Fabia electrically died whilst driving

[Tefal]

Hi, 

First post for me.  2005 Skoda Fabia 1.2 petrol, just inherited it, and it died after 2 days.

• It was driving fine, no warning lights, no problems.
• Engine died, speedo and rev counter froze in position.
• Nothing electrical works on the car.

So far ...

• Battery fully charged.
• Battery fuses tested ok
• All fuses in drivers door fuse box ok.
• Relays tested and seem ok (to a novice !)

Suggested fault finding (from a mate)

• As nothing works at all, start with the basics ... (battery ok)
• Find the voltage distributor (first point on the wiring diagram - Terminal 30) and check for voltage there (for a start)
• Work onwards from there.

Problem

• I've found the voltage distributor under the dash on the drivers side
• I can't get to it with the relay carrier, steering wheel, wiring loom etc in the way.

Help please

• Anyone accessed the voltage distributor and if so how ?
• Does the whole dash need to come out, can it be accessed from the engine bay side.
• The page here  (Workshop manuals)  makes it look very simple and just says that the

  'The storage compartment on the driver's side must first be removed to open or remove the voltage distributor.'

  !!  but doesn't seem to take account of all the gubbins in the way !!

 

Many thanks,

Phil

 

[Breezy_Pete]

On many Fabias the terminal 30 busbar is easily accessible.  On our 2005 1.2, as on yours, it's buried way deeper in the dash. Forget that line of enquiry.

 

Have you checked that the battery terminals are tight, and the main battery earth just behind the battery isn't corroded or loose?

Edited 12 March, 2018 by Wino

[Tefal]

Hi Wino,

Thanks for that.  The battery terminals are tight.  The main battery earth is in good condition, tight and clean. Measuring the resistance across the neutral on the battery and the earth point, it's 0.8 ohms, so I'm thinking that's ok ?

 

Is there a next logical step to trace the dead bit ?

Thanks 

Phil

 

[Breezy_Pete]

If you short the meter probes together do you see that same 0.8 Ohms? Cos that sounds very high for a super-chunky earth lead about 20cm long!

 

To check if there's power coming through to the cabin, all you need to do is plug something in to the cigarette lighter socket and see if it works. I guess this will be a no, from your statement:

On ‎12‎/‎03‎/‎2018 at 21:28, Tefal said:

Nothing electrical works on the car.

Edited 14 March, 2018 by Wino

[Breezy_Pete]

Have you measured 12V on the busbar that all the strip fuses bolt to in the battery-top fusebox?

I'm wondering if the main positive feed from the battery terminal to the underside of that fuse tray has failed/broken?

Edited 14 March, 2018 by Wino

[Tefal]

Thanks Wino,

The ohms read zero if touched together (it’s on the lowest scale which is 200 ohm).  The cigarette lighter doesn’t work. 

There is 12v on the bus bar and after the fuses on top of the battery.

I’m scratching my head to think what’s next.

 

 

[Breezy_Pete]

Double-check that you have 12V on both ends of the second fuse in from the left (No.2) as that one supplies everything in the cabin. They can crack sometimes and it be hard to see with corrosion/dirt on them.

[LB123]

When you say Nothing works do you really mean absolutely nothing?  No brake lights, indicators, horn, lights, reverse light, heater, wipers, etc? Absolutely nothing?

The break in circuit must be common to all circuits which are not functioning which limits the possibilities considerably. Having had similar problems I would not rely on inspection only. Mine were sorted when I removed the earth connection from the left wing which on inspection looked sound, cleaned it and refitted it. Likewise broken fuses on top of the battery can be very hard to spot. Undo, remove, clean and refix to be certain. Wino has pointed you to these areas but IMO inspection is not enough

[Tefal]

Thanks guys for the responses. 

Earths

Using the Haynes numbering system ... I've had a look at

• the main earth point (E1-next to the battery)
• Also the E2, below battery on side member
• I'm looking for E3 under centre console, in front of gear stick (trim off now, but it's not obvious yet ... any clues ?). 
• The one behind the battery on the strut tower (E4 - there are two there ?). 
• Also checked E5 on the LH C pillar.  
• Disconnected, checked and reconnected E1 and E4.  Not had a chance to get into E2.  E5 is in mint condition, and can't find E3 yet.

Battery Busbar

The battery busbar is live on the car side of the fuses, but not had chance to follow your advice to strip them all off and refit yet.

 

Wiring Testing

Being a sad fellow, I've been tinkering in the garage instead of out clubbing on a Saturday night !!

I've been prodding my probe in various places !! (a Sealey PPX ?).  Not sure that I understand the results that I'm getting with it (... it beeps once with a green light for neutral, and twice with a red light for positive.)

 

I've taken out the gear stick area trim whilst hunting for Earth point 3.  Not found it, but probed the cigar lighter connector socket.  Three cables, brown, black/white and blue/grey.  Each one is returning a negative beep/light ?  I was expecting the black/white to be positive as it's on the battery side of the circuit ?  If not positive, then I was expecting no signal from the probe ?  Not sure if this makes any sense to a novice ??

 

I've been probing all over, and get plenty of negative beeps, but the only positive so far has been the big black lead onto the starter motor itself.

Not had a chance to spend much time on it overall, but wondered if any of the above made any sense ?

