Electrical Faults on 19 plate

[albertz10]

Good evening,  I hope someoneon here can shed light on an issue I have. My Kodiaq has developed a mystery electrical fault.  I have had breakdown assistance 4 times in 6 weeks. I dont trust the car at all now. Dealers fitted a new battery under warranty , 3 weeks ago.  In that time the car has twice needed a jump start, battery dead. Something is draining the power but the Skoda garage cannot find the fault.  Stop start does not work, get warning about power consumption being high.......after a 120 mile round trip yesterday, tonight battery dead AGAIN. I have this car on PCP ( business) I have told the skoda garage to take it away and dont bring it back. The car is not fit for purpose...VW finance say I will have to pay a large settlement fee for them to cancel the agreement...I've told them to take me to court. Anyone have any advice please. I'm at the end of my patience with this car....and Skoda / VW . Certainly not going to pay for something that does not do as it says on the tin.  Thanks 

[Breezy_Pete]

Did you buy this car 6 weeks ago, or longer ago and it's been giving trouble for these last 6 weeks? It's not clear to me from what you've written.

[SimonAudi]

You would need to give the garage ample time to resolve he issue before you can reject the car.

 

But you also normally need the finance company to support you.

 

You can always get one the Ombusman involved.

 

But maybe try another dealer...

 

Has the car any modifications - tow bar / cameras... anything lime that?

 

Have you tried measuring the drain current at the battery with everything turned off?  to see how big / if there is a load draining?

 

 

[Jfhuk]

I’ve seen this sort of thing with dash cams set to record twenty four seven and the car only doing short runs or only a few long runs per month.
 

If you have a dash cam fitted look in its settings and set it up for recording only when the car is in motion and see if the battery issue gets better. 
 

If you want a dash cam to record twenty four seven it really needs a camera battery installed, if your doing short runs.

Edited 2 September, 2020 by Jfhuk

[Ootohere]

If it is Skoda Specialist Cars Perth part of the John Clark Group or any other Dealership then they need to get the car sorted out because the Robert the Bruce way of trying, trying and trying again and not resolving a fault means the car can be rejected.

 

Get everything in writing and deal with the Dealer Principal and not Service Desk Staff or the Workshop Manager.

He can drive your car and you take his perk until he gets the matter resolved.

 

They need to have the car fit for purpose and if they can not there are Auto Electricians that can at the Warranty Providers expense.

 

There is Victoria Garage Maud which is a trek and means going further than Skoda Specialist Cars Dundee & Aberdeen, but then their there is all the gear and a Master Technician with more than ideas and excuses and happy to pee owners right off.

Edited 2 September, 2020 by e-Roottoot

[olderman1]

14 minutes ago, Jfhuk said:

I’ve seen this sort of thing with dash cams set to record twenty four seven and the car only doing short runs or only a few long runs per month.
 

If you have a dash cam fitted look in its settings and set it up for recording only when the car is in motion and see if the battery issue gets better. 
 

If you want a dash cam to record twenty four seven it really needs a camera battery installed, if your doing short runs.

I agree with this as I've had it myself.

Apart from your 120 mile trip, tell us about your normal driving habits lately  e.g. are you only using the car once a week for a 5 mile trip to the supermarket ? What electricals are you using in the car whilst driving ?  If you've got air con, sat nav/radio etc etc on, then short trips aren't enough to replace the the juice you're possibly using. Even before lockdown my mileage was low and I'd get a warning that my battery was getting low. During lockdown it sometimes didn't have enough juice to start the car. Don't forget that even when the car is not being used, the battery is still being drained. Your car also has regenerative braking, so if you're a steady driver doing short trips, the battery will not get enough charge back into it.

If your battery is already low when you park your car, then a dash cam left on can be enough  break the camels back over a couple of days.

 

Of course, you might simply have an electrical fault, but it's worth thinking about what I've described before trying to reject the car.

Annoying though it is, I invested in a trickle charger and a jump start pack due to the above, both of which have proved their worth, both for my car and my wifes.

[Tilt]

Obviously need feedback from the op.

