RJVB

I have no doubt. I also have no doubt that I'll be woken by a call from the workshop tomorrow morning that will also reveal all, including how much it's going to cost me... I realise I didn't mention it: I just made it to my regular workshop before closing time and still caught the owner who also gave me a ride home. I probably wouldn't have been able to make it up my "mountain" and if it's really the plugs I probably wouldn't have been able to start on a completely cold engine tomorrow morning so the car is exactly where she needs to be to get the attention she needs as soon as they can give it. My last injector repair was handled in less than 24h because we have the national VAG distribution hub in the same neighbouring town I was going to. They're probably not open on Saturdays though.

FWIW, the manual says that a blinking glowplug warning light coming on while the engine is running indicates some other problem. But then it also doesn't say that failing plugs will activate limp mode. But again, what if more than 1 really fail and the corresponding cylinders can't burn the injected fuel quickly/well enough? The manual does confirm my assumption that that is the result of worn glowplugs (by warning for sooting up of the exhaust system, damage to the cat etc).

Given the kind of limp mode I was in it'd probably be 2 injectors... it really didn't feel like running on 3 legs this time. I had a faint hope that it was the last one I changed, thinking that was last fall, but no ... it was fall '23 already. Anyway, would the engine even start from cold without a sufficient number of glowplugs working? I did have a number of start failures the past couple of weeks, where the first attempt on a cold engine did absolutely nothing, not even a relay click (battery is from summer 2023 too, though I do really drive very little these days). I've also been running without the thermo/acoustic/whatever cover on the engine since last monday evening (meaning just 1 <10km return trip). I'd been smelling a faint fuel smell inside and on checking with the same mechanic who replaced my fuel return hose assembly just after he replaced that last blown injector we did find a bit of diesel around the feet of injectors 1 and 2. The hoses and connectors looked clean so he thinks that was just fuel that had been hosed against and absorbed by the foam cover, and only driven out now by the alternating cold and wet cycles. Without that cover the engine must take longer to reach normal working temperature. With less noise absorption I would probably have had to hear the "major damage" being caused by a broken glowplug tip, no? All I heard was the soft, low "not really purring anymore" sound from an engine not turning fast enough for the work asked from it.

Hi, Let's see if anyone can answer this before the workshop owner calls me tomorrow morning! Leaving for a rehearsal earlier tonight shifted up to 4th on a cold engine leaving the village speed limits, forgetting about the upcoming slope. Just when I was reaching to retrograde because I felt the engine struggle I got the dreaded beep (thinking it was just the silly outside temp warning) and felt all power drain. The glowplug signal came on, steadily. Put myself on the shoulder, cut the engine, waited a few seconds and then switched her on again. Glowplug signal remained on, steadily. I had to reverse down-slope to turn back the way I came because the engine started to buck when I approached 20krpm, as if a hard rev-limiter had engaged. Or I maybe only had 2 live cylinders, who knows. That's not the symptom I had the 2 times I blew an injector, where I could still rev the engine gently and reach 90kph on flat stretches of straight road. I just see that I had both the exhaust and the glowplug warning lights on the 1st time; I didn't note which lights were on for the 2nd but if I were to guess it was not *only* the glowplug warning light. Am I right that a glowplug failure on a cold engine is indeed something that will affect the engine running seriously and could maybe lead to flooding or other un-niceties if you try to overfeed an engine that can't manage to burn all that fuel? Car has about 171k km on the odo and those plugs haven't been changed in the 71k that I've owned her, to my knowledge at least. If so I might not be in it for an arm and a half this time (though I wouldn't put it above VAG to sell the glowplugs only as part of an entire engine rebuild ...)?

My parner has a Fabia MkII "Clever" Combi delivered new in May 2018. Since several weeks the passenger side window no longer works, and now the driver-side window also can't be opened more than a crack or else it won't close (= how issues started on the passenger side). Workshop verdict: wires completely stripped on that side, and in bad shape on the driver side: all must be replaced; 3 hours of work. We've already had a similar problem with the rear hatch, with first only the light not working but ultimately the entire hatch not unlocking. Evidently this has to happen outside the warranty but I can't help but think that these wires cannot be considered a wearing part and should have a much longer longevity than just over 6 years. Any chance of obtaining a commercial gesture from VAG for the repair (even if not done at an official dealership)?

