The only car I bought was in 2004 from dealer A , who has now offered to speak to me, I don't know which department the offer comes from--hope it's not Sales!

I'll let you know how it goes tomorrow.

Billhum

We'll be watching with interest. Hope you get everything sorted. Good luck

The only car I bought was in 2004 from dealer A , who has now offered to speak to me, I don't know which department the offer comes from--hope it's not Sales!

I'll let you know how it goes tomorrow.

Billhum

Sorry I misunderstood, they probably offered you a trade in on this one. Which of course you wouldn't want to if it didn't have the fault.

yes let us know how you get on... hopefully the right person is on the job now

Without the benefit of a fault code read and not knowing exactly what circumstances the failure occurs under, I would replace the X relay, about £15 and requires removal of the dash section that houses the light switch.

I'd give the X relief relay a go as well. Also check the engine earth straps and battery leads.

An update on my lack of progress.

The message from the dealership, asking me to make contact was from the Dealer Principal.

I called at 1100 and 1140 but he was busy each time, I left my number and wait his call. It is now 1336

In the meantime my wife went shopping and the car would not start, so she had to walk back home, very cross. I went down and tried it and, uniquely, it seemed to show that the battery was flat. All the lights come on and there is a faint relay thunk. I last recharged it to full capacity a week ago.

i am tempted to blow the damn thing up.

Billhum

An update on my lack of progress.

The message from the dealership, asking me to make contact was from the Dealer Principal.

I called at 1100 and 1140 but he was busy each time, I left my number and wait his call. It is now 1336

In the meantime my wife went shopping and the car would not start, so she had to walk back home, very cross. I went down and tried it and, uniquely, it seemed to show that the battery was flat. All the lights come on and there is a faint relay thunk. I last recharged it to full capacity a week ago.

i am tempted to blow the damn thing up.

Billhum

Oh dear! Give him until nearer the end of the day. Leave a reminder that around 800 views have been made of this thread in the past couple of days and we all know which garage is involved!

As to your latest prob (and that of your wife) have hope - it could all be sorted soon!

Welcome to Briskoda,

hope you get this sorted and Dealer A does the decent thing and sorts it for you F.O.C.

Free bump to the top.

Tried him again at 1430 and after a bit of hassle with his secretary, who wanted to call me back , I got him. (I ran a company myself once and I would have been disturbed if a customer with a grievance needed three phone calls and an argument to get hold of me,) I then had a full and frank discussion with him and he seemed willing to help.

The car started immediately from my battery and is now in their workshop. It may be there for a while as they will try to recreate the fault.

I am most grateful for the back up and useful suggestions I have received. It was quite unexpected but very welcome and , dare I say, effective.

More news as I get it.

Billhum

I had a full and frank discussion with him and he seemed willing to help.

The car started immediately from my battery and is now in their workshop. It may be there for a while as they will try to recreate the fault.

I am most grateful for the back up and useful suggestions I have received. It was quite unexpected but very welcome and , dare I say, effective.

More news as I get it.

Billhum

That's great news It may take them a little while to recreate and rectify whatever is causing the problem but I hope it will be worth the wait.

Be sure to let us know the end result.

All good wishes to you and your patient wife!

Welcome to Briskoda.

I'm also interested in this thread

some dealers are more willing to help than others unfortunately. but they are out there!!

I begun my Skoda affair in 2006

Hope it all works out.

Hope they can finally sort it out for you.

0945 and I have just had a call from the technician working on the car. (What excellent service I am getting, must be due to this site!)

He feels "99%" sure fault is with an earthing strap at the back of the engine making intermittent connection. I can't follow the details- why doesn't it fail randomly instead of in discrete sequences? He also mentioned bimetalic corrosion which as a one time yachtsman, I know well. Bur surely that is a design problem?

Not to quibble. They are obviously trying hard and I am grateful.

Billhum

With something that "cheap and easy" to replace, I'd just do it.

Hello again billhum. My garage has apparently seen two cars with a fault similar to yours and in those cases it has turned out to be the microswitch which is the reading coil for the ingnition key. Apparently, if faulty, it won't afect the first or second key positions (so would get dash lights) but would fail at the third (i.e. engine turn-on) position. The remedy is to replace the whole ignition barrel as the switch itself can't be replaced on its own. The ignition barrel cost (off the top of their head) is about £80 for the replacement part.

