At my service 4 weeks ago I was advised the battery charge was low and that it needed attention, be that a long run else charging overnight, the dealer offered to do the job for £40 - but seeing as I've got a Ctek I did the job myself - however, it was curious inasmuch as the car had been on a 160mile run just two days previous.

Fast forward to this last Sunday, trip to the North Yorks coast , 260 mile round trip - 36 hours later a battery warning message comes up on the dash and the car refused to start.

Left it on charge 24 hours and it seems OK, I'm getting 12.25v at the battery, 11.5v with ignition on and 14.2v on fast tick over.

The experience has left me, shall we say nervous - my plan is to leave it standing over Easter and if the power is depleted on Tuesday to call Skoda Assist - what do you guys think, good plan?

Being Easter and knowing that recently I had to wait 3 weeks to get a dealer service appointment I'm reluctant to wait that long.

280 Estate - Exide 70amp EFB.

Edited 28 March, 20242 yr by Berisford

That voltage is still on the low side at the battery ( see pic) - on its way out.   Should ideally be looking for >=12.5 at the battery half an hour to an hour after taking the charger off. 

Far better replace before too long, suggest Tayna batteries either EFB or AGM- personally I would buy Yuasa. 

https://www.tayna.co.uk/car-batteries/yuasa/ybx7096/
 

https://www.tayna.co.uk/car-batteries/yuasa/ybx9096/

 

Put the battery on charge again using your Ctek (I don't suppose it has a low setting but if it has put it to low) and charge until the Ctek shows fully charged (24 hours should have been enough but obviously it wasn't).  Important (if you don't or properly do so) is to read and follow the instructions in the Owner's Manual and the instructions for the charger.

 

If your Ctek has a rescue/revive setting you could try that.

 

70 Ah battery for VW is to use a 7-amp charger, personally I prefer a 4-amp or even 2-amp charger, takes longer but gives a greater chance of a better longer lasting charge and battery.  If you can't complete a full charge in one go because you run out of time and/or need to you the car have a second go to get to full asap.

 

It could be be the battery has seen too much use/abuse neglect and has gone weak ,or the charging system has a fault, or you have a drain (camera or something left live 24ours a day or fault drain on the car) or very least likely the battery was a duff one.

 

You could see if there's (an admitted) Recall for battery or charging issues, otherwise I doubt you'll get any uncharged help from the Dealership unless it's a part/component/system fault. - https://www.skoda-auto.com/services/recall-campaigns

 

As put already you battery readings aren't great but it depends on where and when they were taken and what with.

 

Just driving the car doesn't always resolve the issue particularly if the battery has been taken too low or too low too often and if during the driving you have high electrical consumption.

 

Prevention is better than cure, just as it's not against any law for men to read instructions (if you don't do so already) you can also when required do proa-active preventative battery charger with an appropriate battery charger maintainer.  Preventative charge with appropriate charger maintainer at winter/summer tyre changing times, perhaps just after the very hot weather in summer, and/or as required as a preventative.

 

The car battery is one of the most oversold car parts, in the UK at least, with premature, often distress, replacement when very often using an appropriate battery charger maintainer would have put off the replacement purchase for a very long time.

 

Battery issues is also the number one reason for breakdown call outs in the UK (January 2nd being  the busiest for those) the majority of times the problem could have been avoided by preventative use of an appropriate charger maintainer which would also extended the usual life of the battery and if done when required more regularly extend the battery life by years.  As the post 2021 cars age there will be more need for appropriate charger maintainer or simply more premature replacement batteries sold.

 

RAC must make a killing out of them judging by how quickly they tell their customers they need a new battery and how much they charge for them, even a mate bought a replacement battery after calling them out, battery not from them as they were so high priced, I took his previous battery away and it charged up well and held charge so I returned it to him to use as a 12v power supply in the garage for radio and tools.  He learnt his lesson then and takes more care of the batteries.

 

Having put that sometimes for some it's best to just replace the battery, bear in mind it will want 'coding', and I too recommend Tayna - I also recommend fully charging the new battery before fitting, should take long, then you know you have started with a new fully charged battery.  Also bear in mind there are two bank holidays between now and next Tuesday.

