annoy anyone except you and if you really want to find out for yourself try disconnecting the car's 12v battery, or disconnect the offending sensor perhaps. VWŠkoda does seem to have very thin fragile wiring and a ridiculous amount of different fragile wunderbar fantastic-plastic wiring connectors ("Simply Clever"?). You could look and see if there's a Briskoda member near you with a VCDS scan tool program that may be able to help you in some way, (though it might be as you say a faulty sensor, or connection or wiring or water got in). - https://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/262215-list-of-vcds-owners-previously-known-as-vag-com-vcp-owners/#comment-3091029

In case you don't know and ever need it, that yellow thing (bit of wunderbar VW fantastic-plastic) is for if the lever gets stuck in 'Park'

Any car should be capable of that, the practicality depends on what and how much you need to take up, we toured the Highland in several small cars new and very old, Lundun is only another 65 miles south of here and we'd easily do that much looking for a real decent ale in Scotland back then on top of the touring mileage. The Fox could do it, speed limit is 70 on motorways and less on the other roads. Last few years I've generally stuck to 60 on motorways anyway it doesn't add that much more time especially if you have a very thirsty vehicle as you stop less for fuel. Wider, longer wheelbase, heavier car will be more comfortable for journey up but even more boring on the fabulous proper driving roads available. They rarely connect well but it doesn't mater as it a low charge going in as long as it's a firm solid connection, I go on the ends of the terminal clamping bolt, it's all conductive and will get to the battery terminal. You at least have a good engine bay earth point to clip on to on my wife's Fabia it's not so good with the bonnet cable pull in the way (more German engineering design and build!) and on a neighbour's Corsa it's a tag that doesn't suit the clip. With the stop/start VW's you connect the negative to the earth point rather than battery so the battery monitor computer program knows what's going and doesn't give itself a headache or brain-fart having to work it out later. See how long it takes the charger maintainer to get to full and that might give you some idea for future, of course the start low voltage may vary each time but you'll get the broad idea, usually it takes a lot longer than most expect. Don't forget to switch off and unplug all unnecessary electric bits or it's like filling your petrol tank with the engine running. You should be sorted now and once completed and left on maintain car ready to be used (driven over reasonable distances, not just run engine or short drive) whenever to keep the rest of the car in good condition.

One example, other makes, models and suppliers are available. - Ring Smartcharge 4 - 6/12V 4 Amp Intelligent battery charger and maintainer. . Automatically switches to long-term maintenance mode when the battery is full. . Connect quickly with clamps or use the included O-ring terminals to add a permanent connection. . Automatic 9-Stage Smart Charging Process. . https://shop.ringautomotive.com/rsc904-4a-smart-battery-charger-maintainer.html

You shouldn't need one for a while but if you haven't got one consider getting an appropriate battery charger maintainer and read and follow the instructions in the car's 'Owner's Manual' and for the charger maintainer. Best to when required fully charge the battery as a preventative matter rather than when the battery is in a too low state of charge for the computers. The stop/start not operating when it should is generally the first sign of the battery in a low state of charge if the normal driving of the car doesn't recharge the battery to prevent the drop soon again then put the battery charger maintainer on for as long and/or many times as required to get the battery to full. That way this new battery should last many years beyond what those that sell car batteries would like. Good luck, thanks for reporting back.

@OccyVRS the Germans marques have always like to over-complicate to show how clever they (think) they are (Simply (not) Clever for VWŠkoda) and VW joined in with the lardy and big vehicles out of the 1970s. Weight obviously reduces power to weight but as you've put other effects too. Put the kw gauge on when you're just cruising at 50 mph on a flat road you should have plenty of time to times the figure by one and a third. Pity VW weren't clever enough to have some sort of gauge to help with battery state of charge to display. Bear in mind many (most?) of the cars going to tuners might not see much actual real road use. Stick with whatever oil you like, standard or tuned (though I'd want better oils than the VW minimums especially on a tuned car), tuners can often tend to be, like plumbers and engineers (who will tell you how many times you can reuse a nyloc or bent screw 🙃) conservative, but do timely thorough engine oil and filter changes unlike many rushed garage jobs. Doesn't sound like you're keeping the car too many years so it might not matter anyway. AS I rambler the original Fox, not that I ever saw many, in fact I only remember the one I saw new outside the VW garage it might have been a git smaller but it wasn't parked against a Mk1 Golf to yell and my memory not the best, I just thought it was a sensible sized town car, glorified shopping trolleys now have 17" wheels! Tut!! I went out in a Beemer 635 CSi back in the day and appreciated the stereo system in it as a passenger and the (proper to me) Audis in the 70 and 80s were nicely done, for the professional family or older man otherwise the Germans just don't know how to style a car to my taste. The (proper) Volvos had excellent seats, my wife is quite rightly very fussy about seats which makes sense but how she thought the Fabia seats are comfortable is beyond me. F1 champion James Hunt (from the time when the drivers drove the cars) used to drive himself, for various reasons, an Austin A35 flat-out around London and elsewhere, 948cc, 30-50hp, 690kg kerb weight, like the one Wallace and Gromit use (though I can't see the baby-brain Hamilton being capable of driving one, no or yes, I don't like roundly-round racing and him in particular, said he'd look after where he used to live then ****ed off abroad ASAP and was fiddling around to avoid paying due tax on an aeroplane, mind he had a nasty disliked dad by accounts).

