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Fabia evap temp sensor - how to (with pics)


ap0gee1978

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I don't know for certain, but the air con may be the same way round for both left-hand drive and right-hand drive. If this is the case, the sensor will be above the glove compartment. I did a guide for removing leaves from the fan blower, which may help you in removing the necessary parts: Link

Hop this helps! :)

Edited by DGW
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  • 2 weeks later...

Hy

Thanks for this great guide.

I went today to a local guru for air conditioning which finded out that something is not OK with air conditioning on my left hand drive fabia 1.4. After they used diagnostic tool they founded out evaporations sensor fault. They said changing this sensor costs about 350€ becouse they have to remove dashboard. Local Skoda servicer requests 220€ for change.

Now it only will take me for an hour or max two.

I will report where evaporation temp sensor is located in left hand driven fabia;)

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^^ I know what you mean about the sensor being hard to remove - what price a few extra centimetres of wire, eh?! I'm glad your A/C is up and running happily again, even if it took so long! I'm sure you'll be able to buy a few beers to help you relax with all the Euros you saved by doing the job yourself! But I can't take all the credit - Ross and Stu did all the hard work; I just followed their instructions and took the photos! Glad to be of help all the same! :thumbup:

thank you Ross, thank you Stu, thank you ap0gee!!!!

About an hour and half to do this today. It felt so good knowing that the Skoda garage were not getting the £160 they wanted to fit this bit. Great guide, made it easy, and I have aircon. COOL, real cool. :thumbup:

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As I promised.

Evaporator temperatur sensor in left hand driven fabia is located at same position (on driver side).

Here are pictures of my procedure www.Skoda-Team.com ~ Poglej temo - Senzor temperature uparjalnika klime (kako ga zamenjam) - your are welcome for any translations into english;)

How it looks central locking ECU bracket and its V shaped lugs (I broked one of lugs by accident). You can also see 2 slots in the car metal chassis where lugs are slided.

16.jpg

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As I promised.

Evaporator temperatur sensor in left hand driven fabia is located at same position (on driver side).

:thumbup:

So it's basically a mirror-image for those with left-hand drive Fabias! :)

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Would this also cause the air con to only blow cold when it is set to low? Anything other than the first blue bar and it blows warm and not cool. Would swapping this sensor help solve this?

Thanks

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  • 3 weeks later...
Would this also cause the air con to only blow cold when it is set to low? Anything other than the first blue bar and it blows warm and not cool. Would swapping this sensor help solve this?

Thanks

That sounds more like the flap motors, I think :thumbup:

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Thanks to ap0gee's 'how to' guide I replaced the sensor on my Fabia. The text and particularly the photos were especially helpful, though there were real problems locating the sensor and withdrawing it. This last step was only possible for me by using a dental-type inspection mirror and inserting a small short screwdriver down the side of the plug and breaking the plastic retaining collar. As you suggest, if only the wires from the loom to the plug were 5cms long instead of about 1cm ...!

The AC now works well, though with everything set for maximum cooling the air from the ducts measures (eventually) around 2 degrees on a thermometer placed against the vents. This seems low in view of the figures you quote in your reply to AFAIK.

One last query - just to show my ignorance - what is the function of the switch operated by the clutch pedal: this is the one which has to be removed to do the sensor replacement.

Very many thanks for your help - without which I would not even have dreamt of attempting the task.

Allan

PS How do they get to the sensor in a Skoda workshop?

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  • 2 weeks later...

spent yesterday replacing sensor didnt get me air con back though.

broke that bloody c/l bracket but did cable tie fix ok though:)

fault im getting on vag com now is 00898 a/c compressor open to short to b+ .

anyone got any ideas

thanks in advance :)

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  • 2 weeks later...

Thanks ap0gee!!. Thanks also to dragman, whose phtograps made clear some aspects of the process (I don't understand slovenian, it's a pity :P).

I finally fixed my Fabia Combi air con this morning, after three hot hot summers (Madrid, Spain, you know...). You, ap0gee, can do what Skoda service couldn't (they charged me 250 euros for what they called a "servo").

I found two small problems: the damned ECU bracket and sensor's position. It was easier than I thought, after all. Here is a picture of the place and position where you can find it, right up the accelerator pedal (my steering wheel is at left). I found easier access by arranging the seat on an horizontal position and lying upwars over it.

skodafabia.gif

my.php?image=skodafabiacombi2005od3.gif

Edited by J_J
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  • 2 weeks later...

Superb guide this. Just fiited my new sensor using the instructions here. The whole job took me 1.5 hours start to finish.

I managed to get the E.C.U off without doing any damage at all.

