Hi,

Was driving home tonight when my Octavia cut out completely, there was no spluttering. The inerior dash lights and external lights were still working. After I had coasted to a stop I tried to trun the ignition but was getting absolutely nothing. Not even the normal management lights on half a turn.

After the recovery chap had turned up he tried the ignition. This time the normal engine management lights came on with half a turn but when he turned it fully the lights went out with no attempt by the engine to start. Switched it off and turned the key half again - again no engine mangement lights at all.

He jump started it with no problem and I could drive it onto the truck for recovery. When we had gotten home the car turned on perfectly first time without the need for a jump start. Whilst it was running he checked the voltage across the battery and got me to turn the lights on full, rev the engine etc. He said it was charging normally which seems to rule out the alternator.

I've had the alternator go on my previous car but the symptons were very different. The car would splutter before cutting out and would try and turn over and indeed would turn over after the battery had recovered.

It is a 2 litre diesel Ocatavia estate, DSG automatic '06 plate. I'm at a loss at the moment to explain what happened as it seems to be 'normal' again. What worries me is that it will do it again driving to work tomorrow so plan on taking it to the garage first thing.

Any ideas what this could be and would I be better off taking it to the local garage or try and make it to a dealer?

Hi

Does the batterylight work when you turn the ignition on?

If not it's probably the load signal cable that's damaged.

If that cable is damaged the alternator doesn't start to charge until you rev the engine more than ~2300rpm.

I had this problem with my 2.0tdi vRS..

Hope this helps, and sorry for my bad English.

best regards from Sweden

06 and on original battery?

Suggest a battery check, most rapid fit places will do a free check. Octys are renowned for crazy electrical faults with expired batteries.

Hi,

As far as I know it is the original battery but I bought it back in '11 so can't be sure. I have a battery charger that I can hook it up to tonight if that's a good idea. According to the recovery fella it was charging properly at all times he was testing i.e. even when not revving the engine.

Could it really be as simple as a duff battery - wouldn't have thought it would just cut out suddenly like that - I would have expected a slow spluttering death.

Thanks for the suggestions so far. Will mention all to the garage tomorrow.

Nothing to lose by charging the battery. If the alternator is good it could be that the battery is not holding charge. As you are up north in the cold, hopefully the battery is losing charge and its a simple fix.

True,

Just realised from your post that I hadn't updated my profile since I moved - I'm down in Suffolk now lol!

The battery is a Vartar one - no markings that I can see that indicate a year. Not sure what makes of battery were factory fitted though.

Just been browsing the net and have seen that someone with an astra had exactly the same symptons and apparently it turned out to be a problem with the ignition barrel. Something to do with the electrics on the very rear of the ignition barrel apparently. Could be worth a check too I suppose.

Id change the battery, had a similar issue on my 07 VRS, was doing all sorts of strange things and I even tested the battery at 14 volts so that looked ok... very next day dead!!! jump start and would be fine for a day, then dead again.. changed the battery and all problems went away... I got my car in 2011 too so chances are the battery will need replacing.. i think the original ones had a window on it that if its yellow or something like that you need to change it.

Hi all,

Car went to the garage and was dianosed as a faulty ignition relay. Been on a few trips now and all seems well. However, just noticed this evening that a strange crackling noise is coming from under the bonnet. Haven't used the car since this morning but wondering if I should take it straight to the garage tomorrow to the same garage that replaced the relay as the noise is coming from the drivers side.

Any thoughts?

I got the little window on the battery turning yellow after 3 years of OE battery life.  I added 20ml of distilled water to each cell and it went black again and has been absolutely fine for over a year now.  Worth a try.  To get at the cells in the OE 'sealed' battery, I just pulled the sticky label off the top and unscrewed the plugs in the top.

Edited 9 December, 201312 yr by skodacarman

Yeah, I changed the battery anyway in the end. Noise still there so took it to the garage. They thought that the noise was coming from the windscreen wiper motor. Long story short I've wasted money as despite replacing the motor the crackling sound is still there. Will have to take it to the dealer instead methinks.