Good Afternoon All 

 

First post so be gentle ( and I'm in no way a car expert ) 

 

I am driving a 64 plate Skoda Octavia estate and have owned the car since new - Its now just cracked 90k and had full Skoda service history up until 78k when i bought the car from the company lease scheme. 

In terms of issues since then the car has been pretty good to me - with minimul issues apart from tyres / air con  & recently had the timing belt / water pump changed. 

 

Whats happening now? 

In the last week or so I had noticed the fan remaining on more than usual and occasionally coming on first thing when the engine is cold - The temp gauge reads 90 and doesnt show any differences from normal 

In addition the coil light & engine light have started to ( amber) stay on - The coil light is flashing and the engine light too - The car drives normally ?

Co-incidentally ( or not) I have started to see " error start / stop" flash up when i start a journey and the car no longer does ' start / stop' but again apart from that drives normally 

This has all happened in the last week or so ?   

 

I took the car to a local garage who scanned it and the fault code seemed to point to an emmisions sensor ( 3?) - The cable looked to be split and connections ( two wires) were sprained ( no idea how). Looks an easish fix with unscrew on one end and unclip sensor on the other? 

 

I guess my question is - Would this diagnosed fault have capacity to cause all the other issues?  - Seems a stretch? - I've read various bits on forums about emergency modes / rogue impacts of a main issue ? - Im obviously hopeful its the answer but cant ( you guys will know better) logically connect all the faiults to one issue? ( can i ?) 

 

Any feedback really appreciated - Im not flush for cash and all responses appreciated            

 

 

          

This sounds like it could be combination of things, the sensor would be causing the engine light, but a failing battery could cause glow plug and start/stop errors, which for the age of the car is about right.

 

Also check the coolant tank for a silica bag (tank will say 'mit silikat' on it), if the bag has split, it could cause cooling issues.

 

I of course defer to those more knowledgeable than I.

I’d look into changing the battery to solve the start/stop issue. I had to change mine at about 90k miles. Shop about and you can get an AGM battery for about £140 but you’ll need to get it coded in. 

The way diagnosis works is odd - in that you need to clear one fault to sometimes get at the next fault et al.

 

However, if you are getting random issues, and the stop/start is playing hooky, then it is definately a new battery time.  The issue is that the CANBUS network is operating on low battery and this will trigger LOADS of false events.

New battery, get it coded in, clear all the faults - and see what is left.

Update this morning guys- spotted a youtube video where you can check the ' SOC' of the battery on the Skoda dash ( via holding down the trip button) - The SOC reading was 40%. I am going to monitor but this might be an issue too ( some debate if that reading is reliable online but if correct might be some of the issues) 

 

Online said 'good was 70% plus?

 

Car booked in at local for emissions sensor replacement next week - car running ok 

 

Fan now coming on as soon as i turn key and remains on for 4/5 mins after i switch off .....not using aircon at all 

 

Hoping battery might sort some of it? ( pray for me)    

The a/c is not like the old system whereby the fan would always run when the compressor was working.

1 hour ago, ords said:

The a/c is not like the old system whereby the fan would always run when the compressor was working.

 

Forgive my ignorance mate - Are you saying the fan issue isnt linked / cant be linked?  - thankyou   

5 hours ago, MedazzalandDD said:

 

Forgive my ignorance mate - Are you saying the fan issue isnt linked / cant be linked?  - thankyou   

Sorry about that, I mis-read the post.

Morning All 

 

Update on the issue 

 

Garage fitted the Emissions sensor & a new battery around 10 days ago 

 

All the lights disappeared off the dash and after a test drive no errors were found on the scan 

 

All was seemingly well 

 

I have been to the coast and generally using the car as normal - Last couple of days the start / stop has stopped working ( no light on dash) & intermittently the fan is coming on ( no air con being used) again but now going off with the key when i stop?

 

Could this be something draining the battery making the ' old' issues appear again a week or so later? Is the start / stop linked to the fan?

 

Really frustrating as car is driving fine and last visit to garage cost me a few quid but seems like issues might be coming back?

 

Loathed to keep spending money without further diagnosis? 

 

Any ideas guys? - Im taking car back into the garage for a scan but suspect it wont show anything - I dont have anything plugged in i.e. cameras / devices and used as intended?

 

Struggling again         

 

 

 

 

 

     

Yes - battery failing will cause all kinds of odd problems.   Basically if your battery gets below 50% capacity / SOC, it need either charging or replacing.

