Car died Won’t Start

[Bodger1]

Hi, I’ve owned a 2015 Leon x-perience Dsg now for 4months , low mileage 29000.
Now in lockdown for 7 weeks I’ve used it maybe once a week.
Driving to the chemist 2 miles up the road the dash lit up like a Christmas tree every conceivable fault you can think of came up, then the clocks went dead Rev counter and Speedo back to zero clocks blacked out, indicators wouldn’t work I was still moving at this point stopped the car turned the ignition off then it wouldn’t start again. Dash wouldn’t light up,car wouldn’t turn over although everything on the centre console was working radio, air con buttons were lighting up.
AA towed me to my local garage, as the main Seat Dealership by me is still closed due to Covid -19 .
The local garage tried everything ,in the end he cleared all the faults ( and there was a lot)
Disconnected the clock cluster waited a while and reconnected them and now everything is working fine , although I don’t trust it at the moment.
My question is,has anybody else had this problem and how was it felt with? It’s a Seat Leon so I’m assuming the clocks are the same as most dsg 2015 Leons are they?.
Is it’s software issue?
Obviously I can’t find out until the Dealership reopens.
Sorry about the length of this story
Thanks Bodger1

 

[Walone]

Hi, I’ve owned a 2015 Leon x-perience Dsg now for 4months , low mileage 29000.
Now in lockdown for 7 weeks I’ve used it maybe once a week.
Driving to the chemist 2 miles up the road the dash lit up like a Christmas tree every conceivable fault you can think of came up, then the clocks went dead Rev counter and Speedo back to zero clocks blacked out, indicators wouldn’t work I was still moving at this point stopped the car turned the ignition off then it wouldn’t start again. Dash wouldn’t light up,car wouldn’t turn over although everything on the centre console was working radio, air con buttons were lighting up.
AA towed me to my local garage, as the main Seat Dealership by me is still closed due to Covid -19 .
The local garage tried everything ,in the end he cleared all the faults ( and there was a lot)
Disconnected the clock cluster waited a while and reconnected them and now everything is working fine , although I don’t trust it at the moment.
My question is,has anybody else had this problem and how was it felt with? It’s a Seat Leon so I’m assuming the clocks are the same as most dsg 2015 Leons are they?.
Is it’s software issue?
Obviously I can’t find out until the Dealership reopens.
Sorry about the length of this story
Thanks Bodger1

I seem to remember a post a while back on an almost new Leon where something similar happened, it turned out to be a water leak in the left 'A' post area getting on the electrics, the leak was from the rear screen wash pipe that is located there.

 

[Bodger1]

I seem to remember a post a while back on an almost new Leon where something similar happened, it turned out to be a water leak in the left 'A' post area getting on the electrics, the leak was from the rear screen wash pipe that is located there.

Well thanks for that Walone, I finally found the thread and it was very interesting reading.
I’ll definitely have a look at that tomorrow. Cheers buddy

 

[RUM4MO]

I'm guessing that you have been making sure that the battery is well enough charged, as this would cause lots of unexplained issues.

Do you have a digital voltmeter to check the battery, and also a smart/safe charger?

Right now many cars will need to have their batteries charged to keep them in good health, due to limited use during the lockdown.

 

[black_sheep]

As above, battery low charge would be my diagnosis. Throws up loads of faults, especially with the battery control module for stop/start.

You can check state of charge (SOC) for the battery quite easily:

Press the odo mileage reset button to turn on the FIS display (between the dials). Once screen activated release the button. Then press and hold until the display scrolls to ‘battery’, then release. It will then show a % charge.

https://youtu.be/9S9ukv1INt8

 

[Bodger1]

I'm guessing that you have been making sure that the battery is well enough charged, as this would cause lots of unexplained issues.

Do you have a digital voltmeter to check the battery, and also a smart/safe charger?

Right now many cars will need to have their batteries charged to keep them in good health, due to limited use during the lockdown.

Yes mate , the AA man that picked me up and also my local garage both checked the battery .

 

[martin j.]

As above, battery low charge would be my diagnosis. Throws up loads of faults, especially with the battery control module for stop/start.

