Ian M

Now Sold.....

With some regret we’re selling our Skud. ‘06 plate (first registered April 2006) Diamond Silver Metallic Seat Surgeons leather 88,400 miles Last MoT 16 April 2015. 88,111miles. No Advisories. 2 remote (folding) keys and manuals, etc. I purchased the car in November 2006 from a local Skoda Dealer (Clock Garage, Spondon, Derby) at 2500 miles/1 previous local owner. I have complete service documentation from purchase; by Clock Garage whilst under warranty and thereafter I have personally maintained the vehicle enthusiastically and thoroughly. (I’ve maintained my own vehicles for the last 40 years or so, only reverting to professionals when the job is outside my capabilities/workshop facilities or too time consuming in which case a main dealer has been entrusted with the work) It has been in regular use throughout my ownership, in recent years it has been increasingly driven by my (even-more-careful-than-me) wife. I have to say it’s been one of the best car buys we’ve ever made; well built, no trouble, fun and frugal motoring. We’re selling only because I don’t use the car so much for work nowadays and we need a smaller-engined car to insure for our son to start driving. If you’re interested in buying one of these, no doubt you’ll be aware of the specifications but main points briefly: 1896cc (1.9) TDI pd 130bhp turbocharged EUIV Compliant (BLT) engine 6spd gearbox, ABS/Traction Control, 16” Alloys, front fog lights Alarm/Immobiliser, Air conditioning, 6-disc auto-changer, full-size spare wheel This car is completely standard (never modded/chipped) other than Powerflex/Cupra wishbone bushings, leather upholstery and de-badged. The notorious door leaks have never happened (but they’ve been re-sealed anyway!) nor has the BLT ‘stutter’ manifested itself. The motor has always pulled like a train and still does. The cambelt and waterpump were replaced with Skoda parts @ 57,900miles. It is currently shod with Kumho Ecsta LE Sports all round with 3-4mm remaining. The wheels are getting ready for re-furbishing and the sills could do with tidying up (but nothing you wouldn’t expect) otherwise all original bodywork in good condition; only very minor marks/stonechips consistent with age/mileage. Everything works as it should. One fault is the release catch on the (single) rear seat back has come adrift. I’ve not got round to repairing it (but you can drop the seat back anyway by lifting the catch with a screwdriver). Photos will hopefully fill in the blanks. Any questions, fire away. PM me for any serious interest in buying. The car is located a few miles N of Derby - DE56

You could try this, too: http://www.briskoda....__fromsearch__1

The original 'Skoda' badges for front grille and tailgate are identical. They are fixed by double-sided adhesive foam and have two small projecting pins which locate them in the correct position. To remove the badges you need to 'slice' through the foam with a strong nylon fishing line or similar as suggested earlier. In addition, the ends of the locating pins on the front badge (extra security?) are melted where they protrude through the rear of the grille so you need to carefully drill or cut off the melted plastic blobs at the back so that you can remove the badge easily without damaging the surround. Don't know about new-style badges (are they the same size (80mm)?) but cheapest I've seen for original replacements is Jorily.

Good chance it's one or both drop links

Thread on here for cambelt job: http://briskoda.net/forums/topic/94593-fabia-vrs-timing-belt-change-diy/page__hl__cambelt+replacement It's not a difficult job, but certain bits of it can be a faff on first aquaintance and a good range of spanners is helpful - a couple of offset rings for the recessed engine mount bolts come in handy. There used to be more comments somewhere, do some searching!

Thanks for all the feedback folks. I'll probably be sticking with the devil I know (the Toyos) although I was keen to swap to an asymmetric tyre. Will keep up with comments about the Ecstas - the K39s are supposed to be an improvement over previous versions?

Thinking of trying the Kumhos after running 3 sets of Toyos. Anyone got first-hand experience of using both on a Fabia vRS?

I think so, although in my experience the new replacements don't have the 'fabric' patch attached. They're about £30 each?

... I rember the first time I set off I mearly corresed my foot of the brake pedal.... Yes that does sound daft - try reading what you write!

Well, on the basis of my 60k plastic-impellered pump looking and feeling pretty much like the brand new one I replaced it with (and the fact that the manufacturer's replacement part is (still) fitted with a plastic impeller), if I was the OP I wouldn't worry too much. I appreciate that reports of failures have been made but like a lot of similarly-alleged problems, how common really is water pump failure on (say) post-2005 vRSs? Hypothetical situation: You fit a non-VAG pump and it fails prematurely causing big engine damage; how do you think you would stand arguing with Skoda for a contribution to repairs /(small claims court if they don't play ball) compared with if you had fitted a genuine VAG part which had failed?

