[Intermittent ABS Light - Any help please?]

I hope that when you wrote that you had ordered an OBD2, that you ordered one that can talk to all this car's controllers, if it is just a basic OBD2 scan tool, I'd think that it will only read some engine fault codes.

 

Hopefully you got a suitable scan tool and that has revealed what the ABS fault code is.

 

 

[Give and Take]

Some of the basic choices on VW Group cars are made by the UK importers, they probably try to sense what best suits the majority of the individual model and marque potential buyers and stick with that, the options or factory fitted during initial build choices again get restricted by the importers, again in a bid to meet the "wants" of the individual model and marque potential buyers.

 

Some make sense, some less so - then, there is your own personal need/want to retro fit some goodies after you buy the car, if you like or are able to do that.

[Variable Servicing - Are 2023 Scala oil servicing set to this by default?!]

I'm sure that on variable service setting, the ECU is continually assessing the "remaining time/miles to service", the miles bit is easy, the time bit gets calculated from "engine use and oil temperatures" so that many short journeys "knock down" the remaining days more than just calendar days.

My wife's old 2002 VW Polo, while it was outside warranty and still on variable servicing used to give out a service reminder after roughly 19 months, the way she used that car - though I was changing the oil every 12 months, and eventually changing the servicing to "fixed". 

So it looks like your exceedingly frequent use on very short journeys has prompted that "early" service warning, which, if I was you, I'd be taking on board and get the car serviced ASAP, and probably get the service scheduling changed to fixed.

[Repositioning the parking sensor]

Yup, I agree that part/area will insure correct insertion depth and correct orientation.

[Repositioning the parking sensor]

Yup, same as earlier versions, the small lug on the sort of RHS in your picture is also on the other side, and they grip into the mounting clip, so just "push in/on".

 

The ledge showing on the sort of lower point in your picture will just be a "depth limit stop" and there will be another one below the connector.

[Has the coolant specification changed for the 2021 Fabia 3 range?]

1 hour ago, Warrior193 said:

The corrosion inhibiters included in the coolant do have a finite life, I think VAG advises coolant change at 5 years.

 

With the way that car manufacturers try to upsell items, I would have thought that replacing the coolant would appear on service schedules - especially now that timing belts last longer than the 5 years and the water pumps on lots of engines have stopped carrying the load of the camshaft drive.

 

Going by what I've noticed with my wife's 2015 Polo 1.2TSI - so a car that didn't get fitted with a silicate pouch, 8 years/48miles seems to be as long as I should leave the factory fitted coolant in that car - so a job for this year for me!

[Repositioning the parking sensor]

@nta16, are you sure that what you are seeing is not just a couple of retainer wedges moulded into the body of the parking sensor - and that these just "press into" mating clips on the mounting brackets - so to remove the sensors "safely" ie without pulling the mounting brackets off the inner face of the bumper cover, the plan should be to ease something like a screwdriver in to open" each side of the mounting clips and so allowing you to ease the sensor out from these locking/retaining clips?

 

Having evolved genuine VW Group etc parking sensors to be mounted like you describe, ie a lot like a bulb fitting, sounds to be either progress - or evidence that an aftermarket kit had been fitted to your wife's Fabia.

 

Aftermarket kit designers will normally try to make assembling/fitting of their kits easy for "Joe Bloggs" - genuine original car manufacturer's parts, less so, aiming more for quickness and cheapness at the initial assembly point for that unit.

[DIY Battery replacement on Skoda Scala]

I've not got a 2019 Scala, but typically for a VW Group car, you will find that when a box is fitted above the battery, it is only clipped on to the battery and also the battery +VE terminal.

 

You can buy a "memory saver" that typically gets plugged into the OBD2 port/socket in front of the driver's position in the cabin.

 

My maybe sad worry is losing the MPG figures, if losing them does not bother you, then you don't have anything to worry about, when you fit the new battery, there will be warnings, but after driving the car a short distance should allow the electric steering to sort itself out, and operating the electric windows as per the owner's handbook should sort out the window endstop limits.

 

I have a smallish 19AmpHour HillBilly battery that is inside a case that is a jump starter and mobile 12V DC power source, so I connect a suitable lead between the OBD2 socket and that jump starter, switch it on, then remove the car's main battery - making sure that I cover the disconnected +VE terminal to keep it from contacting anything else.

