Bolero radio stops working and drains battery

[Grandpag]

I've now had two Boleros that fail and cause high battery drain.

 

I've updated my thread on the failure of the original Bolero, which was almost exactly 2 years ago, at http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/292656-current-leakage-in-bolero. Apologies for raising it as a new topic, but I'm keen to find out if anyone else has had the same Bolero issue.

 

Just had the replacement radio fail in exactly the same way, draining the battery via Fuse 8 as it did two years ago! The first symptom is that the Bolero screen continues to display, including air-con info, but it does not work as a radio. The battery is flat the next day.

 

My 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.

[Phil-E]

Not heard of that one before.

 

It's alright the dealer saying that but under SOGA (Sale Of Goods Act) I wouldn't class a car stereo that fails every couple of years "fit for purpose" and really they should be doing something about it.

 

If you can't get anywhere with them then just buy a new one from ebay don't pay their prices!

[Ryeman]

I'm no auto electrician, but I wonder if it's an earth issue such as the earth strap to body. Any crash repair work done?.

[Grandpag]

No crash damage, and Skoda Dealer says it is the radio.

 

Current drain was confirmed as through fuse 8, which is the radio.

[Urrell]

Skoda Dealer says it is the radio.

 

Current drain was confirmed as through fuse 8, which is the radio.

 

Fuse 8 also supplies the instrument cluster and telephone.

The radio is also supplied by fuse 13 in the other fuse box.

Strange that they have done a current drain on that fuse and not on the radio unit itself.

 

[Grandpag]

My manual just says Radio against fuse 8.

 

Anyway, removing fuse 8 stopped the current drain.

[Ryeman]

Is that what they call an ' open circuit'?.

Does the back of the radio unit have a harness and plug or does it plug into a built-in receiver?.

Keep us posted

[Grandpag]

I haven't investigated behind the unit yet.

 

I have tried to get Skoda UK to say they will give me a discount on another Bolero since the replacement is just out of the 2 year warranty, and I believe both failures are identical.

 

However, they will not commit to anything unless I get their formal diagnostic test done, which is £90+VAT.

 

The full cost of a new Bolero including fitting would be £815, so the discount would have to be more than 10% to counteract for the testing cost.

 

It appears I can get an aftermarket unit to fit, with colour screen and GPS, for around £240. e.g. http://www.eonon.co.uk/Specific-Car-GPS/D5153ZE.html

 

They say it preserves all the ancillary Bolero functions, such as air-con and reversing sensor display.

 

Does anyone have experience of using aftermarket radios in a Skoda?

[LanciaFulvia]

A month ago the battery of my Yeti discharged due to the Bolero radio going into a fault state. I reset the radio by removing and then re-establishing the power to it. I have had no problems with battery or radio since then.

Whilst setting off in a hurry I momentarily knocked the radio power button either just before or after engaging reverse gear. I think the reversing beep was interrupted. I pushed the radio button again and took the car out of reverse, re-engaged reverse again and set off on my drive with the radio apparently off.

Later in the day I wanted to listen to the radio. I could navigate around the display but there was no sound. The volume bar displayed but did not move when the knob was turned.

When I went to start the car after having left it four days the battery was flat.

I put a battery charger on the Yeti (without disconnecting the terminals) for about six hours but to no avail.

At that stage I decided to get some ideas from the Briskoda forum.

I disconnected the battery and charged it alone to test if that was the problem. I located the fuse for the radio. The battery held its charge and I reconnected it with an ammeter in line to measure the current draw. While playing around I turned on the radio, it worked!

My conclusion after a month with no problems is that the Bolero got into a fault state and did not turn off when the ignition was turned off thereby draining the battery.

I wonder how many owners have changed perfectly good batteries unaware of this problem because changing the battery interrupts the power supply to the Bolero and clears the radio’s fault state. Equally for those brought up on simple ’steam’ radios the idea of a radio getting into a code lockup (or costing £630 +VAT) is unfamiliar. I have not tried to reproduce the action or sequence of actions that caused the fault state.

A few things I learnt.

Fuse F8, in the fusebox next to the battery, passes the power to both the Bolero and the MDF.

All the car’s settings apart from the clock and the trip counter are retained when current from the battery is interrupted.

If after turning off the ignition the radio is turned on, the car is exited and the doors closed, the interior lights go off in 30 seconds or so, the MDF goes off in a few minutes, and the radio stays on for sometime between 30 to 60 minutes. While the radio is on it draws about 2 amps. I conjecture that the Bolero gets into a fault state, does not turn off and it remains in this state until its power is interrupted.

[Grandpag]

Interesting but, if that had anything to do with my Bolero problem, I think my Skoda dealer would have found it.

 

Apologies for not posting earlier but, after further investigation, my dealer got Skoda UK to supply a free replacement Bolero and fitted it free.

 

Glad I voted Skoda!

[tenpit]

Thanks for posting this, LanciaFulvia. I was able to recognise the symptoms - radio stops working, responds sluggishly, and the volume bar won't change. Luckily I didn't get to the point of battery drain but I can confirm that removing and replacing fuse 8 restarts the radio. Funnily enough the whole car seemed to be dead with this one fuse out - surprising.