I got a second-hand Fabia a few months back. Recently when I started it the PAS indicator stayed on and the PAS clearly is not working. :( The manual says I should take the car to a service centre in this case. I ended up calling the AA whose agent checked the electrics and determined that they weren't at fault. It's now gone to the local Skoda garage (Vindis Skoda in Cambridge) where I was given an estimate of

I guess it depends on where the resevoir is, if its below the battery then there is no way to avoid disconnection. On the other hand, why would they need to reset the imobiliser after reconnection.

your problem will be the steering angle sensor

your problem will be the steering angle sensor

Tell me more Big K. What do you have to do with the steering angle sensor if you disconnect the battery. Is it something to do with the electric part of the power assistance?

I guess it depends on where the resevoir is, if its below the battery then there is no way to avoid disconnection.

It is under the battery but I wondered whether the battery needed to come all the way out.

On the other hand, why would they need to reset the imobiliser after reconnection.

If the immobiliser "forgets" the security code when the battery is disconnected then it must be necessary to reinitialise it to match the keys afterwards. However, it's possible that I misunderstood or misremember what I was told.

the fluid cap is under the battery on 8valve cars and to the side of battery on 16v cars the steering angle sensor is a sensor that clamps around steering coloumn in the rack and tells the electric pump when to start up angle sensor failure very common problem on fabia's hope this helps btw by removing battery you don't need to recode keys etc.

Youd be lucky topping up or checking the PAS level with the battery in place.

The workshop manual states that you must remove the battery and battery tray to check/top up the level as the reservior is under it.

And Ive changed a couple of steering angle sensors allready at Pilling's, it usually gives you a fault code when its playing up.

what's PAS?

PAS = power assisted steering.

Doh! I knew that honest.. but at least the thread makes more sense now..

Or the full title on the Fabia EHPAS

Electro-hydraulic power assisted steering

Uses an electric pump instead of a mechanical one.

iirc the Octavia II is an electro-mechanical system with no fluid at all, just uses a motor on the rack for assistance.

the steering angle sensor is a sensor that clamps around steering coloumn in the rack and tells the electric pump when to start up angle sensor failure very common problem on fabia's

The AA man did say something about a common problem on Fabias but didn't explain what the common problem was. I suppose that must be what he was talking about.

your problem will be the steering angle sensor

Do you mean that's the likely cause of failure? Any idea how much I should be paying to get that fixed?

The sensor is around

Thanks to everyone for the explanation!

This sensor plays up because water gets in it - there is a strong correlation between wet weather and Fabias in for PAS light on at my dealer - I know this as it happened to me on the old Fabia Tdi and four others were also at the service centre for it on the same wet day last year!