Can you remember how the water got in? If the car in question also had a backup camera it must have had a washer spout right next to one of the lights but that area also gets its not-so-fair share of humidity from just driving. The plastic cache that holds/goes over the handle switch also has the wart holding the camera. It wouldn't be beneath VAG to sell the entire assembly as a single piece. (IIRC the water pump can only be had as part of the distribution replacement kit, and my EGR valve had to be replaced entirely too rather than just the mechanical part that is the one getting caked up...)

In fact, having a look at the bottom of the boot door yesterday I saw that it has a number of plugs or possibly rivets with a plastic head, but I don't see the oblong holes that I'm sure my boot door has. So indeed, any liquid that does get inside will apparently remain trapped if it can get out via the latch area. That said, the door would have to get pretty full before the liquid can get to the handle switch because evidently it will accumulate from a or the corners.

With all due respect, you're probably right but that switch doesn't at all feel like the hammer-ones do. If these switch assemblies are prone to failure a mechanical reason is the first thing that comes to my mind given the location and how I know from personal experience that everyone doesn't exactly always use the least force required to open the boot. Esp. not when it happens to be/already have locked, or when you want to check that it's indeed locked. Actually, that's just the price of the part... No washer on the rear is hardly an issue (I rarely even use the wiper on my car; I like the extra attenuation of the headlights of tailgaters that a little dirt gives ^^). No light in the boot is more annoying but I think me going on 3 years without airco is in a different category in terms of hardiness

No, I can't feel that the handle is trying to do something, I just feel the microswitch (because that's what I think it is) move when I put a very small pressure on the pad. I concur, this design isn't particularly clever. Putting a delicate electrical switch in a location where you put your fingers to lift up something heavy is a bit of a recipe for disaster. I think my wife's previous car had the button in a more traditional position for pressing with the thumb. Anyway, I let my partner go alone to the workshop (I'd seen her taking notes) but owner simply ordered a new switch. Like the guy at the test centre he has seen too many cases of this particular failure to overthink it. We'll see come thursday if wifey learns that she should indeed have mentioned the other issues (she didn't because the switch already cost 167€ before taxes 😕 ) Indeed, washer fluid leaking into the inside of the hatch might be a cause, but it's apparently been 3 years that that function doesn't work so I have to assume we would have seen traces of fluid in suspicious places by now. That door is designed not to keep water inside after all.

I know I'm way too good at overthinking things, esp. when I can't simply roll up my sleeves and get my hands dirty checking things. But remember dieselgate and the Skoda slogan "Simply clever"? I'll post an update when I know more. Quite possibly that won't be tomorrow, though the boss of this particular workshop has a tendancy of doing things at once when we just go there instead of making an appointment. (I started going there after he had replaced a blown injector in less than 24hr just because I asked if I was going to have to cancel my own "control technique" scheduled a few days later with a weekend in between.) (Also, my interrogations about the forum software were not addressed at anyone in particular...)

Hopefully a fault in the handle switch gives a fault too. A switch that's open isn't distinguishable from a broken cable but they also have some magic recipe to detect a broken light selector so who knows. I can still feel the handle switch move and hear it click but maybe the business part has gotten stuck in closed position - that would be an obvious fault. Curious though that those 6 flashes take well less than 2 seconds and there's no steady light (or that the manual only mentions that as an error code).

Long press unlocks and releases, right? From the symptoms it's impossible to know which function is actually broken, the unlock or the catch. Even if there is an actual bolt/latch that is responsible for locking the boot (is there as appears to be the case for the doors?) it could still be that this one remains open and the software compensates by allowing the catch to be operated only with the keyfob. But the fact there's a manual release mechanism suggests there cannot be a bolt/latch in addition to the catch mechanism.

