Hi all,

I recently inherited my fabia from my dad, who has noticed the power steering light and lack of power steering at low speeds for some time. it's intermitent, but around a quarter of journeys it comes on. the headlights flicker as well.

he's fiddled with it to no avail, but we've been driving it as normal.

now the engine light comes on most journeys (but not all, and sometimes goes off if you turn the engine off). once or twice it's not started until I've 'pumped the gas' as it were, but then started no problem.

When the car is idling, it seems to shake quite a bit, sort of ticks over ok, then the engine seems to shake/struggle then carries on ok, then repeats. only notice this when sat at lights etc...

I've not taken it in for a diagnostic yet, but I'm wondering if I should stop driving it while the lights are on. and also does anyone know what's going on???

Thanks,

Caroline

If the power steering fails it will be really heavy, a lot heavier than a car with manual steering. Losing the power steering whilst driving is potentailly dangerous, it will be best not to use it all and get it fixed as soon as possible.

Power Steering could be :-

Steering Angle Sensor @ £88 + £35 (The £35 is refundable when you present the faulty sensor to skoda).

Steering Pump @ £500+ (Over £700 if you want skoda to do the work)

Earth Lead from Alternator

As for the engine problems it sounds like a possible faulty ECU to me, but you'll need to get it checked, ask around to see if someone in your area has VAC Com (a diagnostic program that runs from a laptop), most peeps on here that own one will be glad to run it on your car for you. It will throw up an error code or two that you can check on here to pin point the fault (well that's the theory at least)

Good luck...

Thanks guys.

as luck would have it my dad's been sent a offer for a free summer health check from the skoda dealership he got it from, so I'll take it in there and see what they say. I'll keep you posted.

Fingers crossed it's the sensor on the PAS!

Caroline

Free checks are always good

I didnt think you could pump the gas on car with a "drive by wire" throttle system.

Free checks are always good

I didnt think you could pump the gas on car with a "drive by wire" throttle system.

Hum, free check?!? Is that like a free lunch? they don't exist, your dealer is reeling you in - but in your case you probably need reeled to get these problems resolved. I think that "pumping gas" in a modern car just gives some people a good feeling - but that's all - the only time it might be usefull to press the gas pedal would be if the ECA responds to a fully open throttle - some cars are set up to sense this - it usefully stops spraying the fuel in and in so lets you clear the excess fuel from the cylinders, ie recovering from flooding - a bit.

Strangely I had a similar issue - I just retightened the battery cable connectors, replugged in the ECU connector, and it seemed to go away again completely.

So before spending tons of cash, check the leads, see if there is anything loose or damaged, and perhaps check if any plugs have come loose.

Thanks guys.

So the health check was today, and somehow we persuaded them do plug it in and do a basic diagnostic since we told them there was a problem with the PAS.

They've come back and said the sensor needs replacing (176 pounds) and the temperature sensor (?) wants replacing - and they're both connected to the problems starting the engine...total cost 239 pounds...

so if we assume they're right - is this about the right amount to pay - or do I take it to another garage...Thanks for the advice

Will also try the advice about connections!

I'd consider putting a new battery on before you change the PAS sensor. Temp sensor is quite well covered here, you should be able to get that done DIY.