Why was the battery replaced in the first instance??? If you don't know or they didn't explain, ask them.

[albertz10]

Thanks for the responses and advice. ALL my cars have dashcams fitted and they are set up to switch off like suggested above. The car does get used every day with general driving as in 5 miles one day 50 or so the next...I've had cars with dashcams sitting for a week and all is well so the dealer has ruled out dashcam draining the battery. I do not know why the dealer fitted a new battery " We'll fit a new battery and see how that goes " They changed it in the hope that my original was faulty...   I've had the car for 18 months and this problem started  about 2 months ago, dashcam was fitted well before Christmas, I've even unplugged the cam every night for a week....battery still going flat. something is draining the power but no one knows what.  There is a module somewhere that is faulty .....it's in the garage now....as battery was flat again yesterday morning  ...As an aside , my daughte has a dash cam in her Fiesta, it's set to record constantly , she is lucky if she does 5 miles a day, sometimes it is a week before it moves ...never has a flat battery. I've also got an Octavia that has not turned a wheel in 8 days...dash cam and taximeter fitted.....no flat battery.

 

 

Thanks for the replies folks

Edited 4 September, 2020 by albertz10

[olderman1]

To clear up the dash cam thing, I've also left mine on for days in previous cars with no ill effect, but they are capable of draining an already depleted battery.

If your dealer cannot diagnose the fault, personally I'd be looking to take it to another dealer (maybe not easy where you live), or find a good auto electrician who will hopefully get to the bottom of it and send the bill to your dealer.

Hope you get it sorted and let us know what the problem was when you do.

 

With regard to changing the battery, there were problems with Moll batteries in earlier cars that were swapped under warranty, so maybe that's what your dealer had in mind. Or maybe they're just lazy !

[albertz10]

10 hours ago, olderman1 said:

To clear up the dash cam thing, I've also left mine on for days in previous cars with no ill effect, but they are capable of draining an already depleted battery.

If your dealer cannot diagnose the fault, personally I'd be looking to take it to another dealer (maybe not easy where you live), or find a good auto electrician who will hopefully get to the bottom of it and send the bill to your dealer.

Hope you get it sorted and let us know what the problem was when you do.

 

With regard to changing the battery, there were problems with Moll batteries in earlier cars that were swapped under warranty, so maybe that's what your dealer had in mind. Or maybe they're just lazy !

Theres about a dozen Skoda dealerships within a 25 mile radius of me but I went to the local one since I bought the car there. I have a good technician who does my other cars and he suggested a software issue........

[lowedb]

Does the car have a towbar? I had a problem some years ago when water got into back of the towing socket (grey one) which had a permanent feed and drained the battery somewhat. The kodiaq factory electrics seem to turn off the supply when there's nothing plugged in (at least the permanent feed isn't, and only comes on a few seconds after connecting the plug).

[albertz10]

On 05/09/2020 at 13:03, lowedb said:

Does the car have a towbar? I had a problem some years ago when water got into back of the towing socket (grey one) which had a permanent feed and drained the battery somewhat. The kodiaq factory electrics seem to turn off the supply when there's nothing plugged in (at least the permanent feed isn't, and only comes on a few seconds after connecting the plug).

No, no towbar fitted. The outcome is the dash cam....The car senses there is a live feed and it drains a battery less than a month old...I just dont get how all my other cars have the exact same dashcam fitted with the exact same settings and they are fine..........I've told the garage they can keep the Kodiaq or give me a car that a dash cam will operate ok. I cannot get my head round how a dashcam can have this effect.

[SimonAudi]

It depends where you tap the supply

 

You need to take it from an ignition switched power - not a permanent power

 

I fitted dashcam to Karoq - it drained in 2 weeks parked at airport - caused all sorts of alarms and issues after eventually got it started

 

I swapped feed - no issues since

 

 

[Kenny R]

Did your previous cars have permanently live 12V sockets, or were they ignition controlled.

If you don’t require dash cam to be on 24/7 why not wire it to a ignition controlled piggy back fuse as many have done on here, and there’s a very comprehensive guide on how to as well.

