TMB

You might get away with it. Hope so anyway.

The instructions do say surfaces should be free of oil and grease. Hopefully you'll be OK https://granvilleoil.com/techData/pdfTechData?ptdID=172

It will be perfectly fine to start the engine by now.

They have two oxygen sensors. Did you change the right one? I think you mean bank 1, sensor 2 which is the sensor after the catalyst. There is no ''sensor 1 Bank 2'' on a Fabia 1.4 MPI (or any Fabia).

I call them dampers and I'm English. When I worked at a Ford dealer I was told off for calling them shock absorbers. They damp spring movement. The springs absorb the shocks. However, I'm fully aware that even manufacturers call them shock absorbers. Beats the shit out of me.

Damper rod nut to top mount - 25Nm. Top mount to body - Stage 1: 30Nm. Stage 2: Angle tighten to 90 degrees. Lower mounting - Stage 1: 40Nm. Stage 2: Angle tighten to 90 degrees.

New springs and dampers would definitely help, they will be very tired at that mileage if they are original. Any tired bushes would also need sorting. Wheel alignment needs to be correct too.

The dampers have to be removed and the damper top mounts taken off the piston rod to replace the bump stops and plastic sleeves (if the sleeves are damaged). You can often reuse the plastic sleeves if undamaged. The bottom of the bump stops twist into the top of the plastic sleeves and hold them up. Example of kit with sleeves... https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SKODA-FABIA-1-2-1-4-1-6-1-9D-2-REAR-SHOCK-ABSORBER-PROTECTORS-BUMP-STOP-KITS/330748356618?hash=item4d0223680a:g:mAQAAMXQ0v1RZkga Bump stops can be bought separately if required.

You are more than welcome. The Cupra console bushes should be fitted with the flush side towards the back of the car and with the hexagon hole flat at the top and bottom.

It honestly sounds like whoever did the work on your car is a bloody cowboy.

Yeah, best idea. Only the springs can affect the height of the car so it must be that. Dampers have no effect on the height. Nope.

No matter how mush force is applied to the track rod end taper it can't move in the taper unless it's loose. It's very hard to say what's going on without seeing it. It's probably just being articulated at a mad angle due to the low ride height.

It is impossible for the track rod ends to drop in their taper holes unless they are not tightened. That is pretty concerning.

No they are just bump stops that hold up the plastic tubes and have no effect on height at all. It's a very common Fabia thing that the bump stops rot away and allow the dust tubes to drop.

Your rear dampers look like they are missing the plastic dust tubes - at least in the pic of the passenger side.

I'm baffled as to what you mean by the track rod end being pulled out of its slot?

It looks like this...

Yeah you can see in the pic that it's clear tube which is what the fuel filler recess uses.

Bizarrely, mine developed a knocking on the drivers' side rear immediately after fitting brand-new dampers. This occured especially when reversing but also going forwards at slow speeds. I thought the damper must be faulty so I fitted another new one - exactly the same knocking. So then I replaced the top mounts - exactly the same knocking Started to drive me nuts but gave up as I had checked everything else I could think of. After using the car for several weeks the knocking vanished and has never returned. Cars are funny bloody things

Has it been scanned for fault codes?

If the pistons are sticking it needs a new wheel cylinder. The pistons should be very free to move and the shoe return springs are way strong enough to return healthy cylinder pistons. There should be no piston sticking at all.

My mate's Mk2 Fabia without the gauge is a 1.6 Sport. According to the handbook some do have a gauge (item 4) but I don't know which versions.

^ Yep

My mate has a MK2 Fabia and it only has the lights, no actual temp gauge.