hi, bought a skoda fabia 1.4 comfort in august 2003. 51 reg, 12000 on the clock.
after about 2 months the power steering failed. blamed ona faulty sensor, and fixed under warranty.
after 3 months we found that after standing overnight the rear brakes bind, break free when reversing off the driveway with a clunk, and then make horrible gratin noises for a few miles. was told that this is \'normal\' due to the open construction of the brake system. this sounds like a load of rubbish to me, they are drum brakes, and i don\'t think they should do this. certainly haven\'t experienced it on my bikes or any other cars i have had.
recently noticed headlights dimming unexpectedly, and dashboard lights dipping then coming back on. mentioned this when i took it in for the £230 service. cough splutter choke. they said they found nothing wrong, so took the battery off, charged it and said it would be ok. the car does 50 miles a day, so charging shouldn\'t be a problem.
anyhoo, went away for 3 days, came back, and car completely dead. central locking not working, dashboard dead. AA came and jumpstarted it. he checked the current drain from the battery when everything off, and registered it at 450mA, as opposed to skoda guide of 150mA. took car to skoda, told them. they said faulty cell in battery, replaced battery. with an electronics degree, i fail to see why a faulty cell in the battery would cause excess current to be drawn from the battery.
anyone else had these problems with fabia? and has anyone experienced \'bad attitude\' from skoda dealers? i want to get to the bottom of these problems before the warranty runs out!!
regards,
jam_cam.
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jam_can
Even that 150mA is wrong - that would flatten the battery in a week. 450mA is ridiculous. Typical \'standing current\' of a modern car should be in the region of 15 - 30mA. You are correct with your assessment. A faulty battery cell drains itself internally. It doesn\'t drive a current through the car.
Regards
John S
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Check the boot light goes out when you shut the lid. Some Octavias had a switch problem; not sure about Fabias. Also have a look at www.briskoda.net/forums/ and consider joining this excellent forum.
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450mA is a half amp in English:
0.5 x 12 = 6 Watts.
look first for low power light bulb -
courtesy light in the boot, perhaps.
Or interior light on all the time.
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hi guys, thanks for your suggestions.
i have checked all the lights go out when doors/boot closed. they all seem fine.
i\'ll start with pulling fuses at the weekend, and go from there.
just annoyed that i\'ll be doing it myself really! will check out the other forum too.
after my previous couple of visits to the dealer and the reception i have had, i\'m looking forward to going back with something to stick up their exhausts ;-)
any more suggestions or similar experiences please keep em coming. i will let you know how i get on.
cheers,
jam_cam.
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I have an 02 Fabia TDi, with which I'm pretty pleased - except for an irritating problem with the side light bulbs. The nearside front bulb goes dim after aweek or so and then burns out - typically after three weeks; I must have used up over 30 of these. Dealer has (he says) checked it out several times and finds no problem. Also, dashboard lights frquently go off for split second. I would be really interested to have any feedback.
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450mA is a half amp in English: 0.5 x 12 = 6 Watts. look first for low power light bulb - courtesy light in the boot, perhaps. Or interior light on all the time.
or glovebox ..not sure if they have a light in them but difficult to see if it stays on (use a digital camera on self timer with flash off).
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Is there a lamp under the bonnet?
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Jam Cam,,
I\'ve just seen this thread - check out my two earlier threads re my polo - exactly the same problem as you re the power drain..
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=12781&...f
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=19082&...f
Since the door lock swap the car hasn\'t been completely dead like before but I think the battery may be permenantly damged.
Does anyone know if a battery that has been completly drained 3 times and then recharged will be as good as new - or does that sort of thing damage them?
CF
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Hi
I drained the battery on my Escort twice last year by leaving the courtesy light on and it hasn\'t caused any problems.
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Not sure if the same principle works with car batteries, but it is recommended to completely drain NiCd batteries before recharging them
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Not sure if the same principle works with car batteries, but it is recommended to completely drain NiCd batteries before recharging them
Lead acid batteries don't suffer "memory effects"
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I'd always thought that deep discharge is not good for lead acid batteries; which seems to be backed up by the link following :-
www.mycableshop.com/techarticles/generalspecssla.h...m
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My father has an 02 Fabia which dimmed the headlights for no apparent reason. I had noticed them flickering a little but put that down the road surface. I don't know it is related to the headlamps dimming or not, but shortly afterwards I noticed that a brakelamp was no longer working. Check the alternator voltage.
As regards the rear brakes catching. I had the same problem on a Cavalier though usually when the weather is wet or particularly damp. The RAC guy said that it was quite common on Vauxhall and just to leave the car in gear with the handbrake off.
Yes, some Skoda dealers do have an attitude. The local one really doesn't want to know about problems because my father didn't buy the car from them - he saved a small fortune by going to a car supermarket. They charged him about £30 to release a stuck bonnet catch and then used the oil from the dipstick to lube the release mechanism.
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My sisters 51 plate fabia has probs with the handbrake sticking on occasionally, she mentions it whenever it gets serviced but they always palm her off. Its not bad, just annoying occasionally. Seems its a common problem with fabias for some reason.
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My 2000 fiesta and My 1998 Bmw3 series all had sticking handbrakes after washing the car.
Solution: either go for a drive and brake hard or leabe handbrake off.
Water appears to penetrate drums , form rust and shoes stick to drum. Releases with a bang often.
As far as happening in wet weather, solution is to brake hard before parking. Gentle driving and little braking = rust = sticking brakes..
madf
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Do not let a lead acid battery go flat. When they go flat they 'sulphate', which is to say they generate a sulphur precipitate in the liquid. This does not go back into solution when the battery is charged, and reduces the future efficiency of the battery.
Lead acid batteries do not have a 'memory' - unlike NiCd which must be fully discharged regularly.
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I had a similar problem on a Passat on boxing day - car wouldn't start due to flat battery. AA arrived and confirmed battery OK but discharged, then started looking for cause.
When he arrived the car had an "everything off" current of 5A! Checked boot light, stereo, glove box light, and even had to close the bonnet catch to get it down to 1.5A! This is apparantly acceptable for this car (1.8T SE A/C saloon) - the figure 1.5-2.0 Amps was confirmed by the service centre when the AA man rang in to check.
There is probably something somewhere not turning off, it may be one of the alarm sensor switches as ours appeared to be, and may take some finding!
Ian
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IJ
I can't believe that. 1.5 to 2.0 Amps? That's like leaving the parking lights on permanently. It is definitely wrong and something isn't turning off as it should. I can't believe this is an 'acceptable' figure. That sort of drain will flatten a battery in a day (2 amps for a day is nearly 50Ah after all), so if your car starts after being parked for a couple of days it can't be happening. I reckon they got the decimal place wrong somewhere.
Regards
John S
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John - how much current do all the alarms, immobilisers and radio devices take while the car is parked?
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Andrew
Typically a modern car takes about 20 to 30 milliamps when locked and alarm set. Last one I checked was a neighbours MX5 with alarm and that was just under 25 mA - it fluctuated by about 3mA due to the flashing alarm LED working. We measured it because it would flatten the battery in under 2 weeks if not used. They'd had the usual 'they all do that, it's the alarm' but by measuring the current we convinced them that the alarm etc were not the cause - 25mA for 2 weeks is only 8.4 Ah. They replaced the battery under guarantee, and it's been fine since - started after 3 weeks holiday with no problems.
Regards
John S
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Just to confirm - 1.5 -2.0 Amps. Neither the AA man nor I could believe it either so he called in to their technical centre to check. Numbers on his ammeter were about 2" high so no mistaking where the decimal point was!
Car now gone so I don't have to worry about it any more.
Ian
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