Elsie

All £200 or so of it 😄

Hmmmm, yes indeed. I was told by the garage that the front hoses were split and therefore dangerous, needing urgent attention. (It passed MOT fine 4 months ago! And there's no noticeable lack of braking pressure, though the worry that they suddenly split is obviously there.) They apparently noticed this when taking off the front wheels to do the coil springs; didn't check the rear hoses, they said, but might as well do them (hmmm again), especially as the MOTs have for many years referred to the standard rear and front corroded ferrules (but just at a 'monitor' level). I looked on Euro Car Parts and found that their bits are half the cost that the garage quoted me earlier today. Not helping that I've moved house, and the old garage, which I at least trusted, is a fair drive away. But I have asked them for a parts and fitting price anyway, for comparison. I am getting a bit iffy about this new garage; highly recommended by locals, but... ?? I've already tried another nearby garage and they were not impressive at all (don't mention rear handbrakes!). Anyhows, I've agreed with them to get it up on the ramp in a few days on a while-I-wait basis to check if the back hoses do need doing, and I'm taking a reasonably mechanically-competent friend with me to use the opportunity to inspect the underneath of the car (and of course the hoses). Said friend did have a quick crawl underneath the car tonight with a torch and said that whilst the rear hose pipe metal bits were a bit visibly corroded, the rubber front ones looked absolutely fine, wheels fully turned both ways. So, um, hmmmm again...

Thoughts and advice, please, regarding my beloved old workhorse estate, now 155k+ miles. Mainly a local rural runabout, but occasional long motorway or UK several 100 mile trips are needed, when it needs to be as reliable as any car can be. Had hoped to keep it pretty much forever, and was 'happy' spending £6-800 (hopefully less!) a year on the inevitable round of bushes, links, bearings, brake parts, suspension parts, and so on and so on, plus the annual de-rust and paint. Justified it against the capital cost of another 2nd hand car (I don't have income now, as retired), plus the inevitable annual works required on that too. (Which, when I had a second smaller 2/hand petrol car, was just about as much on the same kind of items; in fact, pretty much been the case even on some much newer cars which I've owned.) Better the devil you know, too. "They'll go on forever," everyone used to say. Well, until the powers-that-be finally ban them... But it's all getting a lot more expensive now, parts and labour, plus very hard to find a good mechanic where I live (and certainly one doing a good job for sensible money). And next year it'll be timing belt & water pump time (not mileage, but years), and then there's potentially a clutch (had the car since 2007, about 60k then, never replaced knowingly); God knows what else is in the pipeline and could need urgent replacement. No clue what they could cost, either, but I fear they'll be seriously challenging. Just had 2 broken coil springs replaced, 2 new front tyres, 1 battery, 1 rear brake caliper, now told I need some or all of the brake lines replacing (and being quoted silly money)... Sadly, I can't do major mechanic work myself (no facilities and too old). Can have basic welding done, and other minor replacements (did door locks and window motors, for instance). So give me your thoughts, please. I hate to let it go, and hate even more the thought - and cost! - of buying a new one. And I don't want to keep on buying and scrapping old cars, either: very much want to buy and keep. But is there a point where it's just a silly and utterly economical idea to hold on? Cheers.

I used to use industrial rubber /silicon sealant when working on a large industrial plant where it was often available as surplus. Will look into the van/MH stuff, thanks.

Wow, that is a bit of a bargain! Too much of one? I'm surprised at how cheap they are though. Well, after a tad of a struggle & a lot of learning on the job - including unintentionally stripping & rewiring the regulator & cables! - we got the old clip plastic welded & back in place, drilled & re-riveted the carrier & door back together. Need to seal it up again properly at some point, but see how it goes. All working again so far, but with the expectation of just seeing how long it lasts and carrying a good roll of duct tape in the boot 😉Take it from there... Maybe whole new carrier with regulator is the best and easiest way, it seems. Thanks.

Ah, thanks. Don't look the same without the metal bits attached - but comparing them with said clips they may well be. I'll message them and see. Appreciated.

Windows on the poor old Rat Skoda have been fine, then suddenly a few days ago, on raising, driver's side did a nasty bangy clunk, fell at an odd angle and refused to rise. Motor still working, managed manually to get it back up and secured with tape. Stripped down (butchered???!!!) door and carrier today, and found, as expected, the front of the 2 steel/ally and white plastic clips which the window's held on with at its base has lost a corner of the plastic. Don't know what these are technically called, struggling to locate a replacement set (E Bay doesn't apparently have "compatible" ones). It's a Saturday, so the main dealers are shut (!!!) Any clue where I can get some? (Online / by phone) Pretty urgent to get it sorted, hopefully can bodge back up as a DIY job, trying to plastic weld or glue as a temporary measure, but expect new ones are really needed. (Then the other side will doubtless go idc...) Thanks. Will try to attach photos if I can on an edit from another device in a bit.

Just seen this. Happy Birthday! Finally all growed up and legal, huh? I don't post that often, but this site and its easily-Googled fountains of information has been so useful over my last ten or so years of Fabia ownership. Long may it continue.

Er, nope. Tis fighting talk, that Couple of B12 and B6 engines tho'; not in Bandits...

Go for it! Not enough chops around any more.

OldSkool, mainly Suzy's - steel frames with 600-1200cc in-line 4 1980s air or oil cooled engines. One offs, street fighter types, highly cosmetically and engine modded to say the least

I have read both 4 or 5 years if sooner than the mileage. I also read 4 years is for pre 07 (mk1?) and 5 years for later models. Either way, I think that mine's now due, either way (I presume water pump & tensioners included).

