Illiteratus

Hey guys, I just fixed a very similar problem on my car where the rear wiper only worked intermittently. The culprit was cracked solder and thus poor connection on the circuit board that sits within the rear wiper assembly. See my last post here for photos:

It took a while, but yes! The culprit was the soldering of the little circuit board that controls the wiper motor. The solder had cracked, causing a poor connection. Makes sense that temperature changes would affect it. Take a look at the attached photos, specifically the soldered tabs on the bottom right of the circuit board. Those two connect directly to the motor. See how different they look to the tabs at the top of the board? Took a quick bit of heat with a soldering iron and a little extra solder, and problem solved. It's a quick job as long as you have one of those generic trim removal kits. Just remove the trim from the inside of the boot lid, then the plastic cover from the wiper motor assembly (2 torx screws and 2 metal clips hold it on), and then the little cover over the circuit board comes off easily. Hope that works for your Fabia.

My rear wiper has become very unreliable... Sometimes it works, other times not, and at other times I'll switch it on and nothing will happen for 5-10 minutes and then it will spring into life. The washer fluid pump always works, and when the wiper does works it always covers its full range of motion. Any ideas? Sticky brushes in the motor maybe? Cheers!

Anyone know where to buy replacement trim for the top of the windshield, and the A pillar trim? Part number would be great if you have it. Amazing how much wind noise has increased simply from the trim at the top of the A pillar perishing and falling off. Thanks!

Thanks for the input! Got the full kit fitted and everything is back to normal.

Many thanks for the help guys. Got the full kit fitted last week and everything is back to normal . The Skoda Australia people still insisted to the VW service guy doing the job that the problem couldn't be the timing chain because my engine was built after June 2011! Surprise surprise, the kit was fitted and now the car doesn't sound like a tractor, rpm's are even, and the engine is nice and quiet. Sweet relief.

Do you know much about the difference between the tensioner models? I gather that the model in the kit is somewhat shorter than the old one, so I am wondering if they changed the shape of the guide or rail too. Spoke to a few more parts guys at VW and Skoda and none can confirm if the kit is compatible. I was told that the kit is for cars built after the VIN split in October 2011. Yes I spoke to a metropolitan Skoda dealer and he mentioned that some of the smaller dealers don't have sufficient experience to know what they're doing with this kind of problem.

Have you confirmed this to be the case with a mechanic that's done the job before? Looks as if I've got the timing chain issue occurring on my Fabia with the CBZB engine, but I have been told by several dealers that the 03F198158B kit is not compatible with my VIN according to their catalog, though they can't find out why that is. The build date for my car is August 2011. Would love to find out that you are right because the kit costs $254 AUD over here in Australia, vs $249 for just the K suffix chain that I have been quoted. More details here:

Hello all, I'm new here. I think my car has developed the dreaded timing chain problem, but I am having a hard time figuring out what parts I need as Skoda Australia is unfamiliar with the problem. Been reading as much as I can online but still haven't settled on which parts are required for my engine. Here's the rundown: Vehicle is a 2012 Fabia 1.2TSI with 81,000kms on it. Vehicle manufacture date is August 2011. 77kw CBZB engine - the sticker on the back of the engine says *CBZ 502 230* (see attached photo). My car has almost always made the known chain rattle sound for about 5 seconds after startup, but in the last 10,000kms that has become a loud clattering, and much more so in the last few hundred kms. It used to do it only on cold starts, but now it does it even if the car has been off for only 10 minutes after a 40 minute drive at highway speeds. Since about the last 5000kms on startup the rpm's are unstable, whereas previously it would be perfectly stable and drop to about 650rpm at idle after the initial warmup, and, the exhaust sound when standing behind the car is now worryingly loud during the initial engine warmup before quietening back to normal. The engine also stutters during this phase before evening out when the warmup cycle is finished. Never had anything like this happen before. Plugs were changed 5000kms ago. Very late, yes. Unfortunately wasn't aware of the service interval for them and realized they were a problem when there was the occasional abrupt "bump"/hesitation during acceleration. Thanks to trawling Briskoda I realised that the plugs were the problem and it went away when I changed them. I checked the resistance on the ignition leads and the #3 lead is only marginally different to the others, but I will replace those shortly anyway. Got a new ignition coil pack for good measure and will install that when the leads arrive. The problem has worsened so rapidly that I haven't switched my car on for some time and won't until at least the tensioner is replaced. I have not been able to have the car looked at by a Skoda dealer, as I live in rural Australia and the nearest Skoda service centre is a 3.5 hour drive away. I do live about 30km from a VW dealer who has previously repaired this problem on Polo's, though unfortunately he won't be able to process any goodwill claims through Skoda. I got a quote for the job from both the VW dealer and the aforementioned Skoda service centre, and the Skoda centre has never dealt with this problem and quoted for only the chain, track, guide rail, and tensioner, but not the camshaft sprocket or anything else. The part numbers that they did quote were the same as VW, at least... This is the list of parts that VW quoted: 03F109158K Chain 03F109507B Tensioner 03F109469C Track D176501A1 Silicone Adhesive Sealant D176600M1 Sealant 03F109509C Rail N90256202 Bolt Camshaft Pulley 038103085C Oil Seal - Cylinder Head Rear 1 N10734501 Bolt N90987302 12 Point Screw N10734401 Bolt N90813202 Sump Plug N90856005 Plug 03F109571C Sprocket 03C115561H Oil Filter WHT004068 Screw WHT004069 Screw WHT004068 Screw They want a painful $2100 AUD for this job, half of that being for the parts. My current conundrum is as follows: if this is indeed the timing chain problem, I am of the understating that I need the repair kit 03F 198 158B, which also includes a crankshaft sprocket that wasn't mentioned by either Skoda or VW. However, I called Skoda Australia and 2 Skoda dealers and they both said that the kit is not compatible with my VIN according to their system. The Skoda Australia parts guy was very skeptical about the timing chain problem even being a thing as he had never heard of it, and essentially said not to trust what I read on Briskoda or VW forums. The VW service centre said he would be happy to fit the kit if it is compatible and original VW parts, but doesn't have access to Skoda's parts system / manuals. Would be terrific if the kit does fit as it is only $250AUD, which is what Skoda/VW charge for just the K model chain on its own. From what I've read, replacing my chain with the K model and tensioner with the B model will fix it for now, but could see the problem return in the future. Does anyone know how to check if the Skoda guys here are right or wrong? I was surprised at how little they seem to know about this. Good advice appreciated.

I mean, hello from Australia! Same thing... Own a 2012 Fabia. It's been a great car until recently, but that's for another topic.