Hi all, 20 plate Scala, STOP/START not worked since June/July 2021

Vehicle has been submitted to Skoda several times since then, each time the vehicle is returned I am told the battery was put on charge and the stop/start system tested and is working.

It does not work for me! Not ever at all since driving away from the dealer.

The latest reason is, I have a dashcam plugged into the power socket and  is draining the battery? I suggested that the hire vehicle they supply is also fitted with a dashcam but those vehicles seem to work?

Quote:- yes but they are hard wired  in and mine is not! Does this make a difference? They also sell add on upgrade kits with a boot mounted power socket so I assume that the vehicle  is capable of powering 2 dash cam units? Also suggested is that I may be doing too many short journeys!

I am aware of the many many reasons why stop /start systems may stop working (rear screen etc etc etc etc) but I am at a loss as to why mine refuses to work.

The dealer (not Skoda) on my previous vehicle suffered a similar fault and the battery was changed under warrenty, the problem was fixed overnight, yet Skoda say that because the system is working

on a fully charged battery they will not replace he battery!

 

Love some  input  please

Yes as the 12v socket is always live so your dash-cam could be draining your battery 

Hardwired supply to dashcam is ignition controlled, plugged into 12v socket is permanently live so draining battery.

Cheers guys, vehicle returned today with that as 1 possible reason, however, cam is  only  plugged in during driving and not left  plugged  in socket overnight 2. quote (

Will a dash cam drain my battery?

Typically, dash cams use a relatively small amount of energy and should make little difference to a healthy car battery. Even if the camera is hardwired to your car, it will still use minimal energy when your car is turned off and will only ‘switch on’ when it detects impacts to your car.

 

Most/ my dash cam is using  just under 2.5w (.05amps - 5v) I calculates that this usage if left on continuous would take at least 15hrs to ruduce a battery voltage down to around 12v.

Surlyit should cope with this.

Anyway. I was assured that my battery and system is working fine, leaving the garage i drive 6 miles then back into town, everything  off, no heaters/screen anything, worked fine. Drove home , left the vehicle for 1 1/2 hours, left home again and it has stopped again? reasons, engine not running , not a comfortable environment and steering wheel needs adjusting!!!!!!

Back to square  one.

What happens if you don't use the dashcam at all? Does the problem go away? If so it could be a fault in the power cable of the dashcam causing the system to glitch.

What about if you connect something else to the 12v instead - eg a 12v-USB plug and charge your phone on it. Does the problem happen still? If yes, then it could be a problem with the socket. If not, the try the Dashcam connected via USB cable to that plug to prove a faulty power supply to the dashcam (or the dashcam itself is at fault).

It sounds like where you are the rear 12v socket is not standard, but are the rear USB or Front USB sockets there and could be tried too? You'd need a suitable cable to connect USB-Dashcam, but the are cheap and worth a try.

Thankyou, I do  not have a rear socket fitted, my question was that if the battery cant cope with 1 dash cam then theres no hope with 2 being fitted!.

Anyway I believe we are getting mis directed by the dashcam scenario. My vehicle was returned with the stop /start working on Tuesday. From that point I have not plugged it in at all, day 1 fine, day 2 it has decided not to work again. still getting the high power usage warnings signs (amongst others). It even tells me that my steering wheel is set too high! what a clever little system it is to know my height/weight/build and  how i like my driving  position to be. just to satisfy the little bu**er I set the steering into a lower poistion and its still not satified.

I have just completed a 10 mile journey on A roads NO STOP START WORKING. I even tried to confuse the "smart alternator" (SMART LOL) by coaxing it to give me a  little charge by turning  on the heater for a while.

WATCH THIS SPACE

5 hours ago, POOPYDOG said:

Thankyou, I do  not have a rear socket fitted, my question was that if the battery cant cope with 1 dash cam then theres no hope with 2 being fitted!.

Anyway I believe we are getting mis directed by the dashcam scenario. My vehicle was returned with the stop /start working on Tuesday. From that point I have not plugged it in at all, day 1 fine, day 2 it has decided not to work again. still getting the high power usage warnings signs (amongst others). It even tells me that my steering wheel is set too high! what a clever little system it is to know my height/weight/build and  how i like my driving  position to be. just to satisfy the little bu**er I set the steering into a lower poistion and its still not satified.

I have just completed a 10 mile journey on A roads NO STOP START WORKING. I even tried to confuse the "smart alternator" (SMART LOL) by coaxing it to give me a  little charge by turning  on the heater for a while.

