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Steve 80, Thanks very much for asking how my search is going. Being brutally honest it isnt going well at all. I cant really justify to myself the cost of a new or very nearly new Scala in these scary and volatile times and having to make my finances balance. Plus, the infotainment issues of the Scala are, frankly, disappointing although there are worse car issues of course. The stock of either used Scalas or used Fabia estates just isnt there but my Fabia estate , I think, has a very slight edge. Apart from an unexpected water pump it has been very good and I am now thinking of having the cambelt done and keeping it for two years more or maybe longer. Nothing is fixed, if I saw the right car at the right price I might still change but I cant honestly see used Fabia or Scala stocks improving drastically in the near future, I really cant. Thanks again for asking.

Hello, I am going to get my 2017 Fabia 3 estate serviced at my normal independent soon. I am drawing up a list of the parts that will be needed, I normally do this and the garage source the parts from TPS. The only exception is the Castrol Edge 5w30, they normally have that in stock. I have told them to get a new sump plug and new sump washer but now I am wondering whether a new washer only would suffice, Before anyone tells me its only a few pounds difference I agree but all prices have increased quite a bit since the last service of course ( definitely more than my pension increase) and I dont want to specify anything unless it is definitely needed. OK? I must have specified both items two years ago because both were changed. I must also have specified the washer only one year ago because the washer only was changed. I havent had to top up the oil after either service until the oil and filter was next changed. Any leaks would of course be extremely unwelcome to put it mildly because of the possibility of the oil level dropping too low and cause engine damage. Should I get both sump plug and washer replaced this time and have alternative years from now on? Thanks for reading, look forward to reading your answers.

Hello to all Scala owners. I am new to the Scala forums but not to Briskoda, I am on my second Fabia estate but am having problems finding a replacement Fabia, the used stock just isnt there. So I decided to broaden my search to look for a used Scala. The boot isnt quite as big, 467 litres as opposed to 530 but the creature comforts/drivers aids like cruise control and fog lights are all there and there is more room for passengers. Also, What Car gave it 5 stars which they dont give out lightly. I have looked at various sites and have found out that there have been recalls with this model. One concerned the emergency call system that failed even on brand new cars and another concerned concerned the seams of the front seat covers that came adrift and prevented the side airbags working properly and increasing the risk of injury. The whole infotainment system has frozen, that seems common and there are probably other problems even if they havent led to recalls. The electronics in particular do seem to have had a lot of gremlins . i will be looking for a 2020 Scala or even an early 2021 with the either the 110bhp or the 115 bhp engine with the 6 speed manual gearbox. I dont want the 95bhp engine. All the versions except the entry model S seem to have lots of kit, they have more than the corresponding Fabia. Its a toss up between an SE and an SEL, I would like the latter because of the standard sat nav but it wouldnt be a deal breaker. I might be completely wrong but I am always wary of buying a car very soon after its introduction to allow some of the inevitable new model problems to get sorted. So I wouldnt be looking for a 2019 car, either a 19 plate or a 69. my search will be concentrating on cars with 20 and 21 plates. I am hoping to hear from you Scala owners with your tips on common problems likely to occur and what happened and which model would be best for me and the overall experience of running a Scala. My budget would be a max of £19000, I would expect £10000 min for the Fabia in p/x. Thanks for reading.

Not since I bought the car in January 2020. Obviously cant say if it ever happened with the first owner but I have the service records and there is no mention of coolant issues on them. The records are Skoda only so there could have been issues that were looked at/dealt with by an independent. Thanks.

I took the car in today to have the drop in the coolant level investigated. Got a call to say they couldnt find anything wrong. no leaks. no signs of coolant being lost at all. They had it up on the hoist of course so I am as sure as I possibly I can be that there are no leaks. I do trust my independent, they have never let me down. So that leaves the tank being pressured when it is cold and that affecting the level. I am thinking of taking the cap off the tank and reading the level with it off to see if that makes any difference. I am not much of a mechanic but I do understand about pressurised and non pressurised. I did toy with the idea of adding something to the expansion tank like Barrs leaks or holts Radweld but that is not recommended by Skoda. Even if they did recommend it I have some doubts about using things like that. I know the system had to be bled when the new pump was installed and I did wonder if the screw had not been fully tightened. That would have been picked up today though when the mechanic did their checks. It was the same mechanic who fitted the pump in April 2021. Is there a reliable way of making sure the system is pressurised only when hot? The only way I can see is take the cap off when cold and listen in case I can hear the hiss you get when pressure is release. I expect there are other ways? As I say I am not mechanically minded and do not have the tool I have seen in garages where the cooling system is tested for being pressurised or not. I think I will let the level drop to the " minimum" level and see if it stays there as that is the level that my Mark 2 Fabia was always at and this car too when I first got it. I had to top up this car after the new pump was installed, it was slightly below "min" when cold and I topped it up to between the 2 levels and I am wondering whether I should have topped up to the lower level only. I know enough never to top up to the "max" as that will result in surplus coolant being ejected. i dont want to buy a new expansion tank and cap as I am not sure if that will rectify it and I dont want to waste money plus I dont know how to fit them anyway. I will keep an eye on the levels for sure and may have to go somewhere like Halfords or find somewhere via the internet both in the New Year. I dont want to go to a Skoda dealer as they will charge the earth just for investigating let alone fixing it. Once I have a good idea how many miles it takes to drop from A to B I will have a better understanding and whether I can live with it or whether it must be fixed or sold on. Thanks.

