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broken ecu?


keltmoss

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Hi there i will try to keep this short..

I have owned my fabia vrs from new ( 54 ) and have looked after it,had it serviced at the correct intervals at a skoda dealership and replaced parts as and when required.

About three weeks ago i jumped in and turned the key and it seemed to take ages to fire up and when it eventually did the car cut out again.I got it going eventually and it drove fine but every time i have had to start the car since then it has really struggled to start.

I took the car into my local dealership a couple of days after this happened the first time and after some discussion and the head mechanic having a go for himself he proposed it might be a bad batch of diesel and to run it empty and fill up at a different garage.

I did this and it made no difference so i took the car back in.After the guys had a better look they suggested it looked like a faulty cam shaft sensor.They had the car on the diagnostics and it showed no faults in the wiring and i had no warning lights on the dash.The guys replaced the cam shaft sensor and it still made no difference.

The car was back in the garage today.I was told that it could still be a fault in wiring but so far they havent found anything.The car is going to be in again tomorow until mid-day and they have basically told me that if they still can't find a fault in the wiring its the ecu.

I asked them how much a new ecu would be and they said that i shouldn't worry myself with that at the moment but im assuming its expensive.

The car is still labouring to fire up but once it does it drives fine.it hasn't ever cut out once i am driving and i have never had any engine management lights or powered steering lights come on the dash.

Just wondered if anyone on here has any thoughts on what might be causing this.My dealership has told me that it is extremely rare for the ecu in these cars to fail.

Please help as i can see myself having nightmares about this all night..

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If it was the ECU the car wouldnt work at all because its the brain of the car, in most cases it either works or it doesn't? Unless the software has been messed around with you need to get it restored to standard.

It sounds like it is trying to start up but strugling

Try replacing glow plugs

Faulty injector

Fuel Pump

Fuel Filter

I believe its the fuel pump if the fueling aint right it will cut out.

Maybe some tech head could put it better?

Let us know what happens hope it gets sorted anytime soon.

Edited by REDFABVRS
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Thanks for the reply's guys.

I really don't know enough about cars to have come up with a possible cause myself so i am at the mercy of the garage.To be fair though they guys at my local dealership are really quite good and the head mechanic has worked on my car from day dot.He also has a Fabia vrs himself.

Right from the start of this problem the car has never actually cut out once up and running.When i try to start the car it turns over for maybe five or six seconds before actually starting and unless i give it a small amount of revs at the point it fires up the car just kind of splutters and cuts off again.Its like it fires up and the revs go up above the idle and once it tries to settle down to idle it just cuts off again.

If the ecu was knackered would that mean that the car wouldn't start at all??

Forgot to mention that my car has never been re-mapped or fiddled around with.It is totally standard apart from different alloys.

Like i said last night my car is in the garage at the moment and the mechanics finish at twelve today so i should hear back from them soon.

I must admit i am starting to panic a bit.

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Hey guys thanks for your replies.

I have just had the garage on the phone.After having the car back on the diagnostics it was still showing no wiring faults so they were starting to lean towards a duffed ecu.The mechanic managed to get in about the ecu ( apparently some stripping out of parts is required ) and when he got to it there was a corroded wire which he has replaced and hey presto the car is starting up fine now.

So the ecu is apparently fine and it was this dodgy wire even though all their tests indicated the wiring was fine.Very strange indeed.

Anyhow its all fixed and they are just washing the car for me to go and pick it up.I also had all the door seals replaced as water was getting in and soaking the back carpets and while the mechanic was in about the ecu he fixed a small leak i had on the air con and they have re-gassed it.

Its turned into a bit of an expensive weekend.

Air-con leak investigated and fixed\re-gassed

All door seals replaced

Starting problem finally identified and fixed

An mot on the car which it passed

£230 including vat

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Glad its sorted :thumbup: would never have expected it to be that

Anybody know where the ECU is located?

I thought the ECU is under the bonnett behind the air box, silver anybody know what that is?

yea i thought that was the ecu as well ... mine is just above the abs module and says "siemens" on it.... unless thats something to do with the abs too...

Edited by mudyf0x
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I also had all the door seals replaced as water was getting in and soaking the back carpets

Please note that's likely NOT to be the door seals (unless they're obviously damaged) but the construction of the doors - it's the most common fault on a Fabia...

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