biggles10

Hi Dave41 My 1.2 estate has died so many parts are available. Not sure if this part with be the same as the one in a VRS though, you are welcome to have a look. Location Leatherhead

My trusty Fabia (Biggles) has died. Engine has a horrendous rattle and I think some of the hydraulic tappets has gone, he started a habit of drinking oil so the level probably dropped too low at times. Anyway as a result I will be breaking him for parts. Mileage 135k, colour blue - similar to RAF blue hence his name. Recently fitted (within the year) 2 Michelin tyres 165/70 R14 (covered 6k miles) Front shocks, springs, lower arms, ball joints, front wheel bearings and reversing light switch Previously last 3 years: Clutch, exhaust, handbrake cables, rear drum brake parts (all springs and linkages), both Lamda sensors Car located near Leatherhead Surrey. Let me know if any bits would be useful, I would like to keep the car moveable to make him easier for the scrap man to take away.

Thanks Wino, it would be good to know if there is an oilway in that area. I assume the connection with the oilway is small otherwise a lot more oil would have been coming out if the oil is under pressure.

Photo did not upload, hopefully this will work....

Thanks rum4mo, I had I go at this yesterday. There is a lot to remove over the gearbox to give access for a good clean, this had put me off doing it before. I think I have found the cause. There was a bolt missing from the coolant manifold on the side of the head. This was the highest point of the oil marks and there was oil in the thread. I think the threaded hole breaks into an oil way. Anyway a new bolt has been fitted, so far so good. The missing bolt went here (photo taken after cleaning):

Hi All, I have a 2003 Fabia estate 1.2 litre twin cam, mileage 133k. It is using oil at an alarming rate 15 litres in approx. 3,000 miles. It does not appear to be smoking, I have not noticed black smoke from the exhaust and there is no soot around the exhaust exit on the rear bumper. There is oil on top of the gearbox and a streak of oil on the underside that corresponds to this. There is no oil on my driveway so I assume it only leaks when running. I cannot find an obvious source for the oil leak. The head was off in the summer and the problem has occurred since then, fortunately I do not use the car much. Can anyone help with the source of the leak? Thanks

Hi, Is this an estate or saloon? I have an 03 estate and the boot release cable can be adjusted at the boot catch - I assume the saloon will be similar. The trim around the boot catch needs to be removed to access the nuts to adjust the cable tension, this should sort it out if the cable is not broken.

Problem solved - The main body of the CV joint had stuck to the gearbox flange (so when I tried to pull out the driveshaft the joint came apart and the ball fell out) hitting it with a hammer released it. Once out it was relatively easy to put the ball back. Thanks for all answers

The drive shaft pressed out of the wheel bearing without any problem. It was unbolting the inner CV joint that has caused the problem and a ball bearing fell out of it. Is there a trick to removing the drive shaft from the gearbox end? I would like to remove it now to ensure that the ball bearing goes back in correctly.

Hi I am rebuilding the front suspension and noticed that the outer cv boot has split (near side). Most recommendations seem to be to remove the driveshaft to do this. I have removed the 6 bolts for the inner CV joint and could not get the driveshaft out and one of the ball bearings dropped out - Arrgh. As it is the end of the day decided to stop before I broke anything else. How is the driveshaft removed? Any advice would be helpful.

Thanks for all the replies. As my car is standard I have just ordered Sachs shocks.

Thanks - Is the ride a bit stiffer and harsher? I have read a few reports on line of B4's giving a harsher ride than OEM shocks, this my main concern. I also decided to avoid Polyurethane bushes for the same reason.

Hi, I have a tired 03 Fabia estate that needs a front suspension overhaul. I drive like a granddad and am not after great handling performance just a good ride over our pot holed roads. I can get Bilstein B4 or Sachs shocks for a good price, a pair of Bilsteins is about £10 more than Sachs (Demon Tweaks have an offer on). Does anyone have any preference and which is likely to last longest? Thanks

The pedal drops quickly, not softly to the floor, and if you pump the pedal it regains the solid feel. The idea of a tiny air leak seems odd - if the fault occurs once left overnight the pedal is ok again. I will investigate scanning the ABS controller.

Hi, The brakes were operating fine until 4 weeks ago then when I on my way home and used the brakes the pedal almost dropped to the floor, the car still stopped. This happened all the way home - I was driving carefully. Checked for leaks but none found and fluid level did not look like it had dropped. My local garage had a look the next day but by then it was all working correctly again, they road tested it for about 10 miles but the fault did not appear. Then it happened again last week, no leaks found and I bleed all the brakes using about 1/2 litre of fluid. At the weekend the brakes were working fine but today it started again..... Any ideas, car has ABS. Thanks