Correction to title: Should have said black lead, not red.

Hi There,

Sorry to hassle you guys, but I now need to get to the bottom of my battery problem, and any help is very much appreciated.

I've had the car about 6 years (octavia mk1 Ambiente 2003), and i must have had about 5 batteries now. I asked a mechanic 2 years ago to check the charge from the car and he said it was ok. I bought a battery from halfords 2 years ago, and in just under a year it started getting very low and eventually wouldnt start, they changed it for a new one. It's now happening again, but this time, Halfords are saying the battery isnt at fault, the car is.

I took it to my local garage, and he plugged his meter into it, and it read about 13.6v charge which he said it was bit lower than average, but still acceptable. One thing he did notice was the black lead (not the battery terminal, but plugged into a unit on top of the battery) was too hot to touch, infact, within seconds it was hot enough to burn your finger. He took the connection off and re-tightened it, but still the same. He seems to think that could be the problem. Id rather not start paying mechanics to carry out tests on it and get into expense because they might not find the problem.

Anyone have experience of this?

I have to say, it is a taxi, and with taxis. we have roof lights, sat-navs, meters and radios all running off battery. If im not that busy, then the car may not be recovering the power its loosing while im stationary. However, the other taxis also running the same equipment dont seem to be having my problem (although i do intend on asking a guy with an octavia and see if his black lead gets as hot as mine.

Thanks alot

Nick

Edited 17 November, 201114 yr by reginoil

That's most probably a bad earth, you need to find it... I'm dealing with this problem at the moment and that black lead which is getting hot, get it replaced, that should be your first port of call. Common problem.

Take battery out and battery box, one end goes on gearbox, take it off and clean it up, there is a connection under battery tray that fits to body and then it runs upto battery terminal

Try giving this a go. http://www.pimpmyskoda.co.uk/V2Images/ModsEngine/GroundingKit.htm

There's either a high resistance connection or broken cores in the black cable.

Check the gearbox connection, any body connection and I think the starter motor connection on that cable. Clean them as required, and you should find that one of your parents has a male sibling called Robert!

If that doesn't work, you'll need to replace said cable.

My OCtavia did the same. I knew something up when the whole electrical system died once when driving on the motorway. Very eery at night. Ended up getting a new complete harness (fuse box, leads from alternator etc) to fix the problem, cost around £50 new.

Hi, it is a resistive connection between the cramp and the cable, this is a common problem, it gets very hot and can lead to melting the fuse board on top of the battery, the easy and cheap repair is to disconnect the lead clean the connector where the wire is crimp to the wire and solder the connection (does take alot of heat and plumbers solder and flux) but does the trick well, saves £50 plus fitting. i've done this on my vrs and worked a treat, my alternator voltage before was 13.2v after 14.3v and no flat battery and lead stone cold after 2hr journey. 1 Year later still no problem!

Hope this helps you

Daz

Clean them as required, and you should find that one of your parents has a male sibling called Robert!

:S Sorry, that went right over my head that bit...Could you please lower yourself and explain that to me so i can sleep?

Thanks alot to all of you for your replies, and fortunately you're all pointing towards the same thing. I will certainly get that lead off tomorrow and inspect the cables. Time is running out before the real cold nights get here, so i need to get my finger out now.

I'l reply the outcome!

cheers....

Clean them as required, and you should find that one of your parents has a male sibling called Robert!

Just got it, took a couple of mins for the light bulb to come on.

Hi again,

Well, i got dirty...very. I took out battery, the battery case and the engine cover. I followed the black lead from the connection box and it (i think) lead to the alternator. Just before it plugs into the alternator, it seems to bend round some sort of clamp, and i would need to take off the large coolant hose to get a better look. I think it would be a good idea to replace this cable and i think im up for it. I'm just not sure how difficult it will be due to the strange clamp it winds round at the alternator. Could someone give me a guide to replacing this cable?

Just to confirm: This cable is black, and is on the left (slightly raised) in the connection box above battery. After reconnecting the cable and the other bits, the terminal gave off that burning electrical smell again.

Thanks all

p.s. I should call myself Bick? :wonder:

Correction to title: Should have said black lead, not red.

Hi There,

Sorry to hassle you guys, but I now need to get to the bottom of my battery problem, and any help is very much appreciated.

I've had the car about 6 years (octavia mk1 Ambiente 2003), and i must have had about 5 batteries now. I asked a mechanic 2 years ago to check the charge from the car and he said it was ok. I bought a battery from halfords 2 years ago, and in just under a year it started getting very low and eventually wouldnt start, they changed it for a new one. It's now happening again, but this time, Halfords are saying the battery isnt at fault, the car is.