It has estimated time to charge an empty battery (what's that?) 60Ah to 80% charged of 12 hours - it gives up at stage 2(?) after 8 hours (minus whatever at stage 1) running at 5A when it thinks something is too badly wrong, which it might be The battery might be buggered (or dare I suggest helped along to this by the Ctek, whoops, looks like I dare) or if given different treatment revived, or not, for more useful life. I've had a couple of failures but I've revived a few long "dead" batteries to have very useful more life on an old diesel van too that wasn't getting much use at all. It just takes time and patience something that many don't have in stock particularly professionals which can be understandable. Obviously I didn't use a Ctek charger. 😁

I'm not knocking you or anyone else, you can have whatever car you like as far as I'm concerned (personally if I only had a choice now of Fox (even £200 fixed) or VRS Octavia I'd go with Fox 9.5 times out of 10, some long boring motorway or dual-carriageway journeys comfort and a bit of entertainment is best). The only VW that has ever interested me was a Golf GTi Mk1 particularly when they were new, near the size of your Fox I'd guess than any Golf from Mk2 on. Plus I'm a shortarse so don't need as much room, but very short legs and long body so do need more headroom than in the back of many coupes or old (70s-90s) Jag saloons. Don't get too carried away for figures particular PS, HP or BHP, and more so on the speedo. Most often you have far too much more than is needed often only a very small fraction might be used. With heavy German lumps of cars yes you might need a bit more to haul it along and now with modern cars so heavy and with oversized wheels and tyres for fashion sake. The bigger and heavier the car and engine the more power wasted to move both along. Sometimes whatever power you have is not enough but that can be a dangerous are on public roads, more often your lugging around an empty trailer of power. You're also very insulated from the exterior environment and with DSG and all the driver "aids" and "assists" more removed from the driving experience and fun in my view so you need to stimulus of figures. You might or might not go through this phase, we like different things but the higher you take things the sooner you get into ever diminishing returns. You're with a VW favoured oil and type which if 350 is standard for your model is fine and certainly there's enough about oil beliefs and debates on the site to not need to start another here. The Octavia is a popular model so you can get loads of info in the model/year forum here which I expect you already have. BTW the coolant (needle gauge at least, I've no idea about the digital and "virtual" ones) is biased to sit rock steady at 90 so as not to worry average driver/owners, I learnt in 199 when for the first time I had a Japanese car, I thought (well didn't really think, well not enough) it was just down to the superior Japanese engineering until I was told different. I was used to cars with mechanical gauges where the needles moved (with varying accuracy) with the real physics and you learnt your car and gauges, in my last one at least if the coolant gauge needle was on 'N' for normal it wasn't it was getting warmer. If you installed a PS, HP gauge you might see some interesting figures when you're doing normal driving and possibly think back to your Fox even more fondly. 😄

Quick thoughts. Have a look at the internet for the reset procedure, pushing and holding a couple of buttons at once often. Do you have all the windows, doors, roof fully shut. You could (carefully) clean out sensor vent(s), side of unit perhaps, and for mic and alarms while at it. Have you checked for leaves and stuff at the air intake, change the cabin filter. This time of year (warm, hot, too hot (for me anyway) the battery self discharges more, air-con is used more so another good time to check state of charge of the battery regardless of the headlights seeming bright enough and the engine starting easily (engine not starting is a last not first straw). The battery state of charge probably has nothing to do with your issue but the computers can play up in all sorts of unexpected unrelated ways if the battery state of charge is just a bit too low for them, the stop/start not activating when it should and the computers cutting down on things like air-con to save battery power. Driving the car might charge the battery enough to put things off for a little while to return when the computer's threshold isn't reached. then the use of an appropriate battery charger maintainer following the instruction for charging in the car's 'Owner's Manual' and charger maintainer instructions. Charge as much as possible, slower and to full is best. The reset procedure might sort it but if (also) the battery is in a lower state of charge than the computer likes use the battery charger maintainer. HTH. Let us know how you get on.

