eceived the message "battery not charging stop car" accomanied by a red triangle in the display. Aside from the obvious.......that the battery is not being charged! I did check battery voltage which read 11.6V which seems low. The car seems to start OK.

I'm guessing battery on its way out of dud alternator. The battery is 8 years old - the car's original one.

Any thoughts?

You can try to recharge the battery fully using one of these 'smart chargers' even the ones from Lidl are good, top it up well and then drive again and see ... you should be able to seeat least 12.4/12.5V on a still healthy battery.

My electrical man has some device that measures the State of Health of the batteries, when I am in doubt I give it a shout ... perhaps some autoelectrician or workshop could do that for you?

4 hours ago, 100andthirty said:

eceived the message "battery not charging stop car" accomanied by a red triangle in the display. Aside from the obvious.......that the battery is not being charged! I did check battery voltage which read 11.6V which seems low. The car seems to start OK.

I'm guessing battery on its way out of dud alternator. The battery is 8 years old - the car's original one.

Any thoughts?

What is the voltage at the battery terminals when the engine is running?

The battery will need replacing either way at 8 years old, get a varta replacement

28 minutes ago, Danoid said:

The battery will need replacing either way at 8 years old, get a varta replacement

Possibly, but not necessarily - I have a 9 year Moll EFB fitted which is still going strong.

Thanks for all the replies. Today's bulletin.

Booked into a local VW/Audi specialist for investigation on Tuesday.

I bought a charger. On connection, read 12V. After 3-4 hours 12.8V.

Took the car for a short run - circa 5 miles. The battery not charging message came on after about 4 miles.

By the time I turned into my drive, the power steering was heavy (and a faul light appeared) and the car wouldn't restart.

Charger on again, hoping I'll get to the dealer on Tuesday.

I did ring my local Skoda dealer and they gave me the earliest date it could be booked in for "diagnostics".........4th October!!!!!!!

Are you able to test the voltage at the battery terminals while the engine is running? This will confirm if the fault is with the alternator, which appears likely.

15 hours ago, Warrior193 said:

Are you able to test the voltage at the battery terminals while the engine is running? This will confirm if the fault is with the alternator, which appears likely.

I'm being ultra cautious, keeping the battery charged and not starting the engine until I go to the dealer on Tuesday - otherwise I would check.

No, you must check before you get there ... go informed, or risk being swallowed!

Go, unplug charger, measure, let it "rest" 15min, measure, start, ideal would be to measure while cranking if you got an assistant, then measure once engine starts. It should be immediate ... after that you can turn it off again - a few minutes at least, and then leave it charging until you go to service.

Carried out checks prior to setting off to the garage indictating alternator not working which garage later confirmed. Fingers crossed, I get it back today.