I was driving home yesterday when something odd happened with the Windscreen wipers on my Fabia. I tried to use my front windscreen washer and my back windscreen wiper moved. I soon found out that moving the wiper control up and down did nothing and trying to use the back wipers did nothing either.
After some research on the internet (Google is my best friend) I found that this was due to blowing a fuse. This happens when you try to use your windscreen washer when it is frozen. If this happens to you then don’t worry, you can just swap the fuse and you will be fine.
Skoda Fabia Fuse Panel
Skoda Fabia Fuse Panel Ledgend
The fuse box on the Fabia is located behind the driver side door on the main dashboard panel, next to the stearing wheel. To open it just find the little notch in the bottom half, pop your key in there and twist it. The whole thing should come off, but it is a little tricky.
To get things working again just replace fuse 21 with a 10 amp fuse. If you don’t have a fuse handy you can swap the broken one (make sure it is broken) with fuse 32, which controls the back windscreen wiper. This will mean that you can drive to your local fuse shop and pick up a fuse even if it is raining.
To get the fuse panel cover back on just put in the panel by lining up the three hooks on the straight edge and push it towards the front of the car. Once you have it nearly in place you can either hit it in with your fist or just close the door on it.
To stop this fuse blowing you need to make sure that your washer fluid is not frozen before you use it. You can always increase the concentration of the fluid to prevent this from hapening during the winter.
[Update: Images taken from Fuse Panel Layout fabia-vrs.com. If you have any Fabia problems then take a look, it's a good site with lots of information.]
Thanks Phil for this site – help me solve my problem with an 02 Fabia very quickly. Used the link to the fuse panel layout site: [no fuse in socket 21(?)] looked and then understood why, what I thought was, fuse 15 was not blown. Actual fuse 15 was blown. Job done many thanks.
Ref: My girlfriend’s ’06 Vrs.
Top bloke!!!!! Local garage quoted £70 in total,changed stalk (These costs £26) and problem continued, didn’t charge me a bean thou (V friendly these garages in the Black Country)! I’d already done the “Fuse 41″ and gave in, found other local independant “expert” who said its defo the arm (even thou i’d said it had been tried) or “it’ll be the motor then chief”! Goggled this sat, sorted in 5 mins! Took me 4 different car spares places on sunday thou to find flat 10 amp fuses thou, all sold out! The garage i’d booked for this monday was none too happy when I rang to cancel my slot, explained how the problem was resolved & even offered to drop him a copy off but he hung up on me(NOT All garages are v friendly in the black country) & to top it off, my better half paid for the saturday night balti! Phil your a star & I owe you a few beers next time your in the black country! Many thanks chap!
Ps Fuse 15!
I just needed to know where the fuse box was
Blinding Cheers
Hi, I wonder if anyone can help. The intermittent wipers on my Skoda Fabia VRS are not working – all other wiper settings are working fine. I have checked all the fuses and they seem fine – any ideas?
Thanky you for this information, its nice to know that there are people out there who would like to help others when they come across a problem. I hope you carry on giving little bits of useful information to others.
Well this website has just made my evening!
Fuse 15 was the ticket for me.
Philip Norton; I salute you
just thought i’d say thanks for the info like everyone else…
just got the wife a yellow fabia as her first car & she had phoned me earlier to say the wipers had stopped working!
ARGH, but just swopped fuse 32 for 15 & she has wipers again.
cheers
The other evening the wife rolls in from work, the wipers have packed up.first thing i thought of was fuse,but do you think i could find the fuse box (no)my daughter put me to shame by locating your helpful fix by googling the problem so now all is well, many thanks.
I read through your post (and a couple of older ones two) and your blogs been a great find – ive noted your rss so expect me back in the near future – thanks
Thank you for posting this, your solution worked a treat. Invaluable!
This explains a lot because this same thing happened with my Clio and I had no clue what was going on with it. I ended up paying quite a lot of money for the mechanic across the street to fix it!
