I’ve owned my 2014 (64 reg) Octavia from new. Over the past 3 months the engine stop-start facility is functioning intermittently. When it won’t work, the car function screen says “power consumption is high” - yet there are no electrics working (and certainly no air con which obviously overrides it). I’ve had the car back to the main dealer twice and they can’t get to the bottom of it, even with tech support from Skoda - and being intermittent, of course, it’s always fine when I take it to the dealer - though I have photos and video of it malfunctioning. It’s going back again this week. Any other Skoda users had this happen? And if so what was the fix?

I've had this since fitting a dash cam - it seems to block the stop/start until you have driven a good distance - definitely longer than normal.

 

Have you connected anything up to the car recently.

 

Could your battery be on the way out? I assume the dealer will have checked that but I noticed the other day that despite costing £300 (from Euro Car Parts) a Bosch replacement battery is only guaranteed for 3 years.

 

 

Thanks for the replies - nothing connected/added to the electrical system - and the dealer says he has checked battery and alternator. Diagnostics haven’t shown anything up

its back with the dealer for the third time today - thankfully still

under warranty 

On 01/10/2017 at 12:02, Danbury_Collins said:

I've had this since fitting a dash cam - it seems to block the stop/start until you have driven a good distance - definitely longer than normal.

 

Have you connected anything up to the car recently.

 

Same here - I have a power manager on the dash cam and have dropped the voltage to 11.8V on that, but still more often than not, stop start doesn't work.

Mine has not worked recently either , with only shortish trips , up to 30 miles or so. Cranks over fine and starts well though. No worries.

Ok, so next time you have the issue, run through these:

Disable auto stop start.

Turn off electric mirrors.

Turn fan setting to OFF.

Turn lights to sidelights.

Make sure rear screen heater and any heated seats are off.

Run at about 1500rpm for 15 seconds.

Make sure seatbelt is on and drivers door closed.

Turn on auto stop start.

 

See what happens...

 

If thats still not working, there has to be either an alternator fault or possibly some ecu voltage detection issue, so the dealer will need to hook up vcds and read off the current voltage, whilst accurately measuring the voltage going into the ecu.

Would Xenon lights being on be enough to disable auto start/stop  in normal usage ? 

 

Thanks scj103 - I’ll give that a go! 

Dealer has run diagnostics and assures  me there isn’t  a problem with the battery, alternator, ECU, or drain to earth.

ill definitely try your suggestion

Ok, remind me how to select stop/start function. Can't see it under vehicle settings.

PLastic button next to the door lock button by the gear shift 

Stop Start will stop working for one reason, the battery voltage/charge is not high enough, this can be for many reasons, using lights more as the daylight reduces each day, short trips with more stops, longer cranking in the morning as the car/battery are colder causing more battery drain, is the car a diesel? - glow plugs on longer.

 

In fact anything which uses battery power can cause the detection circuit to register a slightly lower voltage then normal, it is quite normal to find the stop star working less often at this time of year, especially if you do short journeys.  If the dealer has checked the car out and there is now recorded fault then I would not worry.

Thanks for that. The car is petrol (1.2tsi) and it has been happening throughout the summer, not just recently. It’s also when absolutely no electrics have been in use (other than those required for operations of the engine). Maybe short trips have drained the battery on some days.

but thanks for your reassurance! 

10 hours ago, Oxfordradioman said:

PLastic button next to the door lock button by the gear shift 

Thanks for that shortcut (obvious innit), I was doggedly going through the menus. I was sure I'd seen it there.

 

I went through the above procedure and got "told off" for revving the engine while stationary. The best I get still  is the Stop start symbol with a diagonal line across. Never been sure what that means.

It means the stop-start facility isn’t working when that symbol shows 

OK. But that symbol only comes on after I have been driving for a few miles. Does this mean I should have the stop/start system checked at the next service ? My impression is that it only works if I have driven for several hundred miles.

23 minutes ago, gregoir said:

My impression is that it only works if I have driven for several hundred miles.

Stop/start should work even after you've only driven a few miles unless something is awry.

 

Stop/start will usually work within 5 miles of leaving home, and I normally only drive my Octavia once a week a total distance of less than 30 miles.

 

On 04/10/2017 at 09:57, Oxfordradioman said:

Thanks for the replies - nothing connected/added to the electrical system - and the dealer says he has checked battery and alternator. Diagnostics haven’t shown anything up

its back with the dealer for the third time today - thankfully still

under warranty 

Skoda had my car for 3 weeks to check on a poor starting issue, they found nothing wrong, next time it failed to start AA checked and diagnosed a bad cell on the battery, changed battery and car was all OK again. Moral of the story, master techs at Skoda do not necessarily know how to check a battery.

 

 

I've just reported this after a 50 mile run- after which the system did not work.

Service next week at main dealer, we'll see if gets fixed or is just a characteristic.

If your battery charge is good & the outside conditions (ambient temperature, coolant temperature, no air conditioning or heating requests) are ok, the StopStart should be immediately available.

I drive approximately 500m from my garage (underground so usually at 10°C even in winter) & when I come to a stop at the first traffic lights the StopStart is active except on very cold mornings during the winter.

Try adjusting the climate control temperature and see if start stop becomes active. 

I switched the air-con off while driving and no it did not engage when I stopped. The best I get is the symbol for Stop/Start not available after a decent drive. Mostly I get no symbol at all. And the Stop/Start does not work at a standstill.

Nothing wrong with my Stop/Start according to Skoda dealer. However a minor fault with the alternator has been "cleared" and the battery is in good condition. 

On 01/10/2017 at 13:32, juan27 said:

Could your battery be on the way out? I assume the dealer will have checked that but I noticed the other day that despite costing £300 (from Euro Car Parts) a Bosch replacement battery is only guaranteed for 3 years.

 

 

My mechanic has sourced a replacement battery for me for £120. 

 

Strangely enough stop/start has started working again after my battery drained this morning and I jump started it.