I sincerely hope some of you could help me to solve my 'little' problem....:(

I bought my Skoda Fabia Elegance 1.4 16v X reg back in 2000 as a new car. Since then I have done around 60,000 miles.

I had my engine management light on for about 5 years now . At Skoda dealers they told me they had no idea why and that they would have to do lots of investigative work to find out why which would cost me a lot! So I declined. This was 5 years ago. The car has been running fine until recently.

In a space of the last few months I had the following problems:

- power steering light on/off (more on then off at the moment!)

- ABS light on

- brake fluid light on (that didn't disappear after re-filling)

- lights flashing and dimming

- the car alarm keeps going of randomly (at least once per day) - although the lights don't flash when it goes off!

- and sometimes the engine zooms up and down, even though the car is stationery, like if the electric current is going round the car; it is 'wrooming'

My MOT is due in 5 days and I took it to the garage (not Skoda) today to replace 3 ABS sensors as they told me they put it on a diagnostic machine and it came with a fault in 3 sensors. They thought that would sort the problem out. However, after replacing 3 ABS sensors the light is still on.

They have advised me to take it to Skoda garage as they think it might have electrical problem and apparently Skoda garage would have a better diagnostics system.

I'm dreading it as I know they'll tell me about lots of problems and I will have to pay a lot! When the car is currently not worth even £2,000!

Can anyone advise????

get a member local to you with vagcom to scan it for faults,slip them a drink then at least you will have a heads up on whats wrong

Thanks!

How do I find a local member please?

post up where you are and someone helpfull should post up offering help:D

Ah ok, that would make sense

I'm based in Manchester (Chorlton) - so any offers of help (of course car related )

are welcome!!

Didn't the original garage all those years ago mention any fault codes? Shame on them. If it was new you should have received a courtesy car to tide you over while they looked at it.

Jigger72 >

no they didn't say anything at the time .... probably a good thing because I might have not bought it!

If I could drive the car to the Czech Republic to sort it out then I would (I come from there)....my parents had Skoda for 20 years and it was working fine even when they decided to buy a new car....Somehow I think the knowledge of Skoda dealers in UK is not so good :( or they just pretend they don't know much in order to get some hefty fees in....

Jigger72 >

no they didn't say anything at the time .... probably a good thing because I might have not bought it!

If I could drive the car to the Czech Republic to sort it out then I would (I come from there)....my parents had Skoda for 20 years and it was working fine even when they decided to buy a new car....Somehow I think the knowledge of Skoda dealers in UK is not so good :( or they just pretend they don't know much in order to get some hefty fees in....

Ah, I see… I guess it's someone local with VagCom or get a scanner and see what comes up. Good luck

Jigger72 >

excuse my missing knowledgge - but what is VagCom? Where can I get a scanner?

Thanks!

VAGCom, also known as VCDS, is the software that interogates the car's ECUs for fault codes etc. There's a forum on here with a list of members who have the s/w and are prepared to help.

Alternatively, since I see you're in Manchester, you could contact AwesomeGTi, who're good with the standard stuff as well as being a tuning company.

Jigger72 >

excuse my missing knowledgge - but what is VagCom? Where can I get a scanner?

Thanks!

Hi again, the VAGCom software works through a PC and plugs into the OBD port on the car (not sure where the Fabia's is but the Octavia's is under the steering wheel column) and it will hopefully provide a list of codes from which you can work out what might be wrong.

A handheld scanner will do a basic job without the need for a PC. You need to get fault codes to work out why the engine light's on. A scanner's about £30 and e-bay sell them. Do a search on here though because I'm sure there's better places to get a scanner.

HTH

Thanks guys! I'm going to look for a member who could come and check it out for me