See report on BMW from daily mail. The 5 amp light switch fuse on my fabia has now blown three times. Fortunately twice within Street lights and once in a tunnel. What's happened to common sense? When the fuse blows ALL lights are lost! Shudder to think what might happen in unlit areas. Anyone had similar problems?

Swap it to a 7.5

Have you investigated why it might be blowing?

1 hour ago, Nadia said:

When the fuse blows ALL lights are lost

I have to agree that that is an idiotic design.

worse into winter driving to halfords in the dark...! most of my blowouts were self inflicted messing with bulbs

Do you have an auto-light kit added? If so, that does add extra strain to the Light Switch fuse, and requires up-rating to 7.5a.

Hi, what's an auto light kit? My car is a diesel green line model. It's got stop start, but the lights do not come on automatically. Has anyone got a list of fuse ratings for the Fabia?

What year is the car, and which number fuse is it that's blowing?

The car is Oct 2014 and the fuse is no 17

Well, according to the wiring diagrams 5A is the correct value from May 2013 onwards, and it appears to only supply signals from the switch to the BCM to tell it what position the switch is at, so no real load electrically.  The fact that it is blowing repeatedly suggests that someone may have 'tapped into' this wire to feed some other load like a dashcam or something.  Not sure on a mk2 how easy it is to extract the light switch to look at the connector and what anyone may have done with it, but I'd suggest investigating that. Red/black wire on pin 15 of the 17-way connector at the light switch, I think. (Or grey/blue, grey/red, or white on the output side of the switch, pins 13, 14, 11 respectively.)

Edited 22 May, 20188 yr by Wino

@Nadia - An "auto light kit" does exactly what it says on the tin! It uses a photo sensor to turn the headlights on and off when it thinks you need them!

Thanks for that. The car does not have this facility.

Thanks Wino,

 

I've had the car from new and no accessories have been fitted. I should also point out that when the fuse goes, it's not due to switching or using any other electrical load. My best guess is a faulty switch.

Might be worth asking if there has been known faults on these switches. Skoda (And VW) Might be a little twitchy in the light of not only their emissions scandal but the BMW debacle that is now arising, so they may replace the switch gratis, if they suspect a fault. I had my Fabia one replaced under warranty some years ago so I know they CAN go wrong. The dealer might think that due to light failure, you could be left severely vulnerable at night, therefor they might just replace it for you for free. Otherwise, I think new, they are around £70

On 5/22/2018 at 20:15, Wino said:

  Not sure on a mk2 how easy it is to extract the light switch to look at the connector and what anyone may have done with it, but I'd suggest investigating that.

If I remember correctly, from the lights off position, (O) you push the switch in, twist a small amount clockwise and then, whilst holding this position, it pulls out.

Pity, I could have lent you my  switch for a few weeks to test it out, if you lived closer as I am in London. Thats if it was the same function. I retro-fitted auto lights and a Yeti switch but kept my switch in case the auto one ever went wrong. Had no issues so far, not even needed higher fuse rating!

 

Edited 25 May, 20188 yr by mrgf

Hi mgrf,

 

Have been in touch with Skoda customer services who want me to take it to a dealer so they can diagnose the problem at £60 per hour. Having paid £240 whist on holiday with another problem, they could only give me maybe's, so I'm loathe to do this and waste my money!

Hi, there are other problems with the car which may be connected. Skoda customer services have been looking into the light switch and my warning light problem which failed to load into this system.

Problem 1
Travel from home to Blackpool on holiday, using a scenic non motorway route. Passing through Southport and with an audible sound the following light up. ABS, APC, steering, brakes, glow plugs and tyre pressure, the latter two flashing. Stop car and inspect tyres, all seem OK. Start car and tyre pressure now constant, steering off but engine light now on. Proceed on way at get you home pace, notice speedometer not working. All this late on Saturday. Don't use car Sunday and take car to Simpson's on Monday, and as it turns out again on Tuesday. See their reports attached. Replacing fuse 4 seems to clear system for a while.

After holiday, drive home to get as far as Newport (about 300 miles) before problem occurs again. Replace fuse and all is well, engine light on but goes out after a short while.

Problem occurs again, fuse replaced. Go to have two new tyres fitted to rear wheels. Tyre people say that nearside rear has a nail in centre of tread.

Problem has yet to occur again. Perhaps something to do with pressure sensors?

 

A month and approx 650 miles later, had to mount curb slowly to allow a lorry past in a tight Street. Assume rear nearside tyre was pinched as warning lights all came on again. Fuse gone again, and checking light fuse, that had gone without using switch!

