I'm new to this forum - I found it through Google search after trying to figure out what's wrong with wife's car.
Car is a 15 plate Leon - I believe it's a 1.2 TSI.
MOT was today - dropped the car in, no problems.
No running problems at MOT station.
Needed 2 new tyres - drove to tyre place - all ok.
Got back from tyre place, parked in drive, no indication of any problem.
Wife got in car 30 mins later to go collect daughter, and it's 100% dead.
Remote central locking tries to do something, but not all doors (and boot) unlock. This is intermittent - mostly it won't unlock, but maybe once in every 5 or 10 times it will fully unlock.
It won't start. Turn the key, and the engine doesn't even try - the dash comes on, but flickers. Sometimes loads of warning will come on (tyre pressure, ignition on warning) but still won't start.
Radio is not responsive, either. Normally we can sit in the car without keys in the ignition, but turn the radio on - but at the moment it's 50/50 whether it'll come on or just stay dark.
During this episode (but not before the madness started) wife has seen a "12V low" warning - and given all the other weirdness, I thought maybe the battery has suddenly fully discharged (it's EFB type, so I'm charging it on a CTEK now). My charger says battery is low, but according to the charger the battery doesn't appear to be completely dead - I'd have expected the car to turn over slowly if the battery was on its way out (??) But at the moment: nothing. Bought the car from an approved dealer a few (3 or 4) years ago - battery is probably original, so ~10 years old now.
Tried both key fobs, but no difference.
With the bonnet down but not closed properly, the car chirps when the central locking works - never heard this before, but maybe that's normal if the bonnet isn't closed properly (??)
When we first noticed there was a problem, there was some weird "warbling" coming from the car (from under the bonnet, I think - it sounded electronic, but I can't be 100% that it came from the car (it was such a weird noise that I couldn't imagine it was the car at first, and thought it might be some sort of bird - but given the other weird symptoms I wonder if the was something electronic going on - and possibly not something happy and nice).
I'm a bit nervous that something serious and expensive may have failed. It seems pretty dead
I'll leave it to charge for a few hours (my charger has an AGM setting, but I've just set it to regular car battery given that the battery says EFB on it). Kind of hoping it's just a dead battery, but I'm surprised there was no warning - and the battery indicator on the battery says that the battery is still ok. Maybe a couple of hours on charge will fix it - but normally (on my much older car) I can actually start the car when it's plugged into the charger - but not so with the Leon.
Any ideas what might be up, or what tests or resets I can try to figure out what's happening?
Thanks in advance!
Dan.
EDITED TO ADD:
The chirp is not because the bonnet is open as bonnet is now clicked shut. The battery is still connected to a charger - but unsure if that would cause the chirp.
The chirp happens on unlock - when the fob works.
When the fob doesn't work there are whirring noises (sounds like from the door locks) as if they're trying - and failing - to do something). When the fob works, then the indicators flash as normal - but when the fob doesn't work, then there's either nothing or an incorrect sequence of flashes from the indicators (I think it should be double flash on lock, and single flash on unlock - but when the fob isn't working, then I either get nothing at all, or just a single flash regardless whether trying to lock or unlock).
When turning the key in the ignition, and all the lights on the dash are flickering, it's as if the car is trying (and failing) to boot up. I can hear a kind of buzzing noise as if it's trying to boot up, but not getting there. It's almost like there is not enough power to boot up, or there's a loose/partial connection to something somewhere.
Could there be a loose connection to something major somewhere? Is there a huge multiplug somewhere accessible that I can check is properly connected or something? Or am I panicking over nothing, and this is just a dead battery?
Battery has been on charge for a while, and it *should* have enough juice to at least *try* to turn, but so far nothing has changed. Whether or not the battery charge is low enough to cause this, I don't think charging it is helping any.
Car is a 15 plate Leon - I believe it's a 1.2 TSI.
MOT was today - dropped the car in, no problems.
No running problems at MOT station.
Needed 2 new tyres - drove to tyre place - all ok.
Got back from tyre place, parked in drive, no indication of any problem.
