cello

Sorry my bad, its 8mm cable and had it as a additional earth strap , I wanted to try it as a starter cable but the car started eventually so did not have time to move it round. I tried my new battery off my VRS a few weeks ago and the car still barely turned over but I know the current battery is toast so yes in a bit of a awkward position atm. Te car is parked on a steepdrive so I cant just bump start either .arghhhh LOL bloody cars

Just to let you know I finally managed to start Fabia with a jump start from another car , I dont think the issue is resolved as such but eventually after warming the car up the glow plugs flashing symol went away and has not come back. Re the slow turnover well I noticed that with the jumper car reving about 2300 rpm my fabia seemed to trunover slower then when the jumoer car was running at idle.....WEIRD!!! Eventually with the car turning over slower then it should it caught and fired, I let the car warmup for around 20 minutes had a short drive and stopped and tried the ignition again and she started normally. The odd thing I came back an hour later , retried her and battery said NO ! So I need a new battery , well I knew that but still not convinced there is not a earth fault somewhere , I tried a spare heavy 4mm ground cable connected to various earths round t e car and it seemed to make little or no difference. New Battery now on order.............

Not had time to investigate too much but tried connecting a spare jump lead between battery negative and various points on the engine and gearbox near te starter motor to no effect. I guess the car being stood most of the wet winter has not helped, the last time I had her started and running for 30 minutes I turned off the engine and tried starting again and it turned over quickly fired into life on the same battery pointing to a damp starter . Willl try again this weekend, tks for your help :)

Forgot to say I checked the brake lights and they all function fine, I thought it might be the switch but the other poles which signal to the ECU. Still have not ruled out this out but be good to have a OBD2 reader that can interogate the ECU to get the code. I'm not sure if the reader I have cannot read the ECU or if there is no code listed, tried clearing errors but made no difference.

Thanks will check at the weekend, anyone know if the solenoid could be the issue rather then the starter motor?

Can anyone shed some light on this issue , I have had a issue with a long standing Mk2 1.9TDI PD where the car , initially a great starter , stated to drain the battery and required a jump start after not using for a few weeks. It did use to start fine but gradually got worse to the point where now even with a MK1 TDI VRS suplying the juice via good thick jump leads the car barely turns over! This was compounded a few weeks ago where the glow plug light is flashing and does not turn off. I scanned the car with a cheap OBD2 reader but no fault is listed. When jumping the car and turning the ignition you sometimes hear a loud crack which I recently witnessed was a spark from the battery terminals. I swapped my new battery over from the vrs thinking the battery was shorting internally and this made no difference still , turning over slow and the rev counter jumps up to halfway on the dial. 5 minutes of periodic starting and it is still slow as , almost like your hand cranking the engine. I checked the terminals for rust and cleaned up the contacts but its still the same , removed the earth strap from the battery terminal and when i bent it it seemed to crack but since measured it with a DVM and it looks fine. Also tried a jump lead direct from the negative battery terminal to the body , still the same , tried various places to get a good earth but no difference. I checked the EGR and while a bit oily it opens and closes on ignition turned to off position, no movement when switched on , which i thought was weird but could be normal behaviour. I now think it must be the starter motor and believe it has its own heavy duty earth strap ( or positive feed ) so maybe thats the issue ? Battery is OK as are the jump leads. I did notice that the engine bay on this car is very corroded , for example air filter screw heads just chewed up when i went to remove them , had to dril them out , same for the battery tray nuts , they just rounded off so more fun and games but my Mk1 VRS with the same PD engine is pristine , bone dry and hardly any rust and 5 years older then the MK2. Can anyone advise if I have missed something , car has done 142K by the way and was running fine and about to become my daily workhorse to save my lovely MK1 VRS some wear , TIA :)

Thanks all, yes Pete allen key head and an external 12 point head allin1. I,m now wondering if the leak is connected to the oil pressure switch above where the filter screws in and the underside oil is related to a leak of the boost pipe squirting a oil mist onto the underside of the sump. I'll have to pressure wash the engine as there too much crud to make a conslusive call just yet , at least I have the sockets I need on order now , Cheers All :)

I think working on aging cars is the hardest thing I have ever done, credit to you for taking on the king of all diy jobs gearbox/clutch, at least the weather is lovely atvb

Does anyone know the size of the four 12 point bolt heads on the housing, I need to get a socket as the allen key bits i have seem a bit too lose to apply a lot of force and I dont want to round off any of the bolts.

Tracking checked ? Console Bushes can have a big effect on handling , I know the handling of my VRS feels a little vague at high speed so suspect a tie rod or bush that needs replacing. Maybe time to retire my VRS from general runabout duty as lots of issues now occuring ....

I got the implausible signal error once when my cruise control failed to operate on my VRS. A hot reset of the igntion sorted it but I guess its related to the ECU , is it standard or re-mapped ?

Thks for the tip much appreciated, this evening I managed to syringe the coolant bottle and the coolant is a nice shade of red. I think it's just the bottle thats dirty from the time I ran some sealant thrugh the system. It looks like it is just the oil leak to sort so will clean up the engine as planned and report back. Cheers

Just noticed this while freeing off a brake caliper and wondered if they are connected. That is if the OF housing is leaking oil into coolant where it enters the block? I,ve seen some reports of a gasket on the housing failing allowing the oil past into the coolant but not sure if the design of the oil cooler on the mk1 allows this or if the coolant is only contained in the aluminium tank and does not get channeled into the OF housing? I,m just trying to decide if I buy the OF housing and the oil cooler as I don't fancy dropping the oil and coolant twice if i need both parts to rectify matters. I guess it could still be the head gasket that is leaking and the external oil leak around the sump OF housing could be two separate issues. The car has done 158K and is running fine with no evidence of water in the oil or over pressure in the coolant expansion tank. I,m going to clean the engine this weekend to establish where the oil is leaking and then will get the parts in if anyone has any words of wisdom, TIA .

Will take a look at the torsion value at the weekend and report back. I guess the tensioner is fixed ( locked in position) so cannot move but should it not be in the position of the cutout window? It's way off that which is disconcerting somewhat but belt cannot be twisted much so looks tight enough! Yes I have a gates kit on the shelf with the locking bits , been there for at least 10 years in the garage soassume its ok to use still. Going to be interesting doing the cambelt, like its open heart surgery, one wrong move and it could be curtains and i'll be crying shortly afterwards !

OK I know this is bad but I wanted to ask forgiveness..... Bought my FAB VRS in 2014 with 69K miles, it now has 156K and is still on the same Cam Belt! Looking at the tensioner theidicator is about half an inch to the left of the cut out mark , belt feels tightish , teeth look intact with no fraying , I know the waterpump could let go and cause a catostrophic failure and I want to do the belt myself in Spring so am risking it atm for another few weeks ...... In my defence I treat the engine with respect , rarely go above 2K and only use her 4 days a week to do about 200 miles a week ,I luv the little FAB and think its a Cam belt and clutch change in spring the cam belt first then the clutch if I dont screw up the belt. Am I alone in acting this reckjlessly with the faithful little fabby ?