Battery drain issue on 1.4SC Ibiza
- Thread starter ZBOYD
- Start date
Well as winter was approaching, and the frequency of me finding the car battery too low to start the car was becoming predictably boring, and as my daughter, who's car it is, is coming home from KL for Christmas and will be using the car a lot for 14 days, I took the plunge and bought a CTEK battery tester-charger - this action was really for two reasons, my Audi S4 lies sleeping in the garage too much as we can use wife's new Polo for short runs, so this CTEK battery charger was really bought to keep its battery "happy" - and the tester function was added to check the Ibiza battery. So, charged Ibiza battery off the car using the CTEK tester-charger and used the "reconditioner" function, after a day the battery seemed to have come back up to full charge okay, left it off the car overnight, checked its "status" the next morning using the CTEK charger - it still looked fully charged. Refitted it to the car and left it for four hours, then with the CTEK tester-charger connected to the battery and in "start test" mode, I started the Ibiza, this resulted in the CTEK tester-charger powering down, probably due to the Ibiza battery voltage dropping too low! So, it looked like this battery is not too good, I repeated this check after using the Ibiza, ie restarting it with a hot engine and hopefully "full" battery - same result! I checked this CTEK tester-charger "start test" function on wife's Polo - it passed easily, so this tester can be believed. So, went to Costco and bought a new Bosch S4005 battery, made sure that it was fully charged by charging it overnight using the CTEK charger - then fitted it to the Ibiza next day, left it four hours, fitted CTEK tester to it and started the Ibiza - it passed this test easily. Used the car for a reasonable journey length, then left it for a week, used it again this past Tuesday, it started okay, so leaving it this time for longer if weather permits (this car does not have winter tyres, both other cars have - so not intending to use it in adverse conditions if not really necessary) .
Initial thoughts are that that battery was running out of life but a software reflash might be needed - that will wait until next year after which it might have let us down again, though it will not have let us down badly as we have another two cars to work with!
One other thing, if I did own an analogue voltmeter, I would not needed to buy a CTEK with a test function, so would have bought a more basic charger only type of CTEK, so now I feel that I should really get down to Maplin and buy an analogue meter while they are still on sale!
Initial thoughts are that that battery was running out of life but a software reflash might be needed - that will wait until next year after which it might have let us down again, though it will not have let us down badly as we have another two cars to work with!
One other thing, if I did own an analogue voltmeter, I would not needed to buy a CTEK with a test function, so would have bought a more basic charger only type of CTEK, so now I feel that I should really get down to Maplin and buy an analogue meter while they are still on sale!
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I dont have this problem but just out of curiosity what kind of battery did you install?
I have a Varta 60ah and if I do short trips for a long time it starts having trouble to start the car.
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I fitted a Bosch S4005, which is a battery with a 4 year warranty and is 60Ah, the casing/construction of the Varta and Bosch batteries are identical, though different colours of plastics are used, so it looks like Bosch = Varta or Varta = Bosch.
Got mine checked today again after it didn't start after not driving it for 2 days over the weekend for 3 consecutive weeks and having to get it jump started.
Previously the problem was temporarily solved as it turned out the interior light was draining the battery when left in the position where the light switches on when the door opens so the guy bypassed the wire for it and the car seemed fine for a few months but then recently it's started playing up again.
They checked the battery and pulled the fuses checking each one to see if battery drain was still present after the ignition was off and said nothing was draining the battery at all so they checked the battery and noticed it wasn't fully secured into place and said the previous battery wasn't a very good one (it was an RAC battery which was fitted by the previous owner in March 2014) so they changed the battery and said to give it a few weeks and see if the problem has now been fixed.
Hopefully that's solved all the problems but if not I'll have to book it into the dealer and see if a software update is required.
Previously the problem was temporarily solved as it turned out the interior light was draining the battery when left in the position where the light switches on when the door opens so the guy bypassed the wire for it and the car seemed fine for a few months but then recently it's started playing up again.
They checked the battery and pulled the fuses checking each one to see if battery drain was still present after the ignition was off and said nothing was draining the battery at all so they checked the battery and noticed it wasn't fully secured into place and said the previous battery wasn't a very good one (it was an RAC battery which was fitted by the previous owner in March 2014) so they changed the battery and said to give it a few weeks and see if the problem has now been fixed.
Hopefully that's solved all the problems but if not I'll have to book it into the dealer and see if a software update is required.
I think my post wasn't clear, I didn't do it the work but a fully trained auto electrician did the work so I can't help you sorry.
But I'm pleased to say that my battery woes seem to have been solved with a new battery, left it over the Christmas holidays and it started 1st time after being untouched for 6 days.
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With reference to your posting on another forum, I don't think that you should be replacing your battery with an OEM one, that Varta battery should be okay as it is still a lead/acid battery.
Battery voltage at idle, the trouble is, if the battery is fully charged and there is very little loading on it, at idle the voltage will just be 12.65V or so.
Edit:- the Ibiza is covered in a blanket of frozen snow, so I am not will to try to see if it will still start with its new battery after not being used for about 10 days, or if it does, check its idle voltage - the first fall of snow (3>4 inches) has slid down over the front bonnet/grill and sealed it closed before the next fall of snow (2 inches) landed on top and froze solid!
