Robstelly

Thanks everyone, I will check all that!

So not an easy fix then. Needs a mechanic/ electrician?

This happened while the car hasn't been driven for a couple of weeks, it's a 1.4 MPI The headlights and braking lights etc. work, so does the radio and the wipers and the car drives just fine, it's just that you're driving it entirely by feel, and won't even know how much fuel you've got left. The strange thing is how it does momentarily turn on, and how the radio and other things work. Please tell me this is an easy to fix issue ;D Super grateful for any responses, going through a tough time and need this car to work.

You do have to know how to use them tho... Which takes a while but then you're looking for every opportunity to utilize those skills (case in point).

Oh absolutely it's 2 long and thin sticks that are used to grab things, you can really get in there, and there's ones that are really long too (for cooking). I have no idea how I'd retrieve the nut otherwise!

Successfully replace the battery, thank you guys for advice. Only issue I ran into is one of the nuts fell somewhere into the engine bay, used chopsticks to retrieve.

Yeah, I didn't know what a wobble bar was anyway, it just looked thinner on the picture than the other option and cost the same.

Well damn it's good you told me, I thought it wasn't actively transmitting electricity and is fine to touch

I don't know about this, I'll be physically touching it right, and it will give me a shock, but that's okay? Sorry for my complete technical ineptness.

Wait a minute won't I die?

Would something like this be suitable, on top of the previously listed set? https://www.amazon.de/-/en/Wobble-Extension-Bar-250/dp/B001ILG1S0 Bear in mind I've never held a ratchet/wrench and I don't really know how socket sizes or compatibilities and such work.

Okay, so I have absolutely no tools or experience so I need to buy everything and want to do it on the cheap. Tools required (I think): 10mm socket for the battery terminal, 13mm socket to loosen the plate at the bottom of the battery, ratchet? So this is what I am looking at: https://www.amazon.de/-/en/Amazon-pieces-spanner-ratchet-holder/dp/B07SFMCYHR For battery I am looking at this: https://www.amazon.de/-/en/5524000473132-Varta-Starter-Battery/dp/B00RZ54PFE 1. I take the cover off, and unplug the black (right) wire, then I unplug the red (left) wire. 2. I unscrew the bottom of the battery 3. I take it out ?! 4. Repeat steps in reverse for new battery. ??? Thank you friends.

@MotorsportFinland Hi, I've changed into winter tires recently, why?

@Wino yeah, it sadly isn't included in the pictures I took, I even took a video of the connector but did not turn the camera to the left. I assume I had an issue getting/seeing there r

@Wino I only see 1 wire on the left, black one? I'll go through my pictures and try to see whether I can find something of the other half, though it's possible I did not get it at all. In that case I'll have to lift the car up again sometime next week, is there anyone else I could check in-case I find that the wire is actually intact? I will test the reversing lights tomorrow, but if I remember correctly, they work.

@Wino is this it? It's right above and to the right of what you see at :44 in the video.

@Wino Here's the vid, but I am not sure whether it ever goes over the cable you seem to talk about.

@sepulchrave I am in no position to argue but it seems that everyone who has an issue with the sense/exciter cable has a clear break and fixed it themselves, at least on this forum there are a million threads about it already.

@Wino I found a place which lets me use a lift for 12 per hour, lifted the car up and looked for a broken cable everywhere but couldn't find it. So I took a picture of every cable I could find... and also the alternator. I looked pretty clueless so some guy came up to me and also tried having a look then told me he had a similar issue caused by a blown out fuse. But honestly I am not even sure whether I was looking at the correct cable? Turns out I am pretty bad at this and everything looks the same to me 😭 Thank you for your continuous support... do you see anything in the pictures? I have more & also took a video.

@Wino Tried using a phone to see underneath but wasn't really able to, so I'll need to pay for it to be lifted and look at the cables then. I took a picture of the alternator but not from the cable side so I guess that's entirely unhelpful. I am just scared that even if I lift the car, I won't really be able to to tell what a damaged cable looks like, I've looked around and the post that people point to https://www.seatcupra.net/forums/threads/how-to-fix-broken-load-signal-cable-from-alternator.209472/ , no longer has the pictures. For fixing it, I assume I can just follow any cable fixing tutorial and use a solder to connect the cables together, however, as I am reading this forum I realize the reason the cable breaks to begin with is that it's too short, so will I even be able to rejoin it, is there some way to lengthen it? Finally (and sorry for asking so much) I've just gotten my multi-meter and tested the battery voltage, when the engine is on, it's actually perfect right around 14.25, so the alternator seems to be doing it's job.... Is this normal even when the sense load & exciter cables are broken?

How did you diagnose it?

Yeah, thank you a lot. I'll look into how to repair the lighter socket. Tbh this is my first car and my first time messing with cars so it's just a little overwhelming, still have to get all the tools and sort out where I'll even repair it (and I assume I'll need to lift it too.)

@Wino The battery light doesn't come on, actually. I pretty much ruled out the exciter wire but then I noticed that the battery light doesn't come on so I guess it's broken also... It couldn't just be the exciter wire alone causing all of this, right?

@Wino Oh, so the exciter cable and the DFM cable, are connected to each other? Would I be looking for visible tears and the like in the entire length of the cable (highlighted red) or only the (highlighted green) part? As for the voltmeter, unfortunately the cigarette lighter doesn't work at all in my car, probably a completely unrelated issue as it's all ****ed ****ed up looking. I've bought a multi-meter and will try to test everything on Saturday. Then I'll try to get to a place where I can lift up the car and inspect all the cables.

@AnnoyingPentium Thank you for the reply, how would I use a multi-meter to check the ground connection? And cleaning means, sanding, or?