 

Let us know how you get on. 

Very similar build-up scenario to my knackered battery last October, using the CTEK to try and save it etc. but it finally died with a now dead cell when we were away in Ireland. Fortunately the RAC came out over the border and replaced my original 2016 OE MOLL EFB with an RAC branded Varta AGM. Thank gawd I had battery cover. 

If your car is less than three years old you may be able to persuade them to replace the battery under warranty.

My local dealer did this for me just before my warranty expired on my last Superb.

5 minutes ago, Hozz said:

If your car is less than three years old you may be able to persuade them to replace the battery under warranty.

My local dealer did this for me just before my warranty expired on my last Superb.

That's my plan Hozz - I'm thinking if I gat Skoda Assist involved a resolution might be swifter than booking through my dealer - we'll see.

Update: Had to call out Skoda Assist today as the battery wouldn't start the car - they concluded the battery needed replacing - Skoda Assist talked me through 'what happens next' and were confident their involvement would result in a new battery being fitted tomorrow (Sat) else Monday - Well guess what - the dealer can't get a battery until Wednesday and they want the car for 48 hours - really?

 

Oh, and no loan car available!

 

I'm considering getting my own new battery  (£97.00) and I'll be up and running Tuesday at the latest.

better to just charge it given that you already have a charger , its only a few days so imo its not worth  spending your hard earned £££

I wouldn't suggest or advise fitting your own battery if this is going to be covered by warranty as it will also need to be to their Warranty spec and 'coded' in to their warranty spec - and if it's not the battery actually at fault (very likely in my opinion and statistics) then this may hinder further investigation. 

 

As put charge the battery but make sure you follow the instructions for how to charge the battery in the Owner's Manual and the charger instructions.

 

If your CTek is a 7-amp then if you can borrow an appropriate charger of lower amps then do as a low charge might (or might not) get more in and have it last longer than 7 or above charger.  It may take the charger a (very) long time to get to full (if it ever gets to full with this battery) but the longer left charging (usually) the better and if necessary you can do it in stages.  It may be that the battery is too tired or messed up to ever get to full charge or hold the charge for too much time or car use.

 

Get to where the battery won't start a modern cars can often be too far from charging and this is your second non-start.

 

Even for modern cars 2 years is a very short battery life which suggests possible alternator/computer programming faults or excessive user(s) use/abuse/neglect or possibly dodgy battery (least probable) or a combination of any of above.

 

The battery being so low in charge on a modern car that it won't start the engine is a bit like a first heartache attack or stroke it may weaken things too much so that a second or third occasion is very unwanted, or perhaps terminal - but others have had very low batteries limp along for a long time by use of an appropriate battery charger, but they were not 2022 cars.  Newer cars I would suggest will have even more similar issues which is why I try to promote the use of appropriate chargers which older folk have forgotten about (despite having to charge these "smart" phones/devices everyday, or few hours it seems to me blissfully without them).

 

Edited 6 April, 20242 yr by nta16
typos

Update: Dealer seems determined not to concede a new battery is needed.

They've had it on charge since first thing yesterday and just called to say their diagnostic equipment is reporting the battery is OK but requires charging* - so they're going to keep it charging until tomorrow and do further tests.

No mention of why it goes flat in less than 24 hours and the regular '12 volt battery low' messages - I'm quite angry but keeping my temper and powder dry.

Tomorrow lunchtime it'll be a week since I called Skoda Assist - I declined the hire car offered because there was every indication a new battery could be fitted last Saturday / Monday at the latest.

 

*Battery requires charging has been reported after both my annual services, the most recent being 5 weeks ago.

 

Edit: When I took it in yesterday a.m. I'd had it on the Ctek overnight to be sure it'd start - it was showing 'full' when I disconnected - so there was charge in the battery before the dealer set about it.

Edited 11 April, 20242 yr by Berisford

Hope it goes well, up to your tactics with the dealer now 🙈

6 hours ago, Berisford said:

it was showing 'full' when I disconnected - so there was charge in the battery before the dealer set about it.

It might depend on what the Ctek means or interprets as full, then it depends on how long the battery holds this charge or if something about the car is messing with or messing up the battery.

