Current leakage in Bolero

[Grandpag]

1) Bolero stopped working as a radio; all other functions including touch-screen working fine. This lasted for 5 days.

 

2) Turned on ignition and radio works!

Attempted to start car - display says "please put into park or neutral", which it already is, and refuses to start.

 

3) AA called out - measures battery voltage at 11.5V, which explains why I can't start the engine.

Boost used to start car - battery and alternator are fine.

Detects current drain from battery higher than normal (0.2 to 0.6A) with everything off.

Removes fuses one at a time including those under the bonnet - removing fuse 6 (instrument cluster) or 8 (radio) reduces current drain to normal level. Leaves fuse 8 out.

 

4) Book into garage for 1 week hence. Meantime, car starts fine but I'm missing the radio!

 

5) Garage detects fault in radio and fits replacement Bolero the next day.

 

Car is just out of warranty by 1 month - so thankfull that Skoda agree to discount Bolero cost of £629+VAT by 75%!!

 

Garage also discounts labour charges.

 

I'd be interested to know if anyone else has had this problem.

[Moonman2]

 

I'd be interested to know if anyone else has had this problem.

 

Possibly! My 170 has been stood idle for the past 11 days, and when I tried to start it this morning - NADA. Battery voltage measured 10.5, which I took as a sign of a flat battery.

 

Jump started it from SWMBO's (after a bit of faffing, no easy way to attach the lead to her battery's positive terminal) and took it for a 40 minute run. Switched off, and then, with fingers crossed, switched on again and fortunately it started. Another 10 minutes run home. Battery now measures 12.8V (comparable to SWMBO's 12.7V), but quite how much charge is in the battery I don't know.

 

I had a similar problem about a year ago and that time called out the RAC, who told me it was a known problem with Yeti's fitted with electric seats. The guy installed new firmware for me and told he could no longer see any "activity", which was presumably a good thing. I assumed that had fixed things ...

 

But maybe not - I'll try pulling the fuse for the radio and see if the problem recurs, though hard to believe a modern radio can drain a car battery!

[The Plumber]

Had to call out Skoda Assist nearly year ago due to low battery voltage preventing the car starting. No reason as to why and not happened since :wonder:

 

 

TP

[Moonman2]

Had to call out Skoda Assist nearly year ago due to low battery voltage preventing the car starting. No reason as to why and not happened since :wonder:

 

Maybe Skoda had a duff batch of batteries?

[Grandpag]

No problem since new radio was fitted, so it's clear that the radio did drain the battery.

 

Note: this was a faulty radio!

[Moonman2]

No problem since new radio was fitted, so it's clear that the radio did drain the battery.

 

Note: this was a faulty radio!

 

Noted! But then maybe Skoda had a duff batch of radios

[Grandpag]

Just had the replacement radio fail in exactly the same way, draining the battery via Fuse 8 as it did two years ago!

 

Skoda dealer has (again!) confirmed the radio is faulty and is the cause of the battery drain.

 

They believe the car is just beyond the age at which Skoda are likely to fund a discount on the parts and labour.

 

I'm about to contact Skoda, but would be grateful for information from anyone who has had the same radio problem.