Rob.

Are face lift back lights still desirable to early fabia owners?

Probably not...

Hi.. I've some steelies that I planned, at one point, to polish the lip of and paint the centres... This didn't happen, but I did roughly polish the rim lip of one of the wheels, which came up quite promising... However.. I can't be bothered to polish them all now, and was wondering what a stock black steel would look like with a rusty lip/rim, all the way round and evenly orange... Hmmmm.. Thoughts? It's be a lot easier to maintain over winter, and don't think anyone's gone down the rusty rat wheel route on here yet....

I retro fitted the CD changer.. The seat has to come out anyway to fix the changer in place.. a matter of some screws and patience. You'll need a special spline drive to remove the seats, can be obtained on ebay for a few quid... Cable wise. I went along the sill side of the passenger side... you could probably go along the tunnel, but that trims more involved when removing. Idealy take the glove box out, it'll give you more access and less headaches. If your changer lead is too long (like the after market one I bought).. you can cable tie it round a few times and stash it on top of the glove box.. there's quite a lot of space up there. Good luck.. you can PM me if you need any more advice on the changer retro fit.,

<opens door, walks in, sits down, looks bitter>... It depends what you want... I used it from day 1 (48k) on my vRS.. I think a grand total of 3 non ultimate tanks have gone through my car since then... It's now on 87k... I bought it for 2 reasons.. It "cleans" as it goes.. and, I'm adamant that in 2nd gear it pulled more smoothly.. initially it feels slower because it doesn't shove.. but you soon realise it's because it has a little more push lower down... Shark recently had my turbo rebuilt for me. Ben drove the car and commented that the push lower down made him a little suspicious of a previous map.. on further inspection, it was the stock map.. So.. I put the health of my engine down to using ultimate... Unfortunately, it doesn't do anything for the life of your turbo.. DOH!

Changing the seal is easy... pop end out of SMIC.. pull off old seal ring.... pop on new seal ring, push pipe back home.. Thing is.. it's probably more likely that it's time to clean out your pipe work.. Oil does naturally gather in the bottom off the IC, so changing the seal won't necessarily stop it for long.

Fabia leather is so expensive.. Think if I were looking into it I'd go down the seat base swap other route, and pick up some Leon or Golf leathers for a fair few hundred less.

Yeah, I agree with you.. Was going on what I've been reading on the likes of autotrader, Gumtree and eBay.. Piston heads being somewhere in between this forum and an "Add"... It's like you say.. I just think that, in those situations, if you give a reason for sale it looks more like you're trying to cover something up.. And in general, mods will put Joe Public off.. But I agree that perhaps, it would save on phone call time if you listed them..

Been looking at sooooooo many Leon Add's recently for a friend... Top hit list of "needed" info... Service History, hopefully listed as "full".. if all dealer, state it.. If part dealer, part specialist, state it.. but DON'T mention that you've done a service yourself... Don't get me wrong, it's not a problem.. But unless you've kept the receipts, it didn't happen!.. Just say it's got full history (as long as you have proof).. Has the Belt been changed, recent service? DON'T list those little tweaks you think are cool.. No one cares, if they did, they'd be standard. DON'T mention how it goes.. the assumption is it goes fine! DON'T mention a reason for selling... It's obviously for sale. Down play the mods, if any, mention only the ones obvious in the pictures. but be sure anyone that makes contact knows of any other mods... You don't want to waste everyones time. Got both keys? That's a note worthy plus point that makes you look like you care for your car. Got under 5 owners? Again, a plus point!.. but word as "3 previous".. not "I'm the 4th" I haven't seen your add, so not pointing fingers.. These are just the things I've noticed recently whilst looking.

Yup.. Gonna echo the above... Creaks on the Fabia tend to be one of the big bushes.. Front, or rear.... Get the PTFE grease on them, shuts them up until winter, when you do them again It's almost like there's no speed bumps in Germany.

Have you tried just leaving the battery off a short while?

I've just had this... turned out to be an intermittent bonnet latch.. That thing does see some weather. Have you noticed the single light flash not happening when you've been locking? Try removing the connection on the back of the bonnet latch mircoswitch. It works in reverse, as in.. when it's closed the circuit is broken, so pulling the connector off makes it think the bonnets permanently closed. The other thing you may have noticed if this IS the problem is your intermittent wipe not functioning all the time?

Researching common PD failings recently (to see if I stick with the vRS or sell) I have found quite a few reports on what people refer to as "slow failure".. When it fails between cylinders.. Apparently, the most obvious sign is coolant loss due to it boiling over from the expansion tank. Head Gasket, Cam shaft, DMF,.. These are the bills I hope don't come to quickly after my turbo.