Hello. I have a 2017 Fabia 3 estate 110 and i had a new water pump fitted in April 2021 by my usual independent. I was advised to monitor the levels which I have always done and still do anyway. The level was between the" min" and the "max" on the expansion tank after this installation. In September 2021 I when I made my usual checks( oil, coolant etc) the coolant level had dropped to the "min" mark. That happened after approximately 2600 miles. I topped it up to between the two levels. This happened again today, this time after approx 1000 miles. I had never once had to top up the coolant before I had the new pump and that was sixteen months and over five thousand miles. At no time have I seen any evidence of a coolant leak . No evidence on the ground and I have block paving so I would expect it to show up and it doesnt. Nor is there any evidence of it coming out of the expansion tank when the coolant is hot after a run. I have checked the hoses too and they are good. If it isnt leaking then it can only be being used and I cant see why it would start being used only after having a new water pump. I have told my independent and they are going to check the pump for faults this week. If the pump gets a clean bill of health I will have to check out all possible leak sites again but I really dont think I missed anything before. It could be the cap for the expansion tank failing leading to a loss of pressure. I havent checked that out yet but will ask my independent to test it when the car goes in. I have had that happen before in the dim and distant past on a British Leyland car, I think, an Austin 1300 from memory and a new pressure cap did solve the issue. I cannot understand how the same drop in level can occur over such different mileages and such different time spans. Apart from this gremlin the car runs very well and uses no oil. I could just carry on driving it and topping up with the G13 concentrate but I dont like mysteries and I feel sure there will be a simple fix. Thanks for reading. Have other Briskodians have similiar experiences with their Mark 3 Fabias?

I fully agree with the need to have your car battery fully charged to avoid problems. Especially since, as someone said, there are computers that can give you grief and disable electrical gizmos. My battery is an EFB type and is sealed like many(all?) batteries are now. Until recently I was only checking the condition through the spyhole at the top and checking that the right colour is there, black in my case. However I saw a post on here recently that really made good sense, switching off the start stop once the engine is running. The poster recommended doing it before decent journeys but I have taken it a stage further and switch it off before each journey, long or short. To me the rationale is indisputable; switch it off and your battery can be over 80% charged, even up to 100%. Not doing it will restrict you to a max of 80% because of the remaining 20% being needed to operate the stop start. I am not mechanically gifted at all but such a simple thing can have such beneficial effects on the battery and I recommend it to all those people like me out there who are not good at fixing cars. It takes only a fraction of a second to do and you cannot fail but improve the performance of your battery. I do realise that the stop start can be permanently disabled by removing the dongle from the battery post and I will mention having that done to my independent when it next goes in for service. I also understand that there could be adverse insurance implications if that gets done so that may not happen, depends what my mechanic says. Hope this helps with the discussion.

i have a 2017 SEL 110 estate and had two unexpected repairs in April of this year; a wheel bearing and a water pump. I know that I am not the only person to have had a new water pump on a Skoda not even 4 years old and that is definitely something to think about. Tyre wear seems better on 15 inch wheels than on 16 inch; even with regular rotation my 16 inch wheels only do 20 thousand on fronts and 28 thousand on rears and there is a limited choice of tyres in the 16 inch size. i still enjoy my car but it is definitely not as good as my previous car, a Mark 2 Fabia estate SE 85. There is contradictory advice on the cambelt with some people opting to have it replaced at 5 years old"just in case". A Skoda dealer will charge you over £500 all inc for changing it. The car is equally happy in town and on the motorway but fuel consumption is nothing great in town. Hope these comments help and good luck with your purchase.

