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I said I'd update this thread after a few months, so here I am again. But after reading my last comment I seem to have forgotten to tell you all a critical part of the story! During the visit to the mechanic, not only did he change the battery and fuel pump, but after I arrived and tested the (still broken) car, he proceeded to replace the ignition coil. After this, the car not only survived the 30 minute journey home, but hasn't switched itself off or failed to start since then. Sorry that I forgot that part, I have no excuse for it, it was so long ago. But hopefully with this update I've made up for it. Thank you all for your input. I hope that this helps someone. edit: now I'm wondering whether I actually went back to the mechanic on a separate occasion where he replaced the coil. My memory is failing me, I don't know. Either way, the problem was definitely the ignition coil.

It's too soon to say, but I sure hope so! I do see that it could still be the crank sensor though, like @thomasaspin says. Like I say, I'll keep you all informed 😋

I bought the crank sensor myself and took it to the mechanic along with the DTCs printed on a piece of paper, he didn't think that a new crank sensor would solve the problem. I still have the unused crank sensor. The mechanic had called me to tell me the car was ready. The battery and fuel pump relay had already been replaced. I was sent a video of the battery problem (starter motor would not turn), like I say it might have just been discharged through starter motor overuse, but batteries being consumables I'm fine with this. The fuel pump relay is a weird one I don't quite understand, but it was a second hand one so negligible cost. When I got there, the mechanic asked me to test the car, and it was still consistently stopping. Quite strange that he didn't test it himself, but to his credit, he started work on it straightaway. He removed the fuel line and turned the key on, at which point fuel could be seen coming out. Fuel pump (and relay) good. He removed a spark plug cable and checked for current while the starter motor was turning, nothing. He unplugged the coil and plugged it back in, car started up. The car made the 30 minute drive home, which is more than it could do just before it went into the garage. But I'm still skeptical as the problem might have just subsided back to what it was before: something that happens every few weeks. If the problem persists I guess I'll be continuing the conversation with him, along with some awkward questions about the parts I've paid for. Even though I'm delegating this to the mechanic, I very much appreciate all your comments. Please keep them coming and I'll do my part to keep this thread up to date too. I hope it will be useful to someone.

The car is back with a new battery (old one may have been dead due to using the starter motor so much), a new fuel pump relay and a new ignition coil. I hope that's the end of it.

The car has started failing more frequently. It will more often not start and and stop itself while driving. This is a good thing: hopefully a mechanic can witness the problem and solve it more confidently. I've taken it to the garage to let an expert deal with it. I'll update this thread once I know more.

So far I've collected this information: https://workshop-manuals.com/skoda/fabia-mk2/power_unit/1.6/77_kw_mpi_engine/mixture_preparation_system_electronic_inj.gas/fuel_injection_system/injection_and_ignition_system_overview_of_fitting_locations/ https://workshop-manuals.com/skoda/fabia-mk2/power_unit/1.6/77_kw_mpi_engine/mixture_preparation_system_electronic_inj.gas/fuel_injection_system/removing_and_installing_engine_speed_senderg28/ Where is that 7 arrow even pointing? I can't see anything that resembles the second two sketches, probably because it's behind some noise insulation. Again, where's that?

Can you provide any more info? It's a CBZB engine. I'm currently scouring the net for details of the sensor's location, there has to be something somewhere, it's just not proving easy to find.