WATCH THIS SPACE

Your car is on all the time using power. When you lock it the alarm is on. It's on the Internet esim. First time I have heard steering wheel to high there are no sensors for that. There is a sensor if you don't hold the steering wheel 

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On 10/02/2022 at 17:35, skoda1982 said:

Your car is on all the time using power. When you lock it the alarm is on. It's on the Internet esim. First time I have heard steering wheel to high there are no sensors for that. There is a sensor if you don't hold the steering wheel 

 

On 10/02/2022 at 17:35, skoda1982 said:

Your car is on all the time using power. When you lock it the alarm is on. It's on the Internet esim. First time I have heard steering wheel to high there are no sensors for that. There is a sensor if you don't hold the steering wheel 

 

On 10/02/2022 at 17:35, skoda1982 said:

Your car is on all the time using power. When you lock it the alarm is on. It's on the Internet esim. First time I have heard steering wheel to high there are no sensors for that. There is a sensor if you don't hold the steering wheel 

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On 10/02/2022 at 17:35, skoda1982 said:

Your car is on all the time using power. When you lock it the alarm is on. It's on the Internet esim. First time I have heard steering wheel to high there are no sensors for that. There is a sensor if you don't hold the steering wheel 

There youhortcut.lnkIMG_20220210_102613647_MP - Shortcut.lnk

Please Zoom in,bottom of the list. - "please reduce the steering wheel angle"

STOP/START still not working..........and as for Skoda dealer, now whats the word i m looking for........

Hi PD, the lower message on the display status refers to the angle of the front wheels - because the steering rack is electrically-assisted, moving the wheels too far from straight ahead can drop the battery voltage enough to disable the stop-start system. You can check this by turning the steering wheel while the engine stop is active - the engine will restart.

12 hours ago, POOPYDOG said:

Please Zoom in,bottom of the list. - "please reduce the steering wheel angle"

STOP/START still not working..........and as for Skoda dealer, now whats the word i m looking for........

I thought you meant up and down

Your dealer certainly isn't sorting this out, they will definitely have access to diagnostic  equipment which will give at least the same info as VCDS which should reveal something, I would ask them for a print out of this, so suggest you do a little probing yourself. If you have or get a simple multimeter you can get a attachment to plug into the power socket, and go for a dive with the multimeter set on 0 to 20V DC scale, with a fully charged battery if the accelerator is pressed then the (charging) voltage will be in the 12.5 to ~ 13V range, if coasting with accelerator not depressed then the (charging) voltage will rise to 14.8 to 15V, its called regenerative charging. If yon havn't the power attachment just check the voltage at the battery terminals with car idling and see what the reading is.

 

Have a browse through thread "Battery not charging problems" and you will see the kind of info that your dealer will have without doubt.

Thankyou Guys, certaintly more help and advice here than my dealer.

 

Warrier193 - Thanks, something that never crossed my mind is the extra stress on the power steering  when on lock.

I stood  in the sales  lounge of the dealership, talking to the "technician" about the  list of possible faults  highlighted on the infotainment screen. I was told that he slightly adjusted the steering wheel as part of the investigation! Why?...... If the electrical stress is there on full/half/whatever lock then why has he found  it necessary to adjust the steering wheel height? He never mentioned lock etc etc.

Not wishing to be too harsh I feel I am either being fobbed off or the so called experts dont know either!

 

I am getting bogged down here. Simply put why wont the STOP/START work when I have eliminated the car cam issue?

They wont even consider changing the battery, a £200 tops quick fix. " we cant replace the battery as  our equipment shows no faults found ".

 

Johngerard - I so agree, I am also in touch with Skoda customer services. I was asked by them to arrange a date to submit the vehicle and they would rrange to speak to someone on that date.

 

See e mail below:-

 



You replied on Thu 10/02/2022 12:32

You replied on Thu 10/02/2022 12:32

[email protected]

Tue 08/02/2022 15:56

 

 

Dear Mr ******

I hope you are well.

I have attempted to contact Barlow motors however there were no advisors available to have a discussion with therefore, I requested a call back.

I will contact them again if I do not hear back from them by tomorrow and I will contact you on 10 February.

I apologise for any inconvenience caused.