Well, it goes off too shark on a flat bed tomorrow (not taking any chances with turbo runaway)... Only thing I would say to you specifically is... I'll post what they find, as mine "only did it when cold" 3k ago, and didn't do it at all 10k ago. ... Then, suddenly, it changed to the 2nd vid I posted.. Louder, constant and with that kinda, I dunno.. Burp on the down spool. It STILL drives fine, (Dan will vouch for the performance not being effected) not even any excessive smoke as far as I've seen... That vid was straight after an hour on the motorway... so toasty and warm! (it's coming in quite handy sharing a house with someone who owns the same car, lol...).. Dans Turbo is almost silent and he's on 96k!!

I was under the impression that, if ya handy with a tool box... they can be swapped over onto the Fabia's bases.. But you'll obviously loose the original seats in the process.

I dunno how much help this'll be.. but my Sis has a stalk in her A2 that I thought was stock.. but I can't find ANYWHERE online a standard A2 stalk??? If there is such an item, it might be quite a straight forward fitment? Although will need adapting, of course, I just mean the hardware.

Fair enough... Nicely put

Boo! :p

Huh.. That's interesting. It took less then 5 minutes and wasn't reflected on the bill, so perhaps you're right and they simply humoured me? I must admit, I probably could let the car idle a little longer before setting off.. But I never hoof it until warm.. I'll take note, though.. I do let it cool down... perhaps I could let it cool for longer. NEVER switched it straight off though. Thanks...

Fecking SWEET! Top work my Man!.. You've achieved something that I'm pretty sure no one else has on here! Red Belt Retrofit!

DUDE! Keep the red belt, and buy the others to go with it!! Red Belts, Black interior & body FTW!

This was seen on eBay once upon a time.. It doesn't get any better from any other angles.. or indeed, inside.. I think they left the windows open when they painted it, lol.. "Blue,... Blue everywhere"

Aye up.. As you know, my Turbo's popped.. The Internetz seems to think that this could* be a result of me having the EGR "turned right down" in VCDS at about 60k. (it's now on 88k).. 1st thing.. The garage claim they did it, and Fabiavrs.com used to have instructions.. But many people on here have said that it doesn't work, and it can't be done via VCDS?? 2nd thing... Do we believe that deleting the EGR, or even reducing it can prematurely cook a Turbo? I think the internetz is concerned it actually increases the Exhaust temperature going through the turbo (whilst lowering intake temperatures).. I'm just wondering what your opinions are? I'm not really sure on both counts. What IS interesting is that I noticed my engine cooling fans kicking in whilst idling before turning off the last few times I've driven it (before Mr Turbo got too vocal)... that's the 1st time I've ever heard them, even in summer.. Is that just increased engine bay temperatures from the Turbo's rattly bearing increasing friction??.. Or something more sinister? *could - as in, might be complete bo11ocks.

Yeah.. As above, I was surprised.. 9yr old, 88k. I knew it was a bit of a long shot. Basically, I wrote them an email, not angry.. Just noting that I was a bit miffed at my turbo letting go at 88k when I've done everything possible to care for my car.. (I still buy Skoda washer fluid and BP Ultimate, lol). I also mentioned I'd had a Fabia previously as well. A very nice lady called me, we went through my cars history and noted the reg of my previous Fabia. My service history isn't all Skoda, the last 3 have been at Browns.. and a random 1 man band before that. It was always done at the right time/millage though, and in full.. no short cuts... And I bought it when it was 4yrs old, privatley. So, The deal offered was get it diagnosed at Skoda, and if it was seen that nothing untoward had caused the failure then they would pay 10 - 15%. But this was all dependant on the Skoda diagnostic and by no means a fixed offer. So, I did some quick math. Obviously, the dealer would fit all new parts and charge dealer labour.. Midland Turbo will (hopefully) be able too rebuild my unit for £222... And I graciously declined, whilst saying a million times thank you... Am I an idiot? My Dad thinks I should taken Skoda up on their offer. I still think it would have cost more at Skoda with 15% off, though... Still.. I just wanted to big up Skoda to the Fabia lot... They do care

You're referring to my video, Yeah?.. the link on flickr, not the blue one on Youtube (huh, clutching at straws).. But yeah, the more "blown turbos" I hear.. the more it sinks in my 88K (YES, 88K, serviced every year before 10k, idled before turned off and never booted in 5th or 6th from low down in the rev range) unit has started it's final spool. We don't think it might be the EGR? Think I'll write to Skoda.. Seems a bit early even for a 9yr old.