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Well here I am again with an update, Ibiza had been left unused for 20 days and this morning it rewarded me by not being able to unlock its doors! Battery voltage at this time was 8.45Volts! So replacing the alternator, which had failed and replacing the battery, which was original, has not really cleared up this problem. It has only been a mild winter that has allowed me to continue using it every few days that has kept the battery charged up. Might now be time to talk to Seat about this if they are willing to accept that some of these car were known to have issues that discharged the battery - ie power supplies wakening up after a period of being asleep.
Well the alternator may have failed as consequence of the battery being constantly discharged.
Never left my car 20 days without starting (only left 14 days once or twice), but... if the battery wasn't fully charged before leaving the car 20 days I guess mine wouldn't last that long either...
Not at all, when the alternator failed there was no issue with battery discharge - that came much later, also the use of that car prior to this latest discharging battery was long runs so the battery was always kept fully charged. I've logged a parasitic discharge current of under 5milliamps as being typical - so at that discharge rate, it should be okay to use after more than 20 days - do the sums!
RUM4NO sorry if this was already covered.
In a portuguese forum someone had the same problem and went to SEAT and they made an update to what I believe it was Body Control Module (BCM). I don't know if it solved anything though... His car is a 1.9TDI 2008
Before: 6R09372287-0011
After: 6R09372287-0013
In a portuguese forum someone had the same problem and went to SEAT and they made an update to what I believe it was Body Control Module (BCM). I don't know if it solved anything though... His car is a 1.9TDI 2008
Before: 6R09372287-0011
After: 6R09372287-0013
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Yes I agree that that car probably needs a s/w upgrade flashed on to the BCM - but it seems that it will take me a long time trying to get the local Seat dealer to accept that, first they will want to spend a lot of time (my time and money) looking at everything else, before, or if, asking Seat UK for help!
I think they don't need to ask seat uk if there is a update for a module in your car, all they need to do is a scan and their software tells them if there is an update for that module or not.
Sorry about being in portuguese, this is the sheet they gave me when I went to SEAT because of power steering problems.
Sorry about being in portuguese, this is the sheet they gave me when I went to SEAT because of power steering problems.
Thanks for that! So you took your car in to see about the power steering problem - and did you ask them to check up to see if there were any "flash" updates available for your car? Or did they just carry out that check because you were having problems - did you think that SEAT dealers have a "name" for that procedure - really I'm just trying to make sure that when I take the car into my SEAT dealer that they do what is needed the first time without many more visits. Thanks!
Edit:- I've translated some words into English, and see that "Actualizavel" translates into "Upgradeable" - so do you know if that just means that the BCM software is upgradeable - or does that mean that it is at an earlier software standard and so should really be re-flashed? Did they re-flash any or all your modules that were listed as being "Actualizavel" ?
Edit:- I've translated some words into English, and see that "Actualizavel" translates into "Upgradeable" - so do you know if that just means that the BCM software is upgradeable - or does that mean that it is at an earlier software standard and so should really be re-flashed? Did they re-flash any or all your modules that were listed as being "Actualizavel" ?
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I had the same problem when I went on holiday for two weeks, when I came back the car was completely dead. I took it straight to the dealership, they updated the software and it has been sweet since 
That's a scan they did looking for errors, I don't know if they updated anything as the problem was not solved. This was in September.
Yes it means "Upgradeable" at first look I thought it means there is a more recent version but you are right, it could mean the two things.
Other modules have "Desconhecido" which means "Unknown".
I had the same problem when I went on holiday for two weeks, when I came back the car was completely dead. I took it straight to the dealership, they updated the software and it has been sweet since
Ah, someone else having this problem, excellent - or not, anyway, what year and model is your Ibiza, also did it still have some warranty left on it when you took it into the dealers, one last question, when did you have this carried out - I'm asking that in case it was years ago and the SEAT dealers might now have forgotten all about this issue - thanks!
dm222, thanks again for that information, I really do need to get organised and get this car into the SEAT dealer - and hopefully a re-flash of the BCM will sort things out!
Right, another update, I handed the Ibiza in to the SEAT dealer last Wednesday and they have been checking things, ie isolating circuits to find out which circuit is causing the battery drain when the car is not running. I did advise them about the possibility of this just being a BCM S/W issue and they seemed to note that down as well as the fact that I had replaced the alternator after it failed over a year ago and the battery earlier this year. I got a phone call yesterday afternoon to tell me that they have now found which circuit is draining the battery and pinned this problem down to a faulty steering angle sensor! Now I have never had any steering problems and I did scan the car the day before handing it in, and I'm not too sure if the steering angle sensor circuit will be live after the BCM has shut down the unused supplies, so unless someone can say otherwise, I'm guessing that the garage have come to the wrong conclusion and I'm paying for their error?
Any comments?
Edit:- BTW I don't mind being completely wrong about this! If the car is returned and does not drain its battery over the next 21 days, I'll be more than happy.
Any comments?
Edit:- BTW I don't mind being completely wrong about this! If the car is returned and does not drain its battery over the next 21 days, I'll be more than happy.
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