 

Edited 11 September, 2020 by Kenny R

[albertz10]

1 hour ago, Kenny R said:

Did your previous cars have permanently live 12V sockets, or were they ignition controlled.

If you don’t require dash cam to be on 24/7 why not wire it to a ignition controlled piggy back fuse as many have done on here, and there’s a very comprehensive guide on how to as well.

 

Thanks for that one...I will try the hard wire option, but 3 out of my 7 cars have permanent power to the dash cams....with no issues.  By the way, that is one detailed instruction on fitting.

Edited 11 September, 2020 by albertz10

[Kenny R]

The only other question is did your previous cars have stop/ start. The reason being with stop/start micro hybrid systems the battery is never fully charged to allow some capacity for the regenerative energy to go to.

Edited 11 September, 2020 by Kenny R

[albertz10]

1 hour ago, Kenny R said:

The only other question is did your previous cars have stop/ start. The reason being with stop/start micro hybrid systems the battery is never fully charged to allow some capacity for the regenerative energy to go to.

I'm talking about the cars I have now, not previous....5 ( including my Kodiaq)  of my present cars are  stop/start 3 are not......only one is having dash cam issues. I mentioned 7 above but that was over and above my Kodiaq

Edited 11 September, 2020 by albertz10

[DaveMiller]

Are they all the same type of dashcam?

[albertz10]

2 hours ago, DaveMiller said:

Are they all the same type of dashcam?

Yes, all Nextbase 522 GW, with the same settings, sd card, wiring  etc..

 

[albertz10]

Update . Dashcam was causing the battery to go flat.....the car modules would not shut down because of it.S oI've to try hard wiring the cam..Thanks to everyone for the comments

[albertz10]

On 18/09/2020 at 15:27, albertz10 said:

Update . Dashcam was causing the battery to go flat.....the car modules would not shut down because of it.S oI've to try hard wiring the cam..Thanks to everyone for the comments

I've tried for the life of me to hard wire this.....no chance. I followed the video, fuse 34 did not help my cause...so it's back to cigarette lighter socket and remember to unplug the cam every night.

[olderman1]

30 minutes ago, albertz10 said:

I've tried for the life of me to hard wire this.....no chance. I followed the video, fuse 34 did not help my cause...so it's back to cigarette lighter socket and remember to unplug the cam every night.

Can't help with hard wiring I'm afraid, although I'm sure someone can. Failing that, and assuming your car has a USB port (mine has), it's possible to buy a a lead with a 12v socket on one end and a USB on the other. You can then plug the dash cam in the 12V end and the other end into your USB port which is ignition controlled, so no need to unplug every time.

[DaveMiller]

40 minutes ago, olderman1 said:

Can't help with hard wiring I'm afraid, although I'm sure someone can. Failing that, and assuming your car has a USB port (mine has), it's possible to buy a a lead with a 12v socket on one end and a USB on the other. You can then plug the dash cam in the 12V end and the other end into your USB port which is ignition controlled, so no need to unplug every time.

I don’t think that works.   12 V sockets provide 12 V;  USB sockets provide 5 V - so it’ll be easy to find a convertor which plugs into the 12 V socket (male “cigarette lighter” plug)  and lowers the voltage to a (female) USB outlet.  I’ve never seen a convertor which runs from a male USB plug and provides increased voltage in a female “cigarette lighter” socket.

[olderman1]

58 minutes ago, DaveMiller said:

I don’t think that works.   12 V sockets provide 12 V;  USB sockets provide 5 V - so it’ll be easy to find a convertor which plugs into the 12 V socket (male “cigarette lighter” plug)  and lowers the voltage to a (female) USB outlet.  I’ve never seen a convertor which runs from a male USB plug and provides increased voltage in a female “cigarette lighter” socket.

 

I don't know how, but it does work. I have one.

[PaulCanning]

Bugger, ive just bought a nextbase 522gw and was planning having it on the live all the time otherwise the option of it recording should someone bump it when its parked wont work?