 

A really good plan might be to replace that EFB with an AGM - then soon after doing that, get the new battery coded to the car - do that coding to the car even if replacing a "like for like" battery size and chemistry.

 

Edit:- from memory, pressing down at any clip and fitting a screwdriver into the slot in the clip should force it out and so release it.

[help Skoda Fabia]

Just guessing, probably not the speaker, I'm guessing that when the system is getting enabled, it performs a self test - fails that test and so shuts down until next wakened up.

[Windscreen Wipers - One side malfunctioned]

Halfords sells a clip to hold that link arm in place, I've never needed to find out how good a work around fitting that would be - I'm mentioning that as most people can reach a Halfords branch.

 

When my older daughter's 2002 6K SEAT Ibiza ended up with its wiper arms fighting destructively, I just bought a new pair of link arms and probably a new wiper arm, it was winter time and it needed fixing quickly, plus at that time, maybe 2006, I was not aware of them repair clips.

[Fabia Combi 2018: trunk excluded from centralised un/locking??]

Ah, so you can feel that the handle is trying to do something AND the washer fluid is not spraying out of the rear spray head, sounds a lot like the washer fluid is leaking inside the rear hatch and that that has given the electric hatch release a problem - maybe.

 

All will be revealed later!

[Repositioning the parking sensor]

It might be that your parking sensors are just stuck to the inner surface of the rear bumper cover using strong sticky pads - and that is what has failed.

 

Audi, at least, used to have plastic welded mounting brackets for its factory fitted parking sensors to clip/snap into, when I retrofitted front parking sensor to my Audi, I just used some very strong "structural" Araldite as I didn't want/need to get that front bumper cover off again just for that sort of job.

 

So, yes, unless you can reach up with thin strong hands and arms, to get the old sticky tape off and fit new stuff, I'd think that you will find that you have to remove the bumper cover.

 

I'd think that in your local ambient temperatures, that substituting double sided sticky pads for a good strong adhesive could be a good idea - and check the other sensors while the bumper cover is off so that you will not need to get back under there again some time later.

 

Having that sensor hole "open" will not cause any risk from water as the bumper cover is a sort of plastic and the parking sensor is sealed.

[Fabia Combi 2018: trunk excluded from centralised un/locking??]

The behaviour of the flashing indicator on the driver's door is telling you that there is a fault malfunction in the doors locking system, it should give a single flash with a long period between flashes if the door locking has been performed correctly and there is currently no system faults.

 

This still all points to something probably being wrong with the wiring section between the body and the rear hatch.

[Spark Plug Torque]

There is a possibility that the extra 5Nm comes into play if you ever removed and refitted these plugs as the crush washer will already have been crushed, that used to be pointed out in the dim/dark past!

[Spark Plug Torque]

A very similar engine, a 2019 EA888, I used 30Nm on my older daughter's SEAT Leon Cupra 290PS.  

 

Maybe that was what NGK stated as well, I've forgotten, I would have the Erwin workshop manual, okay that car has long life Iridium plugs but the same head material and thread size.

 

Edit:- the figure that I have noted down for my old 2011 S4, same cylinder head material and same spark plug thread size, is 25>30Nm - also same type of sealing washer.

[MOT Advisories, thoughts?]

I've read this in the past about some countries having Government appointed/controlled/operated stand alone TEST CENTREs and many seem to accept "walk ins", ie you just turn up, car gets tested and you drive off. In UK, so far, I've always had to hand the car in by 08:00 and collect it by 18:00, okay that suits some people's way of doing things, but not very convenient.

So far I've not found out what the cost of doing things that way is, it sounds like it makes a lot of sense, but might end up costing the user or that country's motoring public, more than the way things are set up in UK

So, that is where checking the UK Gov MOT website comes into it's own - ie none of the waiting for the workshop phone to (not) get answered, or the promised "we'll phone as soon as it has been tested" that was offered without prompting, never happening - but, my small out of town local independent garage that also does MOTs, does what he said he will do, so he now gets my wife's Polo to MOT.   

My own car gets its MOT carried out by a VW Group Indie, and the guy at the desk tends to get a bit confused when I turn up to collect my car after it has passed its MOT - as the billing paperwork is hours away from completion! 

[MOT Advisories, thoughts?]

