austenw90

Skoda Customer Services said they can confirm it on writing once they've rectified the issue... They really are a joke! It's not personally the peoples fault as they are doing their jobs but how can a car manufacturer operate a customer relations department who have no knowledge of their vehicles and are not technically trained!? As for the test, the car burnt approx 1/3 of its oil contents in the 350 miles I covered on the test... I am told the next step is to replace the air intake hose and another hose that I can't recall the name of. The breather mod has already been done. How can a few hoses possibly clear an issue with oil consumption? To be fair to the dealer they are just following guidance from Skoda technical and the service the dealer are provided is pretty good.

I've heard back and been told that the next step is a breather valve modification and hose replacements so I'm guessing that the oil consumption is out of tolerance. Skoda UK have confirmed to me already that this was done last year. The dealer didn't realise this until I mentioned it. I am just waiting to hear back from the dealer now they are aware of the mod being done already... Does anyone know if there is more than one set of modications to be done with the breather valve mod or is it always air intake hoses as well? I assume it will be the next step (whatever this is?) as the mod has been done? The service advisor wasn't sure if the note on the system saying "breather valve mod" was a 1st stage and if there was a 2nd stage to it so obviously wants to go away and check.

I noticed quite a lot of condensation in mornings etc when I got mine, I think it is where the seats were shampoo'd and not fully dried but after a few weeks it went away.

It seems that no one who needs to be are appropriately trained in car dealerships. It is unbelievable what they can tell you and be wrong or not completely correct. These people should know their product but it seems like it is down to the customers to know more than they do. Either that or you have to double check everything you are told or not feel completely confident in what they tell you. An example is car salesmen, very few know much about what they are selling... Surely the first rule of selling is to know your product inside out.

Mine is a CAVE I believe. Must be a very late one on a 62 plate. I am told that the modification on the CTHE is simply piston rings which are man enough for the job. This is what the dealer said.

It has already had the breather mod but I have reported high consumption, I guess the test will establish whether or not what I interpret as high is normal or not. On a handful of occasion I have noticed white smoke from the exhaust when I put my foot down. Defiantly not water vapour as this has been when the engine is well up to temp. The kind of smoke you get when the engine has too much oil but it hasn't been above maximum since I've had it.

Thanks for the reply. Are my fears correct then do you think. This is oil residue?

Hi there Whilst cleaning my Fabia vRS this afternoon and washing the chrome exhaust trims I ran my finger inside the trims to find my finger came out completely covered in a thick slime like black oil residue. The entire inside of the tailpipes were greasy with whatever this is. Now I've never seen this before on any petrol car. I know that diesels can get coked up but with black soot rather than liquid. Any thoughts? The car is currently under oil consumption testing by Skoda UK. A few more miles (300 minimum I am told) and I will be booking it in. I also did a hot dip today just out of interest, 5 minutes after engine shut off, oil temp 85 degrees, parked on a flat surface, no oil to be seen, only a little on the orange ball at the bottom of the dipstick. :/ obviously I won't be adding oil for the purposes of an accurate test. Another question, does anyone know at what point the oil warning like is set to come on?

Just to update this... I had my car in the garage today for the consumption test which Skoda UK have agreed to cover the cost of. Unfortunately they were unable to start the test as the place they take the oil to for initial weighing is closed until Monday so I am rebooked for a later date however they did provide a fresh full quantity of oil. What was quite concerning was that the oil removed (which didn't look much - a lot less than 3.6L) was very black and "gloopy" as they described it. I thought oil in a petrol engine stayed a light golden clear colour for quite some time - the oil was only replaced 2000 miles ago at the service and has obviously had top ups since. I've had the car less than a month and am really concerned about all this...

Thanks again for the info. So I am guessing new cars off the production line can still suffer with oil issues? I thought I was buying a sound product being VAG but I had a better experience with Fiat. Why should a customer pay for peace of mind!

I took a call this morning from the dealer who are meant to be running my oil test. They phoned to inform me that if it comes back ok I will have to pay £110. I've made a case with Skoda UK as I think this is completely unacceptable, especially on a car I've owned just one week! I only want them to test it for peace of mind or so that any relevant work required can be sorted.

I've run previous cars on Eagle F1's and also Efficient Grips (slightly cheaper) and they are fantastic.Will definitely be putting these on my vRS when the time comes.

Thanks George. I've just booked it in with the local dealer and they are going to run the oil test. So this will either offer peace of mind or they will sort any necessary work. Is it correct that it should/could burn "some" oil or should it not use any at all? Is it that all CAVE's suffer this problem? Does it affect the CTHE's as well?

There is a sticker inside the drivers door which says CAVE. I haven't received the V5 yet but could check handbook. The wheels all look fine at the moment so will keep an eye on them, thanks for the info. So what do you suggest I do now - just keep an eye on the oil weekly or something like that?

Just spoken to Customer Services regarding my car specifically. They confirmed that there have been two warranty claims: December 2012 - Crankcase Breather Valve replaced and also an alloy wheel replaced due to corrosion I assume that since December 2012 the car has been running fine without any need for further work as there are no further claims to speak of. I have read that this was a fix on some but not others.

The engine was up to temperature and sat for a "few minutes" as per the handbook. I'm guessing it has only just about run in so things may change in the miles ahead. I will make a call to Skoda UK tomorrow to see. As an ex Fiat group fan this is a completely new venture for me. I have been used to many miles of problem free motoring (despite what some may say about Fiat) so this is all new to me. Thanks for the advice.

I took mine along to my trusted mechanic at the weekend to get a professional opinion when checking the oil. He advised a top up which he did FOC with the appropriate Mobil oil. He topped it up so that it was just a little off maximum, he must have put in somewhere in the region of 500ml or slightly more. The car was last serviced in September at about 5700 miles / 1 year (62 plate). It had done about 1200 miles since on Saturday so about 6900. Does this oil consumption level sound reasonable? To confirm oil was showing on about 1/3 on the mesh measure area on the dipstick, so 2/3 with no oil on. I am trusting that the car is sound being from a large main dealer, being a demo and then one owner for just a year before I bought it. My mechanic said oil consumption like this was quite normal. Thanks

Are you able to share a link if they are still selling on Ebay?

Thanks!

Thanks for your replies, very helpful. So can I get some of this: http://www.wilko.com/car-maintenance/castrol-edge-motor-oil-5w-40-fully-synthetic-1ltr/invt/0310679 Is the Quantum PD 5/40 suitable? It says it is for TDI engines??

This is my first post so apologies if this has already been discussed. I know oil is a hot topic of coversation on the Fabia II VRS. I've just picked mine up this week and am trying to work out what oil I should keep for topping up etc. It is on the fixed service plan and has 5w-40 Castrol Magnatec in it now according the dealer who last serviced it in August. The dealer I bought it from told me to buy Quantum PD 5w40 oil which I have just bought from my local VW garage. Is this correct? With regard to Castrol, there seem to be quite a few different options. http://www.opieoils.co.uk/p-69392-castrol-magnatec-5w-40-c3-fully-synthetic-engine-oil.aspx http://direct.asda.com/Castrol-Edge-Engine-Oil-5W40---4L/001022057,default,pd.html http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_10001_catalogId_10151_productId_164264_langId_-1_categoryId_165581#tab1 I've got a feeling the Opie Oils C3 grade is the right one?? I would rather buy a 4L bottle of Castrol and return the Quantum stuff, but can't figure out which one to buy :think: Thanks in advance.