r_holmes22

Some kind soul (a Briskodian, I would imagine) has posted a helpful . My apologies if this has already been mentioned; I don't have time to read the whole thread.

Another vote for the steering angle sensor. Mine went last year and I had exactly the symptoms you describe for a while followed after a week or two by a complete loss of power assisted steering, which I only really noticed when going round right-angled corners.

I replaced the coolant temperature sensor in my wife's 1.4MPi recently. Like you, the symptoms were the temperature guage dropping below the usual midway point. This happened for a couple of weeks then for the next couple of weeks very rarely reached the midway point at all. I couldn't say whether it was damaging the car but I wasn't comfortable with it. I could swear the fuel economy dropped significantly, but this may just have been psychological (I'm used to driving my own diesel, so am not dead familiar with her petrol MPi). My thinking was that if the car thinks it's not up to temperature it will not adjust the choke settings and so continue to run on a richer fuel mixture. Anyway, the part was less than £30 from the local stealership and wasn't hard to fit. Temperature guage is back to normal now. Sorry not to be more helpful. My point is that you are probably better safe than sorry, but my wife's ran for about four weeks with the faulty sensor without giving up on us.

Hmm, have just read one or two of the other messages reporting the same problem. I'll try replacing the temperature sensor and see what happens.

Good morning. My wife's Fabia 8V 1.4 MPi has a problem with the temperature guage. I drove it to work and back yesterday (20 miles each way) and the needle never rose much above minimum. I topped up the coolant, which was a little below the minimum line in the expansion tank, but this made no difference. Even with the interior heating on full, the temperature in the cabin doesn't get anywhere near as warm as I would expect; the air from the vents is tepid. Oddly, if I squeeze the large pipe that goes from the expansion tank to the engine a few times, when I start the engine again the temperature guage rises almost to the normal halfway point, but then gradually sinks back downs towards minimum. Does this sound like something I might be able to fix myself, or should I get it to a qualified mechanic?

Thank you for the tips, guys. Appreciated. I'll give it a go this afternoon.

For what it's worth, I had a judder from stationery starts in my 1.9TDi and everybody I consulted (except the local dealer, who insisted there was no problem at all after their £70 road test and computer diagnostics!!!) suggested the clutch. In the event, it turned out to be a broken engine mount (so the engine was shuddering under the strain of getting the car moving, but was fine once any degree of inertia had been built up). This may well not be your problem, but it might be worth asking somebody to check the engine mounts before getting any expensive clutch work done.

Hi all. I am trying to fix the famous rear door leaks this weekend, while there is still a degree of warmth and sunshine. I have removed the manual window crank and the covers of the pull handle, as well as the two large bolts there and the screw behind the little grill at the top. I have also managed to prise most of the panel away from the door. However, I can't pull the top section away (the bit that joins the window/rubber seals). Is there a technique for pulling it out? I can post a piccy illustrating the problem if that would be helpful. Many thanks in advance for any guidance. Cheers.

I suspect this one will require a professional diagnosis, but just thought I'd ask in case it's something obvious. Over the last three months or so I've noticed that my steering wheel has been very hard to turn on occasions. After some experimenting, it seems to me that it happens only when I turn immediately after braking (say, to turn into a ninety degree junction). It only happens when I try to turn sharply and does not happen if I just slow down gradually through the gears then turn in. When it happens, it feels as though the power steering has switched off, or at least is significantly reduced. I have checked the level of power steering fluid and it looks fine to me. Any suggestions before I take it to a professional?

I'd put it down to the weather too. I drive from Lincoln to Newcastle and back each weekend. In the summer I always got at least 57mpg in both directions (according to the computer, which I know is reasonably accurate because I have verified it with the manual method occasionally). Over the last three months I have been lucky to get 50mpg and the 'average' is somewhere around 48mpg. The above comments about temperatures (taking longer to get to the right level in winter) and resistance on wet roads seem plausible. Somebody on another thread indicated that the manufacturers enrich the diesel slightly in the winter to accommodate the colder conditions; I don't know how true that is I'll see what happens when the temperatures improve. Like the OP, this is the first diesel I've owned. It's also the first car with a TRIP computer.

If it has stopped suddenly then, as mentioned above, the evaporator temp sensor is a common culprit. I had to replace mine last summer. If you don't have access to VAG COM then the sensor itself is only about £17 from your nearest dealer, so it might be worth replacing before you pay for any other repairs. I followed ap0gee's extremely useful, step-by-step, illustrated guide at http://www.briskoda.net/forums/technical-guides/fabia-evap-temp-sensor-how-pics/66182/ and got it fixed in about 90mins. I don't have any mechanical/electrical knowledge, so it is a DIY job if you want to give it a go. The hardest part was slotting the new sensor into the right place because it's hard to get into a position where you can bend your arm at the right angle to do so. A bit of persistence paid off in the end and it did fix the problem. Don't forget, you need to have the coolant toppped up every couple of years too. Kwik Fit do it for £45 - Other Products :: Air Conditioning

My wife's 2002 1.4 MPi has been doing exactly the same thing since we bought it three weeks ago. One of the posts on here indicated that changing the coolant expansion tank (containing the sensor) is a fairly straightforward DIY job. I'll dig it out if I can.

