Stratfordade

Thanks Breezy_Pete that's a very useful link. It's 036121188B and seems was used on earlier Fabia as well as Octavia, Roomster and Rapid: preheating pipe with a ventilation socket, intended for vehicles with 1.2HTP 44kW (CGPB), 1.4 16V 59kW/63kW (BUD, BXW, CGGA, CGGB), 1.6 16V 77kW (BTS, CFNA) engines Thank you for help with parts/prices will take you up on that in future! I ordered this part on eBay (Febi so should be ok quality) a couple of days ago as was pretty certain it was problem. Also have new gaskets on way for throttle body and intake ports. In past I'd fixed a leak with new coolant pump and it hadn't lost any coolant till very recently so this must be a newish fault. I used a coolant pressure tester which has been very useful on other cars — from underneath the Skoda the coolant dripping from under intake was very obvious and every other union for coolant was bone dry.

The "crankcase ventilation preheater" was leaking as suspected — seems to be leak via the seams on plastic part. Any ideas what it does and whether it's present on other Fabia petrol engines? The vacuum hose I wanted to remove yesterday just pulled off from nipple at the intake — it's one part (according to parts catalogue) together with check valve so I don't think it's possible to separate the vacuum line from the check valve without causing vacuum leaks as seems to be heat shrunk on at the check valve.

I’ll post tomorrow (having to work outside) but I could see the preheater with the manifold pushed out the way. I’ll detach it properly tomorrow and post a pic.

Thanks I'll try that and good tip on vacuum. Typically it's only thing holding me up — can see the intake preheater and it's very grungy with pink leaked coolant.

Answering my own question there was sixth deeply recessed bolt in the top centre of the intake. I'd like to get the intake out the way to replace the intake preheater, but the brake servo vacuum line prevents that. How do I disconnect that line from the intake please? It's not obvious.

I've got a coolant leak which I'm pretty certain is from the preheater in the intake manifold (what does that do?) and have removed throttle body, and injector rail to create access to the five splined head bolts holding the manifold to the head. The intake still doesn't want to budge. Am I missing something that still holds it on? t still feels very firmly attached!I

That’s a handy diagram - is it from factory service manual? I also checked motor before removing control module and it was fine so suspected relay. Well done on getting board out. You must be more flexible than me! It was too awkward without removing seat but that’s only a few bolts and a connector.

The wiper relay failed on our 2008 Fabia 2. Fixed it by fin ding a used control module (board that sits under dash in footwell) 6Q1937049F. Swapped that it and wipers restored. Had to remove front seat to get in position where I could release all the connectors from the control module. Tested wiper relay on the bench and one of the switches had failed and didn't switch when coil energised.

I had same problem and traced it down to faulty relay. In the end I just replaced BCM with identical one for Fabia 2 so that I could just swap it in while repairing original. The original and a replacement relay is still on my desk a year or two later! Removing BCM requires some uncomfortable work in footwell. It was useful sourcing another (used) BCM just to practice releasing the numerous connectors. All are keyed and/or colour coded so you can’t go wrong replacing.

That’s brilliant Pete thanks. I’m certain with your video and removing that plastic piece it should be a cinch.

Thanks! Makes it much clearer. I’ll try with upper shroud removed and bear this in mind.

Just came across this video, where the upper plastic shroud just unclips so my feeling that it would help to allow a better angle for leverage on the clips seems correct! I'll give it another go over Easter. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ypKigPtcP4

I can see the clips fine using a mirror, but can’t lever them outwards without pressing on the column shroud, trying different length tools. There’s a YouTube video of removal on a Mark 1, but the access hole is different - circular and plenty of clearance from the shroud.

I've run out of adjustment threads on the right hand outer track rod, and I'm pretty sure the steering wheel has been put on with rack off centre at some point in past. Removing the airbag clips is proving very awkward. I can line up the hole ok and see the clip, but when I lever up on it the tool is pressing down on the plastic shroud on top of the column, so I can't lever enough to release the clips for fear of cracking the plastic. First thought was to remove the upper shroud, but unlike the Mk 1 there are no screws at bottom of shroud holding it on. Any tips please for either releasing the airbag module, or removing that plastic shroud? Thanks!

No resistance bolting up bellhousing. My fault I didn’t check gearbox for smooth running when it was removed. Schoolboy error but was just blinkered about clutch problem. It’s always bitten a bit high so was aware it was worn. Seeing a shiny rivet on old clutch plate reinforced my wrong assumption about worn clutch.

That’s a fair point. My son drove home complaining of clutch slip and it was slipping disastrously. I had put that rattle down in past to clutch plate or gearbox but leapt to wrong conclusion about clutch as it was slipping so badly. Was very frustrated to have awful noise when engaging gear after replacing clutch and installing the ‘bad’ box - gearbox install no fun with FWD. when I first posted I thought I may have done something wrong - it was only later that I went into garage and realised on rotating gearbox that that was issue all along. Was so p***ed off after dropping gearbox again that I didn’t go in garage for a couple of days and discover it was nothing to do with clutch! My mistake, but if you don’t attempt DIY tasks you don’t learn! I’ve just installed the ‘new’ gearbox and well on way to buttoning the Fabia up.

