Breezy_Pete

There are actually two switches in there in the same package, maybe the one that doesn't do the bulbs was the problem. I'm not aware of any way that a mechanical switch can make bulbs blow, more likely just age. What part number is the old one, please @Albie10, or the new one you bought if the other is already in a bin?

Engine code is not the same thing as fault code. Your engine code is the letters in front of the engine number on your V5c ownership certificate, also often on a barcode sticker on the upper cambelt cover. Is the vacuum solenoid you mean maybe item 26 here: exhaust gas recirculation - Superb(SUP) [EUROPA 2012 year] (7zap.com) ? Not heard of trouble with that, and heard about lots of trouble with the EGR itself, but you never know..

Since petrol went to very low-sulphur formulations to make catalytic converters survive, exhausts don't rot from the inside out like they used to.

That may be related to the fault light then, but wait and see what fault codes show. Unusual place to get a hole/leak, I think. Flexi section in the front pipe would be much more common.

Inlet or exhaust, and why?

A simple experiment suggests itself; refit old switch, see if everything stays OK. I tend to agree with @J.R., two blown bulbs may have been the only faults.

Original factory fit one only appears to have lasted four years, late 2002 (52 reg car) to late 2006/ early 2007 when this one was probably fitted.

I shall attempt to resurrect it with long-term charging, but suspect it may be beyond help.

I can't see it mentioned anywhere in the car data, as present or absent. Can't say either of us miss it if it is absent. The one and only feature I wish the car didn't lack is this one: 7P0 L LOR Without lumbar support in seat backrests.

Think it's actually a slightly confusing mixture of the two. A push-to-make switch whose normal (seat locked upright) operating state is pushed; so effectively a push-to-make, but in this case an 'unpush to break'. 😁

This switch is depicted thusly in CFD: Wires are shorted when switch is pressed/seat locked upright, but disconnected from one another when the seat isn't in that state, I think. OP can check for us. Don't recall whether our Fabia has this feature or not.

Awesome, thanks @skomaz. I was hoping something as useful as that might come out of this thread. That fits with the production date of the case body. Owner thinks he's only had the car since 2012 approx, so probably wrong about having a replacement battery fitted in his ownership. Not surprised it needed replacement then at a shade over 15 years old and in a car that is only used occasionally! 😲

Nothing I can see except what's in photo #1. I'll check if he had the car in 2006, can't remember.

Extracted from a late 2002 Fabia, whose owner believes the battery has been replaced at least once in the car's lifetime; hazy about when. Top photo has various numbers along top edge that may include some manufacturing date info, but it doesn't 'leap off the page' at me. Anyone able to decode? What is interesting is that there are some 'date wheels' on the bottom of the case that suggest October 2006 for the manufacture of that. Apologies for photo quality/lack of, especially the second.

Are you not tempted to just do some very hard braking (obviously in safe circumstances) to see if you can just clean the discs up? How much wear on the pads?

Shown as Normally Closed (conducting) on wiring diagram, which I would take to mean in the normal operating condition (upright/locked).

Short the wires together, job done.

I think this is the official Skoda procedure: Skoda Workshop Manuals > Fabia Mk1 > Drive unit > 1.0/37; 1.4/44; 1.4/50 kW MPI engine > Engine cylinder head, valve gear > Repairing cylinder head > Basic setting of hydraulic valve clearance compensation (workshop-manuals.com) Not familiar with this at all so don't ask me to explain anything about it! I believe the engine mechanicals are very similar to the Felicia 1.3 though, from what I've heard. Compare what's in the link to what Ricardo has written, and Haynes for that matter, which in my experience is usually written in much clearer language than the translated official VW/Skoda stuff.

Do you care about having the warning function correctly? If not just unplug the connector and short it out, or code the function out of the central electronics unit if you have VCDS.

What are the current fault codes, and what have you done to investigate?

Let me clarify. When I said there may be only a little flow, I meant as opposed to none at all, as it should be until operating temp is reached. If there was lots of flow (stuck wide open) then the OP would be able to feel warmth at the bottom hose as well as the top one, I think.

If the stat's leaking/slightly stuck open, there may be only a little flow through the rad, so there will be a large temperature drop between in and out hoses. i.e. the rad can cool that small flow completely down so you can't feel any warmth at the bottom hose?

If you do remove the door card, check power feeds to the window motor module's connector with ignition switched on. You should see 12V on pin 16 (main permanent 12 V thick red/white wire) and on pin 6, black/blue ignition 12V feed. Both relative to pin 8, thick brown earth, and/or any car body earth.

Check fuse 11 too if you haven't already. I don't think the comfort module (J393 central convenience) has much to do with the operation of these, although this is a generation on from the type I have most experience of. Driver's side module talks to passenger side module via a LIN comms wire, but there are no data connections to other modules, I believe. It being a mk2, the likelihood of this being a wire breakage within the door bellows is very high, so double check every wire.

This is a petrol car, right? No DPF involved.