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 ?

2005 Fabia VRS @ 155K but noticed the clutch only bites right at the end of pedal travel.......I would like it to last the winter with myself having a clutch change party in Spring but doubt it will last that long ........

Over the last few weeks noticed its getting getting more difficult to engage these gears and wonder what the issue is. Its like the clutch is only partially engaged and there is some drag from the flywheel making it hard to shift - cables or DMF worn issues or something else maybe..... Fabby as turned over 150K miles now and I can feel a bit of a knock at idle from the DMF clutch so suspect its this thats the issue. TiA

DIY yes if you like to struggle, its worth it in the end but then again I'm built like that Why dont you have a VRS clutch change party ? Invite the right people from here and get some beers and curry in as a reward? Should all be done in about 5 hours minus the drinking

Sticking brake calipers or thermostat maybe ?

You dont get this issue with oi burners! Not helpful I know but I had a similar issue with a old 88 Gli Cavalier, turned out to be the ecu. She ran great when everything was ok, real smooth but when the issue was present it was all over the place. Good luck

Yeah I had wondered about this, would it that mean that the thremostat stays shut and the water that feeds the radiator (temp sensor) , heater matrix would not get hot enough to produce a good flow of hot air through the cabin? I understand that the engine could overheat as well as there not be a good flow of water around the engine/cooling system or conversely the car would take longer to warm up if the thermostat stuck in the open position but ultimately once up to temp the heater should provide a normal hot charge of air into the cabin.

I recently noticed my heater was more of a cold air mover then a heater and started to investigate..... 1) The hot air flap could be heard moving when the heater control is turned from C to H and back again when H to C where when the engine is warm does give a slight bit of hea but the higher the fan speed the less the heat is produced. 2) The Pollen Filter was checked and is clean-ish and dry. 3) The coolant was up to the correct level but looked brown-ish. I flushed the radiator a couple of times over a week and now the water is clean and have replaced with the right 50/50 mixture of coolant. I have yet to check the pipes to the heater matrix but believe the issue to be a blocked core , as i used radweld after i started to lose coolant back in 2013 and did notice the drop in the heater temperature at the time. However I noticed recently that the car does not get up to 90 deg C as quick as it used to do. In fact it hovers around the 70-80 for a while and now seems to take a 25 minute drive to reach 90 rather then the 10 minutes it used to do, from memory. Is there a way to check the impeller is still doing its job and has not sheared off , I guess I could take the expansion bottle off and rev the car which should increase the flow returning to the bottle or maybe there is another way? TiA

And they reckon a DMF is the way to go as the clatter and vibration from the diesel engine is significantly reduced. Apparently some people who replaced a DMF with a SMF were not impressed with the differences as far as comfort and general running. Almost twenty years and 150K from a DMF I guess its a DMF for me in the spring (!)

Thanks for all the replies, yes I think with the clutch disengaged the idle is fine, its only when engaged the issue is apparent. I dont do any launches as such but sometimes when feeding in second gear from too low a speed I get a squeak , which I guess is clutch related although could be the gearbox mount as well maybe. Any idea how long the clutch/DMF might last before she fails completely and what are my options , another DMF or something simpler? I'm not really into tuning her up but I might be persuaded to get a 180HP remap in the future just for fun , nothing silly just a bit more poke for fun. Not sure if that limits my options re the clutch but will have a look around the forum for advice. TIA

Just thought I would mention it and wondered if anyone has noticed their car have a slight but regular drop in revs at idle? Very minor but coul dbe the sign of something about to go wrong. My thought was maybe its the clutch @149K making a rumble and then I saw a post on camshaft wear at idle mmmmmmm I know its not the right forum but I need a drivers door in silver after I got taken out my a drunk in a old range rover......what a daft **** he is! My third no fault attack on the VRS in just over to years,,,,, what am I a **** magnet Grrrrrrrrrrr