hetty1

Hello everyone, Recently I have experienced difficulty when using the starter button to start the car. It doesnt happen every tIme. Its not a question of the engine turning over but failing to start. When I disengage the clutch and press the starter nothing at all happens. If I try again the engine usually turns over and starts. This is a recent development; the car used to start each and every time I pressed the button. I havent used the car much these last 6 weeks or so due to not being able to drive following an accident falling off a ladder. I did start the car each week and had no trouble starting it. I will definitely press the button completely in as it may be I simply havent been doing that and see if that gives 100% turning over of the engine. It could be of course that the battery is low and I intend having a couple of motorway runs out of 20 miles or more with the air con and other accessories switched off . The battery is the original one, it is only the 49 amps per hour as it is the 95bhp engine so not that powerful but, having said that, it is not 3 years old yet. But it could be the culprit maybe? No warning lights come on. I might even try moving the automatic light switch to manual operation in case that has a bearing on overloading the battery or is that over the top maybe? I know others have posted about the keyless ignition not always working but unfortunately I cannot find the threads on Briskoda. I intend monitoring this but have to face up to the fact that the button assembly itself could have problems. I have thought about lubricating the button but am aware that might be counter productive and, maybe, make the situation worse. WD4O may be the way to go or it may not. I also have a couple of cans of Ultion lubricant which I use on the locks on my sheds; this is marketed as a high quality product and may be the way to go. What do Briskodians think of using either of these lubricants? If the assembly itself is wearing out and needs a replacement does anyone have any idea how much a replacement will cost, parts labour and VAT?, The car is still under warranty until early March 2024. I could try claiming under the warranty but I am not sure if they would cover it. Could they try to say its a wear and tear item and not covered by the warranty? Again, if any Briskodians have had experience of claiming this under warranty and what happened I would be really interested to learn about these. So, my first job is to get some juice into the battery and see if the problem goes away then take it from there. Thanks for reading.

I did take the rear wiper off the screen and did operate it as suggested. It was quiet, not noisy, just a hum. So it is the screen. I have taken note of the comment about some screen contaminants being very difficult to remove. I do not want to use even a mild abrasive and am not happy with using alcohol etc. I have used Autoglym Fast Glass on the screen and had hoped the noise would go or, at least, be much reduced but its the same as it was before using the Fast Glass. I have just got it out of the bag hoping to see the composition of it but no luck ,theres nothing on the container at all which is a bit disappointing. I will try it again and if it still hasnt, at the very least, improved the situation, I will revert to just using it occasionally in really bad weather conditions. I am not going to go over and over the screen. If it hasnt at least improved after two applications I am calling it a day on this particular problem Many thanks to everyone who posted.

No, I havent tried that but will try it.probably tomorrow. it makes sense, I dont know why I didnt think of it myself. If it is noisy in that position then its not the screen being dirty causing it its something else, the motor maybe or the wiring. Not noisy means the screen is the issue. Thanks to both of you.

They fitted a Bosch, they swear by them, they have a lot of Bosch products in stock. I will have a really good go at cleaning the rear screen and see if that helps. It looks clean but I will try cleaning it with plenty of warm water and a sponge, dry off with my chamois then use my Autoglym glass cleaner .

Thanks for all of your posts. I did get a new blade fitted by my independent but it unfortunately hasnt cured the problem. I am reluctant to use WD 40 or white vinegar on brand new rubber and am thinking its the motor playing up. It was like that when I bought the car in July 2022 and it hasnt got worse or better. If it is the motor I havent got the skillset to repair it or fit a new one. I have been on the internet to get an idea of part prices and labour costs ( both including VAT) and it is about a hundred pounds minimum, quite possibly more which I really dont want to pay. I dont want to bore the life out of you but money is tight for me( as it is for many others of course) and I will probably do nothing and only use the rear wiper in really foul conditions. I will also have to remember that if I am backing out of my drive and it is raining and I put the front wipers on the rear wiper comes on automatically even in very light rain. . So I will not use the front wipers until i have finished backing out. This is the first time I had any problems with rear wipers and I had them on both my previous Fabias and the three Vauxhall Corsas I had before them, going back to 2003. Just saying.