George, You are correct, its a 17 plate, first registered 30th June 2017. I didnt know about the flaps in the catalytic converter or that they close when reversing. i am going to monitor it and will very likely get my independent to check out the exhaust quite soon. I honestly would have thought that, if there is a leak or leaks I would hear it all the time when driving? Thats certainly what happened with other cars I have had that had exhaust leaks. Thanks for responding.

Hello, i have noticed something different when I start up my Mark 3 Fabia combi 110 for the first start of the day. It starts up fine and I reverse off my drive onto the road. No issues with any of that but when I engage first gear and drive forwards the engine note changes as though I have revved it hard when the engine is still cold but I have never done that. It is hard to describe but it sounds more "sporty". It doesnt do it in reverse, only in first when I pull away. If I park up somewhere and come back to it later it doesnt happen. Thats the case if I come back to the car in a few minutes or in several hours. Its only the first start of the day and only in first gear, not reverse. i obviously notice it more if i have got my car window open as in this warm spell but I can still hear it easily with my window closed. It doesnt happen when I work my way up through the gears. I can drive the car for hours in all sorts of conditions and it behaves perfectly and it never happens again, everything is normal. i am wondering if it could be an issue with the manifolds or if the exhaust is leaking somewhere. I know that the ecu automatically richens the mixture for the first start of the day but then I would have thought whatever is happening would have happened in reverse for that first start but is doesnt. I am off to Northumbria in a few weeks for a weeks break and dont want any problems while I m there. Surely, if it is the exhaust leaking somewhere I would hear it all the time on the road? That applies, I think, to the manifolds too? Unless, there is a gap between the manifolds and the pipes when its cold and the gap disappears when the car gets warm? I am not seeing any increase in fuel consumption or any loss of performance. I am not that great at fixing cars and will probably take it to my highly trusted independent but I really dislike mysteries. Thanks for reading

Hello, I have recently encountered difficulty when I have reversed with getting out of reverse. I have no difficulty at all reversing and no difficulty engaging reverse. It doesnt happen every time and has only started recently. have managed to get out of reverse by persevering, usually no more than 2 attempts are needed. I dont think it is a clutch issue as all 6 forward gears engage smoothly every time and the actual reversing is also smooth. I know someone has posted on this and I think there was a thread but I cant find it. i could try switching off to see if that makes it easier but I dont think thats really a solution. I realise reverse on my 17 plate combi 110 isnt syncro of course and maybe it just a question of being patient. It didnt use to happen as I say which makes me wonder whether its simply wear and tear on the reverse splines making it difficult? Thanks. I

Ken, You might be right, There really doesnt seem much point to them at all if you are right. I would have thought they could have found the answer to my question but then again perhaps they didnt try that hard. If they cant answer questions like mine there really isnt any point them existing at all and I wont be wasting my time contacting them again about anything at all; period.

AG Falco, Yes, I should have thought of that, silly of me. He said it was plastic.

This may/may no tbe of interest to anyone. I emailed Skoda customer services 3 times to ask them what the water pumps on Fabia 3 vehicles made when mine was made and after the third attempt they replied to say they did not know., Make of that what you will.

Andymod, Thanks for that information, that had never been spelt out before.

You and I clearly are at opposite ends of the spectrum. You clearly think dealerships get a bad time from people like me I am making the assumption that you are a master technician with a Skoda dealership from your email address so you naturally take the side of the Skoda dealership, thats only natural. There are other ways to view this however. The staff at the dealership certainly didnt flinch or make the sign of the cross(!) etc when I bought the car from them and quite a few thousand pounds changed hands. I was certainly welcome then, I was certainly a customer then. When did I stop being a customer? The minute I started using an independent for servicing? I am sure the staff at the dealership are all decent people BUT they charge a lot more than my independent does to fit the same genuine Skoda parts which is why I do not use them for servicing. You are saying that I am not a customer therefore, ergo, I have no standing with them and thats why they wont pay for my repairs. You are not taking any account of the fact that my car is serviced with only Skoda genuine parts so its not inferior parts that are the issue here. Its purely, according to you, that I havent had the car serviced by the dealership that accounts for them not wanting to pay for my repairs . Its nothing to do with the car being serviced correctly with only genuine parts being used. Its a matter of finance only. neither my independent or the dealership will have specifically serviced either of the 2 parts in question. Essentially, you are saying that redress/support only comes into it if you have paid more to have your car serviced at a dealership even though the quality of the labour and parts is exactly the same as if an independent had done the service. I believe that your partisan approach has prevented you from giving my view a fair and objective assessment. For my part I can see where you are coming from. I reject completely your assertion that am being unreasonable with the dealership. You are saying that my car must be serviced by a dealership to get any chance of redress/support when parts fail . That used to be the case with new cars when manufacturers insisted their cars had to be servived at a relevant dealership but that changed. As you will know, as long as an independent garage is registered for VAT and only Skoda genuine parts are used the warranty remains valid. That change may well not suit the manufacturers or their franchised dealerships but it most certainly benefited the customer . I have not changed my view on this one bit and i dont suppose you have. Lets agree to disagree. OK with you?

