Battery drain issue on 1.4SC Ibiza

[RUM4MO]

Well that SEAT dealership that I handed that late 2009 Ibiza 1.4 16V SC into had just dealt with a same age Polo 1.4 16V, so VW dealerships will also know about this, but probably as I said, most of this was an issue roughly 10 years ago.

That SEAT dealership was Arnold Clark and they had/have VW dealerships elsewhere in Central Scotland, so I'm not sure if they would have used maybe its VW diagnostics license to source or locate the BCM S/W update.

You can only ask, but take some "facts" - remember in most garage's mind, internet forum chat is just that, ie wrong and hot air, so be prepared for that logic to be used into your face.

Good luck as getting this sorted out removes the uncertainty of "will it start?".

 

[SK-1987]

Bump!

I am having / had this issue for a while now! If I leave my car for around 4 days the battery is dead.
I have had a new battery installed by RAC almost 2 years ago they did various tests that showed no drains and a new alternator fitted in Jan. Each time i thought this would solve my starting woes.

 

[RUM4MO]

I'd think that probably the only way to dismiss it being a BCM needing an update, will be to hand it into a SEAT dealership and direct them to look for tech help from SEAT mothership if they have never heard about this, also give them the SEAT reference number for this patch/update - "J519 module, ie BCM or Central Electrics, that update/patch was 30EB or 30eb . "

I'm guessing that your Ibiza is a 2008 or 2009 build car?

 

[SK-1987]

Yeah its a 58 plate. I will give Seat a call and see what they say.
Also to add this morning was first time I have driven since the last time my battery died (sunday) my electric wing mirrors have a mind of there own, could that be a separate and coincidental issue?

 

[RUM4MO]

I'd think coincidence or due to low battery voltage.

Edit:- remember to spoon feed your SEAT service desk with all the info you have collected in this forum, many/most workshops treat all internet chatter as being just that, ie complete load of BS, and most of the time who could blame them, but sometimes, just sometimes, there are some true facts out there covering some very strange or rare issues, and I think that this, if it is a BCM patch/update issue, is one of them. I'd expect that you will need to pay for 1 hour diagnostic testing by a master tech - which will probably be nothing more than a quick full scan of the car's controllers for logged faults, after that if all goes well I'd either expect them to be able to locate where to find this patch on their online system, or log a "tech help" report to SEAT mothership and that should end up with them being directed to the patch/update within a couple of working days. After that it should only be a case of re-booking the car in for them to apply this patch/update and that should not cost any more than 0.75 hour labour, the actual patch/update will be free - which is correct as it was a mess up by a SEAT supplier.
I still can't explain why this only turned up on my car and some others as late on in its life if it really is a S/W issue - but there you are! I think that SEAT and their dealerships workshops will have expected all the affected cars to have been fixed during the warranty period, which might add to the confusion of why this has been happening later down the line.

 

[SK-1987]

Thank you.
Yeah i will more than likely say RAC told me X Y Z and have a report from them looking into battery issues on my car (have had them out twice) and that it points towards a SW patch.

 

[Greyibiza09]

Good advice as always! In the end though I didn't go to Seat Dealer because my nearest one is now so far away in the next county. Plus I hate going to main dealers thinking they will be charging an arm and a leg.

I have though brought a small battery jump start-on the occasions when I needed it, once during the last12 months, it was easy and quick to use.

 

[Munchen]

I'm so glad I found this thread. Not read it all yet but at least my mind is at ease. My 2009 SC had a dead battery after me being on holiday for around 10-days. Oddly, the car doors were not locked and so I thought I had left it unlocked - unusual for me to do that but always a possibility.
Battery is absolutely dead to the point that my 20Amp charger won't even attempt to charge it. Barely any voltage in it at all but it looks like a cheap and nasty battery anyway.
A new one is on it's way to me but a parasitic drain will be the first thing I check for once battery is connected. If that test is passed then the alternator will be my next suspect and a BCM update the last. I will check for and read fault codes in advance of software update. I wonder if I can do the update myself?

 

[RUM4MO]

I don't think that you will be able to get hold of a software patch for this as VW Group's "mothership" will be the only location where it exists.

I also don't think that this issue with the BCM software will force any fault codes to be generated, if it is due only to the BCM software, then there will be no other indication other than mysterious and very annoying, discharge of the battery over a short period of a few days.

What I could never understand is/was, it looked a lot like this only started to happen to that Ibiza I was looking after when it was a few years old, although other things like a healthy battery and always using the car every day or every other day would also mask this - but in my case, getting a BCM software update sorted that issue out .

 

[Munchen]

Thanks. I'll sail over to the VW mothership for the software but only once I am sure that will solve the problem. It's an old car already with loads of miles on it and a FSH. I just wonder whether the previous owner had the problem and had it sorted or not.
A new battery is on and I tried what I thought was an amp draw measurement last night but got fairly big sparks when the multimeter was put between negative battery post and the terminal/clamp. I am not convinced I am doing it right.

My neighbour then put a mini clamp meter over the negative cable and saw a 0.029 reading, over the positive cable is was 0.044. On his van the reading was over 0.100 and he has no issue with battery drain. I need to learn something today before testing again.

 

[RUM4MO]

Taking a battery lead off then reconnecting it to the car can result in a spark, so no surprise there.
Do it the way I suggested to avoid that.
Lots of other reasons why your battery is draining, exhaust them first.

 

[Munchen]

I got no spark for the 3 or 4 times I reconnected the negative terminal. New battery is in, seems to be holding it's charge although hasn't been asked to do much yet. I scanned for DTCs and to my astonishment found none at all! I appear to have set my multimeter up properly so I now think the battery I removed was just old and weak - bit like me.

 

[RUM4MO]

You are allowed to be lucky!