Bought my Fabia Elegance 1.6 CR90 on 21st March

Within 3 days it would not start, and has now failed to do so on 5 occasions!

Dealers have started it twice with battery pack, and have had it back three times and on the last occasion, fitted a new battery.

Diagnostics showed no problem, so nothing was wrong then.

Apparently the VAG 'brain' is so clever it and the alarm need enough power to flatten the battery every 10 to 12 days, so I must make an un-needed journy of about 50 miles at those intervals, costing over £7 in fuel each time. These of course are non-miles, ie not actually going anywhere, so deduct then from calculations and the car will be doing less than 20 mpg.

Yes, I have a trickle charger, but not everyone is so lucky, and what happens when we go for a fortnight's holiday, leaving the car at port/airport?

At least my 1930 Austin 7 had a starting handle.

A less-than-happy bunny.

How often do you use the car?

Simples.

Late March to mid May,

is less than 2 months, 60 days max, and 5 or 6 'failed to starts'.

Simple maths means it has never sat more than 10 days since delivery & the first fail was 3 days after delivery.

HOW DID THEY EVER GET THE THING TO THE UK, ON AND OFF A TRANSPORTER, INTO THE DEALERSHIP, THROUGH THE PDI & INTO YOUR HANDS, IF IT CAN NOT SIT FOR 3 DAYS, SOMETIMES?

Skoda 'fail',

or your dealer speaks with forked tongue.

There is a drain someplace or a second faulty battery, possibly from a batch of faulty batteries that they have not checked or stored correctly.

http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automotive_battery

*is there a glove compartment light or similar staying on?*

I think if Skoda have fitted a battery to cars in 2012 that do not have enough storage to keep an Alarm Alarmed

& start the vehicle within 2 weeks of sitting in UK average Ambient Temperatures, then they are selling vehicles not 'fit for purpose'!

It is now Spring/summer, what would it be like in winter and a week of minus celcius?

In winter cold start, you will use battery power, then lights, wipers, rear screen, heater & run down a charge and possibly not recharge the battery.

(The CCA of the battery is very important)

But now the Alternator & Stop-Start requirements need a battery that can cope with short commutes, or extended park ups.

I think you will have to communicate with Skoda to see if they are going to supply you with a battery suitable to make the vehicle usable.

ie, one that can be sat in an Airport Carpark while you go on a 2 week holiday, and come back to without needing a boost start or recovery.

Otherwise i would be returning the vehicle to the Dealer & getting recompensed.

It sounds cr4p.

george

Edited 16 May, 201214 yr by sk4gw

You could buy a solar trickle charger and leave it in the car....

I think something's wrong though, my g/f leaves her fabia II for many days without driving and it always starts and runs perfectly, and hers is a few years old with 50k on it!

Think it might be the sheer amount of electronics that's gobbling up the juice. So an older car would be better!

Car's back with dealer but they've found no fault, but they are now speaking to Milton Keynes.

See if that helps.

I have no probs with 61 plate 1.6tdi cr 105. must be fault with yours.

Ours, purchased September 2010, stood in an airport car park for 5 weeks from mid Feb to late March 2011 and again for 3 weeks up to 3 Feb this year and started first time on both occasions, though both followed 200 mile motorway journeys to the airport.

That's more like it, tlx !

I didnt touch my car for 3 weeks over xmas and it started straight away with no issues. Sounds like a dodgy earth or something

we left our 2010 Fabia Tdi Sport parked up in the garage for 11 weeks while we overwintered in Spain and it started 2nd turn without hesitation

Edited 16 May, 201214 yr by stevensmith91

The same thing happened to my 105 tdi monte. After much messing round with the battery, they found that the radio controller unit was drawing power when the car was switched off, thus flattening the battery. It was only because the car was in set in a delivery mode or something, that the fault didn't occur only until I started using the car.

Ask the dealer to check to see if the radio is drawing power when the cat is switched off, or do what I had to do for a few days as a temp solution as told by vw road assisit, is to pull the fuse out for the radio.

But hey, thats what happened to me anyways. Cars loads of different components that can draw power when idle so I'm not sure if mine was a one off thing or what.

Thanks, hoppipolla

Just sent them copy of your post - see if that works

Might even see car back by weekend.

I have no probs with 61 plate 1.6tdi cr 105. must be fault with yours.

+1 and didn't have any problems on my Mk 1 VRS nor Fabia 3 estate (total of 70k miles over 5 years)

You should really be thinking of rejection and demand a new car.

Personally, I'd have rejected the car.