prt57

I have bitten the bullet and ordered a complete new unit for peace of mind. Shame really as the mechanical components were fine. As this appears to be a fairly common problem you would have hoped Skoda would have just sold the part that breaks, especially in these times when waste is to be avoided. However, the metal lever that actuates the nylon cam had worn a groove so in time there may be other issues if the full movement was compromised.

I thought I’d update you with what I have found out. The photo shows that there are two micro switches in the electrical connection on the back of the tailgate latch. This part has just been unscrewed from the back of the latch. From my research about when the boot light will not work, there is confusion as people think there cannot be a fault with the latch switch when the boot light does not work if the warning on the dash still illuminates. I have worked out that when the micro switch in the photo near the green wire is depressed by the white nylon cam the dash light illuminates and the other micro switch operates the boot interior light. So one works by being pressed in and the other one relies on the internal spring pressure creating the contacts as the cam moves away. This is the switch for the interior light and so if there is poor internal spring pressure for some reason then poor contact results and the interior light will not illuminate. I had hoped to just buy a new electrical unit as the mechanical part of the latch is perfect. However, you have to buy a complete latch and electrics which is a shame. A replacement 2nd hand part from EBay may suffer from the same problems long term. Hope this helps someone in the future

Water sitting on the seals at the bottom of the door is a sign that the metal internal door cards need sealing, possibly once more if not done properly last time. It would be worth getting the interior decorative door cards off for a poke around at the bottom of the door card seal. on my car, the rear door seals had gone mushy and were soaking. My car has the annoying rivets holding the metal door cards to the door frames so I could not get them off, however 15 mins of poking around pulled out the mushy seal. I let it dry out then resealed with a product from Screwfix called the Dogs Bo*****s. It is quite expensive but is sealed it perfectly and so no more standing water on the rear seals which then overflow onto the carpets. I have noticed that if I park the car at an angle leaning over slightly, I get water sitting on the front door seal of the higher side, so in due course, I will tackle the front doors. My son uses a moisture absorption product as shown below. I am going to get one as well to prevent our TT misting up in the winter. It will hold 800ml of water before needing to be dried out and then reused. Careful using a mould killer with bleach in as it may discolour the carpets etc. Those roof slots probably just had clip on covers and so would not be watertight. I may be wrong but I would not think water is getting in here. My car is an estate with roof rails so nothing to compare. Normally these plastic strips just cover up the channel where the side of the car is welded to the roof. https://www.halfords.com/motoring/car-accessories/interior-car-accessories/air-dry-classic---car-dehumidifier-170096.html

Hi, I think I have the classic problem with the microswitch in the orange part of the boot lock in my Fabia Mk 1 Estate in that the lamp will illuminate intermittently when the boot is opened. I know that the green and brown wire from the bulb holder is a switched earth in the lock mechanism and so has anyone devised a fix for this apart from wiring in a manual switch? Does anyone know the part number for the orange latch in the tailgate. With the internal cover in place the number is just hidden? Also what is the new cost of the orange latch as 2nd hand units will potentially have the same problem? I would like to get this sorted as at the moment, this is the last thing to fix on this project car! Thank you for your help.

Hi, I am looking for some reasonable replacement seat covers to go over the current original seat covers which are a charcoal grey/black with a lighter grey mix centre panel. The original owner ruined the material on the drivers seat bolster by squeezing into the seat then used "tasteful" blue and black iron on patches to cover the damage. These are peeling off a bit now. I have looked out for replacement seats on Ebay but as it is the Elegance model with heated seats none have popped up yet. So the alternative might be a full set of cloth covers in a similar colour to the originals. I have no experience here and so has anyone had any decent ones and which to avoid. Any recommendations please?

When I acquired my 1.4 BBZ a couple of months ago, the flap was stuck on hot air the whole time and it would not pull the skin off a rice pudding regarding acceleration, especially on a hot day. I also run a mk 4 GTi and an S3 8P, both with open cone filters as they are tuned up to stage 2/2+. No issues whatsoever changing from the standard air box set up. In fact for a while, my BBZ ran with an open cone filter Jubilee clipped to the top of the throttle body by the previous owner. It pulled strongly, sounded quite racey with an induction roar but suffered a very bad resonance type vibration that could be heard and felt in the car. However, no issues with not having a thermostatically controlled flap to warm up the intake air quickly. So in a bid to obtain as much air flow as possible, I removed the thermostatic valve from the engine cover and used araldite to glue the flap in the always open position! I looked at the diameter of the throttle body and then the diameter of the air intake by the front side of the air box and it was much smaller. So out came my Dremel, and I cut out the blind end of the engine cover opposite to the air intake and I removed the plastic baffles along that side of the cover channel smoothing everything as much as possible. Now, you may say that some of the air being sucked in is not from the direct cold air feed from the grill. What I can say is that additional air is being sucked in and so now no restriction. The car performs as well as when it ran the cone K & N style filter but with none of the vibration. It also sounds quite sporty from about 3K revs and above. At the end of the day, I can always buy another cover from Ebay for about £15 but as mentioned already, the thermostatic valve might be equally knackered. However, the car performs so much better now then when I first took over ownership.

