Hi All!

 

I have a 2019 Škoda Fabia 1.0TSI 110 Monte Carlo.

 

For the last month it has been not starting in the morning with ‘ACC Unavailable/Error Stabilisation Control (ESC)/Error Gearbox You can drive on/Error Tyre Pressure Loss Indicator/ACC & Front Assist Unavailable’ showing.

 

None of these issues exist & the car always (so far) starts on the 5th/6th attempt & then starts up ok the rest of the day.

Dealer cannot see it for many weeks so local garage plugged it in & said communication issue but not confident in resolving it.

 

Local indie VW garage said definitely not ABS Wheel Sensor & is pointing towards ECU replacement at absolutely eye watering cost.

Would be really interested if anyone has any experience of this/similar issue please.

 

 

Hi welcome.

 

There are a number of possibilities, unfortunately what you need is someone that is good and reliable at proper diagnosis of the problem which involves more than just plugging in an appropriate and fully up to date scan tool - is the local indie VW garage that type.

 

You could look through the threads and posts on this forum (Skoda Fabia Mk III (2014-2021) for a 2019 with the same issue.

 

Normally lots of lights on come from battery in too lower state of charge for the computers but that would not be a communication issue.

 

If you paid the local VW indie for diagnosis (or even if not) they could give you the scan tool report to see what it has listed.

 

If ECU is at fault then that might be a wire or connection faulty, got water on it perhaps, a faulty ECU, not the ECU at fault but other connection or communication.

 

Ignition switches or other faults.

 

You need the scan tool read out to see more then proper diagnostics to confirm, or deny, what the the VW indie garage has told you - I have no idea, they might be spot on, or not.

 

Here is a link to a list of Briskoda members that may be able to offer you at least a report, best to ask for one with VCDS in this case, most  for beer tokens but some as professional service so not beer tokens. - https://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/262215-list-of-vcds-owners-previously-known-as-vag-com-vcp-owners/#comment-3091029

 

 

If you are interested to find out for yourself this chap to me appears to do good diagnosis and cross-checking of that diagnosis and IIRC a few of his videos will cover similar to your situation.  - https://www.youtube.com/@mrautoservices7354/videos

 

Others might be along later with more info.

 

Good luck.

 

Has the battery been properly tested and eliminated as the cause?

Hi Both,  Thank you very much for your replies it is appreciated.

 

So I was not given a read out unfortunately, his plug in machine looked modern.

 

Today it came up with the above errors & then '12V Battery not charging stop the vehicle'  this has not ever come up before.

 

Surely the garage would have eliminated the battery as a cause as a basic check?

 

I'm keen to eliminate Relays/Fuse Box etc as a cause & a second opinion prior to committing to the cost of a ECU change with no guarantee it will solve it. 

 

As you can probably tell I am no mechanic!

 

Thank you again. 

Never assume anything!

Get battery condition and alternator output tested.

Edited 18 October, 20241 yr by Warrior193
grammar

4 hours ago, kpugh said:

So I was not given a read out unfortunately

That is very common, in case you take your business elsewhere but it's a matter of minutes and seconds to get your email address or similar and 'post' the report to you.  Whatever machine is used it needs to be up to date with your model and year of car.  Different scan tools can give different results but communication errors should be on all of them, then they need to find out why there's no communication.

 

Any engine starting issues and/or electric/electronic/computer issues you need the car's "12v" battery to be in an at least reasonable state of charge to keep the computers happy which is well below that to keep the headlights looking bright enough and far, far below the engine showing any difficulty or not starting.  Looking for the issues and repeated attempts to start the car will drain the "12v" battery even more which is why they may have kept the engine running whilst doing any work - but testing or looking at at battery output is a primary check which you hope they would do, but might not.

 

Checking the "12v" battery charge is very easy you do not need to be a mechanic or an electrician to do it (I'm neither) and it's been a basic primary check for mechanics and auto-electricians ever since cars got battery(ies) to start them and even more important now that  the cars have so many modules, sensors and complex computer programs on them.

 

Unfortunately  good Dealerships/garages/mechanics/auto-electricians seem to be fewer and further between than they should be and usually have more work than they can cope with so have waits even longer than the poorer quality ones.

