Flat battery & now the steering is heavy

[brad]

I flattened the battery the other day due to an issue with the front parking lights - I'll address that once I've sorted this.

Battery was at 10v (according to VCDS) when I tried to start the car. After recharging the battery the steering wheel & ESP warning lights were on.

Drove the car & the steering felt normal. Both warning lights disappeared but the Check engine light came on.

Cleared the CEL & the steering & ESP lights re-appeared.

Checked in the Ross tech infobase & did a Sensor for Steering Angle (G85) basic setting & a Steering Limit Stop Adaptation & cleared the fault codes. VW Golf (1K) Steering Assist - Ross-Tech Wiki

The steering wheel & ESP warning lights are gone but now the steering is very heavy at low speeds & doesn't return to centre at all - you have to steer it all the time. It's like driving a '70s Bedford truck. It is beautifully weighted at 80kph+ though.

Could it be that it's "lost" the characteristic curve?

Thought I should ask here & try & get a logical plan of attack for diagnosis & repair rather than blindly proceed.

PS: would I be better posting this in the VCDS section?

[Transporter]

Try the steering angle sensor adaptation again. Maybe it didn't adapt properly when you did it and the fault came back. Other than that try driving 20-50km and see if it clears up.

[brad]

I'll try it again but did 200km in it today. The steering is beautifully weighted until you have to park it.

thanks

[Umai Naa!!]

Yep, try over 20km/h full lock left, full lock right, back to centre, then stop.

Also, clear all related faults in all systems.

I don't know if VCDS does it, but VAS-PC will walk you through a full re-adaptation of the electric power steering.

EDIT: Disregard

[brad]

So the full lock left & right while moving? I read it as left & right while stationary & then get it to drive straight.

Happy to try anything - will proceed to the carpark up the road

[Golf Loon]

Did you check the brake and abs systems too? It's all related.
Yellow lights on dash can self heal, red ones need some vcds love..
Can you run auto scan on that thing?

[brad]

Problem solved.

By driving in a left & right circle (rather than static turning) it must have pushed the rack a bit further over.

Did the steering angle G85 & all the lights came back but the steering went normal (kind-of).

Then did the limit stops & the lights went out & it was back to what it used to be.

I just wish I could adjust the weighting like you can in a Polo.

Thanks for taking time out of your Sunday to help.

I have another issue with the front parkers (trying to fix caused the flat battery). I'll post a new thread later. I think I might have been a bit of a f-_k-knucl;e (should stick to brakes & suspension).

All good for the moment

[k_rider]

Just curious...

Is this "normal" behaviour when a battery goes flat - that is, for one or more of the control systems to lose their settings? I'd have thought that an attempt to start the engine on a flat battery to be a fairly common occurrence and something that was considered and accounted for during the design process. I certainly wouldn't expect my car to "lose its marbles" simply because the battery went flat! Or was brad just unlucky and happened upon a reasonably unlikely set of conditions?

[brad]

I have no idea.

My battery was pretty fubar when I tried - wouldn't even turn the engine over. I assume it's on the way out as it's now 6 years old. I really should get a load test done.

[woofy]

Ours hit 5yrs old in Nov, I just put a new one in for future insurance. Its only done 50k in that time so not high milage, but batteries don't seem to care about kms.

The RACV here did it, and they plug a device into the lighter socket to keep all the electrics alive so you don't get any surprises. Car behaved like normal afterwards.

[spud75]

Ours hit 5yrs old in Nov, I just put a new one in for future insurance. Its only done 50k in that time so not high milage, but batteries don't seem to care about kms.

The RACV here did it, and they plug a device into the lighter socket to keep all the electrics alive so you don't get any surprises. Car behaved like normal afterwards.

I swapped a battery over on my A3, had one of the lights on (as per the manual for about 1 km), then all good.

Did a full disconnect, pull battery out. Put new battery in, stuff around 20mins trying to line battery cover/well up again, connected new battery, then set date/time in the car and drove off. (it went flat while parked at train station)

No issues with steering etc.

Need to check that VCDS steering weighting, you can do it in A3 and A4, so would have expected RS as well.

I have wiring diagram for Octavia, if you need it for the lights.

[brad]

I swapped a battery over on my A3, had one of the lights on (as per the manual for about 1 km), then all good.

Did a full disconnect, pull battery out. Put new battery in, stuff around 20mins trying to line battery cover/well up again, connected new battery, then set date/time in the car and drove off. (it went flat while parked at train station)

No issues with steering etc.

Need to check that VCDS steering weighting, you can do it in A3 and A4, so would have expected RS as well.

I have wiring diagram for Octavia, if you need it for the lights.

I have an Elegance.

I've changed the weighting on a Polo - can't find similar on the Octavia.

The wiring diagram would be appreciated as I want to check the continuity of the circuit between the headlight plug & the parking light.

I'll PM my email address. thx


I think my problem was trying to start it with the flat battery. Possibly something to do with the kufatec e-MFA information add-on thingy as it's dissapeared off the multi-function Display menu (maybe coincidence).

[Mysticality]

The steering sensor needs to know how far it is from one end of the steering range to the other, same with the windows.

I know that after I disconnect/reconnect the battery in mine the windows won't auto-up/down until I've done it manually on all four, same with steering; its at full 'power sterring power' and almost whacks into the stoppers at each end, then after that the light goes off and the power steering tapers off before it stops assisting all together when you're doing a 3-point turn.

Lucky for me I need to go to both locks to get out of the driveway so I don't need an excuse to turn the wheel lock-to-lock to get it working again!

[k_rider]

I need to bear this little idiosyncrasy in mind if ever I have cause to disconnect the battery or if it goes flat - I would've thought these settings would be retained in non-volatile memory somewhere. The windows not a biggie, but the steering could be a real trap.

[Martin]

This PDF is also a handy overview & quick reference

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/98085974/SkodaOctavia/SSP_054_en_Octavia%20II.pdf