Wipers are very functional when it is new. Eventually, the function will change if not properly and regularly maintained.
I had a similar problem, but the front wiper was working intermittently, sometimes nothing, sometimes one wipe when ignition was turned on, sometimes pulling the stalk to wash switched on the rear wiper etc. I swapped fuses & all was fine – the old fuse hadn’t blown, but had obviously been replaced at some stage (slightly different colour red) with a fuse which had ben hanging around for a while and the contacts were corroded. Scraped them clean & the wipers now working with the old fuse in place!
I know someone with a very low mileage and looked after fabia vrs and the wipers have failed twice, fuse 21 on both occasions. Its a 10 amp in this circuit so going to fit a 15 amp as a replacement to see if it lasts. The 10 amp fuse seems to be operating close to its breaking point limit as its seems to be a common problem. My vectra has a 30 amp fuse for the wipers!!!
Great solution well described. My daughter rang me today. Out in the snow and front wipers on Fabia not working. Symptoms sounded like a fuse to me but no idea how to fix. We found this web page and she was soon able to rectify the problem. Many thanks!
Thanks Philip and everyone else who posted. The picture of the fuse panel in the manual is as much use as a chocolate fireguard. Swapping 4 and 15 did the trick and got me out of the poo!
What a helpful article!!!
Thanks for posting your knowledge here Philip. It has been of immense help to me today.
Many thanks & kindest regards
Aidan
I was quoted over £100 and 2 days to wait for a motor come in before I googled and found you. Thank you so much it worked a treat
Thanks for this, just saved me a lot of time and money! Off to Halfords in the morning for more 10 amp mini blade fuses…
Thanks for putting this up online – very useful and google-able for those in a panic!!
Cheers for the info, no doubt saved me ££££ from a mechanic with pound signs spinning in his head
Bedankt voor je infom
Thanks it was number 15 for me
Thanks so much for publishing this fix. It just happened to me in the dark / rain so you are a real lifesaver!
I replaced fuse 15 and Hey Presto it works. 15 is shown as the headlight wipers but I don’t have them
This has sorted me out as well after very dicey journey home. Brilliant, thanks. It was fuse 15 for me too – thought it hadn’t worked at first because I’d assumed fuse 41 “Front window wiper” would be the one to replace. Anyone know what Fuse 41 controls?
Fuse 41 is a mystery to me
Thanks very much this was a great help to me, dangerous driving without wipers not working
Thanks to all for their help. On Sunday 5 December had to drive from Doncaster to Heathrow to collect my daughter. Dug out car from snow on Saturday 4 December and tried the wipers of my Fabia and they would not work. Replaced 20 amp 41 (front wiper fuse) – no joy. After your help, replaced 10 amp fuse 15 and the wipers work fine. I didn’t fancy driving a 350 round trip with no wipers so thanks again.
fuse 15 for me. Took 3 attempts but finally saved me time and money. Many thanks to you all
I was driving to London this weekend. 90 miles in (about half way) my wipers stopped working, and just as others described, the rear wiper came on whenever i tried to use the front washers/ wipers.
after pulling into a service station for the 3rd time to squeegee my screen, i had a look on my phone for a solution and i found this website.
I swapped the fuses over and to my immense relief the front wipers jumped to life.
I had dreaded the possible cost of a wiper motor replacement.
Thanks ever so much for the info.
Philip Thanks you are a star i had changed the wiper motor as i thaught it was the problem it would only return to park posision and tha washer jets were not working AND AFTER READING YOUR COMMENTS LOW AND BE HOLD I CHANGED THE MAGIC FUSE 21 AND IT WORKS LOL IT COST 52.80 FOR A MOTOR AND WAS ABOUT TO CHANGE THE STORK you are a star in a reasnobly priced car thanks colin
Thanks Philip for the useful info. Wipers went on Saturday afternoon whilst driving and we were pretty stuck with the windscreen being covered with salt residue and grease from the road. Thank the lord for Google and yourself, we were thinking it would be another trip to the Skoda dealer, which isn’t close by! I without thinking tried to wash the screen yesterday and yep, fuse went again! Good job I bought a bagful of em. This seems to be a common occurrence!
