Crash_Bandicoot

As I said before bought a brand new bosch silver(thingy...) one when I got it to make up for the lack of amps the current one had. But alas, problem is fixed. Do you know what it was? I actually laughed when I found out... Turns out the resistors in one of the spark plugs was causing a voltage spike at low RMP - changed the plugs and voila! Guy at victoria garage said that he'd seen a fault exactly like it on another Fabia and had spent days and heaps of money trying to find an electrical fault, only to find it disappeared after the plugs were changed during a service. Summary of costs: New battery - £120.00 Fuses - £2.50 x4 Spark plugs - £19 Labour - £18.50 Hope this helps any future users! Mike

Cheers Ed i'll look into it tomorow! Another development in things - the dials didn't die on me today but realised driving home at night time that the lights behind the instruments to illuminate the dials were not working. Would make me think that it was a wiring issue with the dash. HOWEVER, was parking today whilst the mysterious fault was happening and it would appear at low speed and low RPM the power steering doesn't work. Still suspecting a bad earth or a voltage spike somewhere. Does anyone know if Fabia's are prone to voltage spikes in any particular area? Worst case scenario could be that the ECU is knackered. I'm scared to ask but does anyone know how much they are to replace? Cheers, Mike

Righto, just to update, still no developments. Took out the entire battery assembly and looked at the earths for the battery and down next to the PAS pump. Both look like they've just been changed but didn't see any harm cleaning them and putting them back on. Still getting the fault though. Spoke to a VAG specialist, who said its most likely an electrical issue and that I should get it checked by a sparky before putting it into a garage. Spoke to Taylor's in Aberdeen (Local Auto Electricians) who said its most likely to be the dashboard that needs replacing (ontop of an £80 per hour service charge - OUCH!). Lots of conflicting opinions so i've bitten the bullet and got it booked into the specialist in Maud (comes highly recommended on here). To be more specific about the fault, it seems to only occur when accelerating around corners, and since the PAS is electric/hydrolic i'm assuming i'm losing a massive amount of voltage somewhere which is causing the ECU to cut something out of the equation, first thing being the instrument cluster. When the car is started, both the airbag and engine management light are on, but when the fault occurs the engine management light goes out, and the following comes on: PAS, ABS, Brakes, Airbag and Oil. As previously mentioned both the taco and speedo die. In addition to this the milage DOES NOT climb at all. I drove the car for about 20 miles today, neither the trip or the actual milage changed. This is a video of it in action - The car is mechanically perfect (apart from a pourous sump which has been temp. fixed with metallic putty until such times as I can get a new one) so the incident has to be isolated to an electrical issue. Would appreciate any pointers in the right direction. Cheers, Mike

Perfect, all working now, cheers guys!

Just replaced the battery in my Fabia, everything seems to be working fine except for the switches for the electric windows. The automatic up/down isn't working so I have to hold the switch for the duration of opening/closing. Anyone know how to fix this? Cheers, Mike

Need to borrow a vagcom unit from someone in or near Aberdeen, might be a pint in it for you!

Bump

Okay, picked up my Fabia yesterday. It has been sitting doing bugger all for a year so I expected a few teething problems. But every now and then for no apparent reason both the tachometer and speedometer go dead and I get all the warning lights on at the same time. First time it happened I pulled over, turned the ignition off and then on again and it seemed to work fine for the next 200 miles. Thing is it happened 3 times on a 3 hour journey today, once during average speed cameras which you can appreciate is a nightmare and i'm not sure where to start looking. Don't have a VAGCOM so can't help you with the codes. Anyone experienced anything similar? My initial thoughts were a bad earth or loose battery terminal. Thanks in advance

Great, thanks guys!

Hi guys, i'm completely new to this forum having opted for a Fabia after my beloved Yaris died. It's a 2003 1.4 MPI which I got on ebay from a dealer - however the airbag warning light is on at the moment. I've been told that this is a fairly common problem with these cars and was wondering what I need to do to fix it with relitively little cost. I'm assuming its just a sensor? Thanks, Mike

Hi guys, just bought myself a 2003 Fabia 1.4, picking it up tomorow!