Oh, doh, you meant the tiny red LED that shows the vehicle is locked and has electronic start protection? That one flashes 6x when I lock the doors, and not at all when I unlock them (or maybe 1x but that could have been the standard periodic flash to show the system is active). From what I understand there is no indication of malfunction here. And something tells me there's no point in trying the synchronisation trick since the doors unlock just fine. I did confirm that the hidden key cylinder also doesn't unlock the boot door. Somehow when you said "lights" I thought of the ones I have in the doors of my Octy (to warn other drivers about an open door in the dark?). The Fabia doesn't have those and I'm not even certain it has turn signals in the rearview mirrors. How easy is it to unplug that hose/conduit connector without actually cutting or stripping a wire on the metal? I know that our usual workshop has tried to get the light working again and failed to do that as part of a regular service. They're a serious outfit so I'd be surprised if they didn't perform the easy-to-do checks of the wiring and fuses. Normally a non-working boot door on a Combi/wagon is a reason for a return test visit after having the problem fixed. For a bit of a crooked reason IMHO; since the lid is seen as a door it must be possible to open it to extract passengers in case of an accident. And that's not possible if you can only use the keyfob iff the car is off otherwise. Thing is, how are others going to unlock the car so the boot will open if they don't already have the keyfob... and evidently the entire exit is blocked if you have a dog barrier in the car. Fortunately the test operator was in a generous mood and didn't make note of the problem... There are more ambivalent things in our testing regulations; e.g. they're not allowed to remove hubcaps that hide the wheel bolts, to check if those are tightened correctly (or whatever it is they check). Re: the forum software: having to select bits and pieces graphically ("mousically" if you prefer) is too cumbersome and slow. Fortunately this isn't a forum where I spend a lot of time interacting on all kinds of things! The old smartcrack "WYSIWYG is really WYSIAYG" (A for "all") also and still applies to user interfaces, not just to word processors.

(Am I overlooking a way to get rid of the wysiwig quote thingy and but instead one that uses BB tags or something of the sort so I can edit and put my replies among/under quoted fragments?) RWT : road worthiness testing. I guess I've seen the US term too often. Here it's called CT (for technical control) and is every other year after a car turns 4yo. There's nothing that can flash on the driver's door but I suppose you mean the flashing of the turn signals to indicate that the keyfob command was received. I'm not noticing anything particular/different pattern there. My partner is going to take the car in to the local shop on Monday, as there are other things she wants to have looked at (no light in the boot, no washer fluid on the rear window). I suppose that checking the wiring would require removing the cache from the inside of the lid, and that's not something I feel like doing outside with the weather we're having.

In fact, it could be a combination of both a problem and a feature. I've been a bit suspicious of the fact that I'm not hearing anything like a latch jumping between positions like what you hear in the doors when pressing the locking button inside the car or on the keyfob. If indeed there's a separate lock that holds the boot lid closed in addition to the latch controlled by the button on the lid itself, the car could cause the symptoms we're seeing as a safety measure when it detects that that lock has failed. Otherwise anyone would be able to open the boot even with the doors locked. (By analogy: if you cook your light selector switch the car detects that too and activates the low beams permanently. Also without showing any kind of warning on any of the displays.)

Thanks for the videos (I had already found the instructions and am familiar with the emergency entry ... even starting the engine with a dead keyfob battery). However, in this case the keyfob is not the culprit but the saviour that allows us access to the boot: the button inside the car doesn't unlock it either. This is what got me thinking of a special function, or else a current draw issue with the latch that means it doesn't get enough power when the others are triggered at the same time. The RWT guy had another explanation when we told him how to open the boot: defective handle switch. That would explain why we need to hold the fob button long enough for the latch to spring open, and it's also something that wouldn't surprise me. The cushiony feel of the thing you need to push in to open the lid never inspired much confidence because clearly not mechanic.

Hello, Earlier today my partner comes home panicked because her trunk wouldn't open - and she has her bi-yearly RWT in an hour. A quick internet search turned up an old suggestion to try a reset by holding down the trunk opening button on the keyfob for 10s. I can't observe any evidence of a reset, but the trunk does open after holding that button for a moment (haven't tried just a single press to see if it's a temporised reaction). Closing the trunk again locks it like it does usually, though I never yet had reason to test that with the other doors unlocked. To be clear: the trunk locks regardless of the locking state of the other doors, and will only unlock again with the dedicated button. It also seems that button doesn't work from inside the car, at least not when the contact is on. There's nothing in the menus of the Setup screen on the central display, but this symptom does look like a feature more than an electric/computer problem. Does all this ring any bells and is it something we can fix ourselves?

