I fitted my new sensor today and.... it still has the same fault. Out of boredom I checked the charging side again by simply putting on all my headlights heater etc and starting the car. It fired up straight away no problems. However, when I turned the steering wheel from side to side. The head and interior lights dipped on the car. I dont think it should be doing that as the alternator should be puting out 14 volts even on tick over. Am I correct in thinking that?

Mine does it occasionally, the steering is always off-centre when it happens, i think its if the steering moves whilst starting the car... power assistance is still there but its much hevier, again engine off/on will clear... doesnt log any fault codes tho

I have just been outside and drop tested the charge system. The battery was showing 12.5v with the ignition off. Turned on all the lights etc without the ignition and was 11.7v. Started the engine with everything on and the power dipped to about 10v then rose up to 14.4v after 4 secs. When I turned the steering wheel from side to side it dropped to 11.9v and then rose up t 14 again. Is that normal or is it excessive?

My first post and I'm on the scrounge - and to be fair Skodas behaved admirably in the 18 months we've had it (1.4 mpi '00)

Any way - suffering similar symptoms to everyone else so think i will check battery first but would be grateful if you could furnish me with relevent readings - ie what should my battery be chucking out?

As i've only done this on my motorbike before, what setting do I need to adjust multimeter to?

Is it worth whipping the battery out and having a look at the power steering level (also drive a volvo and the power steering reser is conveniently located and has a little dip stick) ????

Many thanks

Neil

Well, finally my car steering is now fixed and running normal again:D I got it code read again and this time it brought up a power steering fault code. The mechanic cleared it for me and also showed me I had a MAF fault too. He charged me £10 for the code read which is much cheaper than Skoda would have charged me. Got my MAF coming tomorrow so all should be back to normal.

Thankyou to everyone who had input on helping me with this problem:thumbup:

Had the same intermittent symptons for 11 months on SWMBO's 03 Fabia. Light staying on, occasional heavy sterring.

Took to Crawley Down today under the extended warranty. They could not detect any faults on the readout but was advised that they had seen this before and put it down to the Angle Sensor.

Initially they stated they could not fit the AS under warranty as it was not showing as a fault and therefore no way could they get agreement on a repair that was not 'there' .

They also subsequently discovered the extended warranty was not registered.

Fortunately I had taken the sales receipt clearly stating 12 month warranty and argued that by suspecting what the problem was through experience but to do nothing was tantamount to dishonesty, especially as there was less than a month remaining on the warranty.

Having asked the sales dept' the reason the warranty had not been registered , they decided to change the angle sensor at no charge. All in all a good result but, posibbly more due to luck of having unrefutable evidence of having a warranty.

I've been there before with dealer supplied extended warranty, it seems that some dealers take your money for the warranty but only actually buy the warranty if you come back and try to use it. I think that in future, if I bought a car and had paid for a dealer's extended warranty, I would not leave or complete the deal until some "paid for" warranty paperwork was provided.