Octy 1.9TDI - less than a year old/10k miles.

Went to supermarket at weekend, loaded car with shopping, got in and the dash panel was dead. Put key in and nothing. No lights, radio or anything.

Panic!. Took key out, locked doors with remote and then unlocked again. Put key in and engine started but power steering light stayed on for about a minute then went off and the clock (time) had reset to 00:00 - so looks like a total power failure. Been driving it a few times the rest of the weekend with no problems

As car started again after that, no problems with the battery. Has anyone ever heard of this happening or was the car protesting at being brought to Morrisons?.

Sounds like a loose wire - worth getting it checked by the dealer, that's definitely a warranty job.

Try possible water ingress into the car interior, ECU's on the floor and doesnt like water, as my g/f's fabia has just been in for warrenty work with a simular problem (the dealer can plug in his computer and check of error codes to see if this has happened).

Try possible water ingress into the car interior, ECU's on the floor and doesnt like water, as my g/f's fabia has just been in for warrenty work with a simular problem (the dealer can plug in his computer and check of error codes to see if this has happened).

that would be my advice too

Did you ever manage to resolve this? Just had exactly the same thing day after radio conked out. Funnily enough the radio worked again after locking door & restarting engine. Seems OK now, though. Wierd!!

Strange question but, what was the weather like? Was it or had it been raining?

I posted sometime ago under thread "dashboard shenanigans" there is an known issue with the Octavia 2 and rain!

Not a strange question at all. Haven't had any rain lately, a colleague lost all the dashlights driving in torrential rain in a Superb and the dealer couldn't find anything on the vag com, so there obviously is a problem with water. Had the same problem again today, though. Maybe immobiliser kicking in? Maybe, the software's got itself muddled up. Not really sure, not a mechanic. Will check fuses again, clean key again and pay a visit to dealer as still under warranty. Hope the engine doesn't stop while in motion though! Cheers.

EDIT: Had another look today - bolt fastening -ve lead to battery was totally loose, hopefully thats the end of it. Not had a car with all these electrics before, which lead me to neglect the obvious, that's my excuse anyrate.

Not had the problem since first reported (touch wood) and have witnessed some pretty terrible weather since (snow, torrential rain, etc).

Checked and there was no sign of water in the cabin, fuse boxes in engine all looked safe and dry. Obviously a quirky electrical thing.

I have had my radio just stop working for no reason (once whilst driving, another time whilst sitting in a car park) - you don't miss a radio until you can't have it on.

Went to fuse box and wiggled the radio fuse and the radio came back on - have had to do this twice now. So can only guess there may be a fuse somewhere that controls all these dashboard things that works itself loose every now and again.

No more problems since tightening battery lead, cheers.