Hi All

Having recently bought a 2011 Fabia Scout TDI 105, which is great 20 quid a year to tax etc. Two things I found out about my car first there is no spare wheel easy fix nick the one out of the wife's and buy her a matching alloy of Ebay (Wife's is a 2007 Fabia 2 Auto.) Second whilst looking for spare wheel I note it has a factory fit tow bar, handy  for bikes and trips to the tip. Problem is cant get the tow ball to fit into the part on the car, have tried the key in the 2 positions with the little button by the side in and out. Seems to me that the lever on the side of the tow ball does not want to move.  Any ideas folks, or shall I continue to use the scooby for any towing duties.

Probably rusted inside so not releasing when pushing button allowing it to connect correctly. Try a good soaking in WD40.

 

Just incase you have not got one, owners manual here shows a few pages on using the factory tow ball (assuming its a factory one)

 

Owners Manual

 

Edited 8 April, 20206 yr by UrbanPanzer

I think i should have explained what type of tow bar I have as a kind person pointed me to a website which has the newer type of ball. Below is what I have in the boot.  Don't seem to be able to move the lever on the side. Looks like the same ball is used on Audi a1 and skoda roomsters.

 

Thats a genuine part....

 

exactly as in the manual I linked above your post.......

 

http://www.fabiavrs.com/PDFs/A05_Fabia_OwnersManual.pdf

 

Read from page 123 just to ensure you are doing it correctly.

If that's the OP's towball in the picture something's a bit awry with it: usually the lever should lock in the open position once the towball is removed. I wonder if the previous owner managed to somehow lock it while it was off the car? As a test, try pulling out the red knob and pushing the lever downwards (relative to the normal installed position): you might need a second person or a vice to hold the vertical part while doing this.

Thanks to both, that is not my tow ball it is however in the same position. I cant move the lever but as chimaera said I may need to put it in the vice. The VRS manual makes more sense than the information that is with my car. Looks like I need to have another go, good job I have a bit of spare time at the moment after finishing polishing the wife's Fabia of course!!!

I'll grab a photo of mine tomorrow for comparison (it's on a Superb but it's the same mechanism). It doesn't need a huge amount of force to unlatch it, but you need something/someone to hold it steady.

Okay so I have got the lever part to work, bit of wiggling in the vice and some spray lub, seems bizarre that the key has to be left in when its in ready mode.

Next issue is the tow ball will not fit into the tow bar enough for the mechanism to lock, guess that there is dirt rust etc up inside, will have another go at the weekend when I can jack the back of the car up and have a decent look. Looking at the tow ball the small ball has got to be pushed in to make the three bigger balls pop out and lock. Progress though.

 

 

This might sound a bit obvious, but check that the plastic cap has been removed from the towbar. Regarding the key, my guess is that it's intended to prevent the key getting lost when the towball is detached, but yeah I think I'd prefer if it was removable myself.

All fixed now, yesterday got the back end jacked up a spent a while with a cordless drill and wire brush to remove all rust from the part on the car. Plenty of white grease later it worked.

To make sure I removed and refitted about ten times and cleaned and lubricated the three balls plus the lever and the key.

All now good even managed to repair the part of the bumper that is removed to allow the hitch to fit, as the clips had broken.  

Thanks to all who helped, Scout has now been washed and waxed ready for next trip out.