Thanks xman.

Erm, well, yes... Presumably because the dampeners weren't, nor rear coils and 1 front coil? I dunno, really: hence my original question.

Oh joy, more £. What's the recommended age interval, then? Will it need water pump and/or anything else too?

Probably a chestnut, but could anyone confirm, please as I'm getting conflicting advice. 1.9tdi estate 04 plate. Last changed in 2015 at 97k. Now 132k. Needs doing now, soon, when? (Way low on miles, obviously, but years?) Thanks.

Right. Thanks guys. So maybe the front's been done (1 coil spring replaced last year after mot, but not the other for some odd reason...), but nothing at the back according to service receipts. We'll see what the garage say at mot: hope there's nothing else money eating this year.

So - and again sorry for daft girly question - would dampeners cause that feeling of loss of rear grip (maybe front as well)? I have a minor clue about motorcycle suspension and handling, but cars are a mystery to me

Thanks Wino. The "front wishbone bushes" were replaced in 2015, and again last November along with "struts" (didn't notice any great handling changes or improvements then). Front anti roll bushes also been done twice, including last year. Are there console bushes on the rear too?

Thanks. Daft girly question (though I've seen them referred to before) but what and where are console bushes? I asked my normal garage about suspension replacements (it's had the odd mot failure coil, but not dampeners) and he made some reference to bearings above the dampeners, but not console things. It's had various other bushes done at mot times too (but again not the C word ever mentioned). It's due mot in November, so good time to get stuff done I guess. (Will they check the wheel alignment?)

For want of a better title. Any ideas please, chaps and chapesses. The old beloved standard 1.9tdi estate is not inspiring me with as much confidence as it could (to say the least) on our corner-filled rural A roads. It's capable of a lot more, I know, and it used to handle much better, but there's no way that I'm going to drive it anywhere near its (or my) limits now: getting scary. Feels like the back end is going to break away under me on every corner, and also that as you steer into a corner the steering suddenly goes a bit light and then tries to turn in too sharply. It's been like this for a while, nothing sudden, maybe getting worse with age, and done it on several different tyres, summers and winters, and in the dry and semi wet. I'm not driving it like a maniac boy racer either, just making good progress at the same speed as other cars. Overall suspension ride feels good, no noises, maybe a tad soft but no discernible roll or anything (not that I'm an expert). Tyres are a couple of years old max, loads of tread, reasonably high priced Goodyears, run at standard pressures. Steering otherwise feels good (until it suddenly doesn't). Has had what needs replacing doing at each annual MOT. 135k miles on clock. Second (obvious) question - what can I do to improve it? Not utterly keen on anything that causes major insurance cost hikes, and the car's not exactly worth a lot (though with a long known history, worth it to me to keep) but wondering about susension improvements (don't want to lower anything which could cause problems on rough roads or in snow), different wheel/tyre combinations (again an issue as I need to run winter tyres so need 2 sets of wheels unless I can get a really good all-season set), other...??? Thanks.

There is nothing specifically handwritten in any of the handbooks, but in the front of the radio's instruction manual there is a pre-printed sticky/peel off pre-printed sheet which has 2 remaining stickers on it: 1 is clearly a serial number and 1 is the same number with a 4 digit code printed underneath. Looks hopeful? (Unfortunately, I can't easily test it.)

Hi. Cleaning out the cupboards and came across the old radio CD Symphony unit which I removed donkey's years ago from my 04 Fabia TDI Elegance (replaced with my old Kenwood radio, think that the Skoda one worked). Would anyone still be interested in it for parts or whatever (on here or on online auction sites) or shall I junk it? Would list it on For Sale thread, but it says I have to put a price on, & not a clue what, if anything, it's worth. Cheers.

Just to clarify, both sets are standard Skoda wheels, correct and same offset, same sizes; the alloys are original with the car, the steels off a lesser trim model or something but otherwie identical as far as I am aware. But obviously this doesn't matter anyway.... ;-}

Hi all. I had a front wheel bearing 'go' (fortunately not suddenly, but started making horrible loud noises to give me warning) in August 2016; mileage about 100k. Had the car for many years and miles, no bearing problems before. Took it to my normal garage and replaced. (They might have used a cheapy bearing, certainly not OEM.) Car then did about 10-15k miles, motorway or rural mostly, not used every day. I had the car checked over last Autumn (2018) pre MOT, and it was found by another (new to me) garage that the bearning was humming and needed replacing again (Don't know what make they used, wouldn't be OEM). Not chuffed... Car does another say 5k miles (in total is just over 120k now). This March (2019), the car suddenly started making a horrid rotationally-related noise again on a motorway trip. Was taken as an emergency to another local garage and, yes, wheel bearing's gone again! Obviousy getting a tad fed up here. Not to say out of pocket. The latest garage say that they've come across this quite a bit lately (not sure if only on Skoda or generally): something to do with bearing design having changed and the way that they're fitted needing changing; that most garages still hammer them in, whilst they actually need a special tool to wind them in. Does this make sense to anyone? Any reasons otherwise why I'm having such problems? The first one was on my alloy wheels, the third whilst running on standard steels (winter tyres) and the second after a season of steels but actually still on the alloys - but can the actual wheels make the difference? The bearing's on the hub isn't it? And when I swap the wheels it's random as to which wheel goes on where (winter tyres are directional, summers not) and probably what was front becomes rear to even the tyre wear. It's not happened on any other wheel, only the same one each time. Cheers.