Happy new year folks!!

Down to business - My '07 Octavia is getting more and more reluctant to start in the mornings and i'm pretty sure its the battery, however the car is only 16 months old but its just passed 70,000 miles.

Before starting it in the morning there is less than 10 volts on the battery which is a bad sign straight away and the car was last used yesterday lunchtime.

The alternator is putting >14 volts onto the battery so no problems there and the voltage is stable when the alternator is loaded to the hilt.

The magic eye is red which isn't specifically mentioned in the manual but as its not green I suspect this is not good It stayed red even after running the car for 10-15 minutes.

I had to rely on my trusty Halfrauds booster pack this morning or it was never going to start!

Would a bog standard Halfrauds battery be adequate for the task or would the proper OEM battery from the stealers be the better choice?

And finally, what is the deal with the warranty on the OEM battery? I suspect 12 months or something like that but any advice would be appreciated

I think the OEM wty is only 12 months on batteries but I could be wrong. Halfrauds battery would be ok but if it were me I would go for an OEM one. There are special offers on OEM batteries at the moment at TPS if you know anyone with an account.

If you go for a Halfrauds one and again know someone with a trade card you'll save a packet.

Had my original battery replaced under Skoda warrenty 2 months ago, car was 33 months old. New battery has a 12 month warrenty on it. Skoda assist (RAC) came out an confirmed it was dud & gave me a report to take to the dealers for the warrenty, however dealer insisted on an overnight charge & their own "drop" test before they would replace it. Still, well chuffed it was covered!

Dittto, I had Skoda assist out to the car not starting. IIRC he said the ECU wouldn't attempt to start the car if the cranking RPM was less than 180 rpm. He whacked a booster on it and away it went. I also have an issue with lack of fuel at startup if the tank is

I might chance my arm at my local dealers when I get the chance.

I need to get is sorted, I left the radio on for a few hours whilst on job in the sitcks and the car refused to start. Luckily there was a genny with a massive battery nearby so used that to fire it up :P

I had my battery replaced by Skoda Assist under warranty when my 56 registered Octavia car was about 18 months old. They seemed to be aware that there was a duff batch of batteries out there.

Thanks guys.

I'll approach Skoda and see what they say about a new battery under warranty.