Hey guys,

I’ve got myself an Octavia mk3 estate (2019 1.6d manual) after wanting one for a while. Ran smoothly for 5 months, just had MOT, packed the car for centreparcs, drove 2 hours, unloaded most of the boot fine. Between closing the boot, to trying to open it 4-5 mins later, something has gone wrong.

-Boot won’t open,

-rear wiper won’t work; washer works fine though.

-high level brake light doesn’t work.

I don’t have much with me, only holiday stuff really.

I tried to open the boot from the inside using an Allen key (from when I had a roof box on last month), although it’s just not big enough (I tried this before I knew about rear wiper and brake light).

Has anybody had this before and please say it was as simple as a fuse for the whole boot lid electrics…. Or am I looking at an expensive bill?

I can nip back to the car to try things, but it’s a good 20 mins later walk each way… trust this to happen at the one place I don’t really have access.

I would like to try to get the boot to open, even if it is just a temporary measure. Loading holiday gear (full boot on way here) though the rear seats won’t be pleasant.

Any tips/suggestions welcome.

Thanks.

Martin :D

I have just had a thought… just before closing the boot, I did unplug a 12v chiller box from the socket in the boot, and it was still drawing power (yes, I forgot to turn the damn thing off before unplugging), not the biggest detail, but it’s the only thing I’ve done differently in the last 5 months of ownership.

I’ll be able to check fuses and what not once I’m home.

Just wanted to check to see if anybody else has had similar (in the hope it was something simple) to hopefully put my mind at ease whilst away for the week.

Rear wiper doesnt work on my MK2 with boot open so maybe a problem with boot switch/lock.

Found this on another post. Not sure if yours is the same

I'm leaning towards micro switch also, as mine isnt working, the car relocks even if the boot has been opened, wiper doesn't work but boot opens, so, in your case I'd say it's a broken wire in the loom adjoining the lid to body

Thanks. I did nip back and checked the fuses for anything “rear” related (like rear wiper, but all fuses were fine.

When I pressed the boot release button on the key fob, I could hear something trying to work…

Did try the manual release but didn’t have tool big enough. Will try that once home. Thanks.

hi again guys,

I got back to the car today, tried the boot again (out of sheer hope), nothing.

Popped the boot from inside using the manual release, worked fine.

After loading the car and taking the car back to the car park, I left the rear wiper on (just in case), after about 10 minutes, wiper engaged and began working. Once parked, my partner checked the high level brake light was working… it was fine. Gave the boot soft button a try… worked fine! W,T,H?

Has worked fine since too.

Electrical gremlins? Loose connection? Kinked wiring somewhere… I dunno.

Thanks guys.

Happy man with the opening boot (it’s the little wins, even if they make you ponder wtf a few times a day).

Who knows? Might be worth checking fuses to see if any for the rear of car are loose or a bit coroded or connectors for boot area and brake light. Just wondering if theres an earth thats poor?. Hopefully its a one of but at least you can get it open from the inside

It's possible you are loosing the earth/ground as all those things stopped working.

It might be worth having a look at the wiring loom where it goes into the tailgate.

I recently had a problem with my OH's Rover 25. It's quite a problem on them.

The wiring had started to break down - the insulation was cracked and some of the conductors were starting to break...and possibly short with each other.

I repaired the loom with some suitably coloured wires from an old 1970s MGB loom, which were a lot more flexible than the Rover's wires.

Just spotted this post.

Sounds familiar.

Very familiar. It’s never done this since… although I’ve not used the rear 12v socket since either. Driven the car a fair bit, using the brakes (with high brake light working fine) and rear wiper working fine. I’ve been able to get into the boot on every occasion I’ve tried too. Very bizarre. I do think it could very well be a ground issue… will check when I manage to find the ground for the rear tailgate. Haha.

13 hours ago, daveo138 said:

Just spotted this post.

Sounds familiar.

Yes thought the same i did find this post when looking for a fix but the op didn't find there issue as it started working again , I'm going to get a new seal for the wiper motor and change the loom if I get anymore problems