So, as per sig, 2010 vRS Petrol Estate. Warranty until July this year.

Mrs dunc driving home tonight. 10 minutes into her journey. On a slow, small roundabout, she was turning right (third exit) when, halfway round, everything died - engine stalled, power steering became very heavy and the car ground to a halt. All interior lights (dash) out. Red battery light flashed as the car was dying, and then went out.

She turned the ignition off and tried to restart. Nothing at all. Totally dead.

Firstly, we're extremely lucky she wasn't in the outside lane of the M4!!

She was pushed to the side of the road by a couple of helpful guys. She then tried to start the car again. It fired up as normal and she drove the 12 miles home without incident.

I arrived home an hour later. I immediately got into the Skoda and tried it. All good. Starter motor turned over quickly, started normally. No warning lights.

Thoughts anyone?? All seems okay, but a two and a half year old car shouldn't 'die' whilst driving. Mrs dunc could have been killed. What if my kids had been in the car?

My plan tomorrow - send the Mrs and kids to school / work in the Panda, call Skoda, drive it slowly to them and have them check it over thoroughly. If it won't start am, Skoda Assist will be getting a call.

Anyone had anything similar happen?

Any thoughts what may have caused this total shut down / failure?

Thanks as ever guys / girls!

See if you can get someone to read for fault codes, but battery springs to mind. Either the cold weather is killing it or a wire could be loose so check all of the connections.

Sounds like a loose battery terminal to me, possibly a corroded terminal. Check them out. dunno about this car but on the bikes i work on its "fairly" comon for battery terminals to work loose.

The clamp type terminals can get loose on the battery if theres any movement, they rub against the lead on the batery terminal wearing a grove that can give enough movement to break contact.

I wouldnt of thought it was a weak battery as its pretty redundant once the car is running as the alternator "should" be kicking out enough amps to run everything else, even without the battery (i.e when your battery is flat and you get a jump start, at that stage the battery is still flat but your running off the alternator so it doesnt matter)

Hope this helps and good luck, let us know how u get on

Craig

Thanks Steve. It has been cold and the starter motor has been slightly more sluggish than usual occasionally lately. But why would it start perfectly when my wife left work and then give up 10 mins later - assuming that the alternator is okay?

BTW, car is driven every day now - 13-14 mile each was commute.

Cheers Craig - will have a look at the terminals at first light.

If every thing goes then first thing to check is battery connections.

There was a prior thread, about the necessary distance to replace the current draw after a cold start when the battery is in competition.

don't just check battery terminals, once the engine is running the alternator can supply enough current to keep the car operating AND charge the battery.

id be checking all connections to the chassis and engine. probably a ground wire somewhere.

that's my guess anyway  

If it's not any of the above sounds like one of the battery cells has gone open circuit. Had it happen on our Renault years ago. A good way to tell is try connecting a 12v bulb directly across the battery via a flying lead. If you don't ahve one try some other 12v device if you have one. if you get no joy the battery is shot. If you have a multimeter so much the better.

sorry forget this- just seen you've started it since so open cell is unlikely-sorry

Ade

As others have said, loose terminal conections, bad earths etc. Has anything happened to the car recently, any servicing or parts changed?

Years ago I had a mini and the battery lead got pushed close the the exhaust pipe and burnt the insulation. Driving along it cut out and was totally dead, by the time my father turned up it started and drove OK.

Ok, update.

Skoda Assistance (RAC) came out this morning. Car started fine first thing but they were happy to come and check it after yesterday's failure.

Battery fine, battery charging fine. EODB diagnostic check (I imagine similar to VCDS) showed no faults.

Patrolman wrote "No faults, car ok to drive".

I guess I will just have to get on with it!

Thanks for the thoughts last night all!

Cheers.

I had a dodgy battery terminal on my old car (Seat Cordoba PD130) and that would just cut out mid driving and all electrics would go off.

I managed to squeeze the clamp a bit with some mole grips to tighttening it up on the battery and all was fine.

Phil

My ancient Focus used to do this too, usually on roundabouts and when pulling out of junctions. Never fixed it as it was a temp car and flogged it to get a proper car.

But stuff like this is why I don't want anything to do with electronic handbrakes. Manual cable is still usable if the electrics completely fail. I hope Skoda keep with the 'cheaper, lower-class' manual handbrake.

I had something similar happen on a couple of occasions when I had a Mk1 Octy - turned out to be a broken PCB track in Relay 109. Seems that it was a common problem at that time. Not sure if the Mk2 has the same relay though.

Was a cheap fix IIRC.

Dave

<<<< Used to do that whenever it was raining, or even just slightly damp. Part of the Italian ownership experience - you too could learn to love such eccentricity.