thanks to every one on here. Its a good feeling when u ring the garage up and cancel !Firstly i tried swopping fuse 41 the wipers but that wasnt the faulty fuse oddly ! I swopped 32 with 15 and it worked, big smile !!!
thanks 4 the help just changed the fuse in the pitch blace and -3 :O
worth it tho in the end thanks x
Just bought an ’04 Fabia and was gutted to have the wipers stop working this morning in the freezing temperatures. Presumed a fuse had gone but was the no.15 for me, swapped it with no.32 and all sorted. Thanks for the advice i was stumped until finding this page.
thanks so much! 20p fixed my window wipers no. 15 for me. The water is’nt coming out of the back windows now though!
Thankyou for taking the time to post the information! I rang my Skoda dealer for help and he said it was a fuse, slightly worrying he wouldn’t mention specifically which one! Like everyone else I followed the information in the owners handbook (Fuse 41) without any luck. I appreciate garages have to make a living but I now realise he was waiting for me to book my car in!!
Your most helpful blog and comments got me out of trouble with my failed wipers.
Like some others my blown fuse was fuse 15. Replacing it with fuse 32 got me mobile again.
Many thanks
Thanks for this it was really useful. I tried changing the fuse as marked in the manual (41) but it was obviously the wrong one! Thanks for publishing the correct fuse number for the front windscreen wipers.
Fuse 15 worked a treat!!!! Saved a fortune
MANY thanks for the tip.
Mine was fuse 15 too.
If the washer fuse is blown the wiper won’t work.
CANBUS strikes again… Damned clever.
Many thanks to all that left advise on the wipers, I was stuck in all this bad weather, without wipers, and after changing over the fuses I was back in action save me money and time, and this time of the year you can’t afford to lose either. Cheers all.
Thank you so much. I nearly dropped when they said it was the motor. Thanks to you I discovered it was just a fuse and problem fixed without a massive expense.
Like the others above say “Thank you!” for this excellent post which solved 2 puzzles: [1] where is the fuse box located?! For my model, the answer is:
The fusebox in a Skoda Fabia tdi 2002 car (UK car with right hand drive) is located in the farthest extremity of the right-hand panel of the dashboard. It is mounted behind a smooth panel which faces the driver’s wing mirror on the outside of the car. This means that it is a right angles to you when you are sitting in the driver’s seat. Can’t see it? You won’t unless you open the door! There is a notch at the bottom to get the cover off.
[2] if front wipers not working replace No. 15 and if back wiper not working replace No. 32.
Fantastic!!! So glad I found this. The wipers went today on my wife’s Fabia after trying the squirters and we were quoted £50 to stick on diagnostic machine. Luckily the garage couldn’t book us in today so we went home and I said I’d see if I could do anything. I am not technical in the slightest but thanks to you Philip and those who have indicated it was fuse 15 that worked I have it sorted!! Thanks a million
Absolutely brilliant! For some reason, daughter’s 51 Skoda Fabia handbook does not have a drawing of the fuse layout. Wiper failure in first frost of the year led me to suspect a fuse, but no way of identifying. Fortunately, garage that supplied car is local, and duly replaced fuse (twice), FOC (Was fourth car bough from them!) Comment re washers also interesting.
Will print layout and comments re specific fuses and stick in handbook for future reference
Deep in snowy Argyll, on the far side of Lochawe, minus 8 celsius outside and the windscreen wipers died. You website has saved me big a headache! Thankyou.
My sister-in-law just arrived from Manchester and told me her wiperes wern’t working so after a quick google on tinterweb just found your post.
Thanks Philip for an excellent post. We got the wipers working in minutes and saved her £80 plus that the dealer wanted to fix them. Well done mate, what would we do without guys like you, again, MANY MANY thanks.