They're saying that in somewhat vague terms; as I said I already guessed that that's what they're doing. And could they really be using [i]the same[/i] method rather than something similar? I would guess they could only do that legally by licensing that method - and even then it's assuming that those flexfuel cars don't have additional sensors to make this work. "We" (as in France) are no longer a big bio-ethanol producer? I didn't have the impression I've been seeing less colza fields the past couple of years. E85 is still a lot cheaper than regular E10 or E5. AFAIK a 2018 Fabia is out of warranty by now so ours easily does 15k km per year so the investment of this particular conversion would pay itself in 1-2 years from what I've seen. If it's reliable of course, and there are no hidden costs.

The ATS stuff looks to be like the cleansing additives Bardahl sell (and I try to use once a year), nothing to do with E85 adaptation? How do you call the drop-down menu icon that looks like a stack of 3 whatever they might be? I recall learning that Brazil made its own car fuel out of sugar can in elementary school, so before '85. Evidently it has been possible to get cars also used elsewhere to run on the stuff since that day and that only have gotten easier. One of the DKBoost claims is that their technology is the same as the one manufacturers use in (E85) flexfuel cars. I don't doubt all that is possible, the question is how they can provide guarantees that it will work regardless of make and model. From what I've seen from the MC world one doesn't just improvise a new engine mapping, it takes quite a bit of expertise, which doesn't rime with the claims of an easy investment with interesting returns. Still, if this is being offered through otherwise independent workshops it has to work well enough that the clients of those places remain happy customers... but maybe I should check if the places supposed to offer the service still do!

Hi, I found a flyer in one of my local workshops about hydrogen-based engine cleaning by a French company called DKBoost, and checking out their website I saw they have another product that's potentially interesting for the 1.0TSI Fabia (2018) we also have: https://dkboost.fr/produits/e85boost . (There's an English version hidden under the "hamburger" menu on the top-right.) The presentation is just a bit too "licked" and "magical" to my liking though, and I cannot seem to find any real-world feedback on the product. I'm guessing they reprogram the ECU but I find it rather suspicious that there's a total lack of information about compatible models or the inevitable warranty and certification/homologation aspects. I know this is a UK forum so I don't expect any relevant feedback on the homologation aspects but engine remapping seems to be a somewhat common "hobby" on here so maybe I can get some opinions on how realistic the claims are and how feasible it is to offer this kind of service pretending it'll be possible for all petrol engines? My workshop doesn't offer this service but I will ask them about it next time I drop in.

As a matter of fact I did, rather casually and possibly because the video I'd watched to prepare my intervention called it that way. Maybe we could call it a catch?

Hey, my topic, my policing! I agree with Mr. Ewing here 🤪, calling it a latch suggests you might do what I tried to do: not take it out completely to avoid dropping bits. That does work for getting the battery out, but you won't be able to clamp it on to the new battery that way. At least I couldn't. And I think that by the time I figured that out I had already fastened the cables to get the car off aux. power ASAP so I had to struggle a bit to get the clamp out and then back in.

Yes, that's the one; it's on the engine side of the battery. Not to difficult to undo, trickier to get back into place if your arms and/or hands are a bit "too masculine" to fit...

Yeah, well, apparently he really thought it would still hold. I don't know how things go in UK workshops but here you don't usually deal with the mechanic who does the actual work unless you stay there (which is officially not allowed for insurance reasons as the actual workshop is a "dangerous" place). So this kind of detail can easily get lost esp. if the work is done between other jobs because the boss offered to have the car ready the day after. Which is not how things went yesterday when the hose was replaced by the boss himself. An easy enough job to DIY as far as I could tell, though apparently for 150€ you do not even get the last part that gets bent to connect to the metallic tubing that presumably take the fuel back to the tank! Fortunately they had compatible hoses in stock. The problem was apparently not (only) with the connector but simply (and mostly) the diesel attacking the rubber so at some point it no longer makes a proper seal with the connectors. He showed it to me, and claims that this is not a specific VAG problem. Really makes you wonder why they use rubber return hoses but metallic supply tubing.

Heh, the failure itself could still be fun, but the resulting damage definitely won't be indeed. Don't worry, in case it wasn't clear: the wheel is off and left at the shop so they can mount the tyre as soon as it comes in and I only have to drop by to have the wheels swapped. Meanwhile I just have 1 errand to run to the neighbouring village, which should be fine even with 2 different brands and tyre geometries on the front axle. (Circumference has to be equal for the 2 though.