Kind regards


Charlotte Barr
Customer Relations Manager

 

AND ANOTHER

 



You replied on Wed 15/12/2021 15:21

You replied on Wed 15/12/2021 15:21

[email protected]

Tue 14/12/2021 15:16

 

 

Dear Mr *****

I spoke to ****** on 1 December, he confirmed that all issues are now resolved with your vehicle.

Could you confirm whether the issues are now fully resolved?

If you need further assistance, please don’t hesitate to let us know.

I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Kind regards


Charlotte Barr

 

 

RESOLVED? I THINK  NOT

 

This whole thread is a list of symptoms.

 

The root cause is likely a partial loss of capacity in the battery due to a long period of inactivity such as the vehicle being parked up during lockdown and being recharged instead of replaced. A connected battery left in place for months will discharge into a state of irreversible internal damage. 

 

See if you can find the build date of the vehicle somewhere and compare it to the sale date. Varta batteries will have a date code on a terminal in Mm/Yy format and will predate the vehicle by a few weeks.

If you find a lay up period of a few months, there’s the root cause - new battery time if the dealer didn’t use a battery care process, didn’t recharge once per month if still connected, or didn’t disconnect the battery for long time storage. 

 

Edited 11 March, 20224 yr by BigEjit

1 hour ago, BigEjit said:

This whole thread is a list of symptoms.

 

The root cause is likely a partial loss of capacity in the battery due to a long period of inactivity such as the vehicle being parked up during lockdown and being recharged instead of replaced. A connected battery left in place for months will discharge into a state of irreversible internal damage. 

 

See if you can find the build date of the vehicle somewhere and compare it to the sale date. Varta batteries will have a date code on a terminal in Mm/Yy format and will predate the vehicle by a few weeks.

If you find a lay up period of a few months, there’s the root cause - new battery time if the dealer didn’t use a battery care process, didn’t recharge once per month if still connected, or didn’t disconnect the battery for long time storage. 

 

Of course it could be any one of the above, but don't think this car was laid up?, if the dealer didn't carry out proper battery maintenance pre sale then they are responsible for a failing battery which is covered under the 3 year warranty, they said the dashcam was the problem but after the car was returned with stop/start working the dashcam was not used but problem returned a day or so later, if I am interpreting the posts correctly. There are high power usage warnings flagged up as well. As I stated previously they have dedicated diagnostics that can give a excellent view of the battery condition, high power usage etc, alternator charging voltages which change constantly from anything between 12.8V when driving normally to 15.0v on the overrun, parasitic losses etc, it will be at least as revealing as the VCDS log below of my 3 year old Polo. This car was parked up at the airport very recently for 14 days and the Stop/start operated perfectly after the  mandatory 0.5km required to enable the stop/start. At the end of the day, the dealer should provide a loaner car and sort out this problem one way or the other. 

 

Polo Jan 2019

4:58:57 24/01/2022 14,154kms. Engine OFF.

  IDE01834   Battery voltage 12.166 V

  IDE01836   Battery current -4.386 A

  IDE01837   Temperature of battery sensor 12 °C

  IDE01839   Battery charge level 79 %

  IDE01841   Battery internal resistance 7.8 mOhm

  IDE01842   Usable battery charge 28 Ah

  IDE01843   Battery voltage at rest 12.5 V

  IDE07681-MAS06086   Battery total charging throughput-Total re-charge 1354.8 Ah

  IDE07681-MAS06087   Battery total charging throughput-Entire energy throughput 1478.3 Ah

 

Edited 11 March, 20224 yr by Johngerard

Volts seem a little low, would expect to see approx 12.4v, ignition off, key out, car unlocked.

Have you got a Midtronics reading of battery performance in particular Volts, CCA and temp vs label rating?

At 12.72v open circuit at 15'C, you should have a CCA reading approx 10 to 15% higher than the label rating if the battery is decent, matching or less than the label rating and its suffering.

 

A small loss of battery capacity across the cell packs will still give adequate voltage range but drop the vehicle response into S/S inhibit.

 

The EFB on our Fab wouldn't flag the faults you have shown but certainly prevented S/S operating unless externally recharged, then performance dropped off again a few days later and stayed there. Swapped it out for an AGM for the duty cycle the vehicle is used in and not had a problem since.

