I've got a '17 Fabia 3 SE estate with the 4 pot 16V TSI engine.

 

There are a couple of annoyances from owning it for a couple of months.

 

Dashboard rattle.

 

This is irritating that our '14 Fabia 2 estate doesn't rattle. A rattle occurs when the cabin has warmed up and I did think it was inside the dash (maybe it still is) but I've found that I can silence it by doing one of two things:
1. Pushing the dash from the gap between it and the door (inwards, towards the dash) or
2. Pressing gently on the lower, right hand corner of the perspex (the black surround on the clear section) covering the instrumnents.

I did think of spraying some silicone grease into the gap for the instrument surroud (or getting some film negative and sliding it into the gap) to see if that stopped it but didn't want the grease  getting somewhere it shouldn't and I don't have any film negative! Has anyone had this rattle before and knows of a reliable, pain-free cure?

Throttle response:
I find the initial, no load throttle response really sensitive; when I give a bit of throttle before the clutch pedal is lifted, I find that it often ends up higher than what I want and nothing like the 8V TSI in our other car. I did have a meddle with OBD2 after I purchased it (just to check codes) and I seem to remember that in the Android tool I downloaded that there was a setting for the throttle on this car. Is this something that can be changed accordingly to owner preference or something?

Thanks in advance.

1 hour ago, briscaF1 said:

Throttle response:

I find the initial, no load throttle response really sensitive; when I give a bit of throttle before the clutch pedal is lifted, I find that it often ends up higher than what I want and nothing like the 8V TSI in our other car. I did have a meddle with OBD2 after I purchased it (just to check codes) and I seem to remember that in the Android tool I downloaded that there was a setting for the throttle on this car. Is this something that can be changed accordingly to owner preference or something?

 

The DBW pedal coupled to these engines in the Fabia Mk3 has an idle zone in about the first 5% of its travel, which can make it a bit difficult to judge the right pressure to get that moving-off sweet-spot. And then, as you lift the clutch pedal but before the biting point, the ECU for the 1.2 TSI likes to increase whatever gas you set with your right foot to about 1700rpm. This particular 'feature' of the powertrain is well-known around these parts.

 

There is a setting that alters the throttle pedal response between something like 'progressive over time' (the default) and 'direct linear'. However I don't think it affects the behaviours mentioned above.

Edited 27 January, 20206 yr by ettlz

34 minutes ago, ettlz said:

 

The DBW pedal coupled to these engines in the Fabia Mk3 has an idle zone in about the first 5% of its travel, which can make it a bit difficult to judge the right pressure to get that moving-off sweet-spot. And then, as you lift the clutch pedal but before the biting point, the ECU for the 1.2 TSI likes to increase whatever gas you set with your right foot to about 1700rpm. This particular 'feature' of the powertrain is well-known around these parts.

 

There is a setting that alters the throttle pedal response between something like 'progressive over time' (the default) and 'direct linear'. However I don't think it affects the behaviours mentioned above.

 

Thanks for the reply. I guess I could understand if the car had DSG or some auto transmission but to have a "semi auto" throttle on a manual seems a bit odd. 

 

I can picture the direct linear response but the progressive one is not so clear - does this provide more sensitivity "around where the throttle currently is" ?

7 hours ago, briscaF1 said:

 

Thanks for the reply. I guess I could understand if the car had DSG or some auto transmission but to have a "semi auto" throttle on a manual seems a bit odd. 

 

I can picture the direct linear response but the progressive one is not so clear - does this provide more sensitivity "around where the throttle currently is" ?

 

The progressive one is meant to dampen out sudden harsh throttle position changes. Putting your foot to the floor will result in a gradual (but fairly quick) rise from 0-100 throttle.

 

Direct mode just applies whatever throttle you ask for.

 

I wonder if the RPM boost thing is able to be mapped out.

*Bump*

 

No suggestions on the rattle? It's driving me mad....

I'll bite, but not sure its the same... occasionally I've noticed a vibration/rattle when pulling away at lower revs. I found, wedging my finger between the end of the dash and the door card shut it up. My initial thoughts was the panel at the end of the dash I removed to install the dashcam was the culprit but I think it was more likely the door card 🤔 Either way, I forgot about it. I've heard it a few times before I believe, but not tried to find out where.

 

If you want to check, pulling the panel off the end of the dash is easy. It could easily be a cable or something in there. It just pulls off in the direction of the door and IIRC it uses metal clips, so nothing should break. Had mine off a couple of times now.

 

There are some photos of the panel and inside here:

 

 

Edited 31 January, 20206 yr by Confused_Cheese

5 minutes ago, Confused_Cheese said:

I'll bite, but not sure its the same... occasionally I've noticed a vibration/rattle when pulling away at lower revs. I found, wedging my finger between the end of the dash and the door card shut it up. My initial thoughts was the panel at the end of the dash I removed to install the dashcam was the culprit but I think it was more likely the door card 🤔 Either way, I forgot about it. I've heard it a few times before I believe, but not tried to find out where.

 

If you want to check, pulling the panel off the end of the dash is easy. It could easily be a cable or something in there. It just pulls off in the direction of the door and IIRC it uses metal clips, so nothing should break. Had mine off a couple of times now.

 

There are some photos of the panel and inside here:

 

 

My dashcam cable has a habbit of making a slight noise at low rpms (sub 1500), pushing the dash in that region makes it stop usually, and going back in the panel and retying the cables fixes it for a while.

 

I do have quite stiff engine mounts though. Before installing them i didn't get any rattles.

6 minutes ago, FabiaGonzales said:

retying the cables fixes it for a while

 

On mine I tried to use a 3m sticky pad to attach the little transformer to the dash support, wouldn't be suprised if that has come off or if the cables bundled up for it are vibrating somewhere. It wasn't really loud enough to bother me. I used to be crazy about rattles, but having a ford for such a long period of time I kinda got used to trim rattles 😂