Hello , i have had a very noisy rear wiper since I got the car in July 2022. IT does work every time as does the rear washer but it sounds awful., a real screeching noise. I didnt bother trying to invoke the Skoda used car warranty as its a consumable wear and tear item and not covered. I dont use the wiper that much as I can pick and choose when I use the car as I am retired but if I was driving in all conditions as I used to be I would definitely have taken it to my independent. I had to use it today and it sounded like a buzzsaw so I spent some going through the various possibilities, The blade didnt look grubby but I cleaned it anyway between the leaves with an old( but clean) toothbrush. I made sure to use hot water and i regularly dipped the brush into the jug with the hot water.The brush had a black residue afterwards which I couldnt shift. I didnt have any white vinegar nor any rubbing alcohol, they are are not things I have need of in the house . I did make sure that the rear screen was really wet and took it out and tried it and it was just more of the s I used the rear washer a lot when on the test run to ,make sure the screen remained wet and the noise did improve slightly while the blade was in contact with the wash mixture but it was a very brief improvement. I went onto an Audi website before posting this and a noisy rear wiper did feature on that site on the Audi A1 and others. Some posters on that site said said the blade fittings were reversible and changing the blade around solved the problem. I tried this but it didnt help. I am ruling out wiring problems for the wiper because it has worked first time every single time I have used the stalk control albeit with an accompanying infernal noise. It is definitely the noisiest rear wiper I have ever had. On the balance of probablities I think it will be the blade and my cleaning hasnt hit the spot. I have had no problems at all with the front wipers and they get used a lot more. I suppose the fronts could have been changed by Skoda UK as they were the first owner but why not change the rear in that case? I looked at the checksheet from the dealership done before i got the car and there was nothing at all about wipers, front or rear. I shall take it into my independent this week as I know they wont rip me off and will be honest with me and if its a new blade so be it. Look forward to reading your responses

My apologies to George, you are absolutely right. The post should have been in either the general section or the Mark 4 Fabia section, Thanks AG Falco for your very thought provoking post. I found your post to be very helpful and I will be following your advice.

Hello everyone, I have been looking at the new Fabias in SEL trim with a view to buying one. I intended going down the part exchange route and buying a 1 year old or less with low mileage,t he 110bhp with the 6 speed manual gearbpx, I had assumed that the higher powered version came with rear disc brakes as standard but I was wrong, its an extra cost option. Very few of the used Fabias I have seen come with this option and I would like this on my next car.. Using car wow( or something similar) and getting quotes has shown me that I could get a brand new car for the same sort of money as I would pay for a used one with the same trim etc including the rear disc brakes. I havent bought a new car for many years now and that was another brand altogether so I am a bit rusty If I go down the car wow route there is the one Liverpool dealer who participates. my usual Skoda garage does not but I dont see that as a problem. I could either part exchange or sell my car for cash to my usual dealership. I cant see any particular disadvantages but I could be wrong, it has been a good while since I bought new and things do change. Have any Briskodians used car wow to buy a new Skoda and if they have did the process go smoothly or were there any snags? Thanks.

I had a similar problem last summer soon after I bought my Fabia 3 estate. The normal information display, oil temp, miles travelled etc went crazy and I got a screen that said the infotainment was switched off, This happened again a couple of times shortly afterwards. I contacted the sales department and they put it right and also showed me how to change it. They said it was a very common thing, they had had a lot of customer phone calls about it. I wanted to get it sorted properly and contacted the workshop manager who arranged for the car to come in under warranty. An update was applied and the cost to the dealership was about 32 pounds. The problem has not returned since. I posted at the time, I think it was about August last year. Hope this helps.

