ey up,

 

I have a 2015 Fabia SE (UK model) and the passenger-side DRL has been temperamental from time to time but generally OK, a little wiggle of the bulb holder getting it going again a few times over the years. Recently it stopped working and a little wiggle no longer worked. 

 

I went to change the bulb and in doing so saw the contacts and plastic on the bulb holder are somewhat charred. New bulb holder ordered - the bloke at the local Skoda dealer said he had heard of this happening before and a new bulb holder would be the way to fix it. Alas, it hasn't -- and both the bulb holder and bulb are fine. So that leaves the socket that the bulb holder twists into, which I'm guessing is on the main headlamp assembly? 

 

Any thoughts on what my best options are please? Anyone had similar before, and how did you deal with it?

 

Is it simple/low risk enough to get the headlight assembly out (it's very tight around that part under the bonnet, especially with my hands being the size of hams) and see what's what, maybe cleaning the contacts up with some alcohol or something, or am I best asking the local garage to take a look? It's in for MOT and service next week, but I don't want to be paying for an hour of labour for something I could do myself.. don't really like the thought of having to replace the headlight assembly - they look to be north of £200(!)

 

Any thoughts or advice will be really appreciated!

 

cheers

sharky

 

Oh bother, I had a similar type of problem with a 2002 Polo 9N back in 2008 maybe, a front indicator stopped working reliability, I replaced the bulb, flexed the contacts to ensure consistently good contact and more, in the end I soldered one end off a pair of flying leads to the front indicator bulb holder and other end to the contact material of the next down assembly holder and that fixed it while still allowing anyone to just replace a front indicator bulb.  One thing though, I've never ever heard of anyone having that sort of problem with a 9N Polo, I but it down to very poor translation of what worked on the RHS not quite working so well on the LHS indicator assembly.

 

So, with that back ground tale of woe, do you think that you could do something similar for your DRL?

 

I'm guessing from your wording that the DRL bulb plugs into an adaptor and that adaptor plugs into the next down socket within the lamp assembly - 2 sets of contacts not the best idea considering the quality of these contacts from VW Group!

Thanks for that. I've done a bit more research, given there's spare headlamp assemblies on eBay for about £80 which probably makes worth doing just so I'm not annoyed by having a fault (even if it is a fault of no consequence -- it's still annoying, knowing it's not right, right?). Sadly another post on here says you need to remove the bumper and under-engine tray to get the headlight assembly out, so even having a look at the existing contacts is off the table... Haven't got the stomach for that much work and that many bolts (or a jack to get the car properly off the ground).

 

The little plastic bulb holder is just down the gap to the right of the silver bolt. My hand and wrist can only just contort between the battery and whatever the black thing is -- so can just about get it in and out, but I'm just not going to be able to get a proper look at the socket on the back of the headlight assembly, I don't think.

 

Excuse the socks.

Are you getting the bulb holder fully turned in the headlight unit? I would take out the access hatch in the front of the wheelarch, that's not easy either, which will give you better access to the rear of the headlight.