hi all i have a skoda octavia 05 plate 1.9tdi let me start off by saying i loved driving this car its been great fun up untill now. a couple of weeks ago i drove to my local scrap yard and got another internal light for the front with map lights from another skoda fitted it but no life i checked the fuses the inlay card was not correct so i pulled each fuse out 1 by 1 and checked them eventually found that it was blown replaced it no problem worked fine then i noticed that my power steering was not working it became intermitant working when it felt like it it was fine when it was working i could drive it all day park up get back in and ide have a red light then i noticed the arbag light was on over the past 3 days my skoda has been great power steering perfect and still .but now ive got another problem when i got in this morning i drove short distance and noticed my abs lights were on and it was beeping i carried on driving and now when i turn left or right it sounds like faulty drive shafts knocking .i went back to see my mate i had to stall the car to stop engine running i tried to restart it but it would not turn on the key so me and my mate disconected the battery for an hour reconected it abs lighs went out it started normal airbag light is still on tho i drove short distance but turning left and right is still causing this knocking sound which sounds like drive shafts but it cant be as they were fine last night .anyway i drove my car home parked up turned off ignition it carried on running i stalled it again disconected the bat then reconected it tried to start on key which it did turned it off looked at dash idicators and they were lighting up dimley including oil light and the rev counter jumped and temp gauge then started beeping with keys out i started it up and drove it back to my mates where it still is my mate said diconect the battery overnight which is what weve done .any advice please im at a loss here is my ecu gone down or what and where is the ecu as we could not see it under the bonnet anwhere ...cheers marcus.....................

Hi

It might be worth getting your car scanned to see what fault codes have been logged first.

Is the battery ok as it can do lots of strange things when its failing.

Good luck hope you sort it out

Likewise a bad earth connection can cause all sorts of odd issues.

As stated though a scan would be the first place to start.

If you look in the VCDS forum there is a list of members that have VCDS you may find someone local that will scan it.

_{It could also be your alternator on the way out}

As has been mentioned, do not under estimate what a failing battery / alternator can do to the Octavia.

There have been some very strange symptoms in the past that have finally been linked back to a dodgy battery.

hi guys cheers for reply last night i took my car out it was fine except for air bag and my drive shaft noise can you tell me if my driveshaft is gone could this mess up my abs sytem ??? and cause abs light and anti skid to come on ? cheers

hi everyone i had my car put on diagnostics everything came up with fault codes glow plugs you name it ? it got so bad the last time i drove it before it was put on diagnostics that i couldnt turn the engine off it was still running wth the keys out of the ignition i had to stall the engine in gear ?? anyway as said it was put on diagnostics all codes were cleared and after words it was perfect but the last couple of weeks ive noticed that the heating fan somtimes took a while to start and the other thing was ide lock the car up at night come back to it and the windows were down ?? also last night ive noticed that the power steering has started to play up again i can hear a relay clicking on and off could it be a faulty relay causing these problems ???? ive read on here somwhere that relay 109 is a module that controls alot of these systems is this correct ????? any more advice please well appreciated cheers   

please read above post just to add another few things ive mentioned the internal heating fan taking its time to start working also the window washers will start at the same time as the fan and jet wash ????? as for power steering i can here the relay clicking then it stops and my steering light goes out and all is fine ?? the battery on my car is new by the way is this or could it be relay 109 ??? cheers

Could it be the new battery is connected to a faulty alternator - giving symptoms of a dead battery?  Check for voltage across the battery with the motor running.  Should be around 15V.

hi today i put a volt meter on the battery on tick over it was 13.80 volts. then i reved it and held it voltage was 13.91 volts what do you think  ??????   cheers

That sounds OK.  Switch everything on (lights, elec window heater etc.) with the engine running.  If volts across the battery stays between 13 to 14 volts, it's good.

I had similar problems as those reported (but in a different brand of VAG car).  A new battery was fitted (€270) but the problems persisted.

 

After all the garages had given up on the car, I started my own investigations. The new battery was not as exactly specified by the manufacturer - it was a "stronger" one "which should work much better" than the proper one.

 

I went to Halfords and got them to fit the correct battery as per manufacturers specification  (€105) - hey presto - everything worked as it should and 8 months later have never looked back.

 

I got the €270 back too !

 

well ive been away for a break didnt take my car i left it on charge 5 days came back this evening turned the key all lights went out as usual except the electronic steering it stayed red i drove it about 3 miles then it went out ,i then parked up went to shop came back to car and its ok again ???is there a relay which operates the steering rack because as i mentioned before when i sometimes leave the car for a long while say few hours then go back to the car and turn the ignition on the steering light will start to flash red and simultaniously ile here a relay clicking. after the relay stops all is fine .thanks about the battery post etc the battery ive got fitted to the car is a bosch from halfords