16V

Tnx, would that explain all the symptoms? Where is the PAS, and what does the letters stand for? Cheers

Howdy dear fellow owners and previous owners. I have this 16v 2001 Fabia with about 100 000 miles. 10000 miles ago my power steering died, so I found a replacement from a crashed 2009 VW Polo with only 20000 miles, the authorized Skoda dealer changed it for me, but of course without an warranty because I came with the power steering in my trunk. So it has been working fine for two years until now. Sometimes it works great, but at the same time I noticed the beam of headlights dropping irregularly accompanied with some electrical noise from the engine like something is working against some resistance and the steering becomes a bit harder, half a minute later the dropping beam thing and the electrical noise goes away, the steering is still a bit harder and the power steering light beams up. So the power steering works to 60% of it's level, and when I turn the steering wheel fast, like doing slalom, all it's power goes away, while going normally the power keeps going on 60%. Sometimes when I start the car up, the light can be out for 15 minutes, and as long as it's not beaming and I don't get this humming and dropping beams the full power is on. But more often I get the warning light go on. It all started after a really rainy day, that's probably a coincidence... What u think? Just needs oil (that's my hope)? If so, that's beneath the battery, and can I use any power steering oil for this? Cheers from Sweden.

WOW!!! Congrats to all involved!!! Pretty damn awesome!!!

Tnx Dave. I checked that. I was desperate and called a company who changed. Had to pay around €350. Skoda was asking €600, so I guess it was ok. Usually I do these stuff myself, but this time I didn't have the time... Well, well. Cash is king...

My car has been standing for 6 months (I live abroad) , so battery was dead and my friends used another car for start up car mine wouldn't idle on the its own battery and died as soon as slave was disconnected. I wasn't present, so hearing about this I bough a new battery and though the old was toasted. So installed the new battery and it started but now battery indicator light is on (which they said was the issue as well), so I assume the reason for previous battery wouldn't idle was generator malfunctioning. This just happened so I haven't tried to charge the old batt. Belt is spinning. I haven't checked the "coils" I assume these wear down like they did on my old beetles and then you sometimes had to change them? This car has no AC. So my question is would any Fabia generator with 90 Amp work? Would you aim for a new generator, or would you think the fault would be elsewhere? 1. Generator mechanic 2. Order a cheap generator for like €80 3. Skoda mechanic which means new generator for like € 400 plus work... The bad part is that I'm running low on time. Just in town for a week... Cheers

Crap. You think € 300 is an ok price?

I did search the forum, but I didn't find any? The shop wants more than € 300 for changing my left front spring for my Fabia 16v 2001, and I just saw that the the spring only cost € 80. I have my Haynes packed somewhere because I'm moving. You know if this is a simple issue to do yourself? I'm guessing just a bolt? :(

Tnx for the info guys. The symbol on the dash lights up everytime this happens. I forgot to mention that. Does this change the prognosis?

Got this issue with the power-steering on my 16V. It has been working part time. In periods it works fine, sometimes for a month, then it doesn't work for while and went dead. I noticed if I started in high gear and let go of the clutch rather brutal creating a shake in the engine it started working again. But that didn't work more than a week. Now I noticed that if the wheels was turned full to the left and the power came back once again. Did this for an other week. Now that doesnt work either! So I give the car to the workshop to fix this, since I pretty sure its a loose contact somewhere, but I figured they could help me out. They tell me it's the hydralic that's toasted and they will fix it for 1000 Euro. I say sod off, it's a loose contact since it works if you shake the engine. But the repair-guy wasn't available when I wanted to point out this. The chick in the cashier was clueless of course. Do you guys think this is hydralic? I thought mechanic failures where here to stay, but my power steering worked perfect for hours after weeks of trouble. As long as I got it working, it continued! Any ideas? Do I have to disassemble the whole bumper to see the connections or what? The battery connection at the battery looks fine!

Was driving on the freeway and suddenly the servo light went on. The servo was dead (notice leaving the free way). :mad:I continued driving to my destination. Stop the engine, restarded the thing and voila! The servo was back. No warning light. I connected my digital fault reader gadget and no error code. I assume electric. Anyone having an experience of this? I also assume this will happen again soon?:thumbdwn:

Cool! So maybe mine needed a cleaning only as well? Doesn't matter any longer. It was a cheap thing to buy.

I put in the reader U281 yesterday, and no error codes! I'm clear now? Is it possible to put the EPC light and still have the error code? Cheers Marc

I don't know if I still have the fault, the EPC light was still there after putting the new switch in place. Can I find the fault still despite the EPC light is gone now? I can check that tomorrow. "The U281 VW/Audi Code Reader It will Erase or Reset the trouble light." Hmm, so the fault may still be there? The confusing thing for me was that everything was working ok despite the lamp was on. I got the error code saying this switch was malfunctioning but my rear brake lights was functioning correctly. Talk, like you talk to a child here, because honestly, I'm clueless.

Yes I did! Skoda and VAG dealer are the same in Sweden. He checked my car id before getting the switch. When I say loose, I mean when I grip the thing and pull it sidways it moves half a centimeter give or take in each direction. If you pull it, or push it, there are no play at all.

Done! Took away about 6 screws, bended the lower black panel that was very flexibel compared to ordinary plastic. I got a rather free space to work with. Felt a bit primitive to bend that much, but nothing broke so I figure it was ok. Two metal clips fell down, that I don't know where they came from, nor do I care. I was able to screw back all screws without any malfunction. So I pretend these small clips or whatever you call them don't exists! Took away the contact by pushing in the wedges, then turned the switch 90 ° contraclockwise I think. Put the contact in the new switch, and pressed it down the bottom of the hole with the small openings correlating to the plastic lumps on the switch. Turned it 90 ° clockwise and it said click! I think the new switch did fit as good as the old one? Made the procedure another, turned it about 90 ° and it said click. But it was a bit loose. Tried it again, same result. But since the diameter where it sits is only about 1 cm, and it's a rather thin metal plate and the rest of the switch thing is rather big I assume you cant expect too much can you? But the EPC light didn't go off, so I used the U281 gadget to turn of the damn thing. How do I know this works properly now? I'm also still confused by how this was really a problem since everything worked? Tnx again from a rainy cold Sweden, you guys are the best! /Marc