Peter 51, I was diagnosed with a failing water pump on my 17 plate Fabia 3 110 estate petrol in April 2021. The diagnosis came completely out of the blue while the car was being serviced by my independent at 26000 miles. There was a slight leak apparently. I had( and still have) absolute trust in this garage. I authorised the repair and a new water pump was ordered from TPS and fitted. The all inclusive bill was around the 400 pounds mark. I posted on Briskoda at the time about this. I didnt know anything about the VAG revisions nor, of course, the parts manager having to order so many pumps. I learnt from other posters about having 2 pumps and it was the electric one that had been diagnosed and changed. I think the replacement pump was plastic but I could be wrong. In over 50 years driving experience I had never had a water pump replaced and it definitely seems this part is poor quality. I have a friend who had the same diagnosis on his 19 plate Octavia petrol hatch and it does seem as though there has been a problem with these pumps for quite some time. It will be a real factor early next year when I decide whether to keep my car and buy a 4th year of warranty or change it for a non VAG product. I hope this helps.

George, I actually think Fabias have a lot going for them. They are not bad on interior space and have got some good features and I still like driving mine. You have a fair point; many do prefer function over style. Some other makes are more airy and have better visibility with fewer blind spots and these things do matter to me. I am not saying you are wrong, it all depends on what you want from a car and what you can expect from a car. My original post on coolant specification has run its course in my opinion. I am grateful to all those who posted and the various responses have definitely helped me. Thanks again for all your contributions.

Rum4mo, you are absolutely right, it is my decision and I have decided to let the level drop to min or just above then buy some G12 evo . I did get a response from aftersales to say the G13 should not be used. I still think the Fabia looks dated compared with other cars, especially the interior. You do not, of course, have to agree with me. I do not think logic plays any part in such things, it is always going to be subjective and we can agree to disagree on it. Thanks.

Hello AG Falco, The resolution. I will mention it to the dealer when it goes in for servicing to get it looked at under warranty but I am not optimistic. I think there have been threads on this forum that have said much the same thing about the GPS on the Fabia 3. Having said that i am still on a learning curve about GPS . I may be in the minority of people who actually like to read a map in printed form. By the same token i prefer reading a physical book with binding, a dust cover, tooling etc etc. I suppose I am saying that GPS difficulties on a car do not cause me as much concern as someone else and it was only ever a marginal minus. The thing that is a bigger minus is my comment about the Fabia being old fashioned/outdated. I test drove a Kamiq on the same day as I drove the Fabia and the latter just seemed to be outdated by comparison. It has, after all, been around for twenty three years now and the Kamiq for only three so probably not surprising. . On balance the pros outweigh the cons and I am leaning towards keeping the car. Reverting to my original post, I havent heard back from the service department yet which isnt good but I am hoping( against hope?) that this means I will get a fully considered response. Thanks. i

AG Falco, The images are not very clearly defined and are sometimes difficult to read clearly and hard to form a whole picture. I also have occasionaL problems with the voice function. It sometimes all works perfectly then you get a gremlin. This is the first vehicle I have owned that has built in GPS and my inexperience has not helped to be fair. i am fine with reading a map so GPS gremlins havent been the end of the world for me. Having said that, the GPS is still a nice thing to have even if I do use it more as a backup than a primary tool. To all the other posters, thanks very much. I know quite a bit more now than I did when I started this thread and that can only be good. i will wait a while and see what happens to the level then, if need be, I will buy a small container of G12 evo in ready mixed form for topping up. I do not expect the response from the dealership service dept to say that they are fully compatible, that would be very odd when the handbook is so clear about sticking only to the G12 evo but you never know of course and i will certainly read their response with great care.

AG Falco, Thanks for posting. I am honestly not sure whether I am going to keep the car or not. It has some good features like being quick off the mark and being able to climb hills easily and cruise easily at motorway speeds. Plus. a good spec like standard cruise control. Some not so good features include ( apart from depreciation. already discussed) a feeling that the Fabia range is nearing the end of its useful life and the GPS nor being great. Neither of these last two are crucial though, Nothing really bad. I will keep monitoring the coolant and hope it does as you suggest and stop dropping but, again, thats not really crucial unless and until it becomes a really big issue and needs a new expansion tank or radiator or water pump. The last two would definitely tip me into changing the car but, as I say, not sure yet. Freedom, that would indeed be good if the G13 and the G12 evo are compatible in small quantities so can be used for topping up. I will post again when i hear back from the dealers service department. They havent always been quick to reply in the past in which case I would contact the aftersales person who is usually very quick to reply.