 

If the battery is too low in charge and charged too quickly it won't accept the charge or will show a full too early due to surface charge, I prefer to use my 1.8 amp charger but it does take a long time, could be up to about 60 (six, nought) hours if seriously flat, say below 5v at start but I've done from less than 3v but I'd not necessarily trust the battery for car use for long at that low and not a more modern Germany marque.

 

Something I missed before is that you put the battery as Exide 70amp EFB I thought VW went over to Banner Batteries but perhaps they changed supplier contract again.

 

 

6 hours ago, Berisford said:

their diagnostic equipment is reporting the battery is OK but requires charging

Which diagnostics equipment, Dealer scan tool or VW battery load tester (with print out?)?

 

Same for Dealership, If the battery is too low in charge and they charge it too quickly it won't accept the charge or will show a full too early due to surface charge they should know this and be using the correct appropriate equipment - but . . .

 

Edited 11 April, 20242 yr by nta16

Update: Finally, after 5 - 6 days of trying every which way they can to charge the battery (Skoda Assist deemed it faulty 10 days ago), the dealer has capitulated and fitted a replacement.

The dealer claims all the procrastinating and delay was down to official Skoda 'procedure' and refuses to accept any criticism on their part, claiming 'hands are tied'.........

 

I got the impression throughout the last week that either my dealer was being a cheapskate or Skoda really do rule with a rod of iron and impress upon dealers to do all they can to avoid spending monies on warranty claims?

 

Either way, 10 days without the motor for something as easily fixed as a new battery I don't feel is acceptable.

 

I think it boils down to keeping fingers crossed that a new Skoda* is a good one and any sort of warranty interaction with the dealer is avoided.

 

VW are as bad, 3 years ago my Golf suffered the all too often seen rotting front wings - my claim was refused because, apparently, any part of the bodywork that can be removed wasn't covered - the 12 year warranty only applies to the body shell......???

 

*We've got a Karoq on order with same dealer, allegedly being built this week, I hope I don't need the service department anytime soon. 🤞

The interesting part about all this is I was told, by SUK, in June 2020 that warranty decisions are the responsibility of the dealer, which I take to mean dealer warranty decisions are audited after the event by the warranty team at MK and if they deem it was fair, they’ll pay the dealer for the parts and labour. We had a similar situation in car rental, whereby we had dealer warranty status and could therefore authorise warranty decisions and then claims from the manufacturer. I can only think this is why there is a reluctance to authorise claims were they think there is the slightest possibility of it being rejected. 

Well done on getting it sorted.

 

I doubt most Dealers and their staff would be bothered or know how to revive the battery satisfactorily even if it was possible, which with your battery it sounds like it was too late.  I'd expect a battery to last more than two years but it does depend on use/abuse and neglect, but even though you can certainly depleted even a new battery unless there's a problem you should see longer than a couple of years.  Skoda in their Owner's Manuals have that you change the battery at 5 years (or is it less now?) which should be totally unnecessary given preventative use of an appropriate  charger maintainer.  I expect to see some batteries changed at  four years or less (depending on vehicle warranty decisions) with new cars and those from say 2021 onwards.

 

Breakdown call outs because of battery issues will continue to be the number one, and growing, cause with still the vast majority of these that could have been avoided and premature sales of expensive batteries will continue and probably vastly increase.  Don't be among the statistics, you know how to generally avoid that. - https://www.whatcar.com/advice/owning/what-are-the-most-common-breakdown-causes/n18506 - https://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/519903-flat-batteries-on-the-first-working-day-of-each-year/#comment-5814322

 

VW, BMW and Merc have been relying on the decades out of date belief that their "German build quality" is still high, as high as it was last century, and of course those buying the vehicles and wanting to retain their sales value and of course loyal marque fans, won't want this belief to diminish.

 

VW like the vast majority, if not all, of car manufacturers often spend a lot of time effort and money getting away with as much as they can and we in the the UK are a soft touch and let them so it's good when someone doesn't allow them to get away with everything, well done, many of us are so beaten down by it all we do accept it too much.

 

The front wings on our VW product hire car seem so flimsy I can imagine they'd rot very quickly once started, I was looking for dents after last night's strong winds.

