Hi everyone

My car has always started first time.

About a month ago it started taking a few seconds to kick in.

No evidence of any electrical problem.

Bought a new battery as I figured mine was almost 10 years old and winter is coming!

Took my original varta out and the little window was green!

Installed new battery.

Again it takes a few seconds to start.

So I decided to take out the battery and grease the starter connector.

Flipped open the top of the battery 'box' and took the picture.

On the left - some 'white' scorching?

On the right - the black connector has melted a little around the bolt and the copper cores are white-ish.

Any ideas as to what caused this?

Should I chop off the end of the black cable to 'good' copper and fasten down?

Would this cause the starting delay?

Hands red-raw with having to replace the lower breather pipe!

Any help would be appreciated.

Other than these issues the MF's tip-top!

Common problem, it's because the factory-fit crimp on the end of the cable is rubbish and over time leads to heat buildup, the crimp has expanded slightly (you can see in the picture it looks swollen compared to the other crimps) crushing the copper which has only made matters worse. You can either buy and fit a new cable (Skoda do an uprated one IIRC) or re-cut the cable and fit a better crimp yourself.

This would likely have caused the starting delay and can cause all sorts of other electrical problems or a melted fusebox if it gets worse.

You could always take it off and clean it all bright again and then run a load solder into the crimp and wire as a temp fix.

Thanks guys

Spot on.

Done some more research - yep, it's a common fault.

Will order new cable tomorrow!