Repositioning the parking sensor

[AgentBurn]

My parking sensor on my soda fabia mk3 has come loose. I don’t have much experience fixing cars but I think this could be a cheap DIY fix, except I can’t find any guides online about how to go about doing this. I found a video on YouTube where a guy shows how to take the rear bumper off but his model doesn’t seem to have the same sensor. The sensor is now lodged somewhere in the bumper and keeps going off every time I put it in reverse. I’ve put some tape on it to stop water getting in. Can anyone help guide me?

[rum4mo]

It might be that your parking sensors are just stuck to the inner surface of the rear bumper cover using strong sticky pads - and that is what has failed.

 

Audi, at least, used to have plastic welded mounting brackets for its factory fitted parking sensors to clip/snap into, when I retrofitted front parking sensor to my Audi, I just used some very strong "structural" Araldite as I didn't want/need to get that front bumper cover off again just for that sort of job.

 

So, yes, unless you can reach up with thin strong hands and arms, to get the old sticky tape off and fit new stuff, I'd think that you will find that you have to remove the bumper cover.

 

I'd think that in your local ambient temperatures, that substituting double sided sticky pads for a good strong adhesive could be a good idea - and check the other sensors while the bumper cover is off so that you will not need to get back under there again some time later.

 

Having that sensor hole "open" will not cause any risk from water as the bumper cover is a sort of plastic and the parking sensor is sealed.

[AgentBurn]

Ok thanks. I’ll be following a tutorial to get the rear bumper off and then we’ll go from there cus I’m not sure if I can even do that since I’ve never tried

[nta16]

I thought I was going to have to remove the rear fantastic-VW-plastic bumper on my wife's 2015 so had a very quick look at things on the car and it looked to be easy.

 

I think the most difficult bits will be the usual PITA stuff like disconnecting the sensors from the bumper if required if they're on plastic clips, same as when removing the rear light clusters the awkward (for me anyway) wires connectors.

 

I judged I'd need the help of my (very reluctant) glamorous assistant (and she couldn't get out of helping as she'd caused the problem) to have one on each end of the bumper to lift/pull off the bumper without dropping any part of it to the ground and scratching the paint and to also transport it without damaging it to a safe area for me to do the work required on it.

 

Even if your car is clean there'll be dust at least around the wheel arches and behind the light clusters.

 

I've just found this guide previously posted by varooom, this looks very helpful and what I expected. - Fabia III Rear Bumper Removal.pdf

 

[nta16]

@AgentBurn if you've not already done the work.

 

This week my wife found on the back seat of her 2015 Fabia Mk3 a reversing sensor that must have been left in the car from the insurance work (we don't often have anything or one on the back seats, we had just two-seater cars for many years).  It appears to locate to the bumper with an off-set pair of bayonet type triangular pins and locating (?)/locking bar with square pin on it, so I guess like a bayonet cap incandescent bulb a get correct orientation then press and turn to locate and lock into position.  It also has a three-pin socket connector tube for connection to wiring plug.

 

I can put up a photo for you if need.

 

Edited with the help of rum4mo who, unlike me, has a working brain.

Edited 27 April by nta16
ETA:

[rum4mo]

@nta16, are you sure that what you are seeing is not just a couple of retainer wedges moulded into the body of the parking sensor - and that these just "press into" mating clips on the mounting brackets - so to remove the sensors "safely" ie without pulling the mounting brackets off the inner face of the bumper cover, the plan should be to ease something like a screwdriver in to open" each side of the mounting clips and so allowing you to ease the sensor out from these locking/retaining clips?

 

Having evolved genuine VW Group etc parking sensors to be mounted like you describe, ie a lot like a bulb fitting, sounds to be either progress - or evidence that an aftermarket kit had been fitted to your wife's Fabia.

 

Aftermarket kit designers will normally try to make assembling/fitting of their kits easy for "Joe Bloggs" - genuine original car manufacturer's parts, less so, aiming more for quickness and cheapness at the initial assembly point for that unit.

[nta16]

Never sure of anything, the car was bought s/h from a Dealership so anything could have happened,  There were paint runs on the underside of the rear bumper suggesting after it left the factory work had been done there.  I must admit I totally forgot what I'd normally say (is it a factory original part).  There appears to be numbers on it but the overspray makes it very difficult to see with my eyes even standing outside in daylight with a X3 magnifier so later I'll try to take a photo of it.

 

I only assume it's a genuine VWSkoda factory fitted part.

 

The pressing into mating clips makes much more sense, it was the square dot on the bar that made me think it might be a twist (same as the incandescent DLR bulb holder), I've edited my previous post.

 

I didn't have to do the work of removing them, thank gawd, so I don't really know and obviously if you were only removing the fantastic-plastic bumper you'd only disconnect them at the wire connector end (which would be a right PITA, at least, for me).  The sensor was working so didn't need replacing but the repair place obviously wanted to, pity I didn't crack the (more cheaply made than a couple of years before) Deppo aftermarket rear light cluster lenses and have them fit a genuine VWSkoda replacement by my wife would have sleepless nights at the mere thought of such stuff and the insurance repair adds hundreds to this years insurance cost let alone future years even with protected NCB, but I'm not moaning as we've written a car off a piece over the 90 years of driving.

 

[nta16]

@rum4mo I couldn't get a decent photo of the part as the paint overspray was so thick and shiny the camera flash bounced back regarless of angle. THe overspray was also over all by one line of numbers.  I think I could maybe (maybe not) make out Valeo and perhaps made in Germany but I'm not sure about either.  Whatever the origin of the part it appears it make locate in a circular holding ring to/on(?) the bumper(?).

 

This looks the same or similar to the one found on the back seat and is painted the same colour as my wife's car.  The paint colour might be a coincidence and the part neither off or going on to my wife's car but it'd be a few coincidences.

 

[rum4mo]

Yup, same as earlier versions, the small lug on the sort of RHS in your picture is also on the other side, and they grip into the mounting clip, so just "push in/on".

 

The ledge showing on the sort of lower point in your picture will just be a "depth limit stop" and there will be another one below the connector.

Edited Sunday at 13:29 by rum4mo

[nta16]

1 hour ago, rum4mo said:

The ledge showing on the sort of lower point in your picture will just be a "depth limit stop" and there will be another one below the connector.

The pip on it must be to do with location and/or orientation, I've no idea how the wire connectors hang, if the form a drip loop or that's not required.

 

Later I'll se if I can test if this one is working just out of curiosity.

 

[rum4mo]

Yup, I agree that part/area will insure correct insertion depth and correct orientation.