 

The very first thing I would do is fully charge the "12v" battery with an appropriate charger maintainer with following the car's Owner's Manual and charger, maintainer's instructions.  If the battery is really low this may take many hours. if the battery isn't too low it wont take too many hours.  I would then look for a reliable person with an appropriate scan tool (checking it's fully updated for model and years, and it's battery is fully charged if it's not powered off the car battery.

 

With a confirmed at least reasonable charged battery and a scan report or better still looking at live data to check things like alternator is charging properly and other stuff related to the car's issue(s) and then work from there.

 

Just because you weren't given a report doesn't mean it wasn't saved to the machine and still available, if you paid for diagnosis then I don't think it's unreasonable for you to be given that report - but I'm not in the motor trade where customers are often treaded like something they've trod in that smells, of course on the other side not all customers are angels.

 

I'm not sure you can be given much more info or advice than that already given but others might have more to offer and please ask any questions you want.

 

 

Thanks again for responses.  

 

I’m just not happy committing to ECU change until at least had a second opinion as I do not feel it’s a 100% guaranteed fix or even necessary I do remember them saying “I do not think it would be wiring” or in other words they’ve not bothered to check this hence now lack of confidence. So I’m also questioning if they bothered to check battery.

 

I have taken a recommendation of a different authorised Škoda dealer who happily booked me in early next week & sound keen/confident of repairing it (Complete contrast to my usual dealer!)

 

Will report back with progress next week 👍

1 hour ago, kpugh said:

Thanks again for responses.  

 

I’m just not happy committing to ECU change until at least had a second opinion as I do not feel it’s a 100% guaranteed fix or even necessary I do remember them saying “I do not think it would be wiring” or in other words they’ve not bothered to check this hence now lack of confidence. So I’m also questioning if they bothered to check battery.

 

I have taken a recommendation of a different authorised Škoda dealer who happily booked me in early next week & sound keen/confident of repairing it (Complete contrast to my usual dealer!)

 

Will report back with progress next week 👍

If new service centre does not offer, politely insist on battery condition and alternator output test be carried out as 1st priority. 

Hi, 

 

By no means a mechanic either but I had a similar issue on my 1.0tsi (2019) Fabia. When temperatures were dropping to low levels (3 deg C and below) the car would struggle to start and throw a bunch of errors. It would eventually sort itself out. I found a thread on BRISKODA stating that this could be caused by a faulty to engine bay fuse box. I changed this recently (around £100) and it seems to have done the trick. However, it has given me a permanent P0562 code & engine light so there is clearly something not quite right. 

 

Perhaps if I had the work done by a garage this wouldn't have happened... I have just added a new post to try and resolve this issue!

 

Hope this is of some use. 

 

James

A cleaning of the fusebox and it's connections may (or may not) save replacing with new but a Dealership/garage/mechanic/auto-electrician may decide and/or charge otherwise.

 

Any electrical or engine starting issues I start at the battery (and fully recharge it even if the charge isn't too low as battery state of charge can help or hinder fault diagnosis and find resolve) and go from battery forward with checks at least.  A scan tool can help but it never fully rules out the basic checks that existed before them.

 

@roxby_fabia James, P0562 could possibly suggest that the basic checks haven't been completed or it might be an additional issue, if you also had/have a battery in a low state of charge then checking the car's alternate might be a good idea but of course with electrics you also have to check, wire, connections, parts/components, all need to be fully functioning and clean, secure and protected.  Also with error codes you need a scan tool appropriate to your VW model and year, at an appropriate level for fuller diagnosis, and the program for your model and year fully up to date otherwise you can be given incomplete or even incorrect information.

  

Hi All!

 

Finally resolved by main dealer it was the the relay however it is a combined relay/fuse box unit on this model so I paid them to carry out the work & since picking it up no errors so far!

 

From what I could glean it sounds like this type of relay struggles when the temperatures dip.

 

Insisted on a full battery check & they were adamant it is spot on & does not require replacement.

 

The start/stop does seem more proactive since collection.

 

As a general point since owning this car I have found independent/local garages either politely unwillingly/unable to work on the car (or mis-diagnose it as original post above) yet I walk into a Skoda dealership & they have a pretty damn good idea what the route cause of each issue is just from the symptoms.  Clearly going to have to continue to use main dealer potentially for the duration of ownership - VAG really do like to squeeze every last £ out when you own one of their vehicles! 

 

1 hour ago, kpugh said:

Hi All!

