Hello.

I'm after some advice please.

I own a late 2001 TDI 110 Octavia elegance - great car:) .

Whilst driving, the ABS warning light came on, followed shortly by the traction control warning then within a short time the air bag warning.

When the traffic halted, I decided to switch the ignition off then on again to see if it cleared. However, the car would not start :( - it was as if the battery had died and the central locking tried to activate each time I attempted to start.

When I popped bonnet, the fuse link box that sits on top of the battery was charred - the heavy duty cable that runs between this box & the alternator had overheated to the extent that it had melted the fuse link around the terminal bolt head and caused heat damage to the cable.

The nut that attaches the cable to the fuse link terminal was loose, so I immediately thought it must be a high resistance contact hence the heat generated. I tightened it up & got the car home. I then cleaned up the connection and shorted out the fuse by connecting to the other side of the fuse link - this might seem foolish but the thin part of the fuse link was undamaged, it had only melted by the terminal bolt hence the assumption that it was a high resistance joint, not excess current otherwise the fuse link (110 Amp) would have melted in the narrow part.

The car started fine, with no warning lights coming on, however the connection is still getting really hot despite being secure & clean.

My thoughts were that the loose nut in the fuse link box on the cable running to the alternator generated the heat, melting the link & causing power loss. The reason for the problem continuing after cleaning the contact area being that the ring tongue terminal on the end of the cable must be heat damaged therefore creating high resistance and generating heat. My next course of action is to purchase a replacement fuse link box & cable/harness.

However, I have also seen a recall notice for a faulty ABS control unit leading to electrical overheating & possibly fire. However my chassis number is not within the recall range. Is this related to my experience? - it seems odd that the ABS warning etc came on before the overheating, but I cannot see why that would cause this particular cable to overheat?:confused: the nut may have loosened only when the link melted?

Hopefully the parts will arrive on Saturday / Monday but I'm worried that it may occur again

Apologies for the war & peace novel.

Thanks in anticipation:thumbup:

Russ

I have had exactly the same problem on my car which is exactly the same model. It is currently being repaired under warranty. The diagnosis that I was given was that is was the cooling fans causing the issue - only found this out after replacing the battery and the same thing happening again.

Tad alarming to be changing the battery though and finding the distribution board on top melted and charring on the inner cover - I would have though that this would have been protected by the fuse??

I will update this post once I get the car back and get a full run down of the exact parts replaced and the reason why.

Cheers

I have had exactly the same problem on my car which is exactly the same model. It is currently being repaired under warranty. The diagnosis that I was given was that is was the cooling fans causing the issue - only found this out after replacing the battery and the same thing happening again.

Tad alarming to be changing the battery though and finding the distribution board on top melted and charring on the inner cover - I would have though that this would have been protected by the fuse??

I will update this post once I get the car back and get a full run down of the exact parts replaced and the reason why.

Cheers

any luck mate did you find out the reason as im going through the same scenario with my 2001 octy now . got a fuse box and alternator cable arriving in the morning, i thought it may have been the ribbed belt tensioner causing the battery light to stay on, until i replaced the belt and tensioner, only to find the light still on. after further examination the fuse box had melted around the black alternator feed wire.

My original problem was caused by a high resistance contact, having replaced the damaged loom and terminals in the fuse link box, I haven't had any further problems with this.

If the issue is excessive current the fuse link would have melted in the narrow part, in my case, it had melted at the terminal post in the fuse link box, and the loom was damaged in this area from the heat generated.

Hope this is of help.

Russell

the parts arrived this morning new fuse box and loom everything seems fine now thank god it wernt the alternator:)

HI, has anyone found the cause of this issue, I have replaced the fusible link board once already on the wife's car, and it went into limp home mode with no electrics earlier on yesterday, I'll be replacing the altenator to fuse box wire later on this morning, but don't really want it to be happening again, so if anybody can identify the cause, that would be great.

Cheers

mark

My guess would be high resistance in the crimped terminals on the alternator cable, leading to heat build up and the plastic fusebox melting.

The terminals on the new cable are of a slightly different design.

I went down to my local scrappy yesterday to have a poke about, they had an Octy ambiente, which I think is a 90 bhp , anyway, took the alternator wire, and battery top fuse box out of this one, (