OK, the saga continues: after 10 days of fault-free behavior the little car acted up again. we have had -5 deg C for 3 days now but without any apparent affect to to the battery.

 

This morning I started the car (no problems, fast, normal start), shoveled a little snow and reversed out of the parking space. After 10 seconds the car went absolutely dead. Completely black dashboard. Nothing.

I waited 30 seconds and tried the starter again. After two tries it started.

 

3 minutes later the car died again (this time at an intersection..). Two tries with the ignition and it started again. The voltage (inside the cabin) was 2.5V when it couldnt start.

 

We stopped after 5 more minutes and I measured the voltage. approx 14.1V with engine on and 12.08V with engine off. Perfect normal 20 minutes drive to work after that.

 

At start the voltage still drops to 8-9V, but it does start fine.

 

Any hints and ideas are welcome.

 

Kind regards Troels Mejer

I think you have a bad battery.

I don't understand why you don't get a new battery to eliminate the probability?

Hi.

 

Thanks for the help. I'll get a new battery when I can, - but as my mechanic dont have a clue about this, I appreciate your help with this. I would hate to buy a new bat, - and then find out afterward that another part had to be changed simultaneously.

 

Kind regards Troels

Could be a bad ignition switch, they do give problems, very difficult to test until it fails completely.

Hi Troels

 

Fellow Dane here.. I have also recently bought a MK1 Fabia ('06), and it shows similar problems: flashing ABS-light along with a loud beep, intermittent power steering failures, flashing lights (interior and exterior), frequent computer resets (time, trip info resets to 0)...

 

One reproducible test I have come up with, possibly unaffiliated with the above symptoms, is to turn the steering wheel all the way to one side - on my car the front lights then dip noticeably in strength along with an audible sound coming from the power steering ... Is this normal?

 

If you find a solution, please post it here. 

 

 

Best regards

Simon

Have to say lads, it sounds more and more like the old battery issues! lol

 

Hi Troels

 

Fellow Dane here.. I have also recently bought a MK1 Fabia ('06), and it shows similar problems: flashing ABS-light along with a loud beep, intermittent power steering failures, flashing lights (interior and exterior), frequent computer resets (time, trip info resets to 0)...

 

One reproducible test I have come up with, possibly unaffiliated with the above symptoms, is to turn the steering wheel all the way to one side - on my car the front lights then dip noticeably in strength along with an audible sound coming from the power steering ... Is this normal?

 

If you find a solution, please post it here. 

 

 

Best regards

Simon

As said before, the power steering drains the battery, so if the battery is a little bit ropey then you will notice the dip in power when using the steering.

Hi Simon.

 

I´ll try the steering-wheel test tomorrow. 

 

I've had a voltmeter in the var the last few days and the voltage is really dipping a lot these days. The voltage was 11.90 before i turned the key after work. - and the start was  a bit slower and "harder" than usual.

 

My mechanic will change the battery for 700DkKr+Moms. He says thats the price of the raw battery.

 

Troels

Hi Simon.

 

I´ll try the steering-wheel test tomorrow. 

 

I've had a voltmeter in the var the last few days and the voltage is really dipping a lot these days. The voltage was 11.90 before i turned the key after work. - and the start was  a bit slower and "harder" than usual.

 

My mechanic will change the battery for 700DkKr+Moms. He says thats the price of the raw battery.

 

Troels

I looked through the manual, and it says that the power steering is supposed to make a noise when turned all the way to one side. It also says that if doing so for more than 15 seconds, it could damage the power steering system. 

 

So this has nothing to do with the forementhioned problems. 

 

My guess is that the problem has to do with the wiring - a bad ground post or corroded wires - or, as mentioned before, the battery itself. But no use in guessing, I'll try and get my dealer to have a look. The car is still under warranty after all...

 

Simon

Hi Simon.

 

The voltage does dip a lot when the steering (servo) is active so that part is confirmed.

 

I would be happy to hear your dealers verdict.

 

Troels

Well the Fabia has just spend the week at the dealers (the place where the car was purchased - still under used car warranty) and they could find nothing wrong with it. I don't know how thorough they were - but it is certainly depressing news. I had high hopes.

 

They did asses the battery and found it to be in good condition. So I don't know where to go from here.

 

Best Regards

Simon

Voltage regulator is down by the drivers feet in the dash.

 

Mines giving me all sorts of electrical problems, ali at unit 18 has scanned it with VCDS and the voltage regulator is throwing up low batter and alternator issues, he has tested both of those so they are fine.

 

Voltage regulator is getting changed Tuesday.

Hi Guys.

 

Well, I have had some interesting findings here, First of all: the car has been driving fine for a week or so after I re-tightened and replaced the negative battery-connector. Then this afternoon some of the old faults was back: radio going out as blinkers was activated and remote lock not working. Then I tried to lock/unlock the doors while I was pushing/fidling with the negative battery-pole and then everything worked as it should.

 

Ive measured and cleaned every part of that stupid little 30cm wire, but I'm getting more and more convinced that most of the problems are due to some sort of fault in that wire or perhaps internally in the battery.

 

Being an electronics engineer this has me somewhat puzzled as I cannot find a good explanation as to what's the real problem with the wire is, but a bad ground-connection that despite its problems let the car start and drive could probably explain a lot of the related problems.

 

I'll probably have the mechanic change the battery and the wire (hes quoted a whopping 15£ for the wire :-) , so by all standards that´s a bargain if it does fix anything)

 

Kind regards Troels Mejer

Edited 21 February, 201412 yr by TroelsM

Voltage regulator is down by the drivers feet in the dash.

 

Mines giving me all sorts of electrical problems, ali at unit 18 has scanned it with VCDS and the voltage regulator is throwing up low batter and alternator issues, he has tested both of those so they are fine.

 

Voltage regulator is getting changed Tuesday.

Thank you for sharing. Did it help?

SOLVED.

 

It's been a few months now and the problem is gone.

 

It appears that the root cause was the short, thick cable from the negative pole on the battery to the chassis. The cable is changed to a new one, no other changes.

 

I still have not performed an autopsy on the old cable, but one day I probably will. On the outside there is no signs of anything broken. My best bet is that there is a fault in the crimp it self.

 

This was a very strange problem and my normally trusted mechanic did not have a clue about solving it.

 

I wonder how many other cars out there go through expensive repair only to find that the stupid little cable is defect?

 

Thanks for all the help.

 

TroelsM