I asked if it was possible to test the switch to see if it was faulty, but they didn't think so and reckoned they found it the first time by process of elimination, but knew to suspect it when working on the second car.

I hope this info is helpful. My garage would be pleased to learn what eventually solves your problem, so I'd be grateful if you could post up later.

Good luck and fingers crossed

Mo

Edit: PS: The garage confirmed that the switch could cause an intermittent fault and also that it wouldn't register on the computer.

Thanks for all your trouble.

I think I will wait the final report on my car and then bring up what you have found.

It certainly sounds feasible and is worth considering

I will let you know.

Billhum

0945 and I have just had a call from the technician working on the car. (What excellent service I am getting, must be due to this site!)

Billhum

The news is getting better all the time

You've now had over 1,000 views of this topic since you first came on 3 days ago - and you've nearly got your car problems sorted! Ah, the power of Briskoda!

Perhaps Mrs B will be treated to a little dinner outing to celebrate and help her recover from the ordeals of the past 3 years

Glad its all working out!!!

Thanks for all your trouble.

I think I will wait the final report on my car and then bring up what you have found.

It certainly sounds feasible and is worth considering

I will let you know.

Billhum

Might be a good idea to see what happens first, as I didn't mention to my garage about the battery suddenly flattening, so it might be an unrelated fault which hopefully your garage will be picking up on I could be talking through my hat as I know nothing about cars, except that they're better when they work properly.

Regards

Mo

That would be a good idea if Skoda picked up the tab.

Billhum

That would be a good idea if Skoda picked up the tab.

Billhum

I guess that will depend on what they find and garages do need to earn a living. That said, with the problems you've had whilst still under guarantee and little effective help until now, I'd like to think you have some goodwill in hand and can reach an acceptable arrangement. As you don't know yet, perhaps bide time for now?

Regards

Mo

I guess that will depend on what they find and garages do need to earn a living. That said, with the problems you've had whilst still under guarantee and little effective help until now, I'd like to think you have some goodwill in hand and can reach an acceptable arrangement. As you don't know yet, perhaps bide time for now?

Regards

Mo

I'm only talking of the meal you suggested.

Billhum

I'm only talking of the meal you suggested. Billhum

Hi. I think it was westerdam2's idea about you and the Missus having a celebration dinner once the car's sorted out - and not a bad idea at that Mind you, it'd be a first if you get Skoda to pick up the tab...

Best

Mo

Hi. I think it was westerdam2's idea about you and the Missus having a celebration dinner once the car's sorted out - and not a bad idea at that Mind you, it'd be a first if you get Skoda to pick up the tab...

Best

Mo

I haven't got use to this site yet. A lot seems to have happened but it was only a few days ago that I found it.

But I notice that my replies don't get attached to the mail I am referring to. I haven't bothered much as all the posts are open to everyone.

No calls from the dealers so far today.

Billhum

Hi again. Well, as your garage has your car and hopefully are doing something with it, then I guess they should be ringing you to say where they're up to (mine would) but if no call received, I'd ring them as they must know something.

Re posting, on Briskoda posts don't "attach" as they do on some forums so one is always replying to the person who started a thread (the original poster or OP), meaning that any replies should be directed to you in this thread. Using the "Quote" button before replying is the way to direct a reply to someone in particular (and I see you've sussed that) or for others to comment on each others' posts, since, as you say anyone can join in.

I don't always quote if I think I'll be quick enough to reply to the latest post before someone else does, but it's a gamble that doesn't always work

Best

Mo

It's been a week since it went into the dealers.

Any progress to report? Any particular fault we should be taking note of?

It's been a week since it went into the dealers.

Any progress to report? Any particular fault we should be taking note of?

Good morning,

I was going to phone the dealer today but the "Dealer Principal" has phoned me twice; I presume he is the CEO of the outfit. He has confirmed the theory they gave last week and his mail is as follows.

Will get technician to check into. We’ve located the poor earthing problem & driven the vehicle numerous times since & all OK. My technician who spoke with you had experienced the same fault on another Fabia & that was cured after this was rectified.

I have a bit of a problem with this diagnosis because I would expect a faulty earth to be more random in its effect than I have experienced; the car could stop at any time ( after going over a bump for instance) and the earth would only be restored by a physical force, making the contact points meet again. Neither of these has happened, the car fails to start after being parked for a while ( with one exception). But they are the experts and they are certainly giving the car a good test.

Thanks for your continued interest and helpful suggestions, I will keep you informed

Billhum