Hi all, since I apparantly can't post this in 'Ask A Tech', I revert to this part of the forum. I have a Skoda Octavia Avant (or Wagon or whatever they call it in your country) from 2005 (it was the new model back then, which I assume makes it an Octavia II). Due to an injury I couldn't drive it for 4 weeks and the result of course: battery dead.

The guy from the "assistance" jump-started it, I drove 30km (slowly all systems like ESP etc. started working again during that drive, except for the radio), tried to restart again, but again dead. Conclusion: battery really dead. Replaced the battery and that fixed the starting and all the other stuff, but ... you guess it: radio still dead.

The radio is a factory-fit Audience (6 CD changer-built-in, filled with MP3 CDs). It also displays the distance when using the parking sensors, the airco temperature when changing it, etc. Also has controls on the steering wheel. As said, all the car's systems work fine (including the beep-beep of the parking sensors and the airco), but the radio's display remains blank (no backlight either) and it also doesn't react to CD insertion or any of the buttons.

The "assistance" guy checked all the fuses next to the steering wheel and under the hood. They were all still ok. He also hooked up some device to check the network of the car (probably not a real VAG device, since those guys aren't targeting VAG specifically) and could see no errors. My own dealer is on holiday and another one told me they were booked full for weeks.

So, the question: Is there some other fuse which could be blown by the jump-starting and cause just the radio to fail? If so, can you direct me to some "tutorial" on how to get to that fuse (since I'm a complete newbie) and if not, any ideas what else I could do to already find out the root cause by the time my dealer is back?

And just in case the radio is broken, any idea whether they (VAG/Skoda) repair those, what the costs would and how much completely replacing it would cost? If really broken, would replacing it by one with a GPS be an option?

Thanks for any help and info you can give ...

The pictute in your avatar is a MK1 Octy combi, the Mk2's usually have the stream radio.

I would start by removing the radio and checking if a fuse is fitted to the back of the radio, is the fuse OK? Then check to see if you have 12v at the input connector.

(I think the stream radio has a 10amp fuse)

The pictute in your avatar is a MK1 Octy combi, the Mk2's usually have the stream radio.

I would start by removing the radio and checking if a fuse is fitted to the back of the radio, is the fuse OK? Then check to see if you have 12v at the input connector.

(I think the stream radio has a 10amp fuse)

Hi. Thanks for the reply. I'm 100% sure the radio is an Audience (it's even written on its front). I just picked an Avatar preset which was looking a bit decent, so don't take that as the reference for my actual car. The big question is: is there somewhere a tutorial on how to remove the radio? I guess I need to somehow remove the "front" that surrounds the actual radio console and the airco below it. I assume that somehow clicks onto the radio (or something else), but the question is where to wedge it as to not break the thing ...

Thanks,

K

OK I have seen what the the radio looks like, it is similar to the Stream. This link is for fitting the phone kit, but it shows how to remove the radio.

Octavia-vRS.com - OEM Integrated Bluetooth Telephone Install

Have you tried removing the battery,waiting a few minutes and then reconnecting?

OK I have seen what the the radio looks like, it is similar to the Stream. This link is for fitting the phone kit, but it shows how to remove the radio.

Octavia-vRS.com - OEM Integrated Bluetooth Telephone Install

Thanks a lot moley ... That's probably what I was looking for, will give it a go tomorrow and let you know whether that gives a clue to the root cause of my problem.

Have you tried removing the battery,waiting a few minutes and then reconnecting?

Yup, also tried replacing the fuse for it (checked all the fuses, non seemed broken, but just to be sure we replaced the radio one).

Even the one on the rear of the unit? I'm assuming you meant the one in the fuse box.

The four screws securing the radio are TORX. When you pull the radio forward the aerial lead can be unplugged and the quadlock connector released with the lever lock. The back of the radio will look something like this picture. This is the stream radio with 10 amp fuse, lets hope it's just this fuse causing the problem.

Even the one on the rear of the unit? I'm assuming you meant the one in the fuse box.

Yup, all the ones in the fuse box left (since I'm in Belgium) of the stearing wheel and all the ones in the fuse box next to the battery under the hood. I'm going to try to check today whether there is another one at the back of the radio. I hope there is and that it is blown, since that would be a lot cheaper to replace than having to repair or replace the radio ...

Thanks,

K

Just to close this one ...

The instructions provided by you guys gave me all the info needed to take out my Audience radio (without breaking anything) and find out that indeed it also has a 10A fuse at the back. I had to wait until today to get a replacement fuse, mounted everything again and bingo working fine.

Via the "Similar Threads" link, I noticed that - although I had tried different keywords to search for a similar problem before - there was someone with the exact same problem as I had. For him also replacing the battery had cause the fuse to pop. Maybe there's a FAQ where this can be mentioned?

Anyway, thanks all for saving me quite some € with this simple fix (about 0.3€ for the fuse).