Hi Everyone,

I am glad to have found this forum and community, but on the other hand I can`t do else but fear for the common problems I have just read here...

I bought a Skoda Fabia 1.9SDI 2001 about a month ago. It drives superbly, and was very happy, but now I am having problems.

It started with the electric window. It workes intermittantly, one minute it`s ok then I can`t close it for a long time, but then without any reason it starts working again. Sometimes it stops and starts working even if the car is not in motion. Then came the aircon, same problem. It workes, then it doesn`t. The last straw was the indicator and the windscreen wipers, because I can`t even drive around now. Same thing. Try to indicate, it doesn`t do it. Then 2 minutes later it does. :confused: Same for the wipers. Also, when I open or close the car with the remote, sometimes the indicator flashes, sometimes it doesn`t.

A friend says that it sounds like a loose earth, or a faulty panel. Has anyone had the same problem, and could sort it DIY? Where are the main earth connections? What else could cause these faults?

Also, today the power steering light came on for a few minutes. I have read on the forum that the power steering can cause multiple problems, has anyone suffered these problems and fixing the power steering sorted the problem?

Had a look at the battery and the fusebox, didn`t see anything mayor, but the car obviously has had electric faults before, because I can see the probe marks on the insulation.

Any suggestion would be welcome.

Pete

Can't help sorry - but welcome to the forum and have a free :bump:

My sisters Fabia its a 1.4 comfort 2001 model and it has a tendance for the electric windows to do funny things like your saying. Does your car have a romote for locking or by putting the key in the door? She finds if she holds the key in the lock while unlocking it stops the windows playing up.

Sorry I not much help.

Hi Everyone,

I am glad to have found this forum and community, but on the other hand I can`t do else but fear for the common problems I have just read here...

I bought a Skoda Fabia 1.9SDI 2001 about a month ago. It drives superbly, and was very happy, but now I am having problems.

It started with the electric window. It workes intermittantly, one minute it`s ok then I can`t close it for a long time, but then without any reason it starts working again. Sometimes it stops and starts working even if the car is not in motion. Then came the aircon, same problem. It workes, then it doesn`t. The last straw was the indicator and the windscreen wipers, because I can`t even drive around now. Same thing. Try to indicate, it doesn`t do it. Then 2 minutes later it does. :confused: Same for the wipers. Also, when I open or close the car with the remote, sometimes the indicator flashes, sometimes it doesn`t.

A friend says that it sounds like a loose earth, or a faulty panel. Has anyone had the same problem, and could sort it DIY? Where are the main earth connections? What else could cause these faults?

Also, today the power steering light came on for a few minutes. I have read on the forum that the power steering can cause multiple problems, has anyone suffered these problems and fixing the power steering sorted the problem?

Had a look at the battery and the fusebox, didn`t see anything mayor, but the car obviously has had electric faults before, because I can see the probe marks on the insulation.

Any suggestion would be welcome.

Pete

Well you have come to the right place

Welcome to Briskoda :-) do join it is just a few quid and keeps the site running and you have then got access to the techinical expertise

It would appear your battery is past its sell by date,

All your problems are solveable, individually but so many electrical ones seems to point to your power supply

I am not a tech expert, so will leave the answer to those more knowlegable but it seems a pretty good guess

Regards and WELCOME National

First off, hello and welcome to briskoda.

As national pointed out above, the battery at end-of-life is a distinct possibility.

You said in your post that the car appears to have been checked for electrical faults in the past. Can you contact previous owners to find out what they were and how they were resolved?

One other remote possibility is a problem with an electrical control unit that lives in or on a box section under the front passenger seat. Sometimes if you have water ingress via leaky door cards or via a clogged pollen filter, the water / damp around here or in the carpets can cause intermittent, hard to trace faults with this unit. I suggest you get this checked or eliminated from the equation by a VAG electrical specialist.

Hi there,

My electrics have played up intermittently in the past two eyars that I've had my 2001 Fabia and today they went completely!

Lost all power on the M62 driving to work, having had the central-locking, lights, wipers, and radio all go mental on me.

Car had recently had a new alternator and battery fitted after the last electrical faults.

The AA guy found that heat generated by a loose or damaged connection from the main wire between the alternator and battery had fused.

Judging by the heat damage around that spot it's been a problem for a while and probably explains my electrical probs.

Its at a local gargare now as I type - will let you know what he says as sounds like we have the same car!

Thanks for the replies, Helpful World Citizens!

Will check out the control box under the seat, and will have the battery checked/changed. Although I measured the voltage on the battery and the alternator, and it was matching the requirements.

BoroSnowy, sorry to hear your car packed up, especially on the way to work on a motorway--nightmare! I hope it will get fixed quick. Would appreciate if you let me know of the finds causing your problems.

Thanks

Peter

The best thing that you can do is to get a full diagnosis scan of all the control units on the car. You can either go to a dealer for this, an independent or find a willing Briskoda member in your area (listed in order of descending cost).

This hopefully will reveal the symptoms of your cars faults and enable us to point you in the direction of the cause.

The box under the passenger seat is a dead end, I saw one on a Fabia today, which bore more than a passing resemblance to a CD autochanger.

Although I measured the voltage on the battery and the alternator, and it was matching the requirements.

It might not be the voltage though. It could be that the cells have dried out a little and it's not giving/holding as much current as it should.

My friend had this with a motorcycle battery recently. Charged up over night it would show 14volts but would only just turn the engine over. If ridden for a while and then stopped it wouldn't even turn the engine any more. Checked the charging circuit on the bike and was supplying 14volts too.

Gave up and opened up the battery (was a sealed item) to see if the plates were ok and found there was no fluid in there at all!!!!! New battery, no more problems