Hello all,

After nearly 12 months of having my Skoda Felicia I've just found this forum. I own a Skoda Felicia Pacific 1.3 MPI and was wondering if anyone could help me out with a few problems (I don't know much about cars!!):

1. First of all, the airbag warning light is permanently on in the car. The side-light light sometimes does not come on on the dash, but if I bang the top of the dash then it does. So I was wondering if the airbag warning light is suffering from a similar problem? I've been told by my mechanic "not to worry about it" - but that's it.

2. Secondly, the passenger side exterior rear door handle is sticking out a little as if a spring is pushing it out. The door opens fine with the handle but it feels a little delicate and I don't want to break it, yet on the other hand don't want to be spending a fortune on repairing it.

3. Thirdly, the boot does not open using the lock on the door. The key turns half a turn in the lock, but if the button is pressed the door doesn't open, yet it opens using the boot release catch next to the drivers seat. I have read on here that some people have had problems with a little white plastic part in the lock that can end up snapping. Is this the same problem?

4. The final and most important problem is that when I bought the car in March 2010, I had a new alternator fitted. Since around Christmas time, the lights have been dimming and the fan not blowing as much when the engine is idling. As soon as the car is revving, the fans blow louder and the headlights get brighter, including the lights lighting the dashboard. I looked at the battery and it had an expiry date of August 2010 so replaced it with a new one, thinking that this may the be the problem, but seemingly this did not work.

Thank you for taking the time to read this. Any help would be much appreciated.

David.

Hello all,

After nearly 12 months of having my Skoda Felicia I've just found this forum. I own a Skoda Felicia Pacific 1.3 MPI and was wondering if anyone could help me out with a few problems (I don't know much about cars!!):

1. First of all, the airbag warning light is permanently on in the car. The side-light light sometimes does not come on on the dash, but if I bang the top of the dash then it does. So I was wondering if the airbag warning light is suffering from a similar problem? I've been told by my mechanic "not to worry about it" - but that's it.

2. Secondly, the passenger side exterior rear door handle is sticking out a little as if a spring is pushing it out. The door opens fine with the handle but it feels a little delicate and I don't want to break it, yet on the other hand don't want to be spending a fortune on repairing it.

3. Thirdly, the boot does not open using the lock on the door. The key turns half a turn in the lock, but if the button is pressed the door doesn't open, yet it opens using the boot release catch next to the drivers seat. I have read on here that some people have had problems with a little white plastic part in the lock that can end up snapping. Is this the same problem?

4. The final and most important problem is that when I bought the car in March 2010, I had a new alternator fitted. Since around Christmas time, the lights have been dimming and the fan not blowing as much when the engine is idling. As soon as the car is revving, the fans blow louder and the headlights get brighter, including the lights lighting the dashboard. I looked at the battery and it had an expiry date of August 2010 so replaced it with a new one, thinking that this may the be the problem, but seemingly this did not work.

Thank you for taking the time to read this. Any help would be much appreciated.

David.

1. More than likely it will fault clear or something could be actually wrong with devices but more than likely its a loose connection

2. probably the door catch? or sticky handle easy to get the door card off to investigate?

3. probably the button is broke at the rear or bar has dislodged

4. quite possibly alternator is on its way was it a new or used unit fitted?

these are just guesses as i couldnt be sure without looking directly whereabouts in the country are you?

Airbag faults can be triggered by a number of things, and once a fault has been logged the light will stay on until the fault code is cleared with diagnostic equipment. Since one of the common causes of this is the supply voltage being too low or too high, I'd pretty much guarantee this is related to point 4: your alternator almost certainly needs a new voltage regulator. I'd get that sorted sooner rather than later as it could potentially damage electrical systems and kill the battery.

As for the boot lock, the key should only turn by a quarter-turn - the key blade is vertical in the locked position and horizontal in the unlocked position. If pushing the button in with the key horizontal doesn't do anything, and you don't feel any more resistance than pushing it in in the locked position, then you probably need a new button. Again it's a pretty easy issue to diagnose - pop the panel off, carefully peel back the seal, undo the 2 torx screws holding the black cover on and you'll be able to see which bit of the mechanism is or isn't working.

Yeah I would say 1 and 4 are linked and the alternator/voltage regulator