rum4mo

Yes, I fully understand that, but the advice being offered was for a Fabia MK3 which did not have an engine size/output stated - so that was why I made that comment.

I think that in maybe just the past that some cars were supplied with a spare wheel that could only be used on the rear of a car, when ending up with a front wheel puncture/breakage, the way to sort this out was to jack up the rear, remove the serviceable rear wheel and fit the spare wheel, then move to the front and remove the failed front wheel and fit the wheel removed from the rear. Again, I think that on some Ford cars, that were supplied with a spare steel wheel, different nuts were required for use with steel wheels - that sounds like being a bit of a **** up. A friend that always buys nearly new Fords, or did do, always boasted about his Fords that had alloys always came with an alloy same size/model spare wheel due to these cars being spec'd that way for sale to rental companies. Both these first two statements, if true do sound a bit crazy, but what do I know.

I'm not sure of the full scope of annoying noises that a failed front shock absorber could make, so I'll not comment there. Why I've suggested the powertrain mountings is, because I had that issue on a 2015 Polo, but I could clearly discriminate between it being a suspension movement issue and it being a powertrain movement - if you can definitely discount it being a powertrain movement issue, then discount what I've suggested. Edit:- is this noise there at all times, or is it just there now and again, like in only dry winter weather, but not there in wet winter weather? If so then it will just be annoying rubber mountings, my wife's 2015 Polo can get very noisy in a way that I could consider that "something needs sorting" - then a few days later, under different weather conditions that car's suspension is as noise free as it was when factory new.

You would need to know which version/size of front brakes are on a Fabia/Polo/Ibiza before considering having a 14" as a spare, if the front brake version/size is 288mm then a 14" spare would not work - not even for a short period.

You seem to have covered nearly or all of the usual suspects, maybe now check if the power train mountings are still okay, ie lower gearbox mounting and the upper gearbox mounting.

To me, sort of strange logic, the Fabia might have been around for 23 years, but "Fabia" is only a car model name that Skoda has carried forward for their offering in this segment of the car world, okay where possible car makers evolve as little as possible unless they need to, but I've never thought that my wife's 2015 VW Polo is just "same old" because the Polo (name) has been around for some serious number of years - thinking that way is illogical. I'd not be holding your breath waiting for a dealer's service people to get to you on the G13/G12evo question, why would they give you "the nod" to use an older product that what is currently fitted into your car - that decision must only be your's to make, and I've already offered my advice on that.

I've never tried too hard to do that, some people say that you can force the old disc out while the carrier is still in place - but will you then be able to get the thicker new disc in? From memory, and I had both front and rear calliper carriers off this year - rear ones to clean up and paint the carrier, the big problem is identifying which type of head is on these bolts, you will be able to find out what fits these bolts as VW Group claim that you do not reuse them, so you could check the heads on the new bolts. I managed to get these bolts off back in maybe August on an August 2015 Polo.

I'd just take the money hit and buy a bottle of premixed G12evo from any VW Group dealership, as said it will be what has been loaded into that car at the factory. Most people that mix G13 and G12evo will just be people with G13 in their from factory and now needing to top it up. Having a coolant level midway between Max and Min when cold is okay, on some cars filling the Max when cold will end up with some coolant being discharged from the reservoir when the coolant has expanded when hot. I don't think that G13 will be known as the best coolant additive ever produced.

The flap motors tend to be remote from the heater, so if any of them have failed, then either exercising them(if you are lucky) or replacing failed ones is what you need to do.

I'd think that the fact that the protective sleeve/boot is missing from that side is never a good thing, adding springs can only be a good thing, I did that on a 2002 VW Polo 1.4 16V, and that seemed to improve or remove the drag that tended to "appear" with time wrt pad<>disc, so I just did the same thing as some as we bought a new 2015 VW Polo 1.2TSI for my wife, okay maybe the internal return spring has been slightly beefed up on later rear calliper, but I've added these external return springs and again no pad<>disc contact when the handbrake is off. Obviously you will "lose" the recommended clearance between the arm and its stop, but you can just adjust the cable length to suit what you feel is correct in terms of handbrake "lift".

I have tried listening to hear slight clicks from factory fitted parking sensors and I've failed to hear anything, plus my hearing is okay. I even bought a mechanics stethoscope that came with a rubber cup on the end, still 100% disappointed on a 2011 Audi S4, 2015 VW Polo, 2018 VW T-Roc and a 2019 SEAT Leon - none of these cars had faulty parking sensors, so I was more than a bit disappointed as I had hoped to have learned something useful! I've always stuck with buying genuine "correct for that car/end" parking sensors, picking them up as NOS or stock being disposed of when dealerships closed, but then I was just collecting parts together to retro fit to a bumper without sensors. Basically for this age of cars, there are 2 versions of parking sensors, ones with "straight" connector and ones with right angled connectors it will be easier for you if you buy the correct version as the space and cabling will be quite tight.

Maybe I'm wrong, but you don't seem to have answered the question about your car usage, ie journey length along with what type of speeds. Cabin air flap motors, now that might just be another part of your problems, ie the temperature flap motor or the one that works the re-circulate and general direction of air flow to where you feel it the most. Good answers/help rely on good info being handed out when requested. Also, 3 thermostats - did any of them end up being checked in a pan/tin of boiling water, and where any/all of them new and "quality" brands?

Oh! So I wonder what the main dealerships are charging for this work, okay it will be viewable on their "menus". I had thought that that price would have been what they charged for the same job on the EA211 engines, wrong again!

