nta16

Hi Wino, thanks for your reply. The engine is the a petrol, 1.2 TSI 66kW 90hp CJZC. The car was supposedly a dealerships courtesy car before my wife bought it at 7 months old with 10k-miles on so possibly also lots of short journeys, despite the mileage, no doubt using cheapest of petrol available. My wife does lots of very short journeys in it, 1.5m to work and it might sit there all day before 1.5m home or she might also have to travel to her other places of work which are all local the furthest being 5 miles away. In the last 12 months the car has only done 5k-mlies and few journeys above 20 miles and the years before that work out average of 8k-miles all mainly very short journeys. My wife buys the cheapest petrol she can find and will go out of her way for it to combine with (food!) shopping. I very rarely drive the car but I have noticed rough idle, I know they can stumble but this was noticeable, whether it had anything to do with the battery being changed and not coded I don't know (battery now coded of course) only the car's computers can know what mischief they feel like getting up to on any given moment. The scan tool read out gave intermittent misfire on cylinders 3 & 4 which would have explained the rough idle that one time but not the other time. Being intermittent I don't know if it's going to be a once or twice in a lifetime event or when the computers feel like it or any day with a 'y' in it. I've got a can of throttle valve cleaner to use on my mate's old car with solid state ecu and thought I might use it on the Fabia too. I also have a 300ml can of mass air flow sensor cleaner for my mate's car and used that on the Fabia, all of about 25ml, I've no idea if it was worthwhile really as the hotwire is so small and black I can't tell with my wonky eyes. I like prevention more than repair too and as I loathe (and I mean l-o-a-t-h-e) working on our cars I'd sooner do something now when the weather is dry and warm (we don't have a garage) than in the wet or winter. Hence my panic and going against my own advice of changing the battery too early instead of charging up as my wife won't put up with the car not being available for more than a matter of hours, certainly not days! And we've both had two life time's each of cars not being reliable. so hers isn't allowed to be, and I know what side my bread is buttered!

How do you reset the air intake valve without a scan tool please? I intend to remove the air intake valve to give it a good cleaning and as I've now learnt from changing the battery you can't do anything without the car's computers all having their turn in the limelight. I know the air intake valve needs to be recalibrated after cleaning but how is this done without a scan tool, can it eventually recalibrate itself by using the car? Or is there a 'cheat' reset ritual like dabbing the brake pedal twice with the ignition on then off whilst pointing north with a ripe banana in your left ear? Having learnt my lesson from the battery change I'm asking before I do the work. TIA, Nigel.

Jemjem, who ever fitted your tyres should have told you or given you something written to tell you to take it easy on your new tyres as they need the "grease" run off them for the first about 100 miles or 200 if wet weather - and to have the wheel nuts/studs checked for tightness (torque) after the first 30-50 miles. The Fabia driver's instruction handbook 'OPERATING INSTRUCTIONS' has "run in" so drive with care for the first 300 miles on new tyres. - http://manual.skoda-auto.com/004/en-com/Model/Fabia_NJ They need to settle, and will feel different anyway if they're different make and model of tyre, plus you've gone from 86 (weight index, 530kg each tyre) to 90 600kg each tyre) and from speed rating of H to V. The 45 is the ratio of the sidewall height compared to the width of the tyre (as said earlier all measurements are nominal) that's only 97mm of sidewall on a 16" (406mm) wheels that's more about speed than comfort. The modern trend for a good while back is to have large wide wheels with wide low profile tyres, these aren't best for comfort and ride (nor for the snow and ice) but it's the fashion, whether they're really needed or not. The tread pattern changes also as a matter of fashion as well as design. I can't find it now but I'm sure 2.1 was normal pressure for our factory 15" tyres but you could use an eco setting of 2.5 as this reduces the rolling resistance of the tyre, less for the engine to to push against and less resistance to the tyre rolling over the road surface so more mpg. Tyre markings explained. - https://www.goodyear.eu/en_gb/consumer/learn/how-to-read-your-tire-sidewall-markings.html