I wasnt going to demean myself by responding to any more of your posts which are meant only to mock and to belittle. However, I must reply to your latest offering which may give you twisted pleasure but doesnt move the discussion on at all. The underlining was an error, I didnt check it before I posted. All of my points above are valid, you havent addressed any of them. I joined Briskoda because it seemed to be a good idea to get thoughts from other Fabia owners on issues that were new to me and I still think that was a good idea. I should have realised that some people do not want to share let alone help others, they engage in trolling for their own amusement, I originally posted on the unexpected problems because I genuinely thought they should not have happened on a car not 4 years old and under 24000 miles and I still think that. Take the trouble to actually read what I said but please if you do reply only do so constructively.

Andymod, How can you possibly make such a claim? 90% is a figure you have conjured up, its pure fiction. I trust my independent completely, they didnt put me under any pressure, it was my decision alone to have the work done. Yes, "slight" is not quantifiable, they certainly wouldnt get better, we can agree on that much? They might have survived for quite a while or they might not. Neither the indie mechanic or you can honestly say how long such parts will last post diagnosis and it could be that I could have delayed getting the work done and thats just unknowable. I actually do have a good understanding of how a car dealership works, i have friends and family involved in the trade. Some are mechanics, one or two are general managers and some are in sales. You have made no comment at all on the kernel of this , that neither of those parts are service items irrespective of where the car was serviced:' indie or Skoda dealership and even slight leaks or slight play are simply unacceptable in a car less than 4 years old with mileage of under 24000 miles. Why else do you think that the Skoda dealership even offered a reduction on their normal prices when I i had told them upfront that the car had not been serviced by a Skoda dealership?? I have owned immumerable cars and have driven over one million miles and I have never once had even a slight leak on a waterpump reported and just once have i had a failing wg=heel bearing diagnosed. I will not be responding to any more of your posts as you clearly have a prior agenda and are not interested in reasoned debate about an issue but only in making unsubstantiated claims .

Andymod, Thats a reasonable point to make. However, it does not address the underlying issues here. The water pump would not have been serviced whether the car was serviced at an independent or at a Skoda dealership. It doesnt get serviced; period. The same applies to the wheel bearing. Both those parts were either substandard when fitted new or were fitted poor;y or both. the car had only done 23600 miles and neither should have failed at such a low mileage as you will agree. That is, of course, why the Skoda garage offered a reduced price on the repairs even though, as I said in my post, they knew the car had not been serviced there. Incidentally, I do know how the motor trade works, i was a used car salesperson at one point in my career.

Regular followers of Briskoda will know that I have recently had to have the waterpump replaced on my 2017 Fabia SEL estate 110. I have already posted about that. I felt very "cheesed off" to put it mildly at this happening at just under 24000 miles and started researching as to possible reasons. A friend of mine told me that VAG vehicles went over to plastic water pumps and that got me wondering. He wasnt sure where he had seen this, possibly it was Honest John. I have emailed Skoda customer services for an answer. If my friend is right this is a very shortsighted not to say stupid decision on the part of VAG. Yes, the plastic one will be lighter but the durability will be definitely less and that could well account for the early failure of mine. My friend is usually spot on regarding cars. My nephew has also told me that some Octavias of about the same age as my Fabia have had waterpump failures too so maybe thats more confirmation that the wrong decision was taken? Thanks for reading.

I have had a 2017 Fabia sel 110 estate for over a year now and its been a good car. Regular readers will know it had two unexpected repairs ( wheel bearing and water pump) and I wont deny they took the shine off my ownership. Even with those faults I still like the decent torque( 129 pounds per square foot) that comes in at only 1400 rpm and that definitely reduces the need for frequent gear changes. That has got to be an asset in town driving? The boot is very large but I dont suppose thats an issue on the school run? I havent had a Ford for eighteen years now and my 1996 Fiesta wasnt bad overall but it was no better on fuel than my current car which has a lot more power. I think the Fabia is, generally. a well built car, not sure about the Ford. I definitely think the Fabia is worth considering all in all. Pricewise, it is competitive.

