Hi guys, My daughters Fabia has been parked up since September when she went to UNI. I've been starting it an took it for a drive about 3 weeks ago and all was fine. Shes coming home for next weekend and looking forward to driving again 😬. Went to check the car today and the battery was flat. Charged it long enough for it to start up no problem and took it for a drive. After about 2 miles I had EPC light up and limited power. Pulled over and switched off. When I started it the fault cleared but when driving off again soon as i get to 2 gear same story. Tired one more time and the same happened.

 

It a 2013 1.2 tsi with 100,000 miles ish.

 

I have a really old obd scanner and the ios carscanner app. It's returned the following:

 

Car Scanner ELM OBD2
DTC report
Selected brand: Skoda

============1==============
P334B
Raw code: 334B
ECU: Engine control unit
Status: Confirmed

============2==============
11824
Raw code: 002E30
ECU: Engine control unit
Status: Test failed, Pending, Confirmed, Test failed since last DTC clear, Test not completed during this operation cycle, Warning indicator requested

============3==============
16712
Raw code: 004148
ECU: Engine control unit[Archive (inactive)]
Status: Test failed since last DTC clear
P0328 Knock Sensor 1-G61: Signal Too High; Knock sensor 1-G61 signal too large

 

Do you think this is a failed turbo wastagate actuator?

 

Guessing this isn't something i'm going to be able to buy a part a fix myself for her by Thursday  😒 Shes going to be so disappointed, takes after me absolutely loves driving and has sorely missed her little car whilst at UNI. Shes was so looking forward to driving about again next weekend when she comes home.

 

   

Found it is the turbo actuator, see attached vid, it tries to move but guess not enough. I see you can buy them and it connects via 2 bolts. However the 2nd bolt i tried to undo on the heat-shield that need removing (to disconnect the arm from the turbo) is seized. Don't know how I'm gonna get round that yet.

 

Does anyone know where I could get a new turbo actuator ( think part no is 03F145725G ) on Monday in Southampton area or anywhere with next day delivery ?

Do yourself and your daughter a big favour and fully recharge the battery with an appropriate battery charger maintainer following the instructions in the 'Owners Manual' and the charger maintainer booklet.  Better is low and slow, say a 4-amp or less, charger, this may take many hours or a day or more to fully recharger the battery.  You can definitely get the battery fully recharged by Thursday (well as full as it may be able to go) if you start now it might be there by tomorrow if the battery is good and you've already charged the battery enough..

 

Modern cars have easier engine starts even if the battery is low, when the battery can't start the engine the battery is very low indeed.  Even if the engine starts and the headlights seem bright enough the battery can still be too low for the VW computers and they can throw up all sorts of unexpected warnings and lights and error codes.

 

Just staring a parked up car doesn't really help it much and if the engine isn't fully warmed up to 90c on the oil temperature then it's doing some harm.  The coolant temperature gauge is biased to go to and stay at an indicated 90c when it is above and below this and moving.  The car needs to be driven some reasonable distance to exercise the parts, components and systems on the car.

 

If the car is parked up unmoved for about a month then the battery is best disconnected or a charger maintainer left connected to the battery to keep it topped up.

 

If the program for your daughter's model and year of VW isn't fully up to date then errors may appear on it and if the scanner's  battery, or if powered by the car's battery, is low in charge then again errors may appear on the scanner's readings.

 

P334B - http://wiki.ross-tech.com/wiki/index.php/P334B/013131

 

16712 - http://wiki.ross-tech.com/wiki/index.php/16712/P0328/000808

 

 

Personally I would fully charge the car's battery and check the scan tool is fully up to date and then after take readings again, just in case, and then see if the situation is still the same.

 

Could be a typo but you've put 2013 for your daughter's Fabia, this is the Mk 3 forum, not that it matters as the principles are the same.

 

Good luck, let us know how you get on.

 

Edited 9 November, 20241 yr by nta16
typo

2 hours ago, jammyb2009 said:

However the 2nd bolt i tried to undo on the heat-shield that need removing (to disconnect the arm from the turbo) is seized. Don't know how I'm gonna get round that yet.

PlusGas. Apply it, then go for a tea break.

