hebdenwill

Thanks, that sounds like an excellent approach and I'll give it a go once the weather's got a bit better again

Does anyone know the procedure for attempting to stop the smell coming from the air vents? I've read stuff about spraying enzyme spray into the air vents with the fans on full but on a fabia 2 I'm not sure where the exterior air inlet is (as the pollen filter, which I changed recently, is inside the car rather than under the bonnet). I think I saw something about spraying into the passenger footwell and turning on recirculation. Has anyone done this and can advise?

I've just noticed that the spare is a 195/55/15! I misquoted

gee, I dunno, perhaps I'm asking for advice from others on his behalf as per my explanation?? (Removed)

Yeah, no disrespect to the 90 at all, I ran one for several years and it was perfectly adequate, but I'm sure this thing has better acceleration than my old one

It's supposedly a 90bhp however I think it pulls better than it should, so perhaps a remap that was beyond its turbo's capabilities? He's taking it to the garage tomorrow so we'll see what they say. Wouldn't mind having a go at the Mr muscle fix, it doesn't look too difficult for a potential short term cure

Yeah ok, that's what I would do in this situation but I'm not sure yet what his plan is going to be. The thing is late last year I had the same issue with an A3 (same engine) which did the same thing. I took it to the garage and they replaced a split hose, which cut down the noise slightly but did nothing for the limp mode sadly.

Hi all, First of all apologies if this needs to be moved to another section, I felt this was an appropriate subforum but will happily re post it up if a mod lets me know where to move it to. My friend has just parted with £995 for a 198k mile 2003 Octavia 1.9 to stand in as a runaround. It test drove really nicely, had decent service history, had a few (several) cosmetic niggles but was otherwise pretty good for the money. On driving it home after work it went into limp mode - the same day he picked it up. This was a turbo fault caused by high revs climbing a hill (the turbo is quite loud) and not something likely to be triggered / noticed when test driving it in a suburban area full of speed bumps in a 20mph zone. Of course, this entitles him legally to return the car and expect a refund or rectification of the fault. The issue is, as we're all thinking: it's a high mileage sub £1k car, which was, of course "part ex to clear", "sold as seen" and "trade sale" (despite him clearly being a private individual and not a motor trader)... It's a tale as old as time, and they'll try and use all this plus the age and mileage to refuse to do anything about it. Does anyone have any experience returning cheap runarounds like this or making dealers repair them? Obviously we're not talking about a couple of bulbs being blown here, it's something which means the car can't keep up with traffic and is therefore a safety issue, not to mention not being fit for purpose as a car. My first idea would be to try and call them and sort something out over the phone, or failing that, send a signed for letter stating his rights and requesting a repair or refund. Any advice or reference to similar experiences will be greatly appreciated guys!

I'm afraid I don't care anywhere near enough about seat dust to bother unbolting them haha

Thanks mate, I actually managed to find a little brush which worked really well

I'm looking for some expert tips here... The very narrow gap between the seat rail and the side of the car is full of crumbs and dust, has anyone got a good "home remedy" to get at it? It's too narrow for the crevice nozzle and I think even too narrow for a toothbrush to try and tease stuff out. Let me know how you do it!

Thanks Panzer...that's what I wanted to hear. Because I wanted less low profile tyres as the ride was (still is tbh) shocking, and the rears needed replacing but the fronts don't yet. Simple as that.

Hi all, I got to wondering, since my car has 17"s fitted but has a 15" spare, would it damage the car to run with a spare wheel in the case of a puncture? I wouldn't have thought it would matter on the back, apart from handling, as it's FWD, but I'm worried it would damage the gearbox or something at the front?? rears are 205 45 17, fronts are 205 40 17. The spare is a 205 55 15, I believe, so there is an inch or so's difference in height. Let me know if you've tried it!!