ETA: 115 is very warm for the oil but a good oil will go to 125 and more anyway before issue, what does the 'Owner's Manual' say about normal oil temps for your car a bit above that I'd guess - but engine oil is another subject and thread entirely - and full of oil believes and debates too. If you have a VRS badge then you probably want better engine oil particularly if you drive in a spirited way the VRS badge was put on the cars for. Second hand with VRS badge can sometimes mean more abused but not necessarily more serviced and maintained by some owners. Have a look at what other well or reasonably serviced and maintained 2020 Octavia run at. Bearing in mind 4 heatwaves so far this summer of course.

Had you known more about the simple process of charging the battery you might have bought or borrowed a charger and it might not have been as knacked as you thought. It should have least taught you the importance of the 12v battery then and as you're learnt even more so now. At least you could bump start the car then (but a Fox might well have been a new enough car to have a cat so really shouldn't have bumped it but I would have or better still park on a good slope or hill facing down). I can't stand a car that won't start, if you can't start the car you can't even limp it home, more difficult to do even that with more modern cars with their computer interferences. I've always wanted to get myself home and sort the car latter as it's only an annoying PITA lump of metal (or metal and plastic with modern German marques) unless it can be driven. That's why I've always given importance to having a good battery on the car, to start, to power safety items, to be able to diagnosis (the little I can) and sort any starting or electrical problems, and the electronic and computer issues nowadays, I've enough brain-farts of my own without the ones from computers. When I bought old cars if I was unsure about the battery after brakes and other safety items and checks it would be the first thing I'd change. One car I bought very locally had an iffy battery which had been mentioned but the engine need a good battery to start so when I found how iffy it was as agreed I changed the battery at seller's cost but to be fair I made the mistake of buying a less expensive battery to save the seller money as he'd been fair with me (private seller of course not UK motor trade) and that battery didn't do well so I changed it. What I should have done is asked for £45 as that was the price of the battery like-for-like replacement and said I'd fit the (£70) battery I did later (this was mid-1990s IIRC). Sorry I thought I'd put about the 75-80^ thing but it must have been in another thread, warrior put it better than me anyway. I find the stop/start annoying but do think about having the engine turned off to save emissions - particularly when I'm a pedestrian - and more so if a VAG diesel is about! no wonder they're all black! If you want to know more details about batteries you could have a look at the following, but don't get too carried away about it for your car, I'm often accused here of such but I don't really care that much other than having some reliability with the car and it's such easy clean-hands stuff on the otherwise ancient dirty technology of an internal combustion engined car. - https://batteryuniversity.com/

@Exkiwi, thanks, even if I don't need to apologise for your sake I need to for mine and other viewers. Great that you taught yourself about machinery, you did have some guidance at least, from the bloke that was a mechanic, and I'm sure during your learning you probably broke stuff or not repair or service or maintain it as well as you could later. You didn't always have the opportunity then that others have now to get guidance and learn from others to do something for a first time and avoid breaking anything and do a better job. From a (later) 2021 Kamiq 'Owner's manual' (issue date 29.11.2021, part number 658012720AF) like you say it's not much but it is something. Bear in mind although my post is addressed to you others will view it so even if it means nothing to you others can see there is some information in the 'Owner's Manual' about battery charging (and discharging). 12v vehicle battery and fuses > 12v vehicle battery > Checking and charging the 12 volt vehicle battery 12v vehicle battery and fuses > 12v vehicle battery > Functionality – Protection against discharge of the 12 volt vehicle battery

We can all help each other and very often learn from each about the cars yes but also more if we want to. Anyone posting has no obligations other than to stick to the rules of the site. If they don't want to waste their lives farting about with cars I don't blame them. I do think as a driver they should at least know the basic driver maintenance items and have some additional knowledge so that some of those in the UK motor trade don't rip them off, and as I put to save time, hassle and expense from unnecessary visits to anyone in the motor trade. We can save small fortunes by learning from the mistakes of others, I know as I've wasted a small fortune on cars, much of it by trusting some in the English motor trade - so had I studied humanities I might have avoided some, most or all of them - but I doubt it as some were successful well practiced con-men in their businesses, I certainly should have done more research on a couple of them rather than just go on trust. Be careful with workshop manuals from any source including the manufacturers as, like all sources of information, they can contain errors and omissions.

I saw another member suggest another very low priced App but I can't find it now. Anyone with a reasonable level scan tool with the appropriate programs for your model and (part) year should be able to 'code' the battery for you (they may cost more than €100 though), built-in program without the need to buy tokens or pay extra. As I put if you can you also want an error report before 'coding' and deleting any error codes and another report after than to see what didn't clear if anything, this after a little drive if possible. None of this takes much time at all (depending on how far you go for the drive). Check anyone's 'coding' we can all make mistakes, just that a DIYer will often take more care than a paid professional - electricians, plumbers and mechanics are probably the laziest tradesmen in my experience in this country, unfortunately we don't get many women doing these jobs here or they would be a better choice. Good luck let us know how you get on.

Ah the foreign country that is that-there-Lundun with it's strange ways. I just meant with the charger maintainers unless you let one of the cars get into such a bad way as with your Fox with charging and battery the process will be top-ups and nothing drastic requiring buzz words or "features" just simple rechanging and perhaps maintaining. The Fox would be a sensible size small car to me and with 50+ years of generally disappointment with computer electronics the less of them the better for me. I like wind up windows! Warrior's last post is why I always fully recharge the battery on my wife's 2015 Fabia (which really seems to annoy some poster/viewers here) also a 2015 car has less electric features and interfering "assists" than on a 2020 version so less potential drains. As always each to their own. You will learn how much each of the cars need recharging, and perhaps preventative charging, by experience (easier with the Ring charger maintainers s as they show voltage figures to learn by rather than just a few coloured lights of the Aldi/Lidl or CTek. Charging the batteries and keeping them in good order isn't difficult or complex, it's simple or I'd not be able to do it, don't get too tied down by too much details, as I put before things aren't always as black and white as they're made out to be and there's often wriggle room - though it might be forbade in that-there-Lundun tho'. Good luck.

The cable runs at the top of the wing so I don't think there's much point taking the wheel and wheel arch liner off as the break is probably at the cable joint thing after but if you can't think of anything else you could see what (if much/any ) access or view you get by doing so. Anything else I can think of just risks damage, sorry. Are you sure the cable is broke, if not you could try removing the pull handle and if required interior trim panel and pull the cable with pliers.

Has pulse charging actually been proved to do anything different really then, pulse charging was more marketing buzz last time I looked it up many, many moons back now mind. I'm not sure the £75 is 5 times as good or will last 5 times as long as the £15 and unlike my mate if you only have one Ctek you won't see inconsistences with a second same model. For your Dad's BMW do check and read the 'Owner's Manual' and check if there one or two 12v battery(ies), even the old ones had points in the engine bay for neg and pos as the (single) battery is in the boot under a silly fragile power points bar so a PITA to even see let alone really get at. Amazon isn't the only suppler in the world (and not often the lowest priced) but it soon might be if no one shops elsewhere. If you can't fully recharge in one go you can try more goes, as Tesco tell us every little helps. An outside double mans socket is very handy for lots of things (I've only a single at the front "garden"). If using a 12v socket you must check that it can be used for charging. The Ring, Halfords, CTek charger maintainers also have O-ring terminals to add a permanent connection on to the battery or you can make up your own leads and connector. £300+ ! Are you looking at Amazon prices for batteries too !?! 🙂 And 15 minutes would be going slower than me and I never go at any pace working on a car, that would include going to the shed, remembering where I left the charger, betting it out of the box, walking to car, forget car keys, going back for car keys, connecting up, untangling wires, plugging in, waiting for reading, pressing mode watching to see how quickly the volts reading goes up, walking away. Yeah, perhaps 7 and 1/2 minutes - but you might have a much bigger property than our very small place. The battery wouldn't have been at fault, it would have been your Dad forgot about he battery because it's so reliable the same as now. Just think of the battery like a bank account if you don't want it in the black (empty) or too low then you need to put in at least as much as you take out to retain what was there before but time will diminish things anyway (inflation as battery age, abuse and neglect), hope that makes sense. Imagine if you had a slot card meter to for the electric used in the car you'd soon learn about usage, same way you do when you pay for home electricity rather than your parents, you don't leave stuff running than doesn't need to be as much. 😄 2011 is still a new car to me, newest car I've ever owned was in 2004 and I only kept that for about 6 months. 😄