hey folks i was wondering if anyone else has had the same issue with their fabia .

for the second day running the car has lost all electrical power while driving , the first thing i notice is the radio switching off followed by the power steering then everything electrical shuts down , if the engine stays running then it's fine but if the engine dies which it has done twice , then there is not enough power to restart it again . has anyone else experienced this issue with their car and if so what was the fix , thanks . Gareth

Sounds like alternator to me mate. First thing to check though is that your battery is good, and holding charge. Check the alternator belt when the car is running, making sure its not slipping. Then check the wires from the alt are all secure and points are clean. You can get a battery and alternator test done at any of the tyre/battery/exhaust centres, so if you can make it to one, start there mate.

Does the 1.4 suffer the same common problem as the TDIs with the wiring connector underneath breaking?

When you switch the ignition on (without the engine running) do you get a battery light on the dash?

Phil

cheers for that sean , tbh i kinda suspected as much . they battery was replaced by the AA last year and although i think it's ok it did suffer a bit earlier in the year due to a faulty mono-block amplifier that was staying on after the ignition was switched off and was draining the battery . after a little further investigation last night i noticed that if i start the car without revving it and load the electrical system by switching everything on then it discharges the battery very quickly if i start playing with the steering , but if i start it and give it a good rev then it seems to run fine .

I'm just waiting on my "mate" dropping my multimeter off so i can check if it's charging ... but i suspect that it may be a faulty alternator or a fault in the charging circuit somewhere although when i switch the ignition on the battery light comes on and goes off as it should? anyway it's all just theory and speculation until i test it fully . cheers . Gareth

I'd check the alternator exciter wire first - it's a known problem on the Diesels but not sure re the petrols but definitely sounds like a good starting point...

If you switch the ignition on the battery light should come on and stay on until the engine is running? Or does it come on then go off?

Sounds like a fault in the charging circuit. Revving the engine manually starts the charging circuit.

+1 on any alternator comments mines done the same thing, I'm awaiting my new one now.

hey folks , have just tested the charging circuit with my multimeter and it seems that it is the voltage regulator on the alternator , when the car was started the battery voltage hovered around 11.5v but as it sat it then started to drop steadily . i then revved the engine quite hard ( alot harder than 2500rpm which alot of people have suggested ) once i did this the system kicked in and started charging to just over 14v . i have also checked the signal wire and it has no breaks and a consistant voltage .