Skoda Kodiaq battery dead - What Next?

Can a dashcam, running on a 12v socket (which is permanently on in a Kodiaq) drain a car's battery over a period of 10 days?

BHPian Grootman recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Hi, I bought my Kodiaq in January 2023. Absolutely loved the car; having graduated from a 2008 Honda City VTEC, Kodiaq was a multi-generational upgrade for me. 

The ride was smooth until June 2023 when the battery died. We were away on a family vacation for around 10 days and the car was parked at my apartment lying unused. After returning, when i tried to enter the car, i discovered that everything was dead. remote unlocking did not work. Had to manually unlock the door. Called Ring Road Skoda in Gurgaon (dealer) and they referred me to the road-side assistance team. They reached my house promptly and tried to jump start the car using an external battery. 

Kept at it for at least 15 minutes and then i jumped into the car and drove straight to the service center as the car refused to start without jump starting. Service center blamed it on the dashcam that i had put into the car (70mai). They said that as that was put into the 12v socket (which is permanently switched on in Kodiaq) and not into the type C USB port, it had drained the battery. That, while they will check the battery and try to charge it to get it up to the necessary voltage/ output, they could not guarantee it. 

When i pressed for a new replacement battery, they kept on insisting that as i had not used the "Skoda stipulated" dashcam (Blaupunkt in this case), battery drain/ replacement would not be covered by Skoda. It did not matter that the Blaupunkt dashcam also had a 12v socket (which would again drain the battery). Anyways, after much haggling, they agreed to replace the battery. But eventually, after a couple of days got a call from Ring Road Skoda that they were able to recharge the battery using a powerful external charger and that the battery was good to go. 

What i want to check with the good folks at Team-BHP is this - Can a dashcam, running on a 12v socket (which is permanently on in a Kodiaq) drain a car's battery over a period of 10 days? Nevertheless, ever since then, i have put the dashcam on the type C USB charging port. 

Now coming on to another set of issues that cropped up during the Delhi winters. I noticed this for the first time in December 2023 and this must have happened at least 5 or 6 times. The engine bay made a slight vibration when i used to start the engine first thing in the morning. This was followed by an engine "start/ stop error" sign going off in the instrument cluster. However, whenever i tried to start the car later during the day, this problem (engine vibration or start/ stop error) never cropped up. 

Highlighted it to the service center guys in January (post another vacation of 10 days when the car was parked; thankfully no battery issues this time). Initially, i was told that the "start/ stop error" was on account of a software issue which would be sorted. They ran all kinds of diagnostic and determined that there was no issue with the battery, engine or software. I was asked to make a video if the vibration recurred or engine "start/ stop error" cropped up again. 

It was all fine since then until a couple of days ago when i noticed starting issues with the engine. It took me at least 5 or 6 tries to crank up the engine. Also, the "start/ stop error" had resurfaced. This time i made a video and sent it to the RR Skoda guys. As i write this, the car has been at the service center for two days now. I just got a message that they have discovered two faulty spark plugs which have been replaced. Battery was fine and they would now try and diagnose the "start/ stop error". Need some help on this team. Would faulty spark plugs create this issue. What made the matter "interesting" was that this engine starting issue only happened in the morning and not after a ride of say even 30 minutes. If spark plugs were the issue, wouldn't it happen every single time. 

Don't even want to comment on the broken AC lever bits. Had to get them all replaced. Thankfully, the RR Skoda guys charged me only 30% of the total cost of the replacements. 

Any help on the above issues would be greatly appreciated.

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