Just got myself another SDi Fabia for a winter runaround, 02 with 80k miles.

Had shampooed the seats today, and left it sitting running to dry them out. After a while I noticed the airbag light and the power steering light were on on the dashboard. Turned the car off, and tried to restart it to see if they came on again, and it refused to start. Got it started again with jump leads, but the power steering light was still on, and the power steering wasn't working.

Car still won't start by itself, I had originally thought the battery maybe wasn't that hot so changed it, but it has made no difference.

The car was going perfectly fine all week, the power steering light had never came on which I thought was a good thing!

Could this be the steering angle sensor playing up, or could it be something more serious?

Thanks

Adrian

Alternator charge sense wire broken at gearbox plug I would think. Or faulty alternator.

1: Do you get an ignition charge light with ignition on but engine not running? If not alternator sense lead is faulty

2: If you do get a light, does it go out when car started? If not alternator faulty

Voltage across the battery with engine running and no heavy loads switched on should be 14.2 Volts

Alternator charge sense wire broken at gearbox plug I would think. Or faulty alternator.

1: Do you get an ignition charge light with ignition on but engine not running? If not alternator sense lead is faulty

2: If you do get a light, does it go out when car started? If not alternator faulty

Voltage across the battery with engine running and no heavy loads switched on should be 14.2 Volts

Cheers, I'm more inclined to think it's the alternator sense lead going by that. Are they dear from Skoda?

Also would this cause the lack of power steering as well?

Cheers, I'm more inclined to think it's the alternator sense lead going by that. Are they dear from Skoda?

Also would this cause the lack of power steering as well?

Sense wire repair cost nothing, as the wire simply snaps where it enters the plug on the front of the gearbox.

Lack of PAS is due to low battery charge. PAS can take 60 AMPS at times.

Normal repair for the sense wire is to solder in a 2" length of wire between the break point.

Just got myself another SDi Fabia for a winter runaround, 02 with 80k miles.

Had shampooed the seats today, and left it sitting running to dry them out. After a while I noticed the airbag light and the power steering light were on on the dashboard. Turned the car off, and tried to restart it to see if they came on again, and it refused to start. Got it started again with jump leads, but the power steering light was still on, and the power steering wasn't working.

Car still won't start by itself, I had originally thought the battery maybe wasn't that hot so changed it, but it has made no difference.

The car was going perfectly fine all week, the power steering light had never came on which I thought was a good thing!

Could this be the steering angle sensor playing up, or could it be something more serious?

Thanks

Adrian

Hi Adrain

And the reason it went flat !

You left the doors open when you shampooed the seats !

Radiotwo

Once again we find the way to trouble is to clean the car!

Hi,

I had this problem too on my W reg Fabia SDi. You might find that the power steering starts working after a couple of starts, I read about this somewhere. Have no idea why, although in cold weather this happened to me once. You do though run the risk of flattening the battery because the glow plugs and the ignition system will draw off a lot of charge so be careful but the PAS seemed to work after. My Fabia too didn't start in the cold weather after 2 weeks sitting idle, needed a jump start, combination of an old battery that wasn't well charged and cold weather I guess.

Nigel

Just to let you know I got this problem solved!!

As MoggyTech said, it was the signal wire that was broken - it had broke right at the plug as well! Thanks - I owe you one!

Got it sorted and car going 100% now, on the lookout for a set of lowering springs now so I can get the TT Comps fitted!!

Edited 11 January, 201016 yr by AMG

Thanks for the feedback, glad it's sorted.

Hi Adrain

And the reason it went flat !

You left the doors open when you shampooed the seats !

Radiotwo

If the car battery is 70 ampere hour capacity ,assume it partly flat (50 a/hr),and the interior light takes 0.5 amp (6 watts) ,shampooing the car would have to take

100 hours to fully discharge the battery!!