Good afternoon all,

I'm after coming out my 2012 fabia to find the window switch on the drivers side doesn't work, the window is stuck slightly down but happily the wind deflector is covering it.

I think the switch is at fault as neither window switch works on the drivers side one, but the passengers switch works fine.

I took it apart and it seems there's corrosion on the circuit board, again leading me to believe this is where the problem lies.

I'll order a new switch but for the time being I want to get the window closed.

I want to know if the switch from a Mk1 fabia uses the same connector, if it does I can use the one off my mk1 to close the window for the time being.

Any help would be appreciated, thanks.

 

Is it just a four-way connector? (Doh, yes, I can see the pins' solder joints!) Mk1 facelift is 16-way.

The pre- and post-facelift mk2 ones aren't even compatible with each other, on cars with front and rear elec windows at least.

Try pulling the fuse for the drivers side motor module for a minute then reinserting.  If that makes it work for a few minutes, try looking for busted wires in the door bellows.

Edited 19 July, 20223 yr by Breezy_Pete

Thanks Wino for the advice, I somehow managed to get the switch working (albeit very much on the fritz), took it apart again and reassembled it backwards (by accident), it works enough to get me by until I get a new switch.

I'll check the wiring in the door bellows anyway as due diligence but I may be lucky with it only being the switch.

Have you tried holding the lock button on your key? 

Tried that and the drivers door lock and neither worked 

11 hours ago, DieselMonte said:

I'll check the wiring in the door bellows anyway

Anything to do with door-mounted electrics on a mk2 is almost always down to the crappy loom design at the bellows.

12 minutes ago, Breezy_Pete said:

Anything to do with door-mounted electrics on a VAG is almost always down to the crappy loom design at the bellows.

ftfy 😉

A bit overgeneralising IMO mac.

Mk1 Fabia are better, 9N era Polo are better. Probably lots of others too. Maybe it's just the more recent models?. It's the 'straight across the gap' approach that's daft.

Anything where there's a vertical dogleg in the bellows instead is always going to last much better, as it makes it into more of a twisting rather than bending movement of the loom.

1 minute ago, Breezy_Pete said:

A bit overgeneralising IMO mac.

 

maybe

but... mk1 octys, mk4 golfs, mk1 Leon, Cordobas and Ibizas... all also same problems with bellows cables breaking and or water corrosion..

cant say about mk2 octys, i think the engine problems over shadowed anything else...

The correct engineering approach is to use a "door loop" whose cable cores are multi-strand flexible, this is replacable and considered a service item in critical applications.

 

2 problems for its use in vehicles, cost and the fact that every cable core running in that loom section would then have 2 additional connector joints as potential failure points.

It's caused by cheap wiring, basically insufficient strand count, the copper work hardens and breaks a strand at a time until it will no longer conduct reliably.

Indeed and why I used the term multi-strand, I'm ashamed to say that despite still holding  a UK electricians qualification I have forgotten the terms in English, in France most house wiring is solid core, the UK flexible conduit multi-strand cables are called multi-brin but flexible cables for extension leads etc are called âme souple and have many more finer strands.

 

Vehicle wiring is multi-strand because the loom has to be fed through a tortuitous route and it must remain relatively flexible to allow say the speedo binnacle to be extracted & the loom disconnected when there is access, it's perfectly adequate for that but was never intended to be flexed 90° repeatedly, its not a question of the cabling being cheap rather than not fit for the purpose they are using it across door shuts.

 

Frankly I was surprised that the idea was ever signed off or that the cables do not break within weeks, those with a vertical "torsion" section that Pete describes seem a good idea.

Also putting repeated 90° bending fatigue loadings on a twisted pair canbus cable is simply crazy!