 

Problem 2

Actually occurred in August 2017 for first time. Driving through village and all lights go out. Thank heavens it's in a lit up area. Find fuse 17 lighting control switch, has blown. Replace fuse and all is OK. November and driving through village and lights go out again. I'm lucky that again it's in a lit up area. Coming home from Blackpool and in tunnels at Monmouth lights fail again. Replace fuse again once home. 

 

Problem 3

June 2017, heater fan stops working. It seems it will work only on full blast, and this is apparently down to a defective resistor pack.

The car is only three and a half years old and has done 26000 miles. I expect better reliability than this.

 

 

Anyone got any ideas? How do the wheel pressure sensors work?

 

Wino, what's a BCM

 

BCM = Body Control Module, an electronic circuit board in a box in the cabin that looks after lots of the electrical systems. May also be described as "Onboard supply control unit".

 

I think on your car the tyre pressure monitoring uses the ABS sensors (wheel speed, related to radius) rather than local pressure sensors in each wheel. These also supply speedo info so that may be related.  I'll look up fuse 4 in a sec, I guess it's resetting an unhappy system when it's blown/replaced. Is it actually blowing, or is it just taking out and refitting that temporarily fixes things?

Yep, fuse 4 designated "ABS control unit -J104- , start/stop operation button -E693- , TCS and EPS button -E256- , Button for tyre pressure inspection -E226-"

Have you replaced/repaired the tyre with the nail in it?

 

Fan resistor fault is common, may be more likely to happen if the cabin air filter has never been replaced (often neglected at services). Pretty sure there are some DIY fix accounts of this in the forum, only a few quid for the part, but Skoda will tell you the whole dash needs to come out, and charge accordingly.

Edited 29 May, 20188 yr by Wino

On 5/29/2018 at 15:43, Wino said:

 

 

Fan resistor fault is common, may be more likely to happen if the cabin air filter has never been replaced (often neglected at services). Pretty sure there are some DIY fix accounts of this in the forum, only a few quid for the part, but Skoda will tell you the whole dash needs to come out, and charge accordingly.

yeah, on some systems, the dash DOES need to come out. If she has the four speed system, she'll be ok but Climatronic digital climate control had the motor with resistor built in so when it goes, it goes. New motor which can only be swapped by removing the whole dash. Stupid design, really.

Thanks wino and mrgf. Fortunately, I've got 4 speed. So with the lights affected by one fuse and climatronic control needing the dash to be removed, Skoda design (or more likely German) leaves a lot to be desired!

Having been in touch with Skoda customer services I have put my car in for full investigation with the local dealer. They tell me that the light switch fuse should be 7.5 amp. The car came with 5.0 amp. So as well as a potentially lethal design, there are also quality control issues at the factory! The fan issue is acknowledged as a common fault and they quoted £106 to put it right - I'll do it myself. Fuse 4 blowing seems to be a problem with the tyre pressure sensor on rear nearside. This tyre was found to have a nail in it when I replaced the rear tyres a few weeks ago. The tyre pressure light comes on with audible warning just before the other lights come on. Replacing the fuse and moving the car up to 3 feet and it happens again, a few times. In desperation, I disconnected the battery replaced fuse 4 and all has been well ever since. Ninety percent sure pressure warning sensor/system was the fault. Monitoring the situation.

@Nadia You did reset the TPS after having the new tyre fitted? If not, then that could cause problems with false positive warnings there.

 

As to a 5A fuse instead of a 7.5A. How do you know that was a factory mistake and not a previous owner using what they got as a get you home measure then forgetting to fit a design rating replacement?

Edited 20 June, 20188 yr by KenONeill

1 hour ago, Nadia said:

problem with the tyre pressure sensor

As I said earlier, I'm pretty confident there is no such sensor.  Tyre pressure changes  are inferred from changes in the output of the wheel speed (ABS) sensor.

Happy to be corrected if I'm wrong about this, but might save you trying to source something that doesn't exist.

By removing the battery, you may have inadvertently re-set the tyre monitor so hopefully, that will stay well. The price they quoted for the resistor sounds steep on the face of it but as the genuine part is around £50, which IS steep, the labour is not so hard to swallow, if they have given you the final cost, including the dreaded VAT, at 20% on top! It still will be worth doing yourself if possible as you can easily get the part for around a tenner and if you do your homework, you will find one with a two year warranty as well. At the very least, a years one. Thats saved the MOT price and the best part of a tank of fuel. 

To KenOneil the car was new and I was sent emails of its progress through the factory. I would recommend that other owners check the rating of fuse 17 for safety reasons.

 

To Wino, don't know how pressure sensors work, but I imagine the wheel speed in going less than 3 feet cannot be measured. This sparked the pressure sensor off on a few occasions until I disconnected the battery.