Windscreen wipers don't turn off, come on by themselves. I know this subject has been covered before but to make it even easier to find and to give an end result and my take on it. Plus show where the fuse for the wipers (30 amp) actually is rather than the confusing diagram in the driver's instruction handbook 'OPERATING INSTRUCTIONS'. - http://manual.skoda-auto.com/004/en-com/Model/Fabia_NJ The windscreen wipers at first started to occasionally switch themselves on, at the first intermittent setting of the stalk for my wife's 2015 (MY 2016) Fabia Mk 3, they progressed to being on when ever the ignition was on. The repair was quite straight forward with the help of following a good clear video and, as with many car servicing, maintenance and repairs, boiled down to cleaning and lubricating - but in this case cleaning off the lubrication. The wiper stalk either had too much or the wrong sort of grease applied to the moving knuckle (and box) end of the stalk (probably at factory) and it had got all over the contacts causing the problem. Later I've put the link to the very good video with clear, simple, friendly instruction (which I picked up from another thread on this site) but a few notes might also help with it. As well as general tools you will need to have or beg or borrow an M12 Triple Square XZN Spline tool bit for the big screw that holds the steering wheel on - and I'd add some thread lock back on that screw when putting it back and T25, T15, T10 Torx screwdrivers, and a small pick is useful to raise the orange locking tab bit on the airgbag connector plus a can of good quality contact cleaner. After cleaning for contact switch lubrication I use Servisol Super 10 Switch Cleaning Lubricant. My other variances from the video were that I didn't need the battery connected to move the steering wheel just have the key in the ignition switch to turned to first position to release the steering lock. The steering wheel will feel heavier to turn as it's now unassisted. I also used a couple of old plastic spatulas to part the plastic steering wheel cowl, this parts them enough to lift the top part forwards and up to unclip it (easier to do than me to explain). I used a screwdriver instead of a bigger pick (as I don't have one) to release the airbag clips, very easy to do once you can get your head in the right place to see the clip. Take care not to pull the orange locking tab bit on the airbag connector up too far. (EFC:) The "clock spring" is what gives the airbag contact to the wiring loom. I also thought it might be easier to replace the bottom part of the steering wheel cowl before putting the steering wheel back, but I can't be sure as I forgot to try. I personally wouldn't put grease back on as that's where it started, as put I use Servisol Super 10 Switch Cleaning Lubricant, I have done for decades for other electrics. A cracking video, clear, simple, friendly instruction - Thanks to the video the wipers work again as they should. HTH. Cheers, Nigel.

Windscreen wipers don't turn off, come on by themselves. I know this subject has been covered before but I've posted this to make it even easier to find and to give an end result and my take on it. Plus to show where the fuse for the wipers (30 amp) actually is rather than the confusing diagram in the driver's instruction handbook 'OWNER'S MANUAL' / 'OPERATING INSTRUCTIONS'. - https://manual.skoda-auto.com/004/en-com/Models The windscreen wipers at first started to occasionally switch themselves on, at the first intermittent setting of the stalk, on my wife's 2015 (MY 2016) Fabia Mk3, then they progressed to being on when ever the ignition was on. The repair was quite straight forward with the help of following a good clear video and it, as with many car servicing, maintenance and repairs, boiled down to cleaning and lubricating - but in this case cleaning off the lubrication. The wiper stalk either had too much or the wrong sort of grease applied to the moving knuckle (and box) end of the stalk (probably at factory) and it had got all over the contacts causing the problem. Later I've put the link to the very good video with clear, simple, friendly instruction (which I picked up from another thread on this site) but a few notes might also help with it. As well as general tools you will need to have or beg or borrow a M12 Triple Square XZN Spline tool bit for the big screw that holds the steering wheel on - and I'd add some thread lock back on that screw when putting it back and T25, T15. T10 Torx screwdrivers and a small pick is useful to raise the orange locking tab bit on the airgbag connector and a can of good quality contact cleaner. After cleaning for contact switch lubrication I use Servisol Super 10 Switch Cleaning Lubricant . My other variances from the video were that I didn't need the battery connected to move the steering wheel just have the key in the ignition switch to release the steering lock. The steering wheel will feel heavier to turn as it's now unassisted. I also used a couple of old plastic spatulas to part the plastic steering wheel cowl, this parts them enough to lift the top part forwards and up to unclip it (easier to do than for me to explain). I used a screwdriver instead of a big pick (as I don't have one) to release the airbag clips, very easy to do once you can get your head in the right place to see the clip. Take care not to pull the orange locking tab bit on the airbag connector. The "clock spring" is AFAIK the indictor cancelling part, I think. I personally wouldn't put grease back on as that's where the problem started, as put I use Servisol Super 10 Switch Cleaning Lubricant, as I have done for decades for other electrics. A cracking video, clear, simple, friendly instruction - Thanks to the video the wipers work again as they should. HTH. Cheers, Nigel.