Did cam belt and water pump job recently on my '06 vRS. All went well. Some advice: If you are using skudmissile's guide on here (v.good BTW) don't go to the trouble of getting a tensioning tool - newer tensioners have a hex hole so you can use a hex bit or allen key to rotate them into position. Another point is that I bought new engine mouting bolts/screws for £12ish on the understanding that they were stretch bolts. According to my local dealer though, they're not listed as stretch bolts/needing renewal and the parts guy told me that their mechanics always re-used these bolts. Try Bickerton Skoda for a good price on genuine parts. If you go for separate components, for info the OE belt in the VAG kit was a Conti Tech one. I got a genuine VAG waterpump on the warranty basis - it has a plastic impeller but AFAIK the breaking up problems related to early ones? Anyway the pump that came off mine at 60k was absolutely perfect. (Actually so was the cam belt, come to that! The auxilliary belt was A1 as well so I didn't bother to replace it) The auxilliary belt tensioner is tricky to get a socket on - I'd recommend an offset ring spanner like in Skudmissile's photos if you can get hold of one. The camshaft locking pin was a tight fit in the block - took me a few goes to be sure the engine was all lined up and locked before I took the old belt off. Also, if you are using the Haynes Manual, that says remove the temp sender to vent the system when refilling. This is not necessary; just fill up and run, open/close heater valve, rev up a bit, check/top up for a day or two to make sure all air out of system. You'll need 3 bottles of G12++. Hope this helps.

I had same symptoms after fitting new wishbone bushes; rear Cupra, front Powerflex. All was fine for about 50 miles until the o/s Powerflex bush started to break up (faulty component, replaced by Powerflex immediately - no quibble, I would add). So, check your front wishbone bushes?

Get about 11k out of T1Rs on the front. Am on third pair - wear rate is pretty consistent at that. Got 15k out of original Turanzas. My opinion: Toyos are a decent tyre for the price. There may be better out there but you will pay more. The 87W load-rated ones have a strong carcase and stand a fair bit of abuse. A downside is that like all directional patterns, you can't easily move them round to even up wear. Looking around for others at the mo as will need a full set in another few K. Something that lasts longer for not a lot more money could actually turn out to be better value? Anybody running Hankooks?

What's wrong with using the 2-man 'basic' method (apart from having to have 2 people, that is)? Why shouldn't you press the pedal fully if all the piston is doing is pushing fluid out in the right direction? I've always bled my brakes on the vRS (and all the other cars I've owned over the years - most with ABS) and never had a problem. Am I just lucky?

Shop around. Dealers can be surprisingly competitive on some genuine parts - try Bickerton or Rainworth Skoda on-line. AVS do VAG/OEM parts at a decent prices.

I've seen folks quoting that they've used this successfully, but if it's anything like the stuff I bought (for a real roofing job) it takes absolutely ages to cure and is difficult to tool.

Finally got round to sorting my fronts, which had started to annoy me. Used this: UniBond Flextec FT101 Sealant. Not cheap (about £10 from Screwfix) but has all the right qualifications for the job: quick cure, sticks well - even to damp substrates, waterproof. Recommended.

Italian tuneup is where you thrash the living hell out of an engine for a good few miles to get it nice and hot and burn up any carbon deposits that engines get when they're never really loaded up or are just used for short journeys. ...and stamp hard on the brakes from a good speed a few times to give any glaze and/or sticky pads something to think about!

Mine's the same, been like it for a while. Annoying oil leak, but otherwise car runnin' like a train. What's the problem/s running it like this? (Other than possible emissions failure at MoT?)

If it's a 'bodywork' creak, rather than a suspension creak, try this: http://briskoda.net/forums/topic/212317-creak-elimination-hopefully/page__p__2504506__fromsearch__1#entry2504506

I just did my cam belt and water pump and renewed with 2 x 1.5 litre G12++ plus water. You won't get all the old coolant out if you just open the drain tap (about 3 litres max). If you remove the water pump it goes up to about 5 litres. The system is quoted as holding 6.8 litres. 50% G12 protects down to -35 deg C.

Think that's right - front bushes are sold with the lower arm attached. If you need to replace console bushes, you won't go far wrong/much cheaper than with a front Powerflex/rear Cupra combination. You will have to remove the front bushes by cutting/pressing out (not difficult) and you will need suitably-sized (mahoosive!) washers and bolts (and lubricant) to pull the new Cupra bushes into the console once you've cut the (usually b*ll*xed if they are original) old ones out. Searches on here will give you more of the low-down.

For ages I've had an annoying creak coming from the glovebox area. Thinking it was the glovebox itself, I finally got round to removing it today to see if I could locate the source of the nuisance noise. After a bit of faffing I discovered the glovebox was innocent - the creak was coming from the dashboard mounting rail. There is a bolt visible at the extreme end of the rail if you remove the dashboard end trim. I loosened this - creak disappeared. Tightened it up again and creaking still disappeared. Result! For now anyway!