TerFar

Hi All. We recently decided to downsize from our trusty Yeti (2l diesel) and found a Jan 2016 Fabia 1.2 Tsi Monte Carlo DSG with just under 6,000 miles on the clock. Within a few days I started to have battery problems. It came with a Skoda warranty and I took back to the garage for testing. They assure me that nothing is wrong, they charged the battery and it just needs driving more!!! Well, a couple of days later, I started getting the low battery warning in the DOT display and the Infotainment switch itself off. I did a 70 mile FAST round trip on the M27/A27, stopped at Asda Garage to fill up on my return and found the battery was still low, still getting the error message! I haven't been back to the garage yet as I have been doing some tests and reading about all the battery charge problems with Mark III Fabias sop that I am armed with some information before tackling them. I have fully charged the battery using an Optimate battery conditioner. It took 48 hours to fully charge: not unexpected as it does only trickle charge. After reaching the full charge, I disconnected and the immediate battery voltage was 12.64 volts. After 30 minutes rest, the voltage fell slightly to 12.5 volts but stayed at 12.5 volts for several hours. (I'm going to do some further tests later after taking it out on the road and I'll add the results to this thread.) Meanwhile, the battery fitted is a 59Ah MLA Moll EFB battery. Reading around leads me to believe that EFB type batteries are inadequate for Start/Stop systems and the battery should be an AGM type. So my first question is should I insist the garage (a Skoda agent) replace the battery with an AGM type and did Skoda continue fitting EFB type batteries or did they change them to AGM batteries in later models? When I went on line to look for the cost of replacement batteries, at least three sites specified an AGM battery (all at over £150), which makes me suspicious that Skoda threw in an inadequate battery! Thanks: Terry