GrahamM

Mostly it's those damn spring clips that are a nuisance... 🤬

Interesting to know, thanks. I may try the silicone spray on the belt first as taking those trim panels off is a pain in the... fingers (and if you wear gloves, it just makes it harder :-( )

Right, thanks for that. I did wonder if having the ignition being off would be sufficient, it seemed odd that the system would be live if the car wasn't switched on!

Since I've had my Fabia Mk2 I've found that, especially in the summer, the inertia reel on the drivers seat belt tends to get stuck when it's very warm. This often means that (even if I pull it very very slowly and gently), it will "lock" as if it's been jerked sharply. Generally speaking, though, when it's cold, I don't have the same problem. If i jiggle it repeatedly, eventually it will free up and I can put it on as usual. From what I can see from the Haynes Manual, it's not that difficult to get access to it and, from another thread I've read on here, it's probably just that the works have got a bit gummed up over the years and some cleaning spray and new lubrication should sort it out. My issue, though, is that Haynes says to "Disconnect the Battery Negative" before trying to do anything like this, presumably because of the "explosive" tensioner mechanism. But it also says that the ECU will lose its "learned" settings and the radio will security lock until I put in a code (which was probably lost by a previous owner long ago!) So is it actually necessary to disconnect the negative terminal if I'm not going to be disassembling the mechanism? Is it just Haynes being overly cautious? Advice would be welcomed.

Today I learned... ... My Fabia has TWO off-side rear side light bulbs!!! 😒 Having nothing better to do today (well, nothing vitally important, anyway) I decided to check all the connectors to see if there were any loose wires or corrosion on the pins etc that might be causing extra resistance, since each light cluster was showing a working bulb. Thankfully I started on off-side rear, because, after removing the light cluster and separating the connector, I used a multimeter to check continuity. I looked at the different colours going to the bulbs and saw one that had black and brown wires, which I checked and they were OK. Then I happened to notice that there was another bulb with black and brown wires. I took that one out and, lo and behold, the bulb was blown!! I have no idea why I didn't spot this before when I was checking them, the only thing I can think of is that, having checked one (which was OK), I simply didn't consider the fact that there might be another one. Anyway, I replaced the blown bulb and, Huzzah!, I stopped getting the faulty light warning. So if anyone ever has this issue again and finds this thread, check BOTH bulbs...! 😳

Well that was quick and painless, thankfully! 👍 It turned out that, when the Turbo Actuator arm was replaced a couple of years ago (before I got the car) the housing hadn't been put back quite right, so it was rubbing on the arm and it had caused enough friction to register as a fault. A couple of minutes with a screwdriver and pliers and it was moving freely again Whilst having my own OBD reader might have told me the problem, I wouldn't have known where to look, so that's £60 well spent.

Nope, it felt fine, just suddenly a loss of power. I've got a guy coming round tomorrow to do a diagnostic on it for £60, some places wanted almost three times that or said they couldn't look at it for two weeks!

Thanks for the replies. The car had done about 63,500 at the last MOT in October 2025. I've checked through all the paperwork I got and can't see anything about spark plugs being changed. The Turbo Actuator was replaced in 2024 (before I bought it). Unfortunately my local garage doesn't have any availability until the end of next week, so I'm going to have to phone around and see if I can find somewhere else at shorter notice unless there's a way to access the OBD via my phone.

I'd been out for a drive with my partner today, coming back home on a country road, when I suddenly realised I was having a loss of power and, when I looked at the instruments, I saw that EPC was illuminated. I found somewhere to stop and looked in the manual and realised that it had gone into Limp Home mode, but after switching off and on again, the fault light cleared and I was able to drive the 25 or so miles home (carefully!) without problems. I've contacted my local garage using their online form, so I can get them to check the OBD, but if anyone's got any other useful advice, I'd welcome it.

Well, it's sorted now and sounds a lot better! Thing is, I was used to the noise from the old one and realised the slight rattling sound on starting that I'd put down to something in the engine, was, I now realise, from the exhaust. Oh well... 🙃

I found that Kwik Fit do a free, no obligation, inspection service and went in there this morning. It seems that the back box/ silencer has rusted through where it connects to the exhaust pipe and completely parted company. I asked how much it would be to fix and the young lad I spoke to phoned the suppliers and then said £94 which was a lot less than I'd thought it would be. On the way home, I got a call from them saying "Err, sorry, he made a mistake, the quote was just the cost of the part to us! It should actually be £197 including vat and labour," (which, to be honest, was more like what I'd been expecting). So I've got it booked in for them to replace it tomorrow. PS I told them they should take the extra cost off the lad's wages... ;-)

Ok, thanks for the replies. I did notice the exhaust sound seemed to have changed, so I thought that something might have come adrift. I'll try to get a better view of what's happening and see whether it's just a matter of replacing a clamp or putting on some exhaust bandage or whether the whole thing needs replacing.

Anyone...?

I did check those and they seemed OK, but I squirted some contact cleaner onto them too. I might have another look tomorrow and give them a go-over with some emery paper just in case I missed something.

Unrelated (hopefully!) to my faulty light problem, in the past few days I think the tone of my exhaust has changed and it sounds deeper. Whilst I was fiddling around with the lights, I gave the exhaust a push and noticed that it was swinging from side to side. Is it supposed to do this?! If not, what might the problem be?

