Breezy_Pete

Well done fella. I had a feeling you might find something like this. Loom shorts to chassis seem to be getting accidentally/carelessly 'designed in' more and more often, sadly.

That doesn't sound probable to me. When the battery is being charged by an external charger, the car doesn't have control over the voltage being applied. So although the 'gizmo' can measure the amount of charge being added, it isn't able to control it in the same way that it could if the alternator was supplying the charge (by varying the voltage setpoint of the alt). I believe further charging by the external charger will improve the state of charge of this battery.

There's another hose it's well worth looking at while you're under the bonnet tomorrow. Just above the red square in my edit to your photo is the brake servo vacuum hose (the brake servo being the round black thing at the back of the engine bay). Follow that hose across the back of the engine bay towards the other side until you reach a one-way valve. Have a close look and feel where the rigid plastic hose meets that valve, cracks and leaks there are very common. They seem to often crack on the underside first, which is why I suggest feeling as well as looking.

Have a look at the looped hose on the left in your picture. Here's one with a big leak that lead to very jerky running on a car with the same engine as yours (60 bhp, 6-valve engine) Viewed/photographed from below with phone camera.

Doubt it. Can you post a photo of your engine so we can at least know which variant you have?

Well it's item 4 here on the 60bhp engines intake system; throttle valve control element - Fabia(FAB) [EUROPA 2009 year] (7zap.com) Or item 7 here on the 70 BHP ones intake system; exhaust gas recirculation; activate... - Fabia(FAB) [EUROPA 2009 year] (7zap.com) What do you mean by "stop starting"? Actually cutting out or running jerkily, or what? Need to get the fault codes read really, to see why the car has put the EPC light on. I'd be pretty surprised if that behaviour is being caused by a faulty or dirty MAP sensor, but without fault codes it's all guesswork really.

What's given you that impression? There are lots of faults that can look like a problem with the MAP sensor, which aren't solved by changing it or cleaning it. I think you'll find it on the end of the inlet manifold closest to the brake fluid reservoir. Which variant of the HTP engine 60 bhp or 70?

Put it on charge for several more hours. Nowt to lose.

Or a sensor has a problem, or the EGR does; or simply that they've failed to connect up everything properly while finishing off the jobs done. Have a look around the engine bay, especially at the belt end, looking for dangling connectors. Needs a diagnostic scan to determine the meaning of the fault light. Have a look on here to see if there is a member local to you with VCDS, a software system that is ideal for this scanning. VCDS owners map – Google My Maps

My 'like' reaction was to your "beer, relax and plan"; not the bad news of the compression test results, obviously. It's becoming clear only recently to me that when the twin-cam HTPs lose the timing correlation due to chain slipping, valve damage seems common, possibly even inevitable.

Hi Andy, can you post a photo of the circuit board?

Fair comment.

Because it was a main dealer, and they're not allowed to let any car/owner leave the premises without upselling attempts!

Duplicate of Tech1e's post

That's good.

Check for residual pressure in the expansion tank when the engine is stone cold.

There are a few fasteners like that - with tool size sounding wrong relative to the thread size but actually being correct. It doesn't surprise me to see such a mismatch.

May want to take a break from your running for a bit!

Sounds similar to something I found this summer on my partner's Fabia. Locking misbehaviour, another possible cause - Skoda Fabia Mk I - BRISKODA The lock unit is probably a bit different on your car, but if it is a similar solder joint failure you might be able to put the system in/out of odd states by physically thumping the door near the lock, either on the inside or outside?

The wiper motor does have a bimetallic strip type thermal trip near to the brush connections, but I would expect that to self-reset fairly quickly after the motor stops, and the stalk is put back to the off position if it were that triggering.

Yep. Could do, if you mean pull fuse, put link wire in between connector pins 3 & 4, then refit fuse to test? Don't be surprised by a little arcing and sparking, especially on breaking the circuit, if the motor runs.

Yeah try it when they stop working next, you're effectively 'externalising' the relay operation by linking wires, so if it's the motor at fault, it still won't work by linking wires, but if it's the relay, it probably will. The wipers won't park by linking as described, they'll just keep running for as long as the link is there. Can't be done as an 'on the road' fix though, because pulling that connector does deprive the control unit of its main earth, so do it with engine off, keys out of ignition to minimise 'system confusion'. Have a look what access is like to the unit/connector. On mk1 Fabia it's a pain to get at cos of dash undercover trim, but on 9N Polo and I seem to remember mk2 Fabia it's not as covered up? I did try it on my Polo (same wiring, same control unit as mk1 and early mk2 Fabia) this morning and it worked. I got the speeds the wrong way round, it's pin 3 to pin 4 that gives normal speed, and that would be all you'd need to try I think. I see from your intro that the car's done quite a lot of miles so it might just be the motor. Only unexpected thing on mine was that the radio came on as soon as I unplugged that connector, off again when refitted. Haven't worked that out yet.

Best of luck old pal.

Thanks for the good wishes Rob. All OK here thanks. Wasn't meaning to suggest Australia was beyond beyond, just that erWin was the result (AiUI) of EU anti-monopoly laws, so might not have applicability/access worldwide. How many electric windows on your car?

Could be that they've been replaced previously with 256/255mm ones.. Rust always expands the native metal so it might be? What thickness are they if you file away all the rust from the lip? (Or measure on a bit the pads have kept clean if you have the means to) 255mm discs start at 10mm thick, the 260mm ones at 12mm thick. Such a mess! On this page for the smallest discs, titled 255mm, item 7, the disc itself is described as 253 x 10! https://skoda.7zap.com/en/cz/octavia/oct/2008-419/6/615-615060/