 

Good luck.

 

Edited 16 April, 20242 yr by nta16
typos

On 15/04/2024 at 17:06, Berisford said:

We've got a Karoq on order with same dealer, allegedly being built this week, I hope I don't need the service department anytime soon. 🤞

I wouldn’t be buying anything from them anytime soon. I’d be moving the order to another dealer - recommended on here, if there are any of course - and tell the current dealer the reason why. 

Well, here I am 2 years on from my new battery saga and history is repeating itself - at my annual service (last week in February) despite charging the battery overnight, I got the usual bovine manure line from the service reception on collection, 'your battery is in good condition but it needs a good charge'!

I fully charged it (CTEK) last Wednesday and 1 week later (yesterday) the state of charge is down to 60% with the advice 'Replace'.

These VW branded Varta EFB+ batteries are not up to the job.

Rather than let the dealer have it for another 7 days 'testing' I'm minded to go down the DIY route and fit a more reliable make and code it myself with OBD11.

It depends on your use of the car and it's electrics but only 2 years out of any battery sounds bad, Varta are normally a good make and EFB or EFB+ whilst possibly not as good as AGM aren't that bad.

The battery gets the blame for many electrical and charging issues when the vast, vast (twice) majority of times it isn't the battery at fault, rather a problem with the car (part(s), component(s), system(s), programing) seen many times with VW - or and I'm not suggest this is the case this time, but other times, it's the use, abuse, neglect of the vehicle owner/driver(s).

Varta is a reliable make, most are, VWŠkoda vehicles have been proven to be less so by all the different threads and posts on the various models of "battery problems".

By all means fit a new battery for yourself and code it in (do this carefully to have correct data entry, loads and loads of examples of how on the various model forums here or I can post up info again here - but if you still have the car in 3 years time I expect you might have the same/similar issue (if not before).

Good luck, let me know if you want battery 'coding' info (to confirm what you might already know, even more relevant if going AGM).

My 2 year old Octavia vRS came with a Varta EFB. It’s not very fresh after only 2 years. My battery tester fails it and i often get low voltage codes on the OBD 11. The car starts fine though and the start stop works ok. The car does 1000km a week and rarely has short trips. They should be fitted with AGM batteries. The AGM in my last car, a Passat lasted 7 years.

3 hours ago, Micky 32 said:

My 2 year old Octavia vRS came with a Varta EFB. It’s not very fresh after only 2 years. My battery tester fails it and i often get low voltage codes on the OBD 11. The car starts fine though and the start stop works ok. The car does 1000km a week and rarely has short trips. They should be fitted with AGM batteries. The AGM in my last car, a Passat lasted 7 years.

A good number of points there.

Quick thoughts -

• battery tester may be accurate, or pessimistic or inaccurate

• what is the low voltage that the OBDEleven gives, bearing in mind the OBDEleven and car's operating computer will be dropping the reading, have you checked and confirmed the reading with multimeter direct to to battery posts

• for the engine not to start fine the battery will have to be very low in state of charge

• if there are never any issues with the stop/start then at those times the battery should be in a reasonably good state of charge

• 1000kms a week depends on the journeys and electric use during those journeys and outside of those journeys, VW's system is going for about 80% charge if you're not doing a lot of braking (coasting?) then the extra 20% doesn't necessarily get filled

• an AGM battery may be better suited but the EFB should be able to manage more than 2 years

• 7 years out of an AGM in the Passat might not be particularly long life or it might be good, depends a lot on some variables including car's consumables available and how much electric is consumed with use, a 9 year old VW is different to a 2 year old VW.

My conclusion thoughts -

• possibly that's how things are with a 2 year old Octavia vRS

• don't always put too much faith in some battery tester results

• there might be a fault on (design, build, program) or with the car (programing, part, drain)

• over consumption of the electricity available by driver (and passenger(s))

• possible need for preventative (proactive) charging of the battery with appropriate battery charger maintainer following the instructions in the car's 'Owner's Manual' and for the appropriate charger maintainer.