My rear wiper doesn't judder or smear, despite the age of the car. If it bothers you, it's worth getting it looked at. I've always replaced it with the ones the dealer sells and they have always been quiet and clear the screen as effectively as the front ones.

I don't know if it helps, but my car used to judder when pulling off (sorry; that sounds rude!!). It turned out to be a broken engine mount/stabiliser. I know you said it's only in the cold, but mine first became apparent when the ground was wet, so I wondered whether the conditions could be related. Does it do it on hill-starts? It didn't cost anything to have it diagnosed at a local independent mechanic, but the dealer failed to spot it, despite my spending £60 for the full diagnostic checks!! They even told me there was nowt wrong with the car. Grrr.

The other thing to check, assuming you are getting your figures from the dashboard display, is to ensure the stated MPG is accurate. Fill the tank, reset the MPG display, drive 100 miles or so, fill the tank again and see whether the amount you have to top up with tallies with the average MPG reading on your dash.

Hi there, tunnie. I have just bought a 1.4MPi for my wife and am experiencing exactly the same issue (light + beep actuivating when car facing down steep hill). Did you manage to get it fixed?

I guess it could be a fault with the sensor. On a recent thread I reported that I have just purchased a Fabia 1.4MPi for my wife and that has been exhibiting similar symptoms to those you describe. In this case, though, it's not necessarily the outside temperature that's causing it. The temperature warning light comes on when the car is pointing down a steep hill (sometimes it's when we switch the engine on while parked on a hill, other times it comes on when driving down a hill and hitting the brakes). In recent days it has started doing it when switching on the engine on a flat surface too. The actual temperature gaueg, though, reads just fine. I have purchased some coolant and will top it up at the weekend. Will let you know if that sorts it. Otherwise, it could, indeed, be temperature-related, or it could be a faulty sensor. Is the warning light supposed to warn that the temperature of te engine is too high, or does it indicate the coolant level is too low? I hope somebody else can be more helpful, but thought I'd let you know that there is somebody else with a very similar issue.

Thanks for the reassurance. I just get nervous when I read in the manual not to drive the car with the temperature warning light on. As I say, though, the temp guage reads fine and the coolant level is between the lines on the flat. I'll top it up at the weekend when I can get to the dealer and will update the thread to let you know if it worked or not.

Hello all. We have just purchased a 52 plate Fabia 1.4 MPi (8 valve version) with 63K on the clock. The one issue that has come to our attention that wasn't evident on the test drives is that the coolant level warning light (and audio) activates if the car is pointing forwards down a steep hill. The temperature guage on the dash shows temperature is fine and the coolant level is between the min/max markers on a level surface. We suspect there is jusy slightly too little liquid in the tank and so the sensor is triggered when the car is not level. I have travelled at least 200 miles in the vehicle since purchase and a steep downwards incline is the only instance where this happens. Does this sound plausible? We can't get to a dealer before next weekend but I do not wish to drive to/from work during the week if I am likely to be damaging the engine. Many thanks for looking.

Phew, sounds as though I'm fortunate not to have had an expensive failure. I only took mine in for timing belt replacement last month at 61K, but the car is over six years old!

This sounds like the common creaking dashboard problem. You need to prise the air vents out from above the stereo witha couple of flat-blade screwdrivers (it's stiff, but it won't damage the fascia or anything; loosen one corner then the other). Once you can pull the vent away from the fascia, unclip the cable from behind the vent. Once the vent is completely disconnected, shine a light to the back of the resulting gap and you'll see a metal bracket at the back and near the top (about eight to ten inches back). You will need to force some cloth or something (I used a paper towel) as hard as you can into this area using a long screwdriver or similar long, narrow instrument. Use whatever material comes to hand that will wedge between the plastic of the dashboard and the metal it is clipped onto. Once this is wedged in nice and firmly, you should be able to plug the power cable back into the vent and push the whole vent back into the dash fairly easily. If I remember, I'll post links to some of the other threads discussing this very irritating noise later on.

Aye! My wife's 800cc, 50BHP Daewoo Matiz (2002) costs £140 for the year! That's £25 more than my infinitely-more-enjoyable 1.9TDi. It hardly strikes me as the biggest of incentives to plump for that soggy, noisy, fragile, underpowered piece of crap over an option with a little more muscle(!). Grr!

Don't forget you can conserve fuel (and therefore emissions) by driving 'smoothly'. In other words, don't floor it when there's obviously a queue ahead of you or the traffic lights are likely to change (in fact, don't floor it ever) and anticipate what's likely to happen ahead of you so you don't have to stop unnecessarily. A lot of the extra fuel you use in urban environments is down to constantly getting the car up to speed again (particularly from stop). Keep the tyres properly inflated to reduce drag too. But then, none of that is particularly 'brisk', nor fun come to that. :-) That said, it can be quite challenging and satisfying to keep your MPG up in town. Try checking your average MPG in an urban environment over, say, a week then play at trying to ensure each journey is a couple of MPG above that. Then try to increase it a bit again. Still not as fun as flooring it though... :-(

I'm sure the pull shouldn't be noticeably strong. Mine did it for a while when the front ARB needed replacing. I've not noticed a strong pull since then. I'm sure your dealer would have spotted if the ARB was wearing out though so it's unlikely this is the cause.

My TDI used to make a single 'clunk' from under the bonnet as I pulled away from stop but this ceased when I had the engine mounts replaced.