Battery drain issue

[Spraderz]

I've had my 2011 Octavia VRS wagon (petrol) for over 2 years now with no issues. A couple weeks ago the car would not start due to a dead battery. Initially thought the battery was on its way out as it was a few years old so purchased a new battery. A couple days later, same issue, the car would not start and the battery was dead.

After fully charging the battery up, the car lasts between 2-3 days without being driven before its completely dead (not even enough power to remote unlock the doors). At this stage it goes from 13.3V to under 11V.

I've had a multi meter hooked up in series to check for a parasitic battery drain and the results were strange. After waiting around 20 minutes with the doors locked and the bonnet open, i can see the car goes to 'sleep' with a reading of about 20mA (good). It does this for 2 1/2 minutes, then spikes to almost 4A for 30 seconds! Then back down to 20mA for another 2 1/2 minutes before spiking up to 4A again for another 30 seconds and so on. My understanding is something must be having issues talking to something else correctly and every 2 1/2 minutes it checks again to see if it can talk, if not, tries again in a loop?

Anyone experienced anything similar? I know I should be checking which circuit is the culprit but the issue is it only occurs for 30 seconds at a time, so will need to be quick in checking each fuse and then moving on. Any suggestions on another approach?

Appreciate any input!

[puhleese]

I have a 2017 MY18 VRS purchased in Sept 17. All been good until this week when I had occasion not to drive the car for 3 days and had a totally flat battery when I went to start it. Nothing left on that I could find that would cause this. After a day and a half on the battery charger now fully recharged. Will be interested to see if you can figure out what your problem was/is. After clearing all the faults caused by the flat battery with my obdeleven I am not seeing any faults that might indicate a problem with any component.

[Spraderz]

I connected my VRS to VCDS and again there were a large amount of errors caused by the dead battery. Once all the faults were cleared a couple still remained after a quick drive. One was the 'Steering angle sensor' and the other was the parking sensor could not be found (though parking sensors seem to be working correctly). Might need to take it into Skoda and get those items checked to see if thats whats causing the issue.

[puhleese]

Will watch your 'progress' with interest BTW Both those sensors wouldn't clear faults for me until the battery was absolutely 'full' and I had driven a few kms.

[Guest001]

I had similar issues Fairly new battery flat for no reason. Worked out I had pressed the wrong button on my reading lights and hadnt noticed it because my "Coming home" lights stayed on until i got out of the garage They were on 24/7 and I didnt use the car for two weeks
Took 36 hours to bring the battery back up

[HPRS230]

I had similar issues Fairly new battery flat for no reason. Worked out I had pressed the wrong button on my reading lights and hadnt noticed it because my "Coming home" lights stayed on until i got out of the garage They were on 24/7 and I didnt use the car for two weeks
Took 36 hours to bring the battery back up

My car flashes the Hazards lights if that happens.
2016 Oct RS

[Spraderz]

I had similar issues Fairly new battery flat for no reason. Worked out I had pressed the wrong button on my reading lights and hadnt noticed it because my "Coming home" lights stayed on until i got out of the garage They were on 24/7 and I didnt use the car for two weeks
Took 36 hours to bring the battery back up

I was hoping it would be something as simple as this..but I dont think that would explain the car going to 'sleep' and drawing next to no current, then spiking back up to 4amps every couple minutes. I would expect there to be a constant current drain on the system if something like a light was on in the car.

Have hooked this up to my VCDS and cleared all the faults from the battery running dead and the issue still persists. Battery goes from 13V to 12V in 24 hours (car untouched).

Recharging the battery now and will start checking some of the fuses.

Will let you know if I ever find the issue!

[Transporter]

Maybe your battery is too old or faulty. Get it tested.

[Spraderz]

Maybe your battery is too old or faulty. Get it tested.

Battery is only a week old. I've used a basic battery tester that says the battery is good (once its fully charged). How could I test if its a faulty battery? Leave it unplugged from the car and see how long it takes to drain by itself?

[Guest001]

Battery is only a week old. I've used a basic battery tester that says the battery is good (once its fully charged). How could I test if its a faulty battery? Leave it unplugged from the car and see how long it takes to drain by itself?

Take it back to where it was bought and get them to do a load test Also give the dealer the car for the night as my one put it on a machine to see if there was a parasitic drain

[Spraderz]

Update: After performing the voltage drop test (which was difficult as the spike from 20ma to 4A only lasted 15 seconds at a time and then had to wait another couple minutes) fuse 37 was found to be the culprit (~6.5v which converts to bang on 4A).

This is the front heated seats circuit. Not sure which front seat is causing the issue - without removing the seats and fiddling with wires I have simply removed the fuse for now. Will be missing my heated seats as winter is coming!

Will check the battery level (full charged at 13v now) overnight and see how it goes. Found a similar thread here Battery Drain need VCDS garage to check alarm siren near Dawlish - Skoda Octavia Mk II (2004 - 2013) - BRISKODA if anyone is in a similar situation. Think the next move will be onto the stealers for a quote on fixing the heated seats.