Hi All

          I have a small NCT unfriendly problem with my vRS and hopefully somebody has seen it before ...! I have checked through this forum and was delighted as Devonutopia  seemed to have my answer but alas that was not to be ! 

 

Problem so far

3 loud beeps Traction and ABS light on steady with flashing red low fluid level light on - No ABS or ASR working

 

What I have tried

Basic diagnostic tool says "ABS Valves Voltage Supply" - This I thought was a duff fuse 

Fuse #25 inside OK

Strip fuse #6 at the battery - Some person of questionable parentage appears to have replaced this with a piece of wire which is still intact !!

 

Is it reasonable for me to deduce that before my ownership this problem came up where strip fuse #6 failed and got replaced by a piece of wire - The ABS unit has now cooked itself as it has no protection ? Ahh the joys of going in after somebody else's bodge ....!! 

 

I havent seen too many ABS units changed on this forum in fairness and I would like to get a definitive answer before I go swapping bits hoping that the problem will go away ! Better change that piece of wire for a proper fuse and see if it lets go perhaps ? 

 

Anything I have missed or anything else to check - Nothing is off the deck at the minute and I'm open to any suggestions.

 

Thanks in Advance 

 

 

The strip fuses crack, they don't blow, so I doubt the wire replacement is causing any trouble.

Remind me what year the car is please,  on phone so no sigs/profile. There may well be another battery-top fuse.

9 hours ago, Breezy_Pete said:

The strip fuses crack, they don't blow, so I doubt the wire replacement is causing any trouble.

Remind me what year the car is please,  on phone so no sigs/profile. There may well be another battery-top fuse.

 

Thanks for that Pete - She is a 2005. 

 

I just went checking with a meter and there is 12v on the circuit side of each strip fuse - Am I right in saying that all the strip fuses are 12v permanent from the battery ? 

 

I'll go digging again when the daylight comes and the temperature goes up a wee bit !!

Yes all the fuses in the battery fuseholder are permanent 12Vs.

Check the blade fuses just to the right of the strip fuses, under a black plastic cover. Many folk don't realise they are there.

 

Numbers 7 and 9 (or possibly 10 if built late in 2005) are relevant. Fuse 7 (25Amp) has a red/green wire going from it to ABS module pin 25, and Fuse 9 (or 10) has a red/white going to ABS pin 7. That one should be a 10 Amp fuse. Wouldn't be surprised if you find one of those blown, and possibly a corresponding wire damaged/shorting.

Thanks a Mill for the info Pete ... I went through it all and it was like you said above - 

 

All fuses were intact and I replaced #6 with a fuse rather than wire 9 This wont make any difference I know but a fuse is there for a reason) 

 

Next step is to take out the airbox and disconnect the plug of the ABS pump and make sure that I am getting 12v at pin #7 and #25 

 

If that all works out we can be certain that the pump is gone. 

 

Thanks again Pete - Really appreciated !

 

I had the ABS pump off mine as part of the resto, aside from the brake unions there are only a couple of bolts holding it to the bracket. As the brake unions are in the dry and warm they tend to come undone ok thankfully.

 

Not sure if there are differences in the pump for ESP cars, just incase you get a choice of units??

Hi All

          Well we got to the bottom of the problem ! As Breezy Pete have me a really good line up ! We went for the ABS pump connector and it had 12v on both pin 7 and pin 25 

 

When we tested both with a H7 bulb we found that 25 would not light the bulb properly - So the deduction from that was the loom had broken down - Although there was 12v it could not carry the current required ! We replaced a dodgy section and all is now well again

 

The Fabia is now of an age where these problems will start to surface die to degraded looms.

 

Lads Thanks a million for your help - Again this forum has saved the day and got me another NCT 👍

 

14 minutes ago, VanhireBoys said:

Hi All

          Well we got to the bottom of the problem ! As Breezy Pete have me a really good line up ! We went for the ABS pump connector and it had 12v on both pin 7 and pin 25 

@Breezy_Pete Seems you did something good

@VanhireBoys (you can type the @ symbol and then write in the name to tag a user)

 

And to all else that made contributions. 🤝

 

 

19 hours ago, varooom said:

@Breezy_Pete Seems you did something good /cdn-cgi/mirage/bdafaee094267b2aae21518697cbbc4e74a739af26219d8b209a68a22d885a3d/1280/https://www.briskoda.net/forums/uploads/emoticons/emoticon-0131-angel.gif

@VanhireBoys (you can type the @ symbol and then write in the name to tag a user)

 

And to all else that made contributions. 🤝

 

Yeah I've fallen down on the manners front so if anybody has taken the hump I do apologise - I hadn't a clue how the tag feature worked !!

 

Thanks again all !!

 

We 

Oooh I don't think anyone would have taken the hump, just I figured I'd show how the tag works, and now you know for future 🤝

Well done, I see you have made decent soldered and heatshrinked joints to the cable repair but a "chocolate block" connector in the photo as well, this may have been for your test bulb, which by the way was an inspired idea 👍,seeing how you repaired the loom fault  you probably don't need me to tell you that the choccy block joint will need something similar done to avoid future problems.

 

Did you find what had caused the high resistance in the loom? Mechanical damage, flexion?

 

I recall someone proudly posting a photo of their repair to a drivers door bellows loom failure, they had used choccy blocks .

 

My bodge of choice is red butt crimps, which dependant on the circumstances can be very good or otherwise, you do tend to get some odd results for them on Google searches though 😆

Aye thanks for that J.R. - I didn't take a photo of the damaged cable - It was chafed open and the conductor was exposed and probably over time and damp the conductor went "green"  The choccy block was a temporary fix which is now permanent. The whole loom has been all re wrapped and some flexible trunking put on so its looking decent now !

 

I was told in the past that vibration would eventually break solder joints and to use connectors - This came from a tractor mechanic ...! Ive done a right bit of soldering over the years on cars and never had a problem with breakage or dry joints. 

 

A meter is a fair enough way of testing but as it only draws micro amps it wont draw sufficient current to expose a cable that is broken down ! No hiding place from a H7 bulb as it will draw around 5A.  Just be mindful of which section you are testing as if its connected to the body control module you could damage it - It was the main feed from the battery in my case so this test 

 

Id say given the age of the cars now we will see a few age related issues like this starting to surface !! 

 

Thanks again lads for pointing me in the right direction 👍 

 

 

Re soldering, I worked for a company in the 80's that made access control equipment for mass transit stations, turnstiles, flap gates etc, it was all Jules Verne style electrics, relay logic boards, no PLC's or microprocessors, they used crimp wire ferrules for wire terminations into the screwed PCB connections (choccy blocks!) and the old boy who prepared the looms was set in his ways and insisted on dipping the stripped wire ends in the solder pot before crimping them, there were no end of failures through vibration, the wire core fracturing at the end of the solder line.

 

So to repair say a door bellows loom breakage I would not solder the broken wires together, I would insert a new length of wire and make 2 joints away from the flex zone where the wiring is stable, generally speaking I find it easier to use a butt crimp joint than to solder, it depends on the access.

 

I would not use a crimp either in the flex zone or anywhere where the wiring would endure cyclical movement.

9 hours ago, VanhireBoys said:

Ive done a right bit of soldering over the years on cars and never had a problem with breakage or dry joints. 

 

Same here.