Hi, welcome, you're in the Mk3 forum here, you might be better looking and asking on the Mk 2 part of the forum. Or you could also look at Skoda Fabia Guides or the Search facility. HTH.

King John, sorry if this is obvious to you and you've already done it but I've found it's best to remind and to recheck what you've already doubled checked (or think you don't need to check, Sod's Law it's always that). Have you synchronise the fob to the car. I would always synchronise the fob to the car if a battery has been removed/change - AND if the car won't unlock - it's a very quick and simple procedure (details are in the the driver's instruction handbook 'OPERATING INSTRUCTIONS' that came with the car - › Press any button on the remote control key. › Unlock the door with the key in the lock cylinder within 1 minute of pressing the button. If you have already synchronised, does the little confirmation check light on the fob light up. Check that the fob battery is clean both sides and that the fob is clean inside where the battery goes and contacts and check the battery is firmly and correctly seated - my wife's last car had a fault where the (GM / Vauxhall) dealership hadn't properly fitted a new battery to the fob as part of a service, you wouldn't think it possible or that it would have that effect but it was and it did. The battery from your spare needs to be a good quality battery and in good charge as it might be good enough for a little used (unused?) fob but not up to it for a very used and wearing (worn?) only once fob. The batteries from when the car was new last a very long time but cheap replacement batteries might not. Once you are sorted have both fobs with new good quality batteries fitted and then alternate their use, say every 6 months swap which fob is in regular use, that way you know you will get more even wear out of the set of two fobs and will know that that the spare fob works (and where to find it) and when the fob batteries are getting low. Link to driver's instruction handbook 'OPERATING INSTRUCTIONS' - http://manual.skoda-auto.com/004/en-com/Model/Fabia_NJ HTH, if not do return and say so, cheers, Nigel.

To conclude, I now have the new battery coded. Thank you to inspectorman for pointing me to the map of VCDS owners. - https://tinyurl.com/yn6mmtyk And a big Thank you to Zach for doing the coding and clearing codes and providing me with a record. The new battery (top) felt hot to my touch just before recoding so probably best it was done and a report of an intermittent misfire in cylinders 3 and 4 explained why the tickover was rough from starting up yesterday, I hope it doesn't return. Whether reality or imagination to me the car sounded different on the drive back from recoding, I rarely get to drive it normally but the night before I took it for a short Italian tune-up and have done a few test drives with the new battery, and for another matter best left to another thread and the reason I recharged the old battery and hoped buying a new battery might sort things - of course it didn't. At least we're set up battery wise for a bad winter. Thanks all.

Note: I have very little mechanical or technical knowledge, skills or aptitude only car ownership experience. I find trying the simple and free remedies first can often work (but not always). It's usually getting into reverse (and first) that's a matter of impatience, for reverse at least not letting the vehicle come to a complete stop, then waiting a second or two for the revs to drop completely before moving gear stick. Perhaps not having the pedal down far enough. For stuck in reverse gear try having the car at a full stop, handbrake on, clutch pedal full down and counting in your head to say 4 or 5 seconds before try to move the lever out of reverse - you may well have had your own answer with being more patient. Conversely to get into reverse or first sometimes, after fully stopping, handbrake on, clutch down, releasing the handbrake a bit and letting the car roll just a little forward or back with the clutch pedal (full) down can have the gears roll to better aliment - perhaps that might help to get out of reverse too.. Depends on the use, and abuse, of the vehicle, lots of short trips are move wearing on things like brakes, engine and transmission - I recently change the transmission oil on my wife's Fabia at 37k-miles and 5 and a half years old, it improved the feel of the gearshifts but they weren't bad before. I always use good quality (fully synthetic) oil as it's not expensive given how many years it says in. Some think oil's been in the ground for millions of years and that's how long it lasts in a car. You could go on to check the oil level in the transmission, if oil spills out check it's colour against fresh oil. The issue might also be with the gear lever or gear linkage or transmission - but it might not so try the free and easy stuff first. What most of us drivers don't like to accept is that often the best improvements to vehicles is driver learning or training, I include myself in this too. Let us know how you get on with those "tips".