For anyone who tries to do all their maintenance, ending up with advisories is a bit of a failure - at least that is the way that I view it.

 

We've got friends that tend to run VW Group cars and the husband has a garage full of tools etc, he claims to know all about cars, but being sneaky and checking the MOTs history tends to tell a different story, ie "talking the talk" and not "doing the walk" - leaving it up to the MOT tester to force a garage to return their cars into a compliant condition.

 

I don't mind if people can't fix their own cars or run out of skills sometimes, but claims that they can and end up successfully accumulating a big history of advisories - well that tells a different story.

[help Skoda Fabia]

So, have you found and are following a cable from that comes in from the rear bumper?

 

Edit:- "from" not "form" - get it right!

[help Skoda Fabia]

I've just looked on the Fabia parts listing and it claims that the parking sensor controller is located on the rear LHS maybe even just in front of the rear wheel arch, that is going by the location picture.

[help Skoda Fabia]

I've edited my previous posting, typically the cable form from the bumper(s) goes directly to a parking sensor controller - and that feeds info to the infotainment system.

 

So, sorry I don't know where the parking controller is located, though I "think" that it is maybe up at the dashboard area, though on my S4 it was in the rear of the car.

[help Skoda Fabia]

Luckily for me, I don't (yet) know where the parking sensor controller is on a Fabia, my wife has a 2015 Polo, but its SEL so came with front and rear sensors, I did retro fit front sensors to my car as it came with only rear sensors.

 

Sensor cable form, across the rear bumper, has a supply +12V which goes to each sensor, a supply -ve which goes to each sensor and an O/P from each sensor, so if that wiring is damaged then the system will flag up a fail condition, as well as logging which sensor or what function in a sensor is causing the problem. So, that means that the +12V and the -ve lines are daisy chained along the bumper, and if moisture gets into any of the "nodes" then that might be the issue.

 

As you suggest, maybe the rear sensors had been disabled as running with a trailer with sensors action would be a pain if nothing else was done to auto disable them.

 

So, getting a wiring schedule of the bumper cable form and "looking back into" that cable form using a DMM might give you a clue, though removing the sensors and checking the sensor cabling sensor to sensor would also help.

 

A quick check with a suitable VAG specific scan tool would be first thing that I'd do, saves taking trims apart etc.

 

Edit:- going on how Audi wired thigs up on my S4, at the individual sensors plugs, pin 1 is +12V,  pin 2 is O/P,  pin 3 is -VE(earth).  at the controller connector end pin 1 is -VE(earth), pin 2 +12V, pin 5 is left outer O.P, pin 6 left inner O/P, pin 7 right inner O/P, pin 8 right outer O/P.

[MOT Advisories, thoughts?]

I wonder if it is just due to "workshop loading", I'd be a bit pee'd off if that happened to me, mind you, I'd have fitted new wipers after checking them prior to booking it in.

 

Really, a professionally run and honest workshop should not be trying to accumulate as many fails or advisories as possible simply by running the MOT before a service - unless the customer is a total tight ass and requested that order of jobs.

[help Skoda Fabia]

Going forward, when helping on any car that has SRS stuff, like airbags, is to always disconnect the battery before working on these systems, for your own safety and to avoid the system logging a fault.

 

The way to sort this out has been given to you already.

[Skoda Octavia VRS 2015 won't start 😞]

Ah, so no "RECOND" option on your CTEK.

 

Bottom line, as usual "needs must" if you can't get this battery into a useable condition, then you might not have an easy option, running the car for a short period in terms of days, is not going to cause a big issue, but, do prioritise getting this done as it should improve the service life of the new battery.

[1.0 tsi manual. Engine flush at service, yes or no?]

I used to like/bother to add a "gentle" brew of petrol engine flusher from Comma into the oil a week before changing the oil and filter, I used to do that at every other oil change - but back then our cars were running decent annual mileages and owned for 13 years. Since 2013 when we replaced our cars, I've stopped doing that. Was it beneficial, I can't say, did it make me feel good about doing it, yes.

 

There was a product sold under the Forte name that Ford and Vauxhall used to push when paying a dealership to service cars under warranty, even VW I seem to remember pushed that while paying for a service under warranty - curiously, when prepaying ie buying a service package from a motor group (not a VW Group add on), to support a new VW Polo 1.2TSI for it warranty period, none of that used, hum?