Wife got in car 30 mins later to go collect daughter, and it's 100% dead.
Remote central locking tries to do something, but not all doors (and boot) unlock. This is intermittent - mostly it won't unlock, but maybe once in every 5 or 10 times it will fully unlock.
It won't start. Turn the key, and the engine doesn't even try - the dash comes on, but flickers. Sometimes loads of warning will come on (tyre pressure, ignition on warning) but still won't start.
Radio is not responsive, either. Normally we can sit in the car without keys in the ignition, but turn the radio on - but at the moment it's 50/50 whether it'll come on or just stay dark.
During this episode (but not before the madness started) wife has seen a "12V low" warning - and given all the other weirdness, I thought maybe the battery has suddenly fully discharged (it's EFB type, so I'm charging it on a CTEK now). My charger says battery is low, but according to the charger the battery doesn't appear to be completely dead - I'd have expected the car to turn over slowly if the battery was on its way out (??) But at the moment: nothing. Bought the car from an approved dealer a few (3 or 4) years ago - battery is probably original, so ~10 years old now.
Tried both key fobs, but no difference.
With the bonnet down but not closed properly, the car chirps when the central locking works - never heard this before, but maybe that's normal if the bonnet isn't closed properly (??)
When we first noticed there was a problem, there was some weird "warbling" coming from the car (from under the bonnet, I think - it sounded electronic, but I can't be 100% that it came from the car (it was such a weird noise that I couldn't imagine it was the car at first, and thought it might be some sort of bird - but given the other weird symptoms I wonder if the was something electronic going on - and possibly not something happy and nice).
I'm a bit nervous that something serious and expensive may have failed. It seems pretty dead
I'll leave it to charge for a few hours (my charger has an AGM setting, but I've just set it to regular car battery given that the battery says EFB on it). Kind of hoping it's just a dead battery, but I'm surprised there was no warning - and the battery indicator on the battery says that the battery is still ok. Maybe a couple of hours on charge will fix it - but normally (on my much older car) I can actually start the car when it's plugged into the charger - but not so with the Leon.Any ideas what might be up, or what tests or resets I can try to figure out what's happening?
Thanks in advance!
Dan.
EDITED TO ADD:
The chirp is not because the bonnet is open as bonnet is now clicked shut. The battery is still connected to a charger - but unsure if that would cause the chirp.
The chirp happens on unlock - when the fob works.
When the fob doesn't work there are whirring noises (sounds like from the door locks) as if they're trying - and failing - to do something). When the fob works, then the indicators flash as normal - but when the fob doesn't work, then there's either nothing or an incorrect sequence of flashes from the indicators (I think it should be double flash on lock, and single flash on unlock - but when the fob isn't working, then I either get nothing at all, or just a single flash regardless whether trying to lock or unlock).
When turning the key in the ignition, and all the lights on the dash are flickering, it's as if the car is trying (and failing) to boot up. I can hear a kind of buzzing noise as if it's trying to boot up, but not getting there. It's almost like there is not enough power to boot up, or there's a loose/partial connection to something somewhere.
Could there be a loose connection to something major somewhere? Is there a huge multiplug somewhere accessible that I can check is properly connected or something? Or am I panicking over nothing, and this is just a dead battery?
Battery has been on charge for a while, and it *should* have enough juice to at least *try* to turn, but so far nothing has changed. Whether or not the battery charge is low enough to cause this, I don't think charging it is helping any.
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Given that the fob is not working reliably, can anyone tell me how I'd use the key to stop the alarm if i did indeed manage to trigger it?
Yep, that's where I was at yesterday. My plan is: work from home tomorrow (Thursday) and call RAC first thing. Explain that I tried to charge the battery, but car is still dead. Maybe they can do a drop test (or whatever) on the battery to see whether a cell has failed... But if they set the alarm off, then neighbours will at least see that the RAC is onsite and it's being dealt with (annoying though the alarm will undoubtedly be). Hopefully that will be kinder than setting the alarm off myself, and THEN calling RAC and waiting for 3+ hours (potentially with alarm sounding) until they arrive 