Yes was fortunate to find replacement gearbox from Fabia BXW scrapped at 32K. Having taken it all apart last night I wouldn't fancy my chance of reassembling without error. If I didn't need car off my drive I could have also just given existing gearbox to transmission specialist to fix. As I said everything else looked in fine condition.

106K so it’s beyond its service life. I completely disassembled the box yesterday and the input bearing ball bearings are anything but ball-shaped! Rest of ‘box including diff is in lovely condition. For several thousand miles before complete failure there’s been a light rattling noise in neutral that stops when clutch disengaged. Now I know why.

Well the good news is that I didn't do anything wrong fitting the new clutch. The bad news is that the catastrophic noise wasn't a worn/disintegrated clutch, but the input shaft bearing eating itself! Did an autopsy this evening and found these fragments behind the fifth gear cover at rear of case, and a sludgy metallic mess at bottom of cover. I'd realised it was a bad gearbox when turning shaft after I got it back off car and hearing ball bearings rattling around! I've already found a good used gearbox to install instead — I don't have a press to install a new bearing and in any case would never be confident that all metal bits removed. The 'new' gearbox feels silky smooth by contrast.

Do you mean adjusting the cable lengths using the index hole under gearstick? I did this after installing the gear box and after that the shift worked very precisely through all gears. Do you have another procedure in mind? Thanks for any advice.

One driveshaft on RHS was definitely turning when in gear. Must admit didn't look LHS as was so concerned by the racket! I'm surprised that it would be normal to have a noise like this (very loud irregular rattling) with wheels off ground but if so then I've just condemned myself to another gearbox install needlessly!

Just changed clutch on son's Fabia 2 1.4 16V, and tested while car still on stands so could engage gears. The gearbox was perfect before but clutch had worn down to rivets. If clutch is disengaged the engine idles normally and no strange noises, if any gear engaged then there's a dreadful 'bag of spanners' noise from clutch/gearbox. So dropped gearbox again to investigate. Getting good at this as only took about two hours to remove. What's very odd now is that the gearbox seems incapable of being in neutral. The selection shaft is in neutral (can move up or down), but if I turn output flange by hand the input shaft spins! There is no position where this doesn't happen, even if I engage the 'neutral lock' used for adjusting the shift mechanism.I can select gears as normal when I pop the selector arm on when the output and input shafts turn together as expected, but easier/harder depending on selected gear. Before I removed gearbox, the wheels didn't turn with box in neutral and shafts attached. I was going to take off the clutch assembly from engine thinking maybe I got something wrong there, but I'm now worried it's a gearbox fault but can't think of anything that happened when removing box originally and reinstalling it that could have caused such a failure. I know it's impossible to know what's going on without taking gearbox apart but are there any gearbox gurus here who have an idea based on description? It's maddening as thought job was done!

Almost done now — just need to reinstall driveshafts. I used my engine support bar to take gearbox weight and that made it easier to manoeuvre that flange around the flywheel and keep the diff clear of the crossmember. With hindsight I'd have left it off, found a way to squeeze the flange back in after bolting in gearbox. It was helpful to remove the rear transmission mount altogether. In the final analysis being able to have the car high enough up to stand underneath it would make this a cinch —I could manage the gearbox fairly easily standing up but you need a lot of upper body strength to manage with the car on stands and the gearbox on the ground. Even with a hoist I couldn't have managed to get the gearbox mated to the engine without a helper — it's really helpful to have another pair of eyes on where the gearbox is hanging up as you get it in position. The best tip is to avoid FWD!

Thanks all. With the gearbox sitting vertically on its rear and a helper holding it steady the bolt went in fine with a push from extension and tommy bar. Now I'm just having a torrid time getting the gearbox back in — lifting on low transmission jack the driveshaft side either fouls on cross member or is too close to clutch assembly!

I have gearbox out on floor, and before removal from my son's Fabia 2 for a clutch change (it was down to rivets!) had removed driveshaft flange from gearbox on RHS. Want to reinstall the flange while it's out and easy to access, but I can't compress the spring on the flange shaft enough to allow the single long allen bolt holding it to gearbox to reach the threads. Haynes manual just says to compress the flange but it's impossible by hand to push it into the gearbox cup far enough. I found a spot from a guy doing similar thing with a Jetta transmission, and his solution was to use a pry bar against the flange after the gearbox was back in the car. Does anyone have any suggestions for doing this task while the gearbox is out? It would just be easier to make sure that all the parts are lined up correctly but I can't see any obvious place to use a clamp or something. Thanks for any advice.