On the 4th battery now The third battery gave up without any warning. It barely lasted a year.
The car started at first crank today morning. We drove to Cochin which is 50 kms away and stopped for breakfast. The car just refused to start after that. The warning lamps came on momentarily but after the first crack, nothing. No lights, warning lamps etc. just an occasional knocking sound from the boot, probably the boot lock.
Called up skoda and they showed up with a spare battery in no time. I had paid for RSA but it is still not active. But that’s another story. The technician fixed the spare battery but that was a little low on charge too. He fixed the jumper cables to the car he came in and the car started. Then he removed the spare battery and replaced the old one while the car was still running (which confirmed that it is not an alternator issue).
I got the old battery checked at a nearby shop and the battery was indeed bad. Replaced it with the same 65 ah Exide.
The way the batteries give up on Skodas is scary. There is not even a hint before it just packs up. Skoda must be torturing the batteries for them to die such sudden deaths.
Or, there’s some kind of protection built in, that just won’t let the car function when current drops below a certain limit. But then, why can’t this ‘smart’ system warn us if it is nearing that limit? More than a spare tire, this car needs a spare battery. |