Car was in with Skoda on Monday and Tuesday. They've ordered a replacement battery as it's knackered and arrives next week so in the mean time they've fully charged the old one which should easily last until next week. Apparently the car was absolutely loaded with error messages when running the diagnostics - an unheard of amount. They couldn't confirm the start/stop and various other problems are 100% related to the battery but they are 99% certain as everything is now functioning when fully charged. They are going to perform a drain test on Monday when it goes in for the new battery to work out what's going on and where the drain is and also going to run another diagnostics to see whether the errors have stopped with a fully charged and working battery.

Unfortunately I had some concerns for my battery 2. I drained my battery once and used jumper cables to charge it with my other car. Now when I am going to work engine starts up normally, but after going home after work i struggles longer and longer every time? I go to gym or to the pool after I go home and it starts up normally?

 

EDIT: So I took tester and went to measure my voltage and I need to replace my battery.

 

Measure before engine start.

 

12,6 V good,

12,2 V should replace,

12,3 V replace now.

Edited 25 February, 201610 yr by Croat

Changed to a new battery but was the alternator output also checked?

You don't want to be in the same situation again soon.

A week to get a new battery!! Where is it coming from?

If in reply to me they've checked the alternator and that's fine. No idea where it's coming from but they don't stock batteries at the dealership. I need a courtesy car while mine is in so the Monday may be the first day one is free as there is always a long wait for one there.

No the dealers won't stock a battery, these are jel-technology batteries on VAG cars with stop/start. Hellishley expensive by normal battery standards

Regards

T

Does any technically minded person know how much battery is used per second when starting the car? 

 

 

I've had a very random issue whereby the car sometimes takes 5/10 seconds to start and just keeps cranking (I've seen quite a few reports of this on the forum). On average it does this once a week - but sometimes every day when starting from cold - either going to work or leaving. I am convinced that this is what is draining my battery as the short drive to work isn't replenishing the battery enough so every long start is just further decreasing the battery level.

 

I reported this to Skoda when I first had this issue (Summer last year I think) but they couldn't replicate it. I have told them about it again and asked if this could be the issue but was told diesels always take a long time to start in the cold...which is funny because the courtsey car I have which is also a diesel, starts instantly every time. I started filming my start ups last week knowing the car was going in yesterday for a replacement battery and showed the guy the videos and he made a note of the problem on the service sheet when I dropped the car off but he wouldn't agree that it isn't normal. They still have my car as they wanted to perform a drain test today so waiting for a call back to collect or say they have a problem but if anyone knows the figure it would at least give me some info.

Edited 1 March, 201610 yr by JamesVRSmk3

Are you holding the key on position III or releasing it back to II straightaway?

If you just flick to III it shouldn't start cranking until the glow plugs are hot and start pretty much instantly.

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk

Ive got Kessy so just push the button and it does the rest.

OK - no reason for it to do what it is doing then. On mine (KESSY) you press and release the button and on really cold days it can be 3 seconds or longer before it cranks, but it fires straight away.

I have a Skoda Superb 2lt which is only 5 months old. The start/stop also showed high power consumption and went back to Skoda for checking. It worked fine for one day, then the same fault returned. It's back in the garage (main dealers) again next week and we are getting concerned as we're going abroad in it next month and don't want the car to fail us while away. 

On 2/26/2016 at 18:05, themanwithnoaim said:

No the dealers won't stock a battery, these are jel-technology batteries on VAG cars with stop/start. Hellishley expensive by normal battery standards

Regards

T

 

Just priced one on Euro Car Parts.....£269.99 for Exide, £299.99 for Bosch.  And they only have a 3 year guarantee.  300 notes for a battery.  All I need now is to see the price for a DCC shock absorber.......  

 

1 hour ago, juan27 said:

 

Just priced one on Euro Car Parts.....£269.99 for Exide, £299.99 for Bosch.  And they only have a 3 year guarantee.  300 notes for a battery.  All I need now is to see the price for a DCC shock absorber.......  

