Yorkshiremidge

Typical, but thanks for posting the outcome - and pleased you got yours sorted. I can see that ecu.eu charge 160 euro (excluding tax and shipping) for the repair so you're probably close to 200 euro for that. But just out of curiosity, how many hours labour was it to remove and then refit a selector? For those who don't want to try my DIY method using a hacked about VW switch kit, it might give people a viable and relatively cost effective alternative to bending over and having a dealer insert a brand new selector 😢

Thanks for keeping us in the loop. It will be interesting to see what ecu.eu do to fix the one you're sending off. At least that might give people an alternative repair option to mine, assuming they can arrange to dig their selector out the car and do without it for a little while.

@jtmattila Sorry, I've lost the thread a bit on where you're up to with your selectors. Was the selector you have just had fitted, and appears to be working, the one that your auto electrician had a go at fixing back in September but you weren't that confident about because he hadn't actually found the switch, just some defective soldering?

Most of the time I don't. It seems at its most noticeable when you're driving at speed with little steering input, and you need to make a minor steering correction and you're concious is just kinda sticks a bit. It's not the sort of thing you notice at (say) low speed manoeuvring or parking. Anyway, good to know it is on others - thanks.

Thanks - you could be right, but the rack on my Audi is electric too. I can't think that I've come across it with any other electric power steering cars I've had either.

We've had our Mk3 for over a year now. I've recently noticed that if I'm really gentle with the steering when driving along, I can pick up a very slight resistance through the first degree or so of movement of the steering wheel, and then it turns as normal. It's really quite difficult to describe it as it's barely detectable, and Mrs Midge had certainly not noticed it when she drives it. I notice it because my Audi doesn't do it! Just wondered if anyone else has experienced anything that sounds like this? I was thinking it might be a bearing or ball joint binding so there is a tiny bit of resistance until the power steering overcomes whatever it it. Thanks!

Yeah you will, as most will quote for a new selector as that seems to be the official way to deal with it on a Fabia. I'll ping you a message on the garage who reckon to have done it cheap so if they are close to you, it might be worth giving them a call.

@jtmattila You're welcome. Did ecu.eu confirm exactly what they do to repair them?

@logiclee Yes, they always did sell four variants. 5Q0 713 128B is listed for the Skoda Kodiaq. It is difficult to be certain from the pictures but the switch plate on that kit might well have the same issue, and you'd assume that if it also fitted the Fabia, websites selling it might be keen to communicate that out as it means more sales! I'd also expect my local indy to know about it if that kit fitted - but they told me they swap the entire selector on Fabias if they hit the fault. We can ignore the 3Q0713128 and 3Q0713128A as those are for different selector units entirely. Regarding your guy, I did update him with what I'd done and invite comment but I don't think I got anything back so have just pinged him a message.

@jtmattila Looking at the diagram, J217 is the the gearbox control unit under the bonnet. So the multiway connector that you unplug from the front of the selector would be T10k, and I assume the "Tiptronic Switch" F189 is some sort of control unit within the selector. It looks like F319 is the faulty switch - and it appears to be a separate unit on its own pair of wires, though I can't yet find any evidence it is available to buy on its own. Then again, it could simply be a casing around an industry standard microswitch. T10k/1 seems to be ground. T10k/2 seems to be the switch output - both circled in red. So, if the selector lever can be moved with the unit off the car (i.e. it doesn't require power to the selector unit to unlock the lever), it seems possible the unit can be tested by measuring the resistance between pins 1 and 2 with the lever moved out of Park. The only issue I can see with that is we know the fault is very intermittent, so there is no guarantee that you would actually pick the fault up at the time you test (you'd just have to hope that there is a higher than normal resistance present all the time, and it just gets worse when the fault actually occurs). I found a diagram on the net of the T10k connector plug pin out so that is below so you can work on the pins on the selector socket. If I was you, I would email ecu.eu and ask them specifically if their repair is to "replace the failed F319 switch within the selector, or simply to fit the external VW switch repair kit that bypasses the failed switch" and see what they say.

It's been donkeys years since I had a car with hub brakes but from what you describe, I'd be thinking the following in order of likelyhood: The brake shoe actuating lever within the hub having a siezed pivot, so when you take the handbrake off, the lever remains stubbonly in place and holding a shoe against the hub until the return springs of the shoes overcome the sticking and the brake shoe snaps back. Corrosion on the raised areas of the hub back plate that the shoes slide against as they operate. The shoes are held against these raised areas by springs and the raised areas should be smooth and have brake grease applied. But if they haven't been greased and have corroded, it can cause the shoes to bind on. Again, when the force of the return springs is greater than the fiction, the shoe will snap back. Handbrake cable siezed. This would have the same effect as the first scenario - but I suspect you might have noticed the handbrake was a little harder to apply if this was the cause. This doesn't sound like a brake cylinder fault which would be the most expensive thing, but even those are actually pretty cheap to replace if it was. This is unlikely to be covered by any warranty I'm afraid so make sure you read your T&Cs. It is often the case that a dealer will charge a standard diagnostic fee to establish if it is covered by the warranty - so you can end up paying more than you would if you took your car to a trusted and cheaper independent. The good news is if it is either 1 or 2 above, it would take a good mechanic half an hour a side to get them working as they should.

@jtmattila Presumbly he has opened up the selector and replaced the original failed switch? There are some internationally standard formats/dimensions for microswitches so if the original was one of those, it would make for a neater/better solution than mine. I suppose the big question is whether that can be done in situ with the selector still fitted in the car. If not, it is going to be a longer job if it has to be removed to do it. For your repair, were you looking at ecu.eu to do it? I found them offering repairs on selectors too - though you'd need to be sure they weren't just charging you to fit the external switch kit for you 😄 Let us know how you got on.......

This is the sort of fault where you're into auto-electrican territory rather than mechanic really - but the explanation on the connector is entirely feasible and might just explain some of the other errors too. Hope it has sorted it for you.

Very true - and a nice little earner for them. But in this case where the part is over a grand fitted, and it is to resolve a single failing switch within - which was evidently not fit for purpose in the first place - that isn't exactly doing the brand any good, and scrapping an entire selector isn't environmentally friendly either. What VW Group should have done of course is make a variant of the switch kit for the Fabia. After all, they evidently went to the trouble of making a variant specifically for the Skoda Kodiaq (that is part 5Q0 713 128 B). But what do we know 😄

Good idea - I have put them in the guides section. Yes, I was doing this with my phone so it was a bit of a challenge and a mix of views.