You can check state of charge (SOC) for the battery quite easily:

Press the odo mileage reset button to turn on the FIS display (between the dials). Once screen activated release the button. Then press and hold until the display scrolls to ‘battery’, then release. It will then show a % charge.

Is this done with ignition off?

 

[Bodger1]

Is this done with ignition off?

Yes mate , the AA man that picked me up and also my local garage both checked the battery .

Checked battery this morning 12.5 volts on multimeter.

 

[Bodger1]

Well thanks for that Walone, I finally found the thread and it was very interesting reading.
I’ll definitely have a look at that tomorrow. Cheers buddy

Hi Walone, I had a look at that post you talked about and spoke to Bubbs who was very helpful , but alas that’s not the problem because my rear washer tube is dry around the connectors next to the electrics in the passenger footwell so I’m back to square 1 and it’s not the battery.
Anyone else have any ideas . View attachment 15064

 

[Bodger1]

Hi Walone, I had a look at that post you talked about and spoke to Bubbs who was very helpful , but alas that’s not the problem because my rear washer tube is dry around the connectors next to the electrics in the passenger footwell so I’m back to square 1 and it’s not the battery.
Anyone else have any ideas . View attachment 15064

 

[Bodger1]

I was going to upload a picture but my phones not letting me

 

[Walone]

Hi Walone, I had a look at that post you talked about and spoke to Bubbs who was very helpful , but alas that’s not the problem because my rear washer tube is dry around the connectors next to the electrics in the passenger footwell so I’m back to square 1 and it’s not the battery.
Anyone else have any ideas . View attachment 15064

If you know someone with genuine VCDS get a scan done to see if it shows any fault codes, problem is that as the faults have been cleared they may not show again. Where are you based?

 

[Bodger1]

I’m based in Birmingham, but the garage owner had someone come in with a vag machine to read and clear the codes, cheers.and there were too many codes to read which is probably right as the dash lit up showing numerous faults.

 

[martin j.]

I once had recurring faults on a sales car at work, we eventually found that one battery terminal was a little slack, worth a look?

 

[Bodger1]

The battery has been disconnected and reconnected a few times. Or do you mean the actual terminal on the battery itself. ?

 

[martin j.]

No, I did mean the connection to the battery, sorry getting short on ideas, needs to be code read, a sensor may be down or the immobiliser acting up.

 

[Bodger1]

Ok buddy thanks , maybe I should try a brand new heavy duty battery. Trouble is it’s working now but I’ve got no faith in the car, and as I leave the house for work ( when I’m not furloughed ) at 2.30 am it’s a bit of a worry to be honest.

 

[BillyCool]

As above, battery low charge would be my diagnosis. Throws up loads of faults, especially with the battery control module for stop/start.

You can check state of charge (SOC) for the battery quite easily:

Press the odo mileage reset button to turn on the FIS display (between the dials). Once screen activated release the button. Then press and hold until the display scrolls to ‘battery’, then release. It will then show a % charge.

I never knew that. Great piece on info!

 

[Bodger1]

Well having spent the day trawling the internet, it could possibly be a problem between the immobiliser chip in the key fob and the corresponding one in the instrument cluster not being in sync. which would make sense as the local garage disconnected the clocks and then reconnected them after a time. Then everything started working again and it’s not only Seat that have this problem Vw, Skoda and to some extent Audi do too. So I need to know from Seat if this hard reset has cured it or if I need a new set of clocks or can get my own repaired.Thanks everyone for your imput.
Bodger1.

 

[Walone]

Ok buddy thanks , maybe I should try a brand new heavy duty battery. Trouble is it’s working now but I’ve got no faith in the car, and as I leave the house for work ( when I’m not furloughed ) at 2.30 am it’s a bit of a worry to be honest.

If it's the original battery (4 to 5 years old) then it might be worth fitting a new one anyway, although i don't think that is the cause of your problem.
Assuming you have stop/start the battery will be either an AGM (usually on diesels) or an EFB (petrol models).
Just seen your post #19, don't think that would stop the starter from operating, but may be wrong.
Take a look at the workshop manuals linked on this forum, the battery has quite a lot of cables going to fuses/relays under the bonnet may be a problem there.