 

Finally resolved by main dealer it was the the relay however it is a combined relay/fuse box unit on this model so I paid them to carry out the work & since picking it up no errors so far!

 

From what I could glean it sounds like this type of relay struggles when the temperatures dip.

 

Insisted on a full battery check & they were adamant it is spot on & does not require replacement.

 

The start/stop does seem more proactive since collection.

 

As a general point since owning this car I have found independent/local garages either politely unwillingly/unable to work on the car (or mis-diagnose it as original post above) yet I walk into a Skoda dealership & they have a pretty damn good idea what the route cause of each issue is just from the symptoms.  Clearly going to have to continue to use main dealer potentially for the duration of ownership - VAG really do like to squeeze every last £ out when you own one of their vehicles! 

 

It sounds as if you have a competent dealership workshop, what did the relay unit and fitting cost?

Just under £300 realise I could have saved by fitting myself but the chances of me fitting it & it actually working are virtually nil!

 

Hopefully this will be useful info to others I suspect this may be a common issue as temperatures start to drop.

 

 

Thanks for reporting back and I'm glad you got it sorted, shame it was so much hassle but that's the past now.

 

2 hours ago, kpugh said:

As a general point since owning this car I have found independent/local garages either politely unwillingly/unable to work on the car (or mis-diagnose it as original post above) yet I walk into a Skoda dealership & they have a pretty damn good idea what the route cause of each issue is just from the symptoms.  Clearly going to have to continue to use main dealer potentially for the duration of ownership - VAG really do like to squeeze every last £ out when you own one of their vehicles! 

Unfortunately that's the state of the industry.  The Skoda Dealership should have the information (if VW releases it to them) as they will deal with the most 2019 Fabia and from new.  You are now learning that Germany "quality" is different this century to last.  A good quality auto-electrician / auto diagnostics would have been able to find that - but finding them is the difficulty!

 

2 hours ago, kpugh said:

From what I could glean it sounds like this type of relay struggles when the temperatures dip.

Yet VW chose to fit this part, the relay/fusebox would be a very tiny cost to VW during car build.

 

I might be wrong or it might just be the way it seems to me based on coincidence of seeing posts but 2019-ish Fabias (other models?) seem to have issues, I'm surprised we do not see more 2020 Covid time issues when quality of items and perhaps build might have dropped.

 

Good luck, do keep your battery in good state of charge and health to help reduce or save having to look or post here much in the future.

 

Hi all,

 

I changed the fuse box on my car myself for the same reason as @kpugh. The cost of the part was around £100. I also spent £48 for a VW "specialist" to take a look at the car after I had an EML post install. Frustrating to pay £48 for no gain but it teaches me to be more vigilant when changing parts in the future. If you know what you're doing the part swap should take less than 2 hours. 

 

If anyone has any questions about changing the fuse box just let me know. Caveated - I am not a professional mechanic (clearly!).  

 

Cheers,

James

Hello everyone. 

@kpugh, my daughter is having the exact same problem with hers, it has had a new battery but the problem persists, which relay was it exactly please?

 

Thanks.

 

Martin

I have attached the part I bought for my car. My understanding is the faulty relay is built into the fuse box. (Engine compartment passenger side). 

 

1.0tsi Fabia colour edition 2019. 

 

Do you plan to fit the part yourself? If so let me know if you have any questions etc. 

Yes I agree with @roxby_fabia it is an integrated/combined unit. I can’t comment on fitting as dealership carried it out.  However I will say it completely resolved the issue been fine ever since even in the recent much colder weather.

Do you have photos of what it looks like and where it is?

 

Thanks Martin

Currently away with work, but I can post photos tomorrow. 

 

- James

@Martinsg I've added some photos I took while I was swapping mine.

 

I can send a picture of the old part tomorrow. 

 

It is a relatively straightforward forward process. Disconnected the battery terminals. Disconnected the positive wire running to the fuse box. There is a cable tie to cut on the firewall side of the fusebox and then with some careful persuasion the fusebox can be lifted free. Each wire then needs to be disconnected. I made the tools from a paperclip and bobby pin. I can send a photo of these tomorrow too. 

 

James

Thanks for this. 

This is the old part which I removed. 

 

 

- James

Its hard to see what could fail on it, is there a relay within it somewhere?

 

Martin

Yep, built in relay