 

I recommend that if you are not using the car often, please invest in a a ODBC battery charger - something like this: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/233409015194

 

Further Update - Now the drivers window has stopped working !!!! Aghhhh 

Easy fix.  The switches are known failure points.

 

One of two things:  a) The auto-up and auto-down have failed and you only have intermiate opening and closing on the buttons.  This can be fixed by a full press DOWN and HOLD THE SWITCH IN THE DOWN POSITION FOR 10-15 secs.  Go all the way up to the top and PRESS/HOLD for further 10-15 secs.  This will recalibrate the switches (needed when a car battery has been replaced!)! :-)

 

The second is a genuine failure of the switch - firstly make sure that the window lock button hasn't been pressed (because that can mess up window operation).  You could also have some joy with some contact cleaner (switch off car first and let the cleaner work its magic (wait for 5 mins for evaporation to occur, then switch on ignition and try again).

 

I would then go through and find the appropriate part numbers for new switches for your car - they aren't expensive!

 

 

Edited 17 June, 20214 yr by varaderoguy

Does it go work when you use the buttons on the key fob?

Edited 17 June, 20214 yr by ords
Change of wording

no warranty? Get it back to the garage to fix all these faults if so

25 minutes ago, SkodaKing said:

no warranty? Get it back to the garage to fix all these faults if so

Its a 64 plate mate .....warranty?

 

12 hours ago, ords said:

Does it go work when you use the buttons on the key fob?

Yes they all open / close with the fob - this morning the passenger side is working. ?

 

The only thing i can think of is the window was left open for minutes when it unexpectedly rained and i wiped the sill on window - Could water have got in the switch? is it easy to remove / clean ?

15 minutes ago, Medazzaland said:

Its a 64 plate mate .....warranty?

 

my mistake. I thought you were new to the car not new to the forum. I missed when you said owned from new. 

 

Good luck, i hope it's a cheap and easy fix 

Update - The car had been working fine since the work but last couple of days the fan is again coming on ( new battery fitted 3 weeks ago) and stop / start isnt working. 

 

On saturday i drove around 60 miles mainly motorway and when i started the journey the fan was on ( still cold engine) but when i got to destination the stop start was working and fan off. Since Saturday it was working fine - no fan / stop / start ok - But then last night and today the issue has re-appeared. 

 

I am now thinking that the long journey charged the battery ? and over last few days its lost its charge as ive pottered about doing short trips? ( i havent used air con)  - causing issue to re-appear? 

 

If the alternator was not charging the battery would that lead to a dash warning? or be picked up on the scan? 

 

Temp on dash all normal and running out of ideas. The battery was replaced and im now thinking maybe its a charging issue ?

 

Cant keep spending money on maybe's and running out of ideas !! ( and money)       

23 minutes ago, Medazzaland said:

The battery was replaced and im now thinking maybe its a charging issue ?

 

Cant keep spending money on maybe's and running out of ideas !! ( and money)       

Find someone local to you who has VCDS and can do a fault code scan - then you'll know what the problem is rather than keep throwing parts at it.

 

See List of VCDS Owners and VCDS Owners map

Thanks - ive messaged a local person 

 

Is this scan different to a 'standard' one? my local have scanned and had laptop etc?

 

16 minutes ago, PetrolDave said:

Find someone local to you who has VCDS and can do a fault code scan - then you'll know what the problem is rather than keep throwing parts at it.

 

See List of VCDS Owners and VCDS Owners map

 

57 minutes ago, Medazzaland said:

Is this scan different to a 'standard' one? my local have scanned and had laptop etc?

Just a normal VCDS Auto-Scan - take along a memory stick and ask them to save the .txt file that VCDS auto-saves as you'll probably be asked to share that if/when asking for help.

The scan and information provided by VCDS and by ODIS (the dealers tool) - gives exactly the same information.  The only thing that ODIS does is to suggest fixes (because we canny have engineers/technicians thinking for themselves :-) ).  ODIS standards for Online Diagnostic Informaton System.  My Skoda dealer loves me because I provide them a scan of my car(s) prior to them going to the dealership so they know what they are walking into.

Re the battery losing charge - have you by any chance plugged in a new camera or other accessory, the cigy hole is live all the time so would cause a drain, are the internal lights going out when you lock the car.

 

As suggested above if you do not use the car very often and have mains access connecting a trickle charger would be a good idea when you leave the car. 

I had another user recently who had wiring their dash-cam into an "always live" fuse which drained their battery v.quickly.  If you have a dash-cam, move the dash-cam and share the power from "Rear Wiper Motor" (the fuse number is different depending on the year of Octy MK3)