Skoda Octavia battery drain saga

[randomsi]

Hello.

Right, I bought a Skoda Octavia 06 reg with full service history and up-to-date MOT. Having had the car for a week one morning I went to start the car and the battery was completely dead. I called out the AA who couldn't find any fault so he jump started the car and we hoped it was juts a one-off.

The next day the same happened and AA came out. Again they couldn't really work out the reason for this and I took it to a garage. This garage ran some tests on the battery and found that it was in good working order. They checked for battery drain and couldn't find anything out of the ordinary (They tested to see the drain levels after the car went into sleep mode - around 40mins after locking - and the drain was 0.003amps). Battery was charging fine also (14.3 volts). Their outcome was that there was nothing wrong and charged us the £80 labour for the pleasure of finding this out.

We took the car away and then a couple of days later went to start it....again the battery was dead. AA cam out for a 3rd time and started the car and so we decided it was time to take it to a Skoda service centre (Marlborough, Isleworth). They ran the diagnostic on it and came back that there was a fault on the near side rear door as well as that the battery was worn out (possibly due to draining so many times). They replaced the door lock and fitted a new battery.

I then had to do long drive to Blackpool straight from picking the car up (this was on Friday just gone - 1st June - and a few miles down the road noticed a light on the dashboard was on. I didn't get the chance to see what the light meant until Inext stopped at which point I found that it was the Airbag system warning light? This may be a completely separate point to the above issues however I am yet to resolve this with the garage so would appreciate any advice if this may be related to battery drain or if it is just that the garage may have done something that just needs resetting?

Anyway, back to the battery saga (hopefully at least one of you has managed to endure reading my epic description of events!)... Whilst in Blackpool and upon retunring home, the car seems to start fine, however I am not sure if it had been left long enough for me to see if it is still suffering battery drain. The real worry was that last night - 4th June (actually 1:30am to be precise) the car alarm started going off for no aparent reason. I kept turning it off and then about 10-15 mins later it went off again. I tried disabling the internal sensors to see if this was causing it but the alarm still went off without them on. In the end I had to leave the car unlocked overnight (not ideal). I checked the red flashing light in the driver side door and it appears to flashing normally when locked (i.e. nothing suggestng an alarm system faulty). Having read some forums it seems that maybe this could be a sign of the battery dieing again???

I am really now loosing patients with the car as even the Skoda service centre don't seem to be able to find the problem and resolve it. If anyone can propose any other suggestions as to what the problem could be it would immensly appreciated.

Hopefully someone may recognise some of the symptoms?

Thanks for your patience in reading!

Simon

[silver1011]

It sounds strange to say this but you need the battery to die again.

This will then allow you to drop it back off at the Skoda dealer that replaced the loor lock and battery and tell them they haven't fixed it, they've possibly replaced bits that didn't need replacing at your expense and you'd like them to fix it properly this time.

[skodacarman]

As well as checking the battery drain when the engine is off, have you checked the battery's charging system when the motor is running e.g. is the alternator working properly (putting out the correct volts & amps); and if it is, is the charge it's producing actually reaching the battery (connections, earths, fuses, relays)?

[Tilt]

Bit late reply maybe, But, speaking from experience, as i (stupidly) systematically removed fuses to try to reset my airbag warning light which caused similar problem you are facing with your battery.

Mine (audi a4) was not "going to sleep" as the convenience windows had aquired a fault (re-fuse removal).

An alarm sounded, but not the horn (theft/main) alarm. More like a low siren from the rear of vehicle.

NB MAIN TELL TALE was hazard indicator switch remained illuminated (only noticeable at night outside).

Solution=new window motor (purchased second hand with spec indy fitting) & they also reset the airbag light for me.

Assuming the alternator system etc has been checked by someone, I GUESS your garage is on the right track, just not completed something properly.

Hope this helps if not sorted already.

[octavia5]

Had this problem when my '06 Octy was new. Turned out to be the Brake Light Switch, there were apparently a batch of these which reacted to atmospheric pressure and switched the brake lights on randomly when the car was parked. My car went in 3 times and had 3 new batteries before I opened the garage one morning and found the brake lights on - the dealer then changed the switch,behind the Bake Peddle, and the problem was fixed.

[Mac1961]

Back around 2005/2006 there was a problem with the radio draining the battery when the radio was off or supposedly off. Apparently, when the engine was switched off and key removed the radio switched off, which it was supposed to do, but behind the scenes the radio continued to draw power although this was not obvious. This was fixed with a software update that cured the problem.

[Cambjones]

I just experienced the break light problem... first happend about month ago, called AA, they restarted it and thought the alternator was gone, but I took it to a garage and they said it was fine...

Can was great and then one night, the first night it was really cold last week, the battery died again, and I noticed the break lights were on. I'm glad I found this post as now I can take it to the Skoda garage and point the directly to the break light switch and hopefully that will fix things.

I think it was a result of the very cold weather that triggered this problem.

Anyway thanks for these posts, hopefully this will save me many return trips and ££ at the garage.

[HUD Engineer]

Several people have posted on several threads about battery drain associated with alarm siren faults. Some Octy IIs have a siren that lasts about six years before it starts sucking charge from the main battery, and which requires "service" replacement at that time, so you may want to look at this thread:

http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/219447-alarm-no-longer-beeps-when-activating/

For those less familiar with the alarm system, the siren is a distinct module from the rest of the alarm, so if you are used to the chirp when you lock the car, and if the locking and indicator flashing is going on OK, but the chirp has gone, the siren is probably on its way out. Other symptoms are the siren sounding even while you are driving, which is a little disconcerting.

[Ambient7]

Found the brake lights on too. Tomorrow I will try sawing down the pressure switch to make it shorter , maybe this will work ? will post and let you know. 

[andy-fisher]

I had an issue where the outer high level brake light LEDs were faintly illuminated all the time. Not obvious during the day but noticed one night.  After a little investigation I found that the connectors near the CD changer were wet. It wasn't the usual washer pipe problem and I assumed it may have been the water that always seems to run off the hatch and into the boot when its been raining. I dried it all up and cleaned the green fuzz off the connectors and all was good again. More care is now taken when opening the hatch to minimise how much water runs into the car by opening part way and waiting for the water to run off into the channels either side before opening all the way.