I did this by, after you have removed the plastic air vent (footwell air duct in step 8), get your fingers through the hole left by the duct and slide them up and forwards until you can feel the two plastic lugs that hold the ECU bracket into the metalwork, (there are two triangle shaped punched holes).

Using a finger on each of the holes push onto the plastic lugs that hold the ECU bracket into the metalwork and then push the whole ECU and bracket upwards. The whole thing should slide up and pull away fairly easily as long as you push both plastic lugs at the same time whilst shoving the ECU brkt.

Good Luck and once again thanks for the guide.

I will add that I had to break the sensor to get it out as the wires to the plug on the sensor are so short, anyway once the end of the plug is dangling you can then see how the plug comes off and replace onto the new sensor.

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  • 2 months later...

Excellent guide; many thanks ap0gee.

Further to comments from echase about removing the ECU, I found that you can just squeeze your fingers behing the mounting plate and depress the plastic catch by the bottom lug. Its a bit tricky but the ECU & frame complete then simply slides up a bit and comes off. I then wiggled it out of the frame to give a bit more working space. Reassembly afterwards is just then a case of pushing it all back in.

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  • 3 months later...

Beats me how Skoda is so incompetent as to sell a sensor that is so unreliable. At its heart it just has a small Themistor, the little bead at the end. These can be bought for a few pence and are so simple they should never fail, as long as the wiring is waterproofed with varnish or similar.

Thanks for the great guide.

I'm just after having a wee go at fixing this, tho has anyone ever tried replacing the thermistor and banging the old one back in? If so, anyone know what thermistor I should get, or could anyone measure the resistance at room temperature? 16odd quid seems like a lot of money for replacing such a simple part.

Cheers,

Paul

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To be honest, in a cold, damp environment like the A/C evaporator, you'd realistically only expect a thermistor to last a few years; ten maybe, at most. So to be honest, unless you were 100% confident that you could: find the correctly-rated thermistor; dismantle the casing without damaging it; do the necessary soldering to the required standard, and; put it all back together successfully, I'd just shell out for a new one in the knowledge that I probably wouldn't have to do it again as long as I owned the car.

Plus, as I mentioned in the guide, the replacement ones are a different design to the ones fitted in earlier cars, so as likely to have been improved in some way. When you consider that the approved Skoda method is dash-out, and has to be performed to a fixed cost, it's in their interests to improve the reliability of any part that shows itself to have a short service life...

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  • 3 months later...

I'm pretty sure I read in one of the posts I based the guide on that a fault ISN'T always logged, but I couldn't swear to it. IME, though, if the sensor's duff, it will blow cold at first, but once the engine's warm, it won't if you switch the ignition off and back on again... Do you have any gas? Mine turned out to be completely empty a few months back!

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I'm pretty sure I read in one of the posts I based the guide on that a fault ISN'T always logged, but I couldn't swear to it. IME, though, if the sensor's duff, it will blow cold at first, but once the engine's warm, it won't if you switch the ignition off and back on again... Do you have any gas? Mine turned out to be completely empty a few months back!

Get no cold air at all. Its like the Air-con doesn't turn on. Had it regased on saturday. Had half the gas left (after over 5 years) so I dont think its got a leak. Now its full.

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How many sensors does the system have? From what I've read so far.

Evap Sensor

Low pressure sensor

High pressure sensor?

Anything else or after that is it just the compressor?

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There's also the temp sensors in the cabin and somewhere in the ducting within the dash. Someone posted a screengrab ETKA once upon a time, but I'm damned if I can find it... :( I can tell you the location of the two pressure sensor on my wife's MPi as there's plenty of room within the engine bay - not so on the vRS, I'm afraid, and the piping I can see is nowhere near the same... :o

Under the circumstances, what this guy suggested will rule out the compressor itself, although ISTR it should be 5v not 12v you apply:

http://briskoda.net/technical-guides/fabia-evap-temp-sensor-how-pics/66182/post966236.html?highlight=volts#post966236

The cabin sensor is part of the control panel - if it turns out to be that, I did a guide here:

http://briskoda.net/technical-guides/fabia-heater-air-con-control-panel-replacement-how-pics/125414/

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Okay so I'm going out on a limb here....I ordered my new sensor today based on the content of this guide!

Did I do right?

Basically, during the cooler weather/winter, my air con works fine. It can get so cold my fingers almost go numb! When I use it on a day like today 27 degrees, it never works. All the system pumps out is boiling hot air and although over say 10 mins it will get cooler, it won't reach the dizzy heights of 'air-con'. It's just like the AC button isn't pressed in...yet it works when it's not hot outside.

What do you think? Jon

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