Hello tyre and wheel experts, My 1.9 Fabia Estate has 17" rims (I think they're from an Octy) that a previous owner wisely decided to fit to it...the ride on west yorkshire roads is.....delightful I'm slightly puzzled as to how to pressurise them, though - the back set are 205/45/17s which I've pumped to 2.2 bar as per the fuel cap instructions, but the size of the fronts (which I will replace with 205/45/17s in due course to give a bit more cushioning) are 40 aspect ratio at the moment, and are not specified on the chart. I read somewhere that tyres should be pressurised as per the car's instructions, whatever size they are, but I'm not sure about that. I went for 2.1bar front (30psi) and 2.2 rear (32) as that seemed a sensible middle ground and not likely to do any damage. anyone with the science / relevant experience to tell me what to do please chime in! I'm looking for the smoothest ride I can get out of it

Hi all, I've read a couple of threads on here regarding this issue but none had a solution - when the passenger side parking light is activated, the numberplate lights come on as well. I noticed this the other night, as my pass. side rear sidelight wasn't illuminated, yet the numberplate lights were. I started taking the rear light assembly off this morning but before I'd even fully unscrewed it the red light came back on (must have been dust / loose connection) however the numberplate lights stay on, but only for the nearside. is this likely to be a crossed wire / short circuit somewhere in the loom towards the back of the car? I haven't noticed any other untoward issues and am happy to leave it as it is as the parking light and 2 numberplate bulbs can't use much battery (it always starts right up in the morning when I've left p-light on anyway) this is on a 59 plate fabia 3 estate btw

thanks xman, I did the finger test on the vent surround and it stopped it rattling, but it seems that now the blanking plate you speak of has a rattle as well! I'll see if I can pry that off and check for anything loose / broken

well, I managed to refit it, phew! I borrowed a 90 degree pick from the garage for 5 minutes and figured it out - it's as follows inside what I'll call the 'carrier' there are 8 small holes. I inserted the pick into the first one, turned it 45 deg clockwise and put the end into the hole. I gently pulled the carrier toward me with the pick as I pushed the outer part on - it clicked satisfyingly. I repeated for the other 7 and now it's on nice and snug. I don't know if it will have cured the rattle that was there originally but it's a damn sight better than having a totally loose vent!!

I've discovered to my dismay that it won't click back in, no matter the amount of pushing, so maybe something was broken in the interior carrier? As that seems to move inward when I push the outer part in! Argh! I'll have to keep trying I wonder if a special tool is required to pull the interior part forward, maybe a hooked pick would do it...

Hi all, Have had a good look at the other topics but none seem to cover this particular rattle! On my 59 fabia and on the 08 I had previously the top vent squeaks a little bit - not that bad but annoying enough that I want to fix it. I've managed to easily enough pry out the vent covers and the hazard switch (pictured) so I feel like I can't be too far from solving it Has anyone else had this particular rattle? I've a feeling it comes from where the silver lining meets the black frame, can anyone suggest a good fix?

well everyone, after a couple of weeks I'm happy to say that the ValetPro enzyme odour eater has more or less totally removed the smoke smell from the car, with one application! I'm very pleased with how well it worked

ahh thanks! it's well reviewed, I'll give it a go (and it's not too dear either)

hi all, I've recently bought a decent Fabia estate but sadly it smells a bit smoky - not terrible but it is noticeable. I bought a bottle of Astonish car upholstery cleaner in the shop the other day and my girlfriend and I gave the headliner and some of the seats a going over - spray, rub in, dab out, dab dry with cloth. That definitely helped a fair bit but the smell was noticeable again today after the car had been parked in the sun. I noticed the steering wheel smelt particularly bad, so I thought maybe all the 'hard' materials would need a good clean over. Of course I'll do all the fabrics again properly when I get a chance. Can anyone suggest a product / home mixed product that's effective to spray over the plastics then scrub / wipe off? I thought I might try a solution of washing detergent and warm water, spray everything, then wipe with a clean cloth and leave to air dry. The upholstery stuff was somewhat effective but I'm not sure whether to use it on the plastics. Any tried and true ideas please let me know

Yeah I've had a good read up of its MOTs on the gov.uk site, there's nothing worrying there apart from general wear and tear

hero! thanks very much I've just HPI checked it and it's had 5 previous keepers....not necessarily a nail in the coffin but I am going to be giving it a very good look at. Garage round the corner have said they'll give it a once-over for me

ahh lovely, thank you, so I don't need to worry that it's been chopped and changed then. is there somewhere you can find all this stuff out or is it just what you've picked up as you've gone along sort of thing?