fabia19

Hi, before xmas my Fabia 1.9 SDi suffered a cambelt failure when driving on the motorway, wouldn't start and got towed to garage. Garage said engine was kaput and needed the works, they fixed it (though not sure what exactly they changed as the receipt didnt list everything they had done just titeled "engine work", I wasn't happy about that and asked for an itemised list but never received one, seems abit fishy but I dont want to waste my life getting upset about it) anyway car seemed to be running fine, though aux belt was looser than before and making a noise so took it back and they adjusted something (pully/pully bearing I think) when I got the car back the belt wasn't loose but it did/does make abit of a squeak sometimes when running, this has mostly gone now. But my main problem is that when driving, particularly at high speed or when ever high or unstable revs such as shifting gears down or up from a low gear I get this beep and the battery symbol appears on the dash for a brief few seconds then dissapears until I do something like change down or come off the accelerator and again it beeps and the light comes on. Ive been ignoring this for afew months (as I was skint and had just spent all that money on the engine rebuild). Im guessing it has something to do with the aux belt and alternator (as my book says the light means alternator not working properly as in not charging the battery, battery has been fine though). Or could it simply be a sensor that has gone abit daft and is thinking there is something wrong due to the vibration/speed of the engine at certain rev levels? It never did this before the cambelt failure, and its really annoying me, I really want to keep this car after the investments ive put in to it, today I just had a geometry check and had all my wheels all re aligned so the steering is spot on and I want it to be perfect for the summer. Thanks for any help in advance my fellow Briskodians.

Well if I had known that a cambelt change was only £250 to have done I would of had it done, I was under the impression that it was like £800 just to have a cambelt change. Well I learnt a valuable lesson. Anyway I decided to go ahead with the rebuild for £800 as they have already put the belt kit on and towing it is just a mission and a load of hassle that I dont need at xmas. Anyway Ill keep the little furby until the insurance runs out atleast. But yes people, if you dont know about the camblet being changed just get it changed! I will check my records to see if it had ever had a cambelt change in its 175,000 miles

Right it went to a garage that I trust, and they slapped on a new cambelt kit but only to find that engine is goosed after all. Gonna be £800 or more to have fixed or around £1000 to have another engine put in. So im thinking its just not worth it for me to have done. Its such a shame as he was my first car and my pride and joy, i had powerflex bushes put on it, fitted blaupunkt rear speakers, just got new stereo, new brake pads and discs, new fuel filter, done the rear door sealant fix, bought tailored mats, just had tracking and new steering rack done, new TCA put on last december, been sprayed and repaired after bus grinded into it, and just bought 2 new tyres for my VRS wheels. What would you guys do in this position? :( Cheers.

Nice to hear there is some hope, how easy/cheap is a cambelt change? And what sort of price do you reckon a garage would fit an engine for as i had an sdi engine quote this morning (£520 delivered for a 2003 41000 miles one) will let you know how i get on. Ive been looking at autotrader all morning and getting quotes on different cars, but if its more economical to fix then ill keep the furby. Thanks for all the help,

Hi, my 2002 fabia 1.9 SDi that hit 175,000 yesterday suddenly lost all its power on the motorway, AA came eventually and discovered timing belt is kaput. I just ordered 2 new VRS alloy tyres today aswell!. I know that to have this fixed is more than the car is worth or atleast very close to it (I paid £1200 for it 2ish years ago) but how much sense would there be in getting an SDi engine off ebay and having it dropped in? Is it worth looking into? Or should I just sell as non runner? Its too good to scrap, very clean inside and fairly clean outside and underneath. What are my best options? Im so annoyed this close to xmas, gonna have to use public transport to get to work which is horrible especially in this weather. Anyway Cheers for any advice.

They got it so wright with the Lupo, these and the fox are just boring. If they made a baby fabia MK1 people would buy it in droves.