I prefer clean area, apply generously and if possible leave to soak at least overnight if not longer, then try to tighten before trying to loosen, if no joy repeat, apply generously and if possible leave to soak at least overnight if not longer, then try to tighten before trying to loosen,  Time and patience is often the secret but I know some/many have do not always have the time and for many the patience.   I had a fail when I didn't exercise enough patience, but I succeeded the next day when an engineering shop hadn't, I think they run out of time and patience,

 

PlusGas isn't as good as it used to be now it's made for/by someone else, only this Thursday I throw a way a drip-tin of the 'new' PlusGas as the tin had corroded at the bottom and emptied itself in the shelf box and a spray can of the 'new' PlusGas lost it's aerosol after a third of the contents used.  My previous drip-tin I probably had for about two decades in the shed.  I used to use Rapideeze before PlusGas but that went out of production decades back'  Think I'll just use GT85 if needed as a penetrating/releasing fluid as it's so good for other stuff.

 

21 hours ago, jammyb2009 said:

It a 2013 1.2 tsi with 100,000 miles ish.

If it is a 2013 Fabia then it is a MK II ?

 

The engine doesn't look like a MK III TSI.

 

Thanks. AG Falco

Yup, the earlier 8V TSI.

Thank you for the replies gents.

 

Firstly apologies I've posted this in the wrong section of the forum, it is a 2013 MK II.

 

I had a decent battery charger and left that on it overnight, battery was good and holding charge this morn. tried to free the arm up using mole grips to grab the arm and move it left and right, seem to get looser but kept getting stuck when it retracted. cleared the codes and when for a drive, was ok for 3-4 miles but then throw EPC light when accelerating past 2k revs.

 

I'd put some wd40 on the bolts of the heat shield early morning so went back home to have another go at removing. Eventually after going to buy a diamond T30 bit i managed to get them out! Got the heat shield out the way enough to remove the clip and disconnect the actuator arm. Luckily the waste gate its self was really free and flicked back and forth with the arm detached with no resistance. The actuator its self was really stiff and when retracted took one hell of a tug to pull out again so pretty conclusive that was the faulty part.

 

Getting it out was a nightmare! undid the 2 bolts to pull it out to the right but the part that does through the hole in the mounting bracket sheared off and took lots of patient tapping away to brake to bits and remove trying not to damage the bracket its self. see the video i sent my friend asking for help and advise. Anyway with his help we have now removed it. 

 

So now I need another one, found this one which looks slightly different ( aftermarket redesign? ) but hoping its going to fit / work as its the only one i can find that 1-2 days delivery:

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/315618102782

 

Its just the top cylinder part that looks a bit different. Hoping if it fits it will work without coding all be it not 100% efficiently so my daughter can use her car when she comes home Thursday. The I guess I need to find someone / somewhere to get the software calibration run.   

 

 

 

This is the same as the one in the car looks wise but I can't find this one with next date delivery, anyone know if the other one I've linked to is the same thing but slightly different shape ? They both share the same part number : 03F145725G

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/156346443676?_trkparms=amclksrc%3DITM%26aid%3D1110006%26algo%3DHOMESPLICE.SIM%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D275255%2C276199%2C276104%26meid%3D948dfe5be1444d3b8f066c37d7a8cfcc%26pid%3D101196%26rk%3D4%26rkt%3D11%26sd%3D315618102782%26itm%3D156346443676%26pmt%3D1%26noa%3D0%26pg%3D2332490%26algv%3DSimplAMLv5PairwiseWebWithBBEV2bAndUBSourceDemotionWithUltimatelyBoughtOfCoviewV1%26brand%3DUnbranded&_trksid=p2332490.c101196.m2219&itmprp=cksum%3A156346443676948dfe5be1444d3b8f066c37d7a8cfcc|enc%3AAQAJAAABQJh9BGsXvPG03pKg78mUhLLErCJ%2BXOEYDkzTGJ85B4rSRXG6DGHfiL9UFpXuaOk%2FmuXW6x51j8YJMfy7doeYuyk9WZaRPkl%2FLlHN84X3%2FeYgVG3iucUQjkVp9Lf5uEN8ThZScFi1tgnwENMwVR%2BPMyaSt9jQ4g1owHGhK9AKMINYDw3dBPW0WZYBZFBsAZpscB8KYSlitYwOPh5WnlwCMMwuNoqOw3uBZED5Up5cbBuiOZFMQ3b7qy05VqgbDS%2B4fPZraL8zIj6xDsG9jBAV0Giw96LcPb6GrVCuzXDa9VkP%2BWt%2BbV%2BmN9DZCqCg%2FT9NTDIoOcuTo4EIrTFgtXrX2HSoQH8zo5S3G%2BX6bN5a3Z5Z0TfA8%2FltpMzl9Jn%2FoIaNqfsf6IjVrowcb8%2BZ8E9XUi0NnwDhmsjNO6%2F7OQuB00ZN|ampid%3APL_CLK|clp%3A2332490&itmmeta=01JCBHBAAAFN6QRGETNPYZBY3F