 

Now you know why I don't keep my cars when they're outta warranty, too Fn expensive

28 minutes ago, themanwithnoaim said:

Now you know why I don't keep my cars when they're outta warranty, too Fn expensive

 

Well the first battery on my O2 did last six years and may well have struggled through to seven but I didn't fancy risking it over the winter.

 

It is a bit worrying that a £300 aftermarket Bosch battery only has a three year warranty.  

 

I have got a five year warranty on my car but its not clear if that covers the battery.

Edited 20 September, 20178 yr by juan27

I doubt it would be covered by the warranty, one thing would be to check the terms in the paperwork.

Batteries tend to be seen as consumables as they have a finite lifespan before they start to wear out.  Some are lucky and get 5-6 years out of one and some get 3.

Superb, 5 months old, just gone back to the dealers with the same Start/Stop/ high power consumption problem for the third time in two weeks! 

On 27/09/2017 at 12:17, DHRichards said:

Superb, 5 months old, just gone back to the dealers with the same Start/Stop/ high power consumption problem for the third time in two weeks! 

Do you have a dashcam or anything plugged in to the 12v accessory socket such as a phone charger?

Same on MK7 Golfs, stop start & VAG fitting smaller size batteries...

 

Coded my VCDS temp settings to max, so it doesn't activate...& fitted a bigger AGM battery in the battery tray as there was space for it!

 

No problems now!!

 

what case size is the Octavia vrs then?

Hang on just double checked its of course the same as mine..so biggest is 096 case size......I paid £155 for my Bosch AGM...from Euro car parts

 

Just checked their site £299

 

 

However car parts for les has the same battery for £198

 

https://www.carparts4less.co.uk/cp4l/c/Skoda_Octavia_2.0_2017/p/car-parts/electrical/car-electrics-and-car-lighting/car-battery/?444778008&1&6cd70805700014390b5911b6e7c54b8a84354118&000020

 

In fact I used them for my old Fabia battery ..delivery was ok & that's back of beyond..& Euro car parts happened to cheap when I bought my Golf one..

 

just got to check them all for price..

 

 

Edited 28 September, 20178 yr by fabdavrav

The problem started before I had a dash cam but, as our mileage is very low and the car has many power-using components the problem may have been owing to a low charge in the battery. Fitting a dashcam (plugged 24/7 into the utility socket) may have escalated the problem.

Skoda disconnected the battery for 20 minutes and after reconnecting the start/stop worked fine, for 36 hours, when it deleveloped the fault again. They now are keeping the car for a few days to re-enact the uses I make of the car and with the dashcam connected. 

Their concerns are that -

1/ Why the battery should lose so much charge in so short a time (36 hours) 

2/ Why disconnecting the battery for 20 minutes should solve the problem - for 36 hours anyway. And

3/ Why the start/stop system shows no errors when the ignition is on and the engine is off but shows the error as soon as the engine is started. 

 

I will let you know when they return the car what they say.

Just now, DHRichards said:

The problem started before I had a dash cam but, as our mileage is very low and the car has many power-using components the problem may have been owing to a low charge in the battery. Fitting a dashcam (plugged 24/7 into the utility socket) may have escalated the problem.

Skoda disconnected the battery for 20 minutes and after reconnecting the start/stop worked fine, for 36 hours, when it deleveloped the fault again. They now are keeping the car for a few days to re-enact the uses I make of the car and with the dashcam connected. 

Their concerns are that -

1/ Why the battery should lose so much charge in so short a time (36 hours) 

2/ Why disconnecting the battery for 20 minutes should solve the problem - for 36 hours anyway. And

3/ Why the start/stop system shows no errors when the ignition is on and the engine is off but shows the error as soon as the engine is started. 

 

I will let you know when they return the car what they say.

 

12 hours ago, andyvee said:

Do you have a dashcam or anything plugged in to the 12v accessory socket such as a phone charger?

