Crimsonknight3

EVERYTHING in this car is mucky so you could be perfectly rightt!! I have a wire wheel, so if I get some paint when I can afford to, I'll clean off the wheels and take them to be balanced. I mean the corrosion on this car and all the seized parts doesn't appear to be JUST rust, it looks like its been frequently caked in mud and not cleaned off so it has a THICK layer of rust/mud/corrosion that is really strong! Honestly of all the corrosion, almost none is actually rust colored, all a pale light brown. To be honest, after the car being at the garage to try and fix this problem and their answer being "deformed wheels" I also found out they had let down the pressure to 21psi.... Now I usually carry a pram, a heavy toolbox, our daughter me and my partner, so I "generally" as a rule keep the tyres near-ish their "full load" pressure. Once I Put the back tyres up to 40 psi and the front 2 to 31 psi, the vibration reduced SIGNIFICANTLY, its still there but nowhere near as strong. Back to the a/c thing, does ANYONE have any info on how the clutchless a/c system is meant to work and any ideas as to why with a working compressor, the system doesn't accept much gas? Probably the evap sensor im sure, but its a pain I dont want to go through just to find out the a/c system has a blockage or something stupid that requires a total overhaul we can't afford!! Luckily its nearly winter, our newborn is due next week and hopefully (HOPEFULLY) by next June/July I will have had my op AND saved up enough money to buy a car that DOESNT have every single "typical" problem of that particular model lol

Finding out if there is a leak should be pretty simple, as the ac has had a bit of gas put in it, and I know this, then if I take it to get checked (for free I might add haha) and the pressure is zero again then a leak is pretty likely and will save me spending £60 to have it checked for leaks. I could buy the equipment and check for leaks myself but I have 2 children and I am currently off work due to illness and awaiting surgery so even though I am on benefits we have so little money going spare so I save/fix what I can myself before taking the car to a professional. I have only taken my car to a garage a few times, and every time they say they know what the problem was, then it turnt out it wasnt that, and that is ALOT of money I couldve avoiding spending. In the end we had to do the work ourselves anyway! Ever since I bought the car there has been a vibration at speed. Not deformed tyres (aforementioned trip to garage) not tracking, which they said they couldn't do because track rods were seized and the tracking was "barely" out, even though me and my step dad managed to unseize them when we changed the wishbone+hub bearing+suspension due to the bearing failing mot and bearing being seized, along with lower ball joint, cv joints are good, but the car had a dent on the front left wing and some damage to the steel wheel cover on the left side wheel... so my only last guess is that its either a wonky driveshaft, or the inner cv joint is gone.... I ONLY bought a fabia because its my second year driving and the insurance for the fabia is astonishingly cheaper than any other car I quoted. Sorry for the life story haha Been a long day!!

Would a 41 mah battery be sufficient for the skoda fabia 1.4 mpi hatchback? The battery on it (that I have just got rid of) was 40 mah but it was shot and not fully charging. I can say with tentative certainty that the alternator is fine because that battery I JUST installed this last weekend was ALMOST totally dead, it REALLY struggled to start the car when first installed. After running the car for a mile journey, I have never heard the car so eager to start, it starts SO much easier now! So could the problem simply be the battery isnt powerful enough? (Just FYI in Halfords on their list for which battery to which car for my car it indicates a battery that is 40 mah £49 and a 61 mah is their "performance" battery that costs £90)

So that sensor is that the evap sensor that is a common fault with skoda's? I've read about a fair few people changing them because of a/c issues?

Yeah I figured that out after changing the battery. Got my vag com cable today, scanned and got 2 faults for AUTO HVAC (anther thread another issue) and 2 for PAS: Address 44: Steering Assist Labels: 6Q0-423-156.clb Part No: 6Q0 423 156 E Component: Lenkhilfe 0001 Coding: 00110 Shop #: WSC 00000 VCID: 316F639FFBAB8896243-50E6 2 Faults Found: 00566 - Steering Assistance Operation 27-10 - Implausible Signal - Intermittent 01288 - Terminal 30; Steering Assist 07-10 - Signal too Low - Intermittent Though I strangely also got a code for central electrics, and this is weird because first time I scanned, and I saw a few old error codes I am sure I fixed recenty. SO I cleared the codes and checked again, and the Central elec code only appeared on the second scan. Address 09: Cent. Elect. Labels: 6Qx-937-049-B.lbl Part No: 6Q1 937 049 B Component: BORDNETZ-SG. 1S31 Coding: 09242 Shop #: WSC 13765 VCID: 3A7D44B326DD4BCE959-5072 1 Fault Found: 01598 - Drive Battery Voltage 07-10 - Signal too Low - Intermittent So any more ideas? Am I going to have to go and start checking the steering position sensor? No doubt as its 2001 this car likely has the infamous plastic one. I should maybe add the battery could be a bit low because the interior lights were on for quite a while yesterday as my fuel filter sprung a leak and so I had to change it in the middle of the night. Think I had already lost about £20 worth of fuel before I realised where the leak was. I spent a week wondering why my fuel economy was so crap and how me fixing the thermostat had made it worse (My old thermostat LITERALLY fell to pieces inside the housing)