(by the way, for info only, your 'Author's stats' and 'signature' still show your "2017 VW Passat BiTDI 240bhp 4motion ( remapped 290bhp")

Edited 29 March29 Mar by nta16
typo

Some more observations in my case. According to obd11 ( if accurate) my battery state of charge hovers on average 70%-73% . I rarely ever see it at 80%. Yesterday i was hoovering out the car so the doors would have been open for 15-20 ish minutes. The interior led lights were on i’m sure. State of charge dropped to 59% which i thought was a big drop. I turned the Ignition on and voltage was about 11.8v. The car started ok.

The OBD 11 minimum start voltage after i hoovered the car was 7.35v but the engine was cold so i’m sure the heater plugs were on also so I’d expect that voltage however it generated a fault code in the brake booster system low voltage. I did a cranking test with my battery tester a few weeks ago and the lowest i got was 7.95v

For comparison i tested the battery when the car was new. It read 800 amps. The battery is 700 amps. Today it reads between 480-540 amps depending on it’s mood. It reports “ replace”

I put a battery monitor on the battery and in the morning it reads an average of 12.6v ( sometimes 12.55-12.63v)

Edited 29 March29 Mar by Micky 32

If you are on your second battery after 4 years there's really something wrong with your car, alternator or battery management module I would suggest....

Unless you are driving only a few miles a week the battery charge should be maintained automatically by the BMS while driving.

Are you connecting a charger often and charging it manually ?

The car's system is set to charge the battery to about 80% (it might be less but I've never seen a definite figure) leaving 20% headroom for regenerative charging for VW's lip-service to emissions, whether the car gets much of that 20% is a different matter.

Which is why I always suggest using an appropriate battery charger maintainer following the instructions in the car's 'Owner's Manual' and instructions for the charger maintainer and (preventatively rather than reactionary) fully recharging the battery (as slowly as possible/reasonable) to 100% (not the car's about 80%).

The battery tester may be upset with the VW programming, you could disconnect the battery and test it independent of the car or just take its figures with a shovel of salt.

It depends on how you are using your battery monitor to get your morning reading but 12.6v would be very good for a VW stop/start car. Just plugging in a scan tool and turning the ignition on will probably give a 0.3+V drop to the battery reading.

Up to you but I would suggest putting the consumerist big boys sexy tools like the battery tester to one side (and forget the OBDEleven for this) and fully 100% recharging the battery as above, and then as many hours as possible after finishing fully recharging put multimeter probes directly on to the battery terminal posts and take a reading (engine not running), note it.

Then use the car for a few days and take another reading in the same manner as before. Remember the car will want to drop the battery charge level to about 80% and that bonnet up the car's systems might give a drop of 0.2-0.3v or possibly more on a 2022 car.

Use a multimeter, forget the battery tester (and OBDEleven) and report back to see about, if wanted or required, doing simple drop/strain tests on the battery with just the use of the multimeter and glamorous assistant to start the engine a number of times in quickish succession.

Am I right in thinking your Octavia vRS is diesel with DSG?

Let us know how you get on.

Yep will give her a good charging one of the days. The average of 12.6v resting is quite accurate. The battery monitor is directly on the battery via Bluetooth on my phone, all locked up overnight so everything shutdown. It matches my multimeter reading and the reading on the obd11. It gets it’s reading from the battery sensor.

I do feel the battery is charged to it’s optimal that the car will allow as I don’t do many short trips while doing 1k a week. I never use the heated seats etc

One thing i have noticed with obd11 is the brake regeneration mode doesn’t kick in unless the state of charge is 70% plus. I also noticed brake regeneration is turned off when outside temps drop below 6-7 degrees C.

Yes it’s a diesel DSG.

interestingly the consensus on the net is that EFB batteries aren’t recommended for brake regeneration. They sre supposedly designed for start stop only.

If your resting battery is 12.6v (with alarm/locked/Krooklock etc. applied in garage) then that's great you don't need a new battery if it remains at that level for a reasonable time.

The stop/start system has all kinds of conditions that have to be meet for it to be operative and as for the braking it might be a terminology thing. Please don't say you got any of your answers from A (artificial, yes) I (intelligence, it's not).

See these from VW. -

SSP-426-Start-stop-system-2009.pdfSSP-234-Vehicle-batteries.pdfSSP-504_Vehicle_Batteries.pdf