I love the accidentally unplugged, did you use to work in a hospital until "the incident". My Accumate is also just a plug in and no more, three LEDs red, green and you've put the clamps on the wrong way round on the battery. Apparently it's a 4-stage, I think modern types are 7-stage now and programable, probably the programs confuse the users (they would me) and possibly confuse the machine itself sometimes. One thing to remember in winter is if it's very cold the electronics in the charger won't like it so if like me you keep it in a very cold shed bring it to somewhere warmer for half an hour or so to get it more comfortable before using it, in use it should keep itself warm enough, unless it's very exposed and very cold.

TBH the battery is far too good to scrap, I'd sooner give it to a mate to use for a garage radio or 12v tools or jump start his cars, in fact the battery is probably too good for that but someone ought to get some use out of it. I don't have the room, need or inclination for it. The last battery my mate took to the local 'caravan club' scrappy he got £7.50 and that was about 2 or 3 years ago I think.

Perhaps I should sell the old battery. Or if anyone need one short term to get out of a pickle loan it out (while I recharge theirs ).

Hi I can't remember what Variable Servicing meant, I think it was for higher mileage vehicles and I'm not sure if they still (or did) use the term in the Dealerships. All these terms mean very little unless you have a contract, preferably on paper. 35k-miles isn't a lot for a 3 or 4 year old car so you'd be best with the old 12 months or 12k-miles whichever is the sooner service, if the last service was more than 12 months or 12k-miles ago then that's what you want. Nowadays an annual service tends to be an engine oil and filter change, very quick visual check of the car (unless they're short of work and then some can find things) update computers and some give a completed tick sheet (accurate or not but explanations can be given for any discreteness) . Now 1,000 miles of short journeys is very wearing on the engine, and wearing on your brakes, electrics, clutch, gearbox, steering, ect. worth possibly 10k miles of motorway use. But the engine is very unimportant really when considered against the brakes, steering , suspension, wheels - and tyres are included in all of those - so check all of those and that the brake fluid has been changed or needs changing (every 2 years normally) as that's often missed. Before the service you can ask for a paper print out of the 'Complete record' of your car's service, and after, if you're young they'll say it's all digital, if you're old they won't argue and print it off. Physical paper print is much more powerful than any individual screen or phone staring, the power of a fingertip pointing out something on printed paper between two people is now magically powerful in the modern world. Remember you don't have to take your car to them and that most of their customers only want the minimum done so you have to tell them about the extra work like brake fluid changes. Here's what my wife got from the latest dealership, for 3-10 year cars (cambelt 5 years now), I can't remember what "Extended Scope" is. I hope you can read it or download, if not you could try Skoda UK for the latest wording. -

Oh, no, 10 years and I've crumbled at six and a half, salt into wounds there. Just joking It was more panic than thought. I supposed what I should do is keep both batteries and swap them over for charging, I suggested this to my wife and just got 'the look'. I'm already in trouble for not being able to charge the battery in the times it was available to me even though they were insufficient. Actually the new battery cost is getting to be better value the more I think about it. Sod' Law if it had happened this week the car is fully available for a whole two consecutive days, and I could have fully charged and tested the old battery but that's my luck with cars, I must have been very evil in past lives.

John, we push the button to cancel the stop/start, or certainly after the first time it stops the car. So I think I could have got more out of the battery even allowing for all this computer intervention I didn't know about but my wife is almost as cheesed-off with unreliability and cars not going as I am (well passed ethaniums like cheesed-off) having suffered from having over-priced old bangers called "classics" for 30 years so possibly a bullet best dodged regardless of the cost. Do try you s-i-l's battery as I got my neighbour's battery back that had been sitting for two years after being drained from use/misuse. IIRC it took near enough the full 60 hours, at least more than 48 hours. I started with my old 4-Amp charger as I can tell by where the needle sits at the start and how far it moves usually within either 5 or 10 how low the battery is. Depending on that I might leave it on the 4-Amp until finish or in the case of that battery swap to the old 4-stage Accumate and perhaps once a day or so swap to using the 4-Amp as a needle guide and to mix things up a bit in the battery charge. My Accumate is only red or green LEDs so it could be red when you check it and turn green as you turn away and leave it for the day. I always use the Accumate after the 4-amp as the needle on the 4-amp never seems to get to '0' so a green light on the Accumate is a double check and it'll stop and maintain the level so no need for more frequent checks. Also bear in mind in that cold month earlier the disconnected battery will self-discharge less so less loss rather than more. With CTek CT5 at most you'd be using 120 watts of mains per hour (0.5 amp), so even if it went mad and ran on full for a full 60 hours that'd be 7.2 kWh on your s-i-l's leccy bill and even if you can't give 60 hours anything reasonable length should be enough for to persuade these modern fussy LED chargers to take over the work and fill the battery. If possible do check and top up appropriate before and if required after the battery has fully settled from coming back from the other side (did it se a light). Try it and let us know how you get on. Cheers, Nigel