Don't worry about forum, I just mentioned it as I know there are/were regular posters in the Mk2 forum that are knowledgeable (and here but not me with the mechanics).

 

Bits I can help with, keep an eye on the battery and it's charge, GT85 is better than WD-40 Multi-Use, certainly for longer lasting lubrication, smells better too and is a penetrating/releasing fluid. - https://gt85.co.uk/

 

To save virtual and post and page space you can end the eBay link after the item (itm) number, such as, -  https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/156346443676

 

Thanks nta16, yes actually I have GT85 as well, used to use it on my bike. I did try that in combination with WD40 to free the heat shield bolts. Agree it smells almost 'nice'.

 

 

Ah, having measured the tip on the old actuator and looking at this item on Alliexpress I think I need part number 03F145725K that one according to that item on Alliexpress has a a tip thats 57mm which is the same as the old one. 03F145725G has a tip of 40mm which is shorter

 

hmm its so confusing, a lot of posts list both those part numbers for the same unit and don't specify the length

well new actuator has arrived. plugged in without connecting to check it worked and seems fine arm move in and out when switching ignition on and off and error light stayed off once cleared.

 

but... once in place an connected up I have the same problem! it doesn't move and the epc error obviously gets thrown and stays. Just don't get it, I can move it by hand and it retracts when letting go and the pivot arm on the wastegate it connects to is not in the least bit stiff, it literally flops back and forth with a flick 😢😩 see videos. Anyone have any ideas?

 

videos to big to attach to put them on youtube temporarily  - hope it works

 

video 1

video 2

I think its an electrical / grounding issue with the car but I don't understand how. basically as soon as the unit it grounded / earthed  to the car via the big metal bracket it attaches to it stops working.  I proved the theory I grounding it with a jump lead to battery negative in this vid

 

Any one any ideas?

 

 

Should it actually be doing what (you believe it should) it does when not grounded, I note that it does actually move when grounded, have you tried running the vehicle with it fitted?

On 15/11/2024 at 17:23, J.R. said:

Should it actually be doing what (you believe it should) it does when not grounded, I note that it does actually move when grounded, have you tried running the vehicle with it fitted?

Unfortunately when its earthed ( bolted in place ) soon as i start the car it gives me the EPC error lightand the car enters limp mode. If i clear the logged error and remove the actuator arm from the mount and restart the engine no error codes or EPC light get logged, engine runs fine up to temp and happy when its revved. All be it i can't drive it with the arm not in place, not sure what damage that might do if the ecu thinks it operating the wastegate but in fact isn't attached   

To conclude this thread the car is now all working again! After finding this YouTube video 

I thought ah that seems like the same symptoms I’m getting. Attached a multimeter between the actuator arm and battery negative and sure enough it was reading a positive charge up to 6 volts when the car was trying to command it to open or close the waste gate! 
I purchased another new turbo actuator from eBay and it turned up today, exactly the same unit and part numbers as the previous replacement but this one installed the car and it works perfectly! No errors and car drives fine! 
Soooooo relieved! I honestly was thinking we might have to scrap the car as it might cost more to diagnose than it’s worth.

 

This is the actuator I purchased that’s worked fine is anyone’s interested:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/146204849057?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=zb5xpfpurwu&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=d_XRAh4nTKa&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY
 

the previous one is being sent back as faulty for a refund 🙂

Good to hear that you resolved it, without that video you would have been stuffed!

 

I certainly would have baulked at buying another one even if all the indications were that the first one was faulty.