Just out of interest, was that £583 Skoda dealership price or the VW Group Indie's price? Every time that I got the belts etc changed on a BBY or latterly a BXW engine, I was aiming to save suffering from idler and/or tensioner failure wrecking things, and changing the water pump at every other belt change - just to play safe for a car that was being used every day for commuting to/from work and leisure/shopping.

Yes, but probably a lot better than not having a coolant gauge - like SEAT seem to omit from lots of their cars at the lower end of the price range, that used to annoy me when I was looking after my daughter's 2009 Ibiza 1.4. I've always had a temperature gauge in my cars or vans, my Anglia van (ex Royal Mail), had one, my Escort MK1 van (ex S&N Breweries) didn't, so I needed to get the dash panel from a similar aged Escort MK1 1300 XL, wiring and sensor were already in that van, from then on always had a coolant temperature gauge! I've even got a "plug in" 12V DC voltmeter in the front power socket - to keep an eye "smart charging" ! Edit:- back on topic again, while the coolant temperature was slow to "get up" when the ambient temperature was anywhere between -7C and -2C, after the outside temperature rose up to just above 0C, the engine coolant heated up a lot quicker - surprise surprise - not! So even when driven moderately and mainly on the flat, at that slightly higher outside temperature, the coolant gauge quickly (<2 miles) got up to an indicated 90C without the cabin heater being on, switching the cabin heater on then had no visible impact on the coolant gauge temperature for the remainder of that 9 mile journey. I'm just posting this so that you can see that I have noticed a change in "warming up" times ie going by what the coolant temperature gauge is showing over a slight change in coldish outside temperatures - nothing more.

If it is the 1.2TSI 16V (belt driven camshaft), then you might just be witnessing that these petrol engines are a lot more energy efficient than previous models, and so this can mean, that on a shortish journey, the engine will not be providing enough waste heat to keep the cabin heater hot and also keep the engine coolant sitting at an indicated 90C when the outside temperature is way below 0C. If driving at normal "out of town" speeds for journeys longer than maybe 8 miles, then I would expect that everything would be okay, we were out in my wife's 2015 VW Polo 1.2TSI, and normally I just suffer without the cabin heater on in winter - unless the glass mists up, until the coolant temperature gauge is up to 90C, this morning I chose to not do that so at the end of a 5 mile journey starting from -2C, the indicated coolant temperature never got up to 90C even although the first mile or so was uphill, I'm not worried about that as normally as I said I just let the engine warm up first before demanding a lot of heated air coming into the cabin. That is probably the price to pay when I have 110PS max output that moves the car along very well, and 50>60MPG. Edit:- of course maybe your findings are worse than I'm describing.

I've bought my engine oil from Cox Honda's ebay store as they were the cheapest for Mobil One, which I tend to use, I have not noticed them selling it or their ebay store this year, so I might buy from Uncle Arnies ebay store as they are currently the cheapest that I can find. I'm not trying to say "buy Mobil One", it just happens to be what I want to use. Quantum used to appear from online sources for less money than your local VW Group outlet sells it for. As I'm retired too, I tend to keep an eye of parts prices over the year and buy when I feel the price is okay for me, for oil filters I either buy VW Group ones if being sold at an okay price or Mann from ECP during one of their better "continuous discount" moments - though catching one of these moments takes a lot of luck! Same for air and pollen filters though I prefer Mann Frecious pollen filters. Edinburgh TPS will not deal with ordinary members of the public so TPS is outside my reach. Spark plugs I tend to get from one of maybe two online sellers that I have used in the past - or someone selling off NOS. Autodoc, I have used them once for front wheel bearing assemblies who were getting a couple of these from F-A-G to my doorstep cheaper tan any other source that I could find, and I was not in a hurry for them. On the topic of returning "wrongly supplied parts" to Autodoc, my mate seemed to have paid a small premium for Autodoc to select the correct clutch "set" for his 1972ish, or newer SAAB 96, they got it wrong, and quickly arranged for a courier to collect the parts for return to Germany and then sent out the correct parts - for at least for a single person, that worked out okay - and like me, he was not in hurry to get that car going again. Some of the names that appear on Autodoc and their prices, for me, do say "don't buy", but maybe that is just me! For parts that I know that need to be ordered in from VW Group warehouse down South, I've used CCP, but only for high value parts as delivery costs can consume a chunk of the savings. For parts that I need quickly, I tend to get them from Western VW at Newbridge as there is an older parts guy there that I've used from when that dealer was Sloans in Gorgie Road - and I used to work round the corner in Robertson Avenue, and he takes pity on me when the final bill is quite high, so chops the cost with a bit of discount. (my cars are SEAT,VW and Audi). Sometimes, for convenience, I'll save the extra mileage and buy from Central Garage Skoda at Sighthill, if I'm passing by there anyway, I've tended to avoid Western VW at Ford Kinaird as they don't seem to be very user friendly especially if you know what you need.

I bought the "bent" circlip pliers in good time, so far not been required, but there still is time! (2015 VW Polo).

These mirror switches on at least same/similar 6R/6C VW Polo, do feel quite nasty when rotating to the heater position, they, for me, have never filled me with confidence that they work and will remain working, but at 7.5 years and 42K miles, so far so good.

Yup, roughly midway through the previous year, the model year changes are made. Edit:- as much as anything else, it makes this (extra) service item frequency a bit easier for some people to come to grips with.

Ooooh! That will require a big of creativity - maybe a length of