Thanks. It all suggests I panicked and done what I suggest to others not to do and changed the battery too quick. But I console myself with the fact we don't know about the car's first 18 months of use and the car is too much in use to be unreliable plus I don't want to be farting about with any car in winter especially as both our cars sit outside 365/6 as we only have hardstanding and no garage. I literally hurt myself last week undoing a nut on my old banger and bruised my back on the concrete and that was on the hottest day of the year. I've got an old 4-amp analogue charger that I use to revive my neighbours' batteries or an old Accumate 4 stage charger/maintainer which is perfect if there's the time for 36-60 hours of charging, rescued two of my neighbours batteries for his diesel van, one had sat discharged and unused for two years, but I've no idea how good they are for EFB or AGM. The 4-Amp got the Moll battery back up once given enough time and out of the car. I've always thought a long, slow and low discharge should be matched with a long, slow and low recharge and many of the modern battery chargers are for higher and quicker, suggesting more than a few hours or over night recharge to some now doesn't get a good response, until the car won't start then they're happier to give much longer to fully recharge the battery. But with my neighbours, standard, car batteries I find now that they give less warning and die quicker than I remember the batteries did in the past even on old (1990s) cars.

So that's what JCB stands for. We'll have to takes bets on both and hopefully find out which it is.

Thanks, you reminded me that I had read somewhere that they're Varta, that's good enough and more honest, don't want to be cheating the machine. We did try checking that QR code (another bl**dy code) but Safari was unavailable (reminds me of SatNav and mobile signals). I'm actually more curious about what entries the factory put in and how much they actually match the battery that was in the car.

I forgot to put the battery is a Bosch S5 A05 (AGM) - https://www.tayna.co.uk/car-batteries/bosch/s5a05/

German quality has dropped a bit since the 1960s, 70s and 80s. I expect Bosch would blame it on the battery being made outside of Germany, if it was. I couldn't be bothered looking up the code for the battery as well as sorting this coding the car's computers want, I'm already a slave to the machines.

Hi FabiaGonzales and thanks for info. I'm beginning to see much of this is like much other data in its need and absolute accuracy. I've no idea what system will be used but with help of inputting I hope to get at least what is really required.. Just out of interest - what do you and others think the Part number and Serial number are on the Bosch battery I bought, Bosch don't give much away and from my past experience don't reply to emails.

Update: Sod's Law, shortly after I removed the existing car battery (I didn't use a plug-in battery back-up) to charge it up out of the car the new battery arrived. As the new battery didn't show as fully charged up to the eyeballs on my normally over optimistic modern digital multi-meter I put it on the battery maintainer (conditioner?). After about 18 hours with the existing battery fully charged (perhaps I'd done what I normally warn others not to do and bought a replacement too soon) and new battery at green LED it was decided that I should fit the new battery, which I did. Only the time of day needed resetting on the car as everything else had held. Two test drives and all was fine except I was a minute fast on the clock, but it never did tie in with the radio time pips on DAB stations at least. Oh, joy, it seems I've bought an aftermarket battery without BEM code and possibly not(?) on the vendor code list so a bit of economy of truth might be required with the data input entries. You'd have thought a VAG vehicle would have been happy with a Bosch product but computers and their programming and extremely difficult to please. If there have been any problems today I will find out in an hour or so for sure.

The story so far (anyone remember Peyton Place or Soap), I've now got both batteries fully charged in the shed, I hope the old battery doesn't hold its charge too long or I might have been premature with its replacement, something I always advise against. I'm going to put the new battery on this morning and see what happens, I think I'll keep the BCM connected to start with and disconnect it later this week when the rare event of my wife not using the car and I can experiment with it (if only I had somewhere to go with it). I'll post the next update of the continuing story when I get there.

BigEjit, thanks, I see, now you've pointed it out, and it might explain even more why the battery is low, off throttle coasting, good job I've got the tyres pumped up to eco mode at 35psi but I don't see much of this off throttle coasting you talk of, I'll have to watch the pedals when my wife is driving.

I see your, er, wotsit, is of a Mini so another long term supporter of the motor parts business and contributor to the country's economy.