Disconnecting and re-connecting battery for seat removal

[milespd]

Hi, I'm new to Briskoda having just bought a lovely 55 plate 2.5 TDI. However, all was not lovely in the water ingress department. Had the pollen filter and the ECU boxes re-sealed by the dealer (Skoda wouldn't pay) and I now need to dry out the carpets (can't afford any more dealer hours). I've seen most of the great advice on how to do this but I shall need to take the front seats out, which have air bags. After disconnecting the battery I will leave the electrics to discharge, then disconnect seat connectors and remove seats, all good. After reconnecting the seats the manual says switch the ignition on before re-connecting the battery, can anyone confirm that this is necessary, or correct. I guess it might be so that there is no risk of you being in the car when power is restored? Are there any faults that will then need clearing before the car can be started, as I don't have VAGCOM/VCDS, yet!

Your help is much appreciated.

[ah101]

I had to do this like no doubt many others!

 

Didn't switch the ignition on before reconnecting battery, would have thought that might cause problems! All I did was reconnect the seat connectors, reconnect the battery and then you will have to recalibrate the auto up / down function of the front electric windows. If I remember correctly you have to hold the window buttons while they go down and up once, then they should be automatic after that.

 

Check the wiring in the really good write up that's been "pinned" at the top of this forum.

[milespd]

Hi, thanks for your quick reply. What you say makes sense, just bothered that the service manual talks about switching ignition on first. Manual refers to windows and says to close them and hold the button down for a few seconds, presumably to let the processor get its act together. Only have the water problem on the drivers side and it doesn't seem to be too bad, I've got the fan heater on it right now, just that the carpet is really stiff to get up without removing the seat first, may be far enough though.

[jimbof]

If you have DX satnav unit you may find you need to enter the unlock code so make sure you have it to hand.  Some people report this working automatically, but it doesn't on my car, I definitely need the code.

 

Bear in mind if you have water coming in a significant amount you get the most water accumulate in the rear footwells - and I think that carpet is very hard to get up (the front is much easier to manhandle).  I was lucky as I caught my ingress when it was just a few drops soaking into the carpet foam.

[milespd]

I have the radio code so this is no problem. Took the rear seat out and the trims and managed to lift the carpet enough to dry it out. However, in the front the carpet has been quite difficult to lift, the bit behind the pedals has been impossible to pull down far enough, hence need to remove the seat. Carpet is wet only where the felt backing is thickest so I think I have had a lucky escape.
Did you take your seat out, what did you do about the battery when you reconnected it?

[jimbof]

I only had the tiniest of drips which were soaked up before getting to the bottom of the car - lucky I caught it soon thanks to all the good info on here - so I didn't disconnect.  I have disconnected and reconnected the battery to remove the passenger airbag for replacing the blower motor - definitely didn't do it with the keys in the ignition and can't see why anyone would do it that way.

 

Note that if you take the seat out and disconnect the airbag, and subsequently turn the ignition on without having reconnected the airbag first, you will have an airbag fault and will need VCDS or similar to clear it.

[milespd]

Thanks for the reply. All back together now, didn't need to take the seat out but thanks for the advice. The only reason I can think of that the ignition should be on when re-connecting the battery is to make sure that you are not inside the car turning the key when the power is restored, just in case the seat airbag goes off. My water problem was only on the drivers side, thankfully not too bad, and the auto box controller is under the carpet there (where the convenience controller is on the passenger side) but checked inside the plastic box and all was clean and dry. Now only time will tell whether I have any problems with the electrics, fingers crossed.