[Breezy_Pete]

11 hours ago, Tefal said:

I'm looking for E3 under centre console, in front of gear stick (trim off now, but it's not obvious yet ... any clues ?). 

 

Once you strip off enough trim to see two vertical metal support brackets that tie the bottom of the dashboard to the floor, you'll find the earth point(s) just forward of them on the floor, just aft of the airbag control unit. I find it hard to imagine how there could be a problem there though.

 

Until you've taken strip fuse 2 out and cleaned and re-fitted it if intact, I wouldn't bother stripping the interior too much though.

 

[Tefal]

Thanks Wino,

Right I've done that.  I've done all the fuses on top of the battery.  All removed, checked and refitted. 

 

Regarding E3 - thanks for the info, found it now.  Not removed it yet, but it also looks mint (was hoping it might be corroded !!).  Will get the tester on it later.

 

So in summary,

• All the earths look ok now (need to remove and clean E2, but visually ok)
• Fuses all ok, including the battery ones.
• 'Neutral' reading on a live feed to the cigar lighter is not making sense to me ?

(There has been condensation/a rainwater leak in the car when my father in law drove it (it wasn't driven very much), hence me looking for corrosion possibilities)

 

Thanks

[Breezy_Pete]

Remove the fuse (42) for the cigarette lighter and test for 12V there?

 

1 hour ago, Tefal said:

There has been condensation/a rainwater leak in the car when my father in law drove it (it wasn't driven very much), hence me looking for corrosion possibilities

 

Very wise on a Fabia, but the raised position of the E3 earth point relative to the footwells means it would take a serious flood to get that wet.

 

Broken wires are another common 'feature' of Fabia looms, but the main feed from strip fuse 2 to the terminal 30 rail in the cabin is so chunky I find it hard to believe that cold be busted.  On the other hand, it could have suffered from cracked insulation somewhere in the engine bay, followed by water ingress and the gradual transition to a pile of green dust instead of copper...

Maybe  follow that wire from the cabin fusebox towards the firewall, looing for any such problem.  Under the ECU is a common place for trouble, as the loom bunch coming down out of the scuttle area tends to act as an unintended drain pathway when it rains.

 

[kps600]

Maybe try this,if you have a set of jump lead's use one cable connected to the battery earth and clip the other end to a good ground point in the engine compartment,Fabias are renowned for earth issue's and this may help you sort things.

[Tefal]

Thanks Gents, 

I’m away for a few days, so will have a crack at those ideas when I get back.

[Tefal]

Got there in the end.  Main power lead to terminal 30 was corroded and snapped.  Location - in front of driver, under windscreen.  To access, remove wiper arms, plastic scuttle cover under windscreen, wiper mechanism, and black cover over terminal 30.  

 

[Breezy_Pete]

Blimey! Looks as if the scuttle drains have been badly blocked and that whole area has filled up with water. You can see the tide mark.

Edited 12 July, 2018 by Wino

[TMB]

Blimey! Hope you cleaned it all up and checked the drains?

Edited 12 July, 2018 by TMB

[Tefal]

Can’t take the credit I’m afraid. ... Autoelectric guy found it for me.  I still need to check the drain/s ... do you know where they are ?

[Breezy_Pete]

Big holes at the extreme ends. Here are some not very clear pictures of my Polo, which I should imagine is almost identical to the Fabia:

 

[Tefal]

Excellent thanks !!

[Breezy_Pete]

You're welcome. 

If they do look different on the Fabia, would you take some photos and post them please?

[LB123]

I reckon you deserve a medal for commitment, perseverance, thoroughness, probably bl**dy mindedness and not giving up on the old gal.

Well done.

[Tefal]

11 hours ago, Wino said:

You're welcome. 

If they do look different on the Fabia, would you take some photos and post them please?

 

Will do

[Tefal]

10 hours ago, LB123 said:

I reckon you deserve a medal for commitment, perseverance, thoroughness, probably bl**dy mindedness and not giving up on the old gal.

Well done.

 

Thanks.     Hopefully a good little runabout now.  Paint and interior need a good going over next, but other than that it looks pretty good.

[Breezy_Pete]

On ‎12‎/‎07‎/‎2018 at 21:01, Wino said:

...If they do look different on the Fabia, would you take some photos and post them please?

 

Don't worry about that, I took some of my own today, it does look very much the same as the Polo.  Had been meaning to clean out the scuttle on the missus's car for quite a while, and your story motivated me to get round to it. Learnt a few interesting things while I was at it, including 3 build faults on the car, and something I didn't know about the way the wiring connects through into the cabin, in the other box next to the one you opened to discover the 'corroded all to hell' terminal 30 wire connection.

 

If you haven't got round to checking the drains yet, I'd suggest that it may well be easier to go from the wheel arch area - by removing the arch liner and pulling stuff out of the hole that's revealed with something 'hookish' - though I haven't actually tried it that way. The one you should concentrate on is the driver's side one, it seems to be the more vulnerable to blockage, and surprisingly is pretty much independent of the other one.  There's a bit of a 'watershed'  high point in the middle and unless you park on a very steep side-slope, all the water going into the driver's side of the scuttle is going to exit at that end.

Edited 14 July, 2018 by Wino