One week after I've had a back operation which is going to put me out of action for the next three months, the wifes 2006 fabia vRS decides to play up :(

Today she drove it to work, about two miles away from home, left it for 4 hours and when she came to leave work it would'nt restart, she thought it was a flat battery.

The battery has only been on approx 5 weeks (Bosch S5), so been unable to drive or sit in a car (with my back stapled together) I put some tools and a test meter into a bag and walked the two miles.

The battery showed 12.6v with the ignition off or on, when the key was turned to the start position the lights on the dash dimmed but the engine did not crank, the battery voltage only dropped to 12.5v.

The engine and body earth cables tested OK, so while my wife held the key in the start position, I rocked the engine by hand and the engine fired into life.

She drove home (I had to walk :( ) now the car starts fine, every time you turn the key.

I've had a quick look at the wiring (best I can at the moment), and everything seems to be in order ie: nothing loose or fallen off.

The only thing that looks slightly odd is the starter solenoid signal wire, it looks a little too short and maybe gets stressed when the engine moves back and forth on the engine mounts ????

So fella's, I need your help/advice, is there anything else I need to check...perhaps a common fault on these fabia's ????

Thanks.

Bill.

It'll be this... starter solenoid signal wire guaranteed!

http://briskoda.net/forums/topic/190145-fixing-starter-wire-broken-off/

If it ever doesn't start again - just jump up and down in the drivers seat while turning the key - and it'll make the wire contact!

With the short journey's your wife does this will not help the battery life - best take it on a run every now and then to charge it up. As said above though, was mentioned on a previous post about dodgy shirt wires!

I'm inclined to agree with the above, that voltage does seem low mind you. Good luck, let us know how you get on

Thanks fella's

Could someone please confirm what type of connector is inside the solenoid plug ie: is it a standard male/female spade connector or something special ????

And if it's a special connector, can you re-use it by just stripping down the plug and soldering a new signal wire to the old connector, or do you need to buy new dealer part.

Bill.

Thanks fella's

Could someone please confirm what type of connector is inside the solenoid plug ie: is it a standard male/female spade connector or something special ????

And if it's a special connector, can you re-use it by just stripping down the plug and soldering a new signal wire to the old connector, or do you need to buy new dealer part.

Bill.

It's a special female spade iirc... strip it down and reuse it! Go through my post above for how to open it up then solder a new peice of wire into the spade.

Depends where its broken really, could be broken at the spade like mine or if lucky it could be broken further down which makes the repair easier.

It's a special female spade iirc... strip it down and reuse it! Go through my post above for how to open it up then solder a new peice of wire into the spade.

Depends where its broken really, could be broken at the spade like mine or if lucky it could be broken further down which makes the repair easier.

Thanks very much for your help

I'm going to have a go at it now, but try and leave the battery in place, cos I'm not allowed to lift or carry anything for 3 months :(

Bill.

PS. if I dont report back, its cos I'm back in hospital

Thanks very much for your help

I'm going to have a go at it now, but try and leave the battery in place, cos I'm not allowed to lift or carry anything for 3 months :(

Bill.

PS. if I dont report back, its cos I'm back in hospital

There is no way you can fix it without removing the battery!! Not enough space...

There is no way you can fix it without removing the battery!! Not enough space...

Hi mate

Its defo not easy but I managed to do it without removing the battery, but I would'nt recommend anyone else try it with the battery in place, you loose too much skin and blood.

I cut the plastic conduit around the loome and removed as much of the original wire as I could (approx 10").

The bad news is, it was OK...I stripped all the insulation off and found the copper wire was unbrocken, the only thing I could see was the female connector in the plug was opened up perhaps too much, so I crimped it slightly to ensure a better connection.

I then soldered in a new longer wire to replace the original and at the same time put in a second second wire that I have run from the starter solenoid up to the battery.

This second wire is temp wire to assist with a bit of fault finding next time the damm thing wont start, and will be removed at a later date.

If it happens again....then with the ignition on, out of gear, and I touch this extra wire onto the battery + and the engine starts, then the fault is in the wiring, ignition switch, relay etc. If it does'nt start then its possibly a faulty starter motor.

I'll update if/when I sort this, thanks to all for the help/advice

Bill.

It'll be this... starter solenoid signal wire guaranteed!

http://briskoda.net/forums/topic/190145-fixing-starter-wire-broken-off/

If it ever doesn't start again - just jump up and down in the drivers seat while turning the key - and it'll make the wire contact!

Hi Crocket, I'm suffering the same fault on my VRS and next time it happens, I'm Bouncing!!!