I took it to my local garage, and he plugged his meter into it, and it read about 13.6v charge which he said it was bit lower than average, but still acceptable. One thing he did notice was the black lead (not the battery terminal, but plugged into a unit on top of the battery) was too hot to touch, infact, within seconds it was hot enough to burn your finger. He took the connection off and re-tightened it, but still the same. He seems to think that could be the problem. Id rather not start paying mechanics to carry out tests on it and get into expense because they might not find the problem.

Anyone have experience of this?

I have to say, it is a taxi, and with taxis. we have roof lights, sat-navs, meters and radios all running off battery. If im not that busy, then the car may not be recovering the power its loosing while im stationary. However, the other taxis also running the same equipment dont seem to be having my problem (although i do intend on asking a guy with an octavia and see if his black lead gets as hot as mine.

Thanks alot

Nick

I can confirm that your issue is more likely to be this issue of resistive connection between the cramp and the cable.

Be warned, if you leave it you will melt your battery fuse box and potentially cause arching to your bonnet if there is any contact or fuse box gets moved from the plastic holder.

You may be lucky and can just clean the crud and wire brush the connector, but i would still be careful as this does not always work. As the alternator is drawing 110A through the battery and loose connection will start the resistance issue. Once you have that issue it is hard to eradicate without fully changing the alternator lead(around £40)

As the crimp will of got very hot and blackened(like mine did) it was beyond fixing.

Also my fuse box had badly melted

I did a slightly cheaper mod. (well free actually off a spare fuse box that i also used))

As it is the crimp that suffers.(and these can not be replaced on their own) edit: Si-340t seem to have got crimp seperatley

I just cut back the wire a bit (in case some wire had got corroded or had resistance issue)

New section length to replace

Pic of the difference in colour between the original wire and new section

New length of wire spliced in and solder up/insulated with heat shrink

New fuse Box fitted and cabled up.

I've had this and I changed the crimp as advised by a Skoda tech and all good again. I had to replace the fuse on top of the battery aswell and for the fuse and crimp from Skoda £2 job sorted.

If you don't replace the crimp it'll keep happening is what I was told by the tech guy, easy 5 min job aswell.

Just to quickly say a big thanks to the recent posts. I will reply properly tomorrow as ive been helping my GF move home.

Many thanks

Thanks Bowders1 for that very detailed reply.

Yesterday i checked out another octavia that was older, and the same cable on his was also too hot to touch, although i didn't let it burn me this time, but he claimed he wasn't having problems with his battery. I am concerned with paying 40 quid and spending time replacing it and then finding out it didn't work. I will phone a skoda workshop and see what they say.

How confident are you guys that replacing this cable will fix my issue?

Yesterday i checked out another octavia that was older, and the same cable on his was also too hot to touch, although i didn't let it burn me this time, but he claimed he wasn't having problems with his battery. I am concerned with paying 40 quid and spending time replacing it and then finding out it didn't work. I will phone a skoda workshop and see what they say.

How confident are you guys that replacing this cable will fix my issue?

Do you really think that Skoda would design something electrical which was meant to burn people if they touched it (short of an electrical heater, of course)? Go find a new new Octavia (as the older the crimping, the more it is likely to have suffered) and see what happens to your fingers then.

I would not both phoning a Skoda workshop, try an independent instead as they are likely to be much more knowledgeable.... Maybe you will believe them, if you won't believe the knowledge that is Briskoda.

£40 is cheaper than new a new battery, and aa small price to pay rather then having your car catching fire. Not sure your paying customers would like that much...., although it might warm them up on a cold winter night

Edited 26 November, 201114 yr by mbames

Thanks Bowders1 for that very detailed reply.

Yesterday i checked out another octavia that was older, and the same cable on his was also too hot to touch, although i didn't let it burn me this time, but he claimed he wasn't having problems with his battery. I am concerned with paying 40 quid and spending time replacing it and then finding out it didn't work. I will phone a skoda workshop and see what they say.

How confident are you guys that replacing this cable will fix my issue?

As mentioned these cables are not meant to be hot to the touch, if they are they are already experiencing the problem, trust me on this.

This is a common problem across the VAG group.

The guy whose car you checked may not even know he has a problem in the early days no symptoms can be seen, but he will. I bet mine was bad for a long time. But as the resistance gets worse and less current can pass through to battery the worse it will get and the end result is melted fuse box or worse bonnet fire. I was lucky and as i regularly clean engine bay checked the fuse box and found the issue.

Do not be concerned with paying the £40 it may save you a hell of a lot more.