I bought my 2002 SDi from an Autotrader dealer for 1200 quid and it had some history, very clean inside. It had 160,000 on it and I bought it straight away but after a service we realised and afew days of ownership it needed: 1: Auxiliary belt tensioner and belt (cheap and easy to fit) 2: One of the headlights had a broken bracket and was angled abit odly, cheap ebay used headlight sorted this 3: Also realised that the aftermarket central locking kit didnt operate the rear doors (well it did every now and then, so I disconnected the rear lock motors when i did the door seal fix). 4: Rear windscreen washer pipe was disconnected (still is as I cant be bothered risking cracking the panel). 5: It sometimes takes about 4 seconds to start and white smoke comes out if its been standing overnight or many hours, after this initial start it will be fine for the rest of the day. When Ive tried the offical VW starting procedure (turn key on so glow plug light comes on, wait for glow plug light to go off, then turn fully to start), it often doesnt like starting like that and also puts out the white smoke. If I just start it like I would a petrol its fine 90% of the time. When Ive used google to research this problem (there have been other SDi owners on this very site with the same problem) Ive read that it can be air getting in through a perished pipe or something, and ive also seen other model of diesel vehicles with the same problem online. It always starts anyway and isnt really a major issue, just annoying. Yes ive changed the glow plugs. But those minor problems aside its a superb car, when weve had it up on the ramp at the garage the underneath of the car looked almost new as there was no rust anywhere. No black smoke on motorway, doesn't drink any oil after the 5000 ive done since last change, nice and solid on the motorway and once you know how to get the best out of the engine you will find it a nice car for long distances (I drove from Manchester to Glasgow to Edinburgh, and Manchester to Newcastle, both times I never felt I needed anything bigger). Its extremely economical, plenty fast enough unless you want overtaking power (remaps of 80+ HP are available which improve things even more apparently, Im considering it), great in traffic and will roll in first and second with no foot on accelerator and clutch engaged (great for snowy roads). £90 a year to tax, probably the cheapest car to insure a young male on (was for me apart from the citroen c1), looks smart with VRS wheels on, seats arent bad, boot is big. But why would you want an OEM stereo? You need something that either had a USB, an AUX input or at the very least can play MP3, WMA files from a CD. I cant belive people still listen to shop bought CD's and are happy with that lack of choice. You can get smart looking fully featured SONY, JVC, Pioneer HU for £50+ these days.

My 2002 Fabia SDi has 174,450 on it. It had 160,000 ish when I bought it, but I thought I would take the risk as I had been waiting for my first car for ages waiting for insurance premiums to drop. It needed an auxiliary belt and tensioner changing but that was it. Ive read on youtube and seen on autotrader SDi engined vehicles with 500,000. If I was buying another SDi I would hardly give the mileage a second thought. I think people still believe the whole "if its more than 50k then its goosed" mentality which was true years ago with metros and rubbish. I dont think I will ever own a petrol car.

Well (I did this before I read your message) ive crimped a bullet connector to the fm booster and plugged it into the top right blue and white one, and it works. I mean that top right one is meant to connect to the bottom blue and white one anyway (top right is male bullet, bottom left is female) so surely it doesnt make a difference? Or have I done it very wrong?

Ok here is the pioneer wires and I think either the top empty blue and white cable with bullet connector or the bottom one labelled "remote control" will be fine for the fm booster. Ok thanks for all your help. cheers.

So that setup as shown in the picture is correct then? As there is no pure blue, only a blue and white, the new pioneer one is slightly different I will check to see if it has a pure blue wire on it. Im confused as to what exactly is the cars ISO connector , is that thing in the photo not it?(this is the connection that comes with the stereo) Is the cars ISO connector the gubbins thats actually in the car that this plugs in to?

Hey mate it was just the number 10 5A small blade fuse after all! I overlooked that fuse as in my haynes manual it is called the "contact S accessories" fuse and I didnt have a clue what that was. Ok here is a pic of the signal booster splice I did on my old stereo's ISO connector wiring. I have the blue cable on the booster spliced into the blue and white wire on the ISO block. It was just a wind and tape job but it worked but it could be why my fuse blew. This new stereo is a pioneer and comes with new a ISO connector, should I splice the same as the last one? Or is it even possible that this new stereo has an inbuilt signal booster (any way of checking this? or is it just case of reading the manual?) Ok thanks pal now we are getting somewhere.

Ok cheers I will check the number 10. Ill get a picture of the splice, it must of been right because the booster did actually work. Ok thanks ill get back to you.

Also just been reading up on ice installs and read that you should ground a car stereo. I dont know if somewhere it is grounded or not. Also Realised there are fuses under the bonnet that could of blown .

ok so ive tried new stereo and still no luck. Any ideas on which fuse it could be? Or could something of burnt out completely in the loom? Thanks in advance