got an octavia 1.9 tdi y reg and the battery seems to be drained of power aafter a couple of days, its a brand new battery and the cold weather makes it worse. i understand that with modern cars there is a sligt drain but surely this cannot be normal. when connecting the battery there is a slight spark as you touch the battery connection to the pole, indicating there is a voltage draw without anything on. i haven't checked the draw but question is how much draw should there be?

There will be a slight drain, but to drop the battery after a couple of days there must be something using a fair bit of power. You need to see how many amps are being drawn. boot lights staying on is a common problem.

Also check that the charge rate is just over 14 volts then the engine is running.

Or maybe the alternator isn't charging the battery...

As above check the voltage when the engine is running to ensure that alternator is at least pumping out some juice. There will also be a minimal current draw when the car isn't in use - alarm, dash cluster, clock, etc.

A relative has one of similar vintage and it has the same problem - it seems quite common. If the battery/alternator are fine it is probably a fault in/something connected to the central convenience unit. His supposedly electrical specialist garage gave up on it and the likely cost of diagnosing/fixing the fault would probably write off the car so he's fitted a battery disconnection switch that he uses if the car is going to be unused for more than a few days. A bit inconvenient but it gets around the problem.

A relative has one of similar vintage and it has the same problem - it seems quite common.

I haven't seen many posts on here relating to batteries draining (the most recent, iirc, was due to a sub not switching off). The only way I could see the CCU could be part of the issue would be if it kept unlocking/locking the doors because a microswitch has failed (or the loom was broken) and it wasn't detecting something was closed properly. Or the more common issue of water ingress into the connector block inside the drivers side door.

Is the LED on the driver door flashing when the car is locked?

my VRS has been parked up for 2 months admittedly its in a garage but it kicked up first turn of key and thats still on its 12 year old original battery so there is defo something wrong,

I would start by going round all doors making sure there all closed right and interior lights are going out including boot light and as said above do the pins flash when cars locked if not one of door locks could be faulty,

Next check round battery, ie earth lead where it bolts to body under battery tray and engine and make sure there nice and clean, also check fusebox ontop of battery for any loose connections and make sure positive wires okay and not burn't or anything, next with a cold engine just put your hand on alternator and make sure its as cold as engine, if not it could be diodes in alternator that are shorting out inside it,

After that i think its put multimeter on and check for drain and with doors open and latched like there closed and car locked up start putting fuses until current draw drops nearly to nothing then see what that fuse does and go from there,

Other people might be able to tell you any common problems with them

Had exactly this problem and it was the fan controller relay box under the battery (52 plate vrs). Only found it when i went to connect my battery charger (forgetting to disconnect battery from car) and the air con fan started moving...

changed box and no probs since.

I haven't seen many posts on here relating to batteries draining (the most recent, iirc, was due to a sub not switching off). The only way I could see the CCU could be part of the issue would be if it kept unlocking/locking the doors because a microswitch has failed (or the loom was broken) and it wasn't detecting something was closed properly. Or the more common issue of water ingress into the connector block inside the drivers side door.

I'm not responsible for your bad memory or lack of attention! I assure you it is a relatively common issue, especially on the tdis c.2000 for some reason.

Edit to add: e.g. http://briskoda.net/forums/topic/167264-03-amp-drain-19-tdi-alh-comfort-control-module/

Edited 29 January, 201214 yr by Kandy

I'm not responsible for your bad memory or lack of attention! I assure you it is a relatively common issue, especially on the tdis c.2000 for some reason.

Edit to add: e.g. http://briskoda.net/forums/topic/167264-03-amp-drain-19-tdi-alh-comfort-control-module/

Please forgive me for forgetting one post which started life over 18 months old , I will have to add this to the list of common faults then. Fortunately my 2001 TDi does not seem to suffer from this, it will quite happily sit in the garage for 10+ days without being started and start on the first turn of the key.

Please forgive me for forgetting one post which started life over 18 months old , I will have to add this to the list of common faults then. Fortunately my 2001 TDi does not seem to suffer from this, it will quite happily sit in the garage for 10+ days without being started and start on the first turn of the key.

Nah, forgiveness is for wimps.

Also worth checking the alternator cabling and battery top fuse box for any overheating/high resistance issues.

Edited 29 January, 201214 yr by Kandy

The locking/unlocking did it for me, it was a faulty microswitch in one of the rear doors and by the time I got it sorted the battery (which was the original one) was well and truly shagged. I hadn't even realised it had been merrily locking and unlocking itself on the drive every night for several days!

Had the same problem,bought a new battery,and that got flat too in 1-2 days of stationary.

The problem was the alarm,old Viper model.I changhed the alarm with a new one and the battery is still good after allmost 4 years.

got an octavia 1.9 tdi y reg and the battery seems to be drained of power aafter a couple of days, its a brand new battery and the cold weather makes it worse. i understand that with modern cars there is a sligt drain but surely this cannot be normal. when connecting the battery there is a slight spark as you touch the battery connection to the pole, indicating there is a voltage draw without anything on. i haven't checked the draw but question is how much draw should there be?

Recently changed my battery on Furby . Got the usual from the tyre place "we offer a system check" - told hin to go .When I fitted battery ,noticed spark .So off with lead ,and stick in ammeter - to find spark was initial high current ,dropping rapidly to something I thought of as reasonable . Might be worth starting from scratch - check charging voltage - approx 13.8 ,with all things on -lights / heater rear screen etc . Then if you've got a meter capable of reading up to a few amps - check current with ign off. As said it'll be a few hundred milliamps at first ,then decay .If not -sorry ,but it's note the reading, pull some fuses and check again . If it's down -replace fuses one by down .If it's still high - more fuses -etrc till you find where/what circuits it is .

thanks for your helpfull replies, alternator is reading over 14 volts, i have checked around the lights boot etc they seemm to go out, i think i will fit one of the battery isolation switches till i can sort it out. will check on current drain t/morrow and pull some fuses

this video must resolve the problem