HI

 

I've not posted for a while but I could use some help, on the way to work this morning the car stated fine but a mile from work lots of warning lights flashed up and the speedo and rev counter stopped working, I got the car to work and tried turning it off an on again. The car fires but the engine dies immediately. It had a new battery 3 days ago and I'm wondering if this may have caused a problem.

 

Thanks

James

Why did you replace the battery, was the old one not working? Sounds a lot like what happens if your engine is not charging the battery - it flattens one battery, you buy a new one and then it flattens that one as well. Would need a bit more information to diagnose it really, voltage readings from the battery/batteries, charging voltage and fault code readings. If it is a charging problem, the Fabias of this age often suffer with broken wires to the alternator, they cost nothing to fix yourself, just takes a little piece of new wire and a bit of know-how. 

Hi

 

Thanks for getting back to me, I replaced the battery as the old one failed to start the car and was overdue being changed to be honest. There is plenty of charge in the new battery, the AA mechanic has told me that there is a list of problems but that they stem from the CAM BUS in the instrument panel and the immobiliser. It has now been towed to Skoda who are going to have a look at it on Monday. I'd be very happy if this is only a problem with wiring to the alternator, as you say I could manage that myself.

 

Thanks

James

Only thing worth thinking about is when and how the codes occurred - low voltages (perhaps from your old battery) can cause weird codes. Skoda should be able to figure it all out though - assume they will be able to read freeze frame data to go with each code and narrow down the problem properly.

Skoda have said today that their diagnostics won't talk to the car so they're having to strip the dash for £192 to find where the problem is

I've found the airbag controller is usually responsible if nothing has comes so maybe suggest They start by disconnecting that ?

Thanks, I'm waiting to hear back at the moment and will post the findings ASAP, I'll check that one with them when they call

I've now heard back from Skoda, they're stumped! Apparently it's taken them 5 hours to strip and try and locate the problem so far, they have told me that the central gateway won't talk to one of the modules and they are going to have to test each one individually to locate the problem.

They quoted me 2 hours labour initially and I was told that they were sticking at that price "at the moment" I'm just worried what the cost for the final repair and putting it all back together will be!

A week later I have finally got my car back. Apparently the problem has been water ingress into the ABS ECU. which caused corrosion and stopped it from working. They have cleaned the terminals so that the car starts and runs as it had before but they can't guarantee that this fix will work for any length of time, They said that it took 7 hours for them to get to where we are now but thankfully only charged me the 2 that they quoted originally which I was incredibly grateful for. They have quoted £900 to replace the ECU + labour and potential further costs with damage to the loom.

 

Could anyone tell me where the ABS ECU is located and if I can get it it easily to have a look myself. Has anyone got any suggestions about what to do with the car as it's not economical at this point to have Skoda carry out the work, I know there are companies that can re-build an ECU for a fraction of the cost of the new one.

 

Thanks

James

As you look at the engine from the front of the car, it's underneath the air filter box on the right bit awkward to get to but not a big job to change. You could just find a good used one to replace it with.

Great, thanks for the help. Does anyone know if it needs coding to the car or is it "plug and play". Does anyone have any idea how the water is getting to it? blocked drain hole somewhere or something similar?

I was thinking of selling to we buy any car and  cutting my losses but Skoda have told me that it's a good car as far as they can tell and I'd like to keep it.  

It may need coding yes and it needs to be the same part no.

The water runs down the loom from the scuttle usually