Unfortunately I don't have VCDS, but I do have a Vgate iCar Pro (bluetooth) and Car Scanner (Android). Here are the codes from today: Car Scanner ELM OBD2 Version: 1.99.5/400995/GP DTC report Connection profile: Skoda OBD-II / EOBD 1.0L-2.0L TSI/TFSI CAN-UDS + AT/DSG (PQ26, MQB, MLB, MSB, etc.)Date: 18/08/2023 12:28:55 VIN: ============================ OBD-II No DTC found. ============================ 19. CAN Gateway No DTC found. ============================ 09. Onboard supply control unit No DTC found. ============================ 01. Engine control unit01. Engine control unit DTCs: 1 ---------------------------- 11003 [0x002AFB] Archive (inactive) P044100: EVAP Emission Contr.Sys.Incorrect, Purge Flow EVAP Emission Contr.Sys.Incorrect Purge Flow P044100: EVAP Emission Contr.Sys.Incorrect, Purge Flow Status: Test failed since last DTC clear, Test not completed during this operation cycle ============================ 08. Heater and climate No DTC found. ============================ 10. Parking Assistant 2 No DTC found. ============================ 15. SRS No DTC found. ============================ 17. Dashboard No DTC found. ============================ 25. Immobilizer No DTC found. ============================ 56. Head unit (MMI) (VW TP2.0)56. Head unit (MMI) (VW TP2.0) DTCs: 1 ---------------------------- 00821 [0x0335] Antenna 2 radio-R93; Antenna 2 for radio R93; Engine speed sender-G28 malfunction Status: Pending fault present, Pending fault present during this driving cycle, Test is inhibited by other DTC, Validated and stored in non volatile memory, Validated fault present at time of request ============================ 76. Parking assistant No DTC found. I noticed these things: 1. 11003 is new... but a quick search leads me to believe that this shouldn't prevent the engine from firing 2. 00821 could be about the radio's antenna (like I wrote in the OP), but could also be about the engine speed sender (sensor?), just like @thomasaspin suggests. I feel a bit silly for missing that, that's almost certainly it, right? If so, is this a big job to replace? Please guide me towards the right part to order and roughly where it is under the bonnet.

Looking more closely at the two keys, the key that I've deemed the spare key appears to be more worn. So I think the previous owner was using this one as their main one. Knowing that the previous owner was already experiencing this problem I don't think the key is the problem. In any case, I'll still try the swap next time the problem presents, as it's worth a shot.

I haven't! But I do have a second key and this is an easy one to test, thanks for the suggestion. The intermittent nature of the problem means I might not be able to do so for a little while, but I promise to update this thread whenever that may be.

Apologies if this is something I could have searched for, I really struggled to come up with good keywords. I have a Skoda Fabia 2011 DSG petrol with a problem. I bought it a couple months ago and the previous owner had the car since new and sold it because it had this problem. When the car starts, it runs great. Although once while driving, it switched into limp-home mode, so I turned it off then on again, and it was back to normal. When this happened, I scanned for error codes and there were so many, including a limp-home code, that I don't think they had ever been cleared and it was hard to tell whether any of them were relevant to this incident. So I cleared them and waited. I'm not so concerned about this problem as it's happened only once, but I've written it here for completeness. The more common problem, having happened now 4 times during my ownership, is that the car will not start for a day or two at a time. Turning the key all the way engages the starter motor which can be heard turning the engine but the engine does not fire. The car will refuse to start for a seemingly random amount of time, perhaps a day or two, then it will start first time every time again. No error codes are triggered when this happens, except for code 00821 which seems to always be there about the radio's second antenna. I read somewhere that turning the key to the on position engages the fuel pump for priming, and indeed I can hear something whirring for a few seconds each time I turn the key to this position. I tried turning the key on and off 5-10 times and only then turning the key all the way to engage the starter motor. This causes the engine to fire, but only for a few turns. This indicates to me that the plugs are sparking and that the fuel pump is working. I could be wrong, of course. So what could it be? And how big of a job is it to replace?

I'm doing the curteous thing of saying hello. I don't suppose I'll ever say goodbye, I reckon that'll be a strange and sad day indeed. I'm not super experienced with repairing cars, but I'm not afraid to get my hands dirty and I have plenty of experience taking stuff apart (sometimes it even goes back together again!). I have a bunch of tools to make and repair smaller things, like gadgets and electronics, although my electronics knowledge is far from advanced. I recently bought my first ever Skoda and honestly hoped never to have to register here, because that usually means I have a problem, but here I am: I'm planning on posting shortly in the Fabia forum with a description of my problem in the hopes that I might get some diagnosis, so see you over there 🫣