Called the AA out today after my Fabia got about 20m from my house before the power steering went. Pulled over and tried the old 'turn it off and on again' trick, but sadly the whole car decided that blocking the entrance to the NPL (lab) was a good place to die completely! :thumbdwn:

Anyway, we suspected a dying battery as it was damn cold tonight and its been sat unused for 2 weeks. After excellent fault finding by the AA man, we found that the battery and alternator were working ok, but the exciter cable (which is pulled very, very tightly) has most likely broken. There is no battery light on the dash, and if I rev the car before moving, the alternator is kicked to life and charges the battery.

After seeing this post - Fabia Electrical Help Needed - BRISKODA - The Skoda Forums

I'm a little worried that a garage will use this as a good excuse to charge me £ I don't have and insist that the ECU needs replacing or something.

It sounds like someone in the know could do this themselves, but sadly I'm not one of those people.

Are there any nice people in the Teddington/Kingston/Richmond area who would have a go at fixing this for a bit of cash in hand?

It sounds like there is a common place that the wire breaks - 'connector on the front of the gearbox (held in a bracket)' which could be fixed with a bit of soldering??

Anyone?

Pleeease?

I have had this done by a dealer before now and they have a repair kit - I think the cost was only £20 or so so don;t be too afraid of taking it in and telling them EXACTLY what you want doing...