I checked the number plate lights and squirted some contact cleaner on them and they seemed OK. One thing which I didn't think of before, was to turn the light switch to side lights instead of just all on and found that I still got the warning, even though they're all working. The side lights did seem to be a mix of types, so, out of frustration I swapped all the side light bulbs (rear and front) for new 12v W5W T10 bulbs, but that didn't help either :( So I really have no idea what is going on...

All the lights are incandescent, not LED and I wasn't getting the problem before the fire. As far as I know, apart from the numberplate lights, the garage re-used the bulbs from before. I found this video which suggests actually checking the bulbs themselves and maybe the number plate bulbs are the wrong wattage, I'll have a look. https://youtu.be/JJeRxRi7Lpo?si=VUB2mziqUXTN0BAb I cleaned up all the contacts on the tail lights, but not the number plate lights, so I'll take a look at those, thanks.

Thanks for the reply. I've looked at a bunch of sites and it seems that it's only a Red warning lights that are automatic fails, Amber ones may not, depending on what they are. But, yes, all the lights, including the number plate lights, are working OK. I'll give my MOT place a call on Monday and see what they say.

A while ago, a car parked behind mine decided to spontaneously combust, melting my rear bumper and the outsides of the light clusters, plus scorching the hatchback. The light bulbs themselves weren't damaged and still worked, as did my aftermarket reversing sensor system, none of the wires were melted. I got a garage to replace the bumper, hatchback and light plastics, but I'm having a problem with the "faulty light" detector as, whenever I turn on the lights, the bulb symbol on the instrument panel comes on. All the bulbs work, I've taken them out, cleaned the contacts, tried disconnecting the reversing sensors etc, but I'm still getting the warning light. I don't know what else I can do to sort this out, the MOT is coming up in a couple of months and, despite the functioning lights, I'm worried that the presence of the warning light will result in a fail. Can anyone offer any suggestions as to what I can do next?

Just to finish this thread off: I went and had a look at the car today and after a good check over and test drive, I decided I'd buy it. After a bit of back and forth with the Dealer, we agreed that he'd get the front suspension bushings fixed and renew the MOT so they wouldn't be on there as advisories, and I'd pay the full asking price which seems a good enough deal to me, because I don't have to worry about them or pay a few hundred quid to get them fixed in a year or three 🙂

https://www.seafrontmotors.co.uk/used/skoda-fabia-se-tsi-in-fratton-portsmouth/55945 Oops, missed the link 😳

It's a local dealer, but I don't think they do the work or MOT themselves. Here's the ad although it says New MOT, I presume they'll do it when it's about to sell.

Thanks to someone driving through a Give Way line, my previous Mark 2 Fabia (which I'd only had for a year!) is now a write off, so I need to get a replacement. There's one locally I'm looking at, 2012 registration, which has done 58k miles, but a check of the MOT gives the following from last year : Nearside Front Suspension arm pin or bush worn but not resulting in excessive movement rear wishbone bush deteriorating (5.3.4 (a) (i)) Offside Front Suspension arm pin or bush worn but not resulting in excessive movement rear wishbone bush deteriorating (5.3.4 (a) (i)) Nearside Rear shock casing corroded Offside Rear shock casing The shock casing corrosion Advisories have been mentioned since 2020 (except for 2022 which seems odd, unless the Inspector didn't consider them to be a big deal then) The suspension arm pin/ bush wear was only first mentioned last year (the MOT expires at the end of this month) and I've looked at a couple of threads on here and elsewhere which give the impression that it's a fairly common Advisory, but not particularly critical. I'm going to have a look at it and test drive it tomorrow and insist on a new MOT before I even think of purchasing, but if these are flagged up again, would it be unreasonable to try to get the price down or have them fixed before I buy?

I had a problem with a flat battery on my Fabia Mark 2 Hatchback (2012), so I called the RAC and got a jump start. I was just about to go for a half hour drive along the motorway to recharge the battery when lights started flashing on the dashboard and the mechanic checked the electrics to find that the alternator was only putting out half the power it should 😮 He put a volt meter on the battery which said 14 volts, but then tried it on the engine and got a reading of only 13 volts, the volt drop test indicating that there was a resistance in the electrical circuit. It turned out that the actual problem was that, at some point, someone had undone the earth connection on the left side of the engine (opposite side to the battery), but then bodged the bolt back on and crossed the threads so it wasn't fully tightened 😒 This resulted in the connection getting corroded and the rust causing higher than normal resistance in the circuit such that the bolt was actually getting hot! To fix it, since the bottom part of the bolt is (I think) M10, but the top is M8, he borrowed my Dremel and reamed out the hole in the earth cable to let him secure it with the M10 part of the bolt and, once it was back in place, all the parts of the circuit were registering the same voltage. So thumbs up to the RAC guy for spotting this and saving me having to fork out for getting a new alternator fitted! 👍 I hope this might help someone else who has a similar issue 🙂

After another long delay, I finally found the time (and patience) to sort out the problem of the reversing light on my Skoda Fabia Mark II not working because the wires that go to the connector on the gearbox switch had broken. Firstly I found it was easier to remove the heater hose that is in the way, it has a T15 Torx Screw at one end and T20 at the other end (another piece of clever design by Skoda!) This gave me more room to manoeuvre, but I also bought a set of extra long pliers (about 11"), one of which has a straight end, one is 45 degrees and the other has a 90 degree end. This made it much easier to grip the wires from the loom when I was stripping the ends and then crimping the new terminals. Here's a video showing some of the details, I hope this helps someone else who has had the same problem: