rory-p

Hi there, I have been having some pretty major exterior light issues for a few months now on my Skoda Octavia mkII estate (2012). The issue is intermittent, which is making it a lot harder to get it looked at, as whenever I have had the auto-electrician round it works flawlessly. However, I am too scared to take it on any long drives or leave it parked with the battery plugged in in-case the issue starts. Apologies for the long post, but I haven't found any post so far with my combination of woes, and I am out of ideas with it. Main symptoms (when it is having an episode): There does seem to be some correlation between wet weather and it acting up. However, there is usually a lag of a few days between the car getting wet and it acting up - so it is a hard theory to prove with British weather. Main symptoms as follows: - Front and back indicator lights flash when parked (locked / unlocked) and when driving. Hazard light button will flash. Pressing the hazard light button does not cancel the external lights, but will cause the internal dash hazard lights to show/turn off. - Faulty bulb light will usually come on at some point on the dash, but no other warnings other than those that come on and clear after reconnecting the battery. - Side view mirror lights work when indicating (although kind of pointless with the hazards going off). When an indicator is on and the hazard light "off", the dash indicator light will blink fast like it does to warn that a bulb is out. - When the ignition is turned so that electrics are on, or the engine itself is on, the headlights, side-lights, and tail lights come on as if the headlight switch is set to on (even though it is set to off). - The external indicator flashing is almost always rhythmic like when the hazards are going off as intended. However, sometimes at the start of an episode it is more of a sporadic flickering with long gaps in between as if something is shorting. Previous quirks / things to not: - Notice quite a lot of water drain from the door when opening it after rain (although not sure if this is normal). - Top rear brake strip and rear wiper periodically stop working. They usually stop throughout the winter months and come back to life in Spring. - Generally pretty moist (condensation) in the winter months. - I don't have any fancy mods fitted other than a dashcam piggy-backing on a fuse in the fusebox. It has worked fine for years though and the problem persists when it is unplugged. Things tried / similar things on other posts: - Silent alarm - my alarm definitely still works. - Fuse issues / corrosion - checked all of them in the engine bay and internally and they all look good. - Bashing the hazard light - given a good seeing to and also removed to have a look at physically to no avail. - Auto-electrician had a look at the BCM and there was no visible sign of water ingress or damage. - Battery is less than 12 months old and still seems fine with good grounding. From what I've read, it seems like it could be some sort of water ingress problem or an issue with the BCM, but both seem like expensive fixes to act on based on a hunch. I'm a practical guy (although I only have a voltmeter and a few tools at my disposal), so happy to take pieces apart to investigate if this may assist in any way. Thanks in advance for any suggestions, and apologies for the exhaustively long post. Cheers, Rory