Both jobs now done. Tensioner pulley dismantled and regreased. quite tricky tightening the central bolt so jammed a long screwdriver in from the top to stop the pulley pivoting whilst tightening with the 16mm ring spanner. The fan thermoswitch was not very tight explaining the leak and so the deep 29mm socket ordered from Ebay was perfect for the job. I cleaned the mating surfaces of the switch and the radiator and added a thin smear of RTV as a sealant then used the torque wrench at 26 lbs ft to get it nipped back up. I left it over night to make sure the RTV had set then replaced the coolant that I had drained out and that sorted it it out, no more leaks. Thanks for your help Wino!

Sorry it is a bit later than promised but here are 3 photos showing the business end of the tool with measurements. I greased the tensioner pully today. Probably added a bit much grease as I can see some squirted out due to centrifugal force. The bearing did seem a bit dry

I'll take a photo in the morning alongside a a metal ruler and see if I can post it on here

Here is an example. Push with the tool then hold the connector down with your fingers then pull back the tool to release the tab whist still applying finger pressure to the end of the connector. It leaves the end of your finger in one piece and not feeling numb! https://www.ebay.co.uk/p/12017007400

Ah that's great info Wino. I had watched a Youtube video showing the thermo switch being replaced on the bench and I noticed the brass threads in the hole and thought that the whole of the rad in the video must have brass black coated end tanks in comparison to my plastic end tanks, hence why I was a little unsure that 35Nm would be a bit too much torque. So plastic end tanks with a brass insert makes sense. I am familiar with the latch connector as I have other cars with them on. I even have the correct tool to unclip them which is effective if there is room. Thanks again and I'll probably have a go at the pulley if it is not raining tomorrow. Any idea of the approx torque to refit the pulley bolt?

Thanks for the reply Wino! I was hoping the pulley would undo as you are suggesting. Please tell me more about pulling back the black covers so I can regrease the bearing. Do the covers lever off or would I use a pick tool etc? I think you might be right about the direction to undo the central bolt as you use a 16mm ring spanner turning clockwise to twist against the tension of the spring in order to remove the belt. So it the belt tension was removed it would make sense the turn the bolt anti clockwise to undo Probably best to lock the tensioner with a drill bit to give something to turn against, I wonder why the OE radiator thermo switch has no sealing ring whereas most of the aftermarket versions do?

Hi everyone, I am new to this forum as this is my first Skoda. I recently picked up a 2005 Fabia mk 1 Estate Elegance with the 1.4 16v BBZ engine. It was in a bit of a state but after a month of work renovating lots of parts things are looking better. its running well now after I've given it a full service. Just a couple of jobs to go until I can just drive it! There is a little whistle on start up from cold that disappears within a couple of seconds that I have diagnosed to be the automatic drive belt tensioner as when the belt is off it is a bit rough when rotated. I have replaced the belt to eliminate that any belt squeal. My Haynes manual is a bit lacking about the tensioner removal and so any tips would be great. I have read somewhere on line that you cannot remove the tensioner without lowering the engine on that side as it fouls on the chassis rail, is that true? The car has air con so just the central bolt through the back. It would seem sensible to just replace the pulley but I cannot find the correct part as at my local VW garage the tensioner and pulley come as one. No pulley appears to be available on ECP either, just the whole tensioner. (The VW garage is a lot closer than the Skoda and I have used them lots for my mk 4 GTI 1.8T) Any ideas would be welcome. Additionally, I have a little coolant leak from the fan temperature sensor screwed into the radiator that I would like to sort out. I am waiting on a deep 29mm socket to be delivered so I can unscrew it after draining the radiator and then reseal again so not sure how tight or loose it is at the moment. I had hoped to just buy a new sealing washer but it appears from the parts picture at VW for the BBZ engine that there is no washer available and that the sensor is just screwed into the radiator. However, most of the aftermarket sensors come with a washer like a sump plug does. So I had planned on removing the sensor, cleaning everything up and then resealing with some RTV. The torque setting appears to be 35Nm or 26 lbs ft, is that correct but not sure if I can get a torque wrench in there yet. Once again, all thoughts welcome!