Can't remember off hand what the S/S inhibit battery voltage is set to, but its fairly low. S/S even though a lot of drivers arn't great fans of it and I use it selectively isn't quite the demon its painted at times. a 1/1.5 litre small petrol engine with a 1kw starting motor @ 50% efficiency will require 200A, or  consume 0.17AH for a 3 sec  crank at 10.0 battery voltage and a diesel (2 kw starter) approx twice that at 400A and 0.34AH, the DRLs require a continuous 4.4A so theoretically at least 26 starts/hr for a petrol engine and 13 starts/hr for a diesel would only consume  the same energy as the DRLs in a hour at 4.4AH, the cranking voltage drops would be 1.6/3.1for petrol/diesel at a battery internal resistance of the above 7.8 mOhm so again, theoretically at least, even a 30/40% SOC should start both engines.

The at rest voltage above is 12.5V (wonder how that is derived) 79% SOC.

 

At Rest (Open Circuit) Battery Voltage

 

Volts	Capacity %	volts/cell
11.51	10	1.918
11.66	20	1.943
11.81	30	1.968
11.96	40	1.993
12.10	50	2.017
12.24	60	2.040
12.37	70	2.062
12.50	80	2.083
12.62	90	2.103
12.73	100	2.122

 

 

 

Edited 11 March, 20224 yr by Johngerard

I bought one of these cheap but maybe useful 12V digital volt meters via ebay, the type that just plug into the "ciggy lighter" socket, really just to find out what was happening wrt the charging voltage in my wife's 2015 VW Polo 1.2TSI mainly.  Having that connected at all times allowed me to spot any changes in behaviour in charging voltage - and that car ended up having a step change "happen" a few months later. That car during lockdown was frequently left connected to a CTEK smart charger/maintenance unit, and gets a "recond" charging profile once a year - in Spring time, it has dropped back from a rated 640A CCA EN to recently 475A CCA EN, so in a month's time I'll give it a "recond" charge and check the CCA a day later using a CTEK battery tester, which is a Midtronics designed item for CTEK. I changed that battery's serial number maybe 6 months ago to see if doing that prompted a change in the charging behaviour, and it did for maybe a couple of months - and even now the charging does start to fall back, initially prior to changing the serial number, the battery was being heavily charged at all times, so that means 14.7V > 15.0V at all times, underpower or on overrun.

I've bought a new "next size up" AGM battery and a new battery tray and insulator, I had bought all that by the beginning of December, just in case, but so far no need to replace that 640A CCA EN EFB car mileage is just under 40K miles.

One big regret I have is, I did not bother to record all these battery stats shown in a posting above BEFORE changing the battery's serial number, a bad move/mistake!

 

Edit:- the cheap plug in volt meter that I bought via ebay only cost £5, I've ended up almost not feeling very much in control if I drive either of my cars without that volt meter plugged in!!

Another thing with that 12V volt meter - and that is mainly how you should describe it, it needs above a certain voltage to switch on or stay on, so normally it does stay on while cranking the engine, if it switches off momentarily while cranking over the engine, that is an indication that the battery voltage had dipped a bit too low, or lower than normal.

On that "needing a minimum voltage to operate", my first CTEK charger that I bought was a Charger/Tester, so it could perform some basic test or tests so that you could assess a car battery's general health, sounds like a good idea/feature, the only problem was, well at least with my daughter's old late 2009 Ibiza, while the car could start faultlessly, the battery had aged so much that when I ran a cranking test on that car using that CTEK Charger/Tester - instead of issuing a Green/Amber/Red light to indicate the battery health - the CTEK just switched off!  Buying a cheap moving coil Voltmeter from Maplin provided me with a better way to check for battery voltage during cranking!(Maplin was handy.)

Edited 12 March, 20224 yr by rum4mo

Thanks Big Ejit.

Already tried  most  of the above. I did request the Skoda  policy for charging up forecourt bound cars. NO REPLY sadly,  im used to that from Skoda or specifically the dealership.

Checked my  log book and associated paperwork of previous registration and 1st owner. I found the vehicle had been forecourt bound for approx 6 weeks.

As for getting anymore info its the blood  out  of a stone scenario.

However it's achieved(warranty or otherwise - it's not that expensive)  I think you need a replacement battery (power steering faults can be a clue as high power item, the heater isn't as it uses coolant to heat) - had a similar problem when my son was buying a 3 year old Octavia mkIII a few years ago. We took for an extended test drive and the stop / start never worked. We insisted on a replacement battery as part of the sale(EFB & coded). It had been sat on the forecourt for a while. PS that was 2019 - it's been fine ever since.

Edited 13 May, 20224 yr by bigjohn