Fabia Mk1 Indicator and or Light Issue

[gelertd]

Just been contacted by son in law regarding his 2006 1.9Tdi estate (elegance) with a strange electrical issue that's just started.

 

Car has been fine up until today when he noticed that when activating the indicator stalk to turn right he got the double click suggesting a bulb failure - but if you read on it is not an indicator bulb issue. 

 

I haven't got the car with me so have got the following information from him......

 

Without the headlights or sidelights on, either with just the ignition 'on' or with engine running the indicators and hazard lights work fine.

 

Switch the sidelights on (ignition 'on' or with engine running) and the left indicators don't work when stalk activated and when right indicator activated get the double flashing/clicking on dash but the front and rear right side indicator bulbs are on permanently.

 

The offside headlight is not working on dipped beam.

 

Anyone any thoughts on why everything is fine with the lights off but when the sidelights/headlights switched on it all goes 'strange'??

 

Thanks 

 

 

[Cleggy]

I have purchased the same car but the hatchback, I have not noticed anything yet other than a few lamps out when purchased last week. I hope.ypu find an answer and will keep an eye out for anything 

[gelertd]

I'm inclined to think it's an earth problem somewhere - just wondering if anyone's experienced similar or can give advice as to which (and where) the relevant earth locations are. 

[peter3197]

Just now, gelertd said:

I'm inclined to think it's an earth problem somewhere - just wondering if anyone's experienced similar or can give advice as to which (and where) the relevant earth locations are. 

I would also suspect this. I also think the headlight dip not working is likely not to be connected-blown dip filament. That would be my 1st check, then start checking all the contacts on all the affected bulbs.

[TMB]

Could be the stalk itself I guess.

[gelertd]

I think the headlight dip is an unconnected filament failure too and hasn't been noticed until the current problem arose.

 

The cars was coming to me on Sunday anyway to replace a failed n/s/f door lock module - hopefully I can track the issue down quickly - bulb replacement first and then earth checks - hoping that by knowing where the likely earth points are I can save a little time.

 

[gelertd]

2 minutes ago, TMB said:

Could be the stalk itself I guess.

I considered the stalk too but the indicator stalk works fine until the lights are switched on  

[KenONeill]

12 hours ago, gelertd said:

I'm inclined to think it's an earth problem somewhere

That was my first thought too.

[VWD]

i'd say earth problem, but also be aware that I've recently had to replace first the passenger side connector on the dip and yesterday the driver side connector. Symptom- no dip beam. Passenger side was easy as the connector had melted. Driver side was more of a problem. Original bulb had failed with a tell tail gap in the filament. New bulb failed to light in car , but lit on charger ,with 12v on connector. So only other culprit was a HR connector. For those ignorant of ohms law, any slight resistance can cause major problems when currents circa 4.5A flow. Poor connector of 1 OHMS with 4.5A flowing can reduce the voltage to a 55W headlamp to  less than 8 volts. Similar thong on an earth post. All works till something drawing a lot of current in the return path is switched on. Then the HR on the earth side starts dropping volts.

[AndyPandy]

A common way to check if it is an earthing fault is to measure across the bulb when it is on with a voltmeter. You need to remember a digital voltmeter has an input resistance of about 10 megohms(10,000,000 ohms when reading voltage.Adding a poor earth connection  of say 1 ohm to this will give a false high voltage when measuring  voltage across the bulb. A solution is to measure the current being taken buy the bulb when turned on.for example a good 21 watt bulb on 12 volts will indicate 1.8 amps is flowing in the circuit, when there is no fault.

 

The correct was to find faults is to measure the voltage on the +ve wire going to the item i.e. bulb,and the source of the 12v positive supply voltage. In practice this needs a digital meter with long leads. Long leads  will not give wrong readings when the meter is set to read VOLTS,because the current flowing in the leads is very very low. Long leads reading  CURRENT will effect the reading because of the extra long lead resistance. 

To make it easier for none electronic people I will explain in practice how to do this. Lets say the 21 watt bulb is on,but at low brilliance,this indicates there is extra resistance (ohms) in the circuit ,this it turn lowers the current flowing in the circuit.  Connect the long meter red positive +ve lead to the car battery positive +ve ,and the meter red positive to the base of the bulb nearest the bottom contact on the bulb.A voltage reading higher than about 1/2 of one volt (0.5 volt) will mean the fault is in the positive+ve  circuit. Connecting  the meter between the car battery negative_ve and the larger bulb connection,or the bulb socket . a high reading say above about 1/2 of one volt(0.5 volt) would indicate the fault is in the car earthing circuit. The car metal chassis can be part of the earthing circuit.

[gelertd]

Thanks to all who took the time to read and offer advice on the problem - I thought I would update the thread with the result...……….

 

Car arrived on Sunday and with it came more information - sometimes the problem cured itself after the car had been moving or sat with the engine idling. Problem seemed worse when it was wet or damp - and the clincher being the offside headlamp did work on dipped beam when everything was running OK.

 

I thought it might be a faulty wiring harness or earth in the offside headlamp assembly - but on inspection it was much more simple.  Looking at the offside headlamp connector revealed it wasn't pushed home fully (compared to the nearside headlamp).  A simple push on the connector to seat it properly and everything worked as Skoda intended.

 

Sometimes, just sometimes, it is the simplest of fixes.  

[Cleggy]

Good news....