 

27 minutes ago, DHRichards said:

Their concerns are that -

1/ Why the battery should lose so much charge in so short a time (36 hours) 

2/ Why disconnecting the battery for 20 minutes should solve the problem - for 36 hours anyway. And

3/ Why the start/stop system shows no errors when the ignition is on and the engine is off but shows the error as soon as the engine is started. 

I will let you know when they return the car what they say.

 

This sounds to me like a hardware/powermanagement problem with one of the electrical modules.

If you stop the car normally, one of the electrical modules is not shutting down & keeping a constant draw on the battery.

If you disconnect the battery & then reconnect, all modules are "off" because you didnt turn on the ignition yet.

 

They should be able to measure the current draw when the ignition is turned off to prove that something is draining from the battery.

If nothing is drawing from the battery but the state of charge is decreasing then they should change the battery.

1 hour ago, Gabbo said:

 

This sounds to me like a hardware/powermanagement problem with one of the electrical modules.

If you stop the car normally, one of the electrical modules is not shutting down & keeping a constant draw on the battery.

If you disconnect the battery & then reconnect, all modules are "off" because you didnt turn on the ignition yet.

 

They should be able to measure the current draw when the ignition is turned off to prove that something is draining from the battery.

If nothing is drawing from the battery but the state of charge is decreasing then they should change the battery.

I think you may have hit the proverbial nail on the head. When talking with a Motability inspector he suggested the same as you - that when turning the engine off and locking the doors, one of the components isn't shutting down, which means it's drawing power constantly. 

I didn't tell Skoda this as I wanted to see what they come up with. If they don't mention the fault you say may be the cause I'll be sure to tell them what two '3rd parties' believe the fault may be.

Many thanks for your thoughts and suggestions. They are much appreciated. 

Sounds to me that the dash cam is the issue.

It will have flattened the battery, and driving the car will not charge the battery sufficiently once the battery has been drained.

You need to fully charge the battery and get something like a PowerMagic that can turn off the dash cam if the battery voltage drops below a certain level.

 

Disconnecting and reconnecting the battery will reset everything, so start stop will start working again for a period.

 

I would disconnect the dash cam completely, charge the battery to 100% using a charger suitable for these battery types. Make sure that you read the manual about charging the battery, do not connect directly to the battery. Then see what happens with start stop over the next week. My money would be on it being OK if you start with a fully charged battery and don't have the dash cam plugged in.

1 hour ago, andyvee said:

Sounds to me that the dash cam is the issue.

It will have flattened the battery, and driving the car will not charge the battery sufficiently once the battery has been drained.

You need to fully charge the battery and get something like a PowerMagic that can turn off the dash cam if the battery voltage drops below a certain level.

 

Disconnecting and reconnecting the battery will reset everything, so start stop will start working again for a period.

 

I would disconnect the dash cam completely, charge the battery to 100% using a charger suitable for these battery types. Make sure that you read the manual about charging the battery, do not connect directly to the battery. Then see what happens with start stop over the next week. My money would be on it being OK if you start with a fully charged battery and don't have the dash cam plugged in.

We (Skoda and myself) thought that so I unplugged the dashcam. Still the same problem. When I get the car back I will connect the dashcam but via the USB port, rather than the utility (cigar lighter) socket and see if that works.

if it's still reporting the same problem I will disconnect the dashcam completely, charge the battery to full and see how the start/stop performs over a few days.

I hope it's not the dashcam as, what's the point in having one if it cannot be used. Reconnecting it each day means having to format the sd card so all video recordings will be lost. 

As Andy suggests, its best to take away all non-Skoda accesories, fully charge the battery & leave it for a week of so to see if the problem comes back.

If there is still a battery drain from one of the vehicle electronic modules it should drain the battery pretty quickly.

 

If it runs fine like this then it would suggest the issue is with the dashcam & not the car.