Hello and sorry. It's me begging for help again.

Given the grief I have had with the Octavia 2001 dashboard electrics, I am ready to give my car a stern telling off.

Original post here: http://briskoda.net/forums/topic/180788-no-dashboard-lights-and-engine-wont-run/page__p__2172026__fromsearch__1entry2172026

Thought I had solved the problem of the dead display and associated non running engine, when I found a possible dry joint in the dash display.

Re-soldered, refitted and car started fine except for battery light continuously lit.

Found out today that the battery is not charging, when the car died on me.

Car will run, but is doing so on battery power alone.

It seems far too coincidental that the Alternator would have died at the same time as I had the dash and all of the relays out to find the original problem, so the question is this;

Is there any connection or relay under the dash or within the display that would prevent the alternator output from reaching the battery?

I cannot test the Alternator output ATM as the weather is horrendous, but when I measured across the battery earlier on it was 8 volts and dropping, so no recharge was taking place.

Any ideas and does anyone have a layout of the charging circuit for a 2001 Octavia Ambiente 2.0L?

Thanks in advance

I think you should check the charging relay on the alternator...

This is the one

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

The coal may be very worn and when the battery light is flicking (in the dash) it means that the charging current is intrerrupt because of pour contact

In the image is my charging relay,the coal was quite worn and the charging current was weak,about 13.3V,but still changing constantly

Edited 13 January, 201115 yr by IulianE

Hi IulianE.

Thank you for the reply.

I will take a look at that later today (if it decides to stop raining for 10 minutes).