No they were just using the old bog standard pressure hose with the pressure gauge attached to a bottle of coolant, both times. I just bought a vag com scanner to test my car, and 2 interesting fault codes popped up though! Address 08: Auto HVAC Labels: 6Q0-820-045.lbl Part No: 6Y0 820 045 Component: Klimaanlage X0770 VCID: F2ED2C93BE2D738E1D9-50E6 2 Faults Found: 00818 - Sensor for Evaporator Outlet Temperature (G263) 30-00 - Open or Short to Plus 00819 - High Pressure Sensor (G65) 07-00 - Signal too Low Both could cause lack of air con.... but both may not be the cause of my problems either...

So the air conditioning in my car hasn't been working since I bought it. I know for a fact that the compressor is okay, it's still turning. The coolant levels when I first tried getting it topped up said that the pressure was high, but the temp didn't change so the guy assumed the compressor was gone. Checked the compressor, all is fine and moving like normal. Went to a different place to have it topped up. They told me the coolant level was zero.... I assumed the ex-owners didn't use it or top it up so it had just ran out over years of neglect. So he tried to top it up with the a/c on.... but the system wouldn't accept any coolant.... Could the EVAP sensor cause the air con to act as if there was say a seized compressor or a blocked hose and just not accept new coolant? Or is it a case of compressor fine but hose blocked? Think the first sounds more likely but I am wondering what else could cause this strange issue? My best assumption is that some sensor when I turn the car to cold, is assuming the car is at the "correct temperature" and therefore doesn't engage the a/c? The thing that is MOST confusing about it is simply there is SO little documentation (e.g. Youtube) about these clutchless compressors so whereas after watching many videos I know EXACTLY how a compressor works, I still have no idea how the a/c on a "always on" compressor actually works.... Anyway the reason I know the compressor is fine is because the rubber "safety thingy" (Love the word thingy, it can describe so much AND so little at once) hasn't sheared, and the centre bolt that holds the "clutch cover" (or so ive read it described on another forum) into the compressor (the black bit which has a spline centre that fits over the safety rubber and onto the compressors shaft) is also spinning when the belts rotating. If the compressor was seized then that rubber safety thingy wouldve sheared to stop the belt from being damaged on the pulley. So with that I will have a drum roll for your more experienced answers. Thanks

Okay I have read through all the posts and NOBODY from what I can see, appears to have had my problem. I don't get any PAS lights on my 01 Fabia Classic 1.4 mpi however over the last month or two I have noticed the power steering acting strange. At first it was so so subtle that my step dad drove the car and didn't notice anything. The problem is the power steering seems to be working on and off. No HUGE changes but enough to be a bit... Scary going down the motorway. The steering with be stiff ish at speed (which I assume is normal?) but occasionally it will loosen a bit and the car will steer ever so slightly, so I have to correct then it stiffens up again so I put the wheel back to where it was. These are MAJOR movements in the wheel but enough to give me the odd sensation of going sideways (like with strong crosswinds) without the crosswinds. The old battery was a bit feffed (no green indicator and even after a full charge still not indicator) so I changed it today and I noticed quite a large improbement in the PAS. I haven't EVER felt the steering so light when at a stand still since I got the car months ago. However it appears when the engine gets warm, the PAS starts doing its "weird thing" again, only since changing the battery it does it a lot less noticeably. The only other issue (I thought before reading this thread) I thought was responsible, was that the serpentine belt is a bit glazed on the top on one edge and the rubber is a bit soft again at said edge. The only reason I considered this was because A. I thought the PAS was belt driven and B. I have wondered if it was the belt getting hot/soft causing slippage (also we think we noticed too little tension on the belt. I have been taught to believe the belt should have about 1/2 inch of play up and down (if your not fancy with proper gauges and tools to test it) but it appears to have a bit more than that. I would say nearly an inch up and down (when warm) but the belt has no cracks. So anyway, any ideas? I have checked fuses. I have replaced the negative lead ground cable today and I really need to get around to checking the other ground connections (2 year old and 8 month pregnant partner mean I'm not allowed to "mess around with the car" much), also checked the battery voltage and all fuses on battery and in driver side. Also checked the fluid level though I am thinking about double checking it whenever I am allowed time to work on the car as when I checked last it was darkish and I was VERY tired after spending 36 hours removing from a scrap yard and refitting lower wishbone + bearing hub housing + housing + suspension as car failed mot for a "rough bearing" but all was seized. As far as I remember there was a "bead" of fluid on the tip of the dipstick, fluid looks good and clean though. STUPID place to put the PAS fluid though! Thanks