Hello, I was on the local motorway this morning and the tpms pinged and the the light came on. It was reporting a loss of pressure on the front left tyre. There was a lot of traffic and i didnt fancy going on the hard shoulder because of all the traffic. I did, though, slow down and came off the motorway to get home. I checked the pressure at home and it was spot on. I switched off then on again and the light came back on. I then checked all 4 tyres and they were all OK and I tried inputting the values and the system accepted them as stored. i then went for a run and there was no ping and no light. So now I dont know if the tpms is doing what it says in the title to this post or whether I do have a genuine tyre problem. I cant see how the system can be playing up when it didnt flash for a minute then light up; thats what my handbook says the symptoms are when the system is being erratic. I am getting the tyre looked at by my independent just in case I have a problem but if I havent then the system wasnt working properly this morning. Surely, if there is a loss of pressure the warning should have reappeared when I took the car for a run after checking and storing the pressures? i think there has been a thread on this before but I couldnt find it. i cant even switch it off before each trip as i understand it unlike the start stop? Any thoughts?

To AG Falco, Apologies for not replying sooner. Regarding noise and the tyres, the tyres are not making any more oise than they ever have, nothing untoward there. I asked the mechanic at the independent which pump he saw leaking and it wasnt the mechanical pump. it was the electrically driven one. I could be unlucky and have the mechanical one fail of course after tomorrow but thats out of my control completely and what will happen will happen...... Thanks for posting.

Hello, T his an update on what has happened since. I did contact Skoda customer services and they couldnt help. They essentially said that they couldnt help financially as the car had been serviced outside the Skoda network. I also contacted the Skoda dealership I bought the car from. They did make an offer, the price of the bearing and the water pump was reduced from £710 to £449 BUT they also required me to have the car serviced there only days after having it serviced at my independent. They said they would only get financial support from Skoda if the car was serviced there and the diagnosis of the 2 faults was made by them. The price of the service was reduced by about 8%. There was also talk of a £65 diagnostics fee but that eventually got subsumed in their reduced price. No way was I going to pay again just days later and have parts like Castrol Edge oil plus filter and spark plugs get discarded, that is just crazy to even contemplate. I paid £241 last week and they wanted another £299 so £540 for a service. I would still have been over £100 out of pocket when I totted it all up even after their offer on the two parts. So it wasnt just that it made no sense, it didnt stack up financially. I also asked the garage if they could make a purely goodwill payment, nothing to do with Skoda UK, just a goodwill payment from a garage to a customer. They wouldnt do that either, everything had to be done through Skoda UK. So I got absolutely nowhere. It was all done without anyone losing their temper( including me!) but I did find the attitude of both Skoda UK and the Skoda garage to be very intransigent, " Rules are rules" and there was no room at all for individuals to do anything other than observe the rules. Thats the update done, the car goes in tomorrow to my independent to get the 2 jobs done. Would I buy another Skoda again? Probably not.

Hello, I put my Fabia combi into my normal independent yesterday for the 4 year service. When they phoned to say it was ready they said they had 2 advisories to report. This had never happened before. i have a slight leak from the waterpump and I have a slight rumble from a wheel bearing. The car has done 23600 miles. It was originally on variable servicing and was changed to annual when I bought it. It has been serviced 3 times, April 2019( Skoda garage) April 2020 and yesterday( both at my independent) Yes, I do know those particular items are both wear and tear items but even so, beginning to fail at 23000 miles??? Neither fault will improve of course, they will only get worse. The bearing actually worries me than the pump because I can top up the coolant easily enough, I have the correct coolant concentrate and the level isnt dropping at the moment. Left unattended the bearing will get so bad that it could stop that wheel from revolving and that is an accident in the making. I trust my garage completely and do not believe they would try to pull a fast one on me. I did think of part exchanging it but theres nothing out there that I like and is within my price range so I will get my independent to do both jobs. They will be getting the parts from TPS so the parts will be of decent quality. Theirs is the cheapest price out of 3, Skoda want £ 710 for both jobs and the local VAG independent want £698 and my indie wants £600. i will run it to the end of the year and replace it then by when, hopefully, the restrictions will have eased and I have more money in the pot. I have emailed Skoda customer services on such poor performance from these parts so they know the situation and will read any response they make with great interest. I have never had a water pump fail before on any car in over 50 years of motoring and only once had a wheel bearing fail and believe me this car is a heck of a lot newer than those I used to run! Apologies for the rant. What I want to ask is have any other Briskodians had any issues with wheel bearings or water pumps on their not so old vehicles? I seem to remember a thread here on Briskoda about a recall campaign on faulty waterpumps but I cant remember whether Mark 3 Fabias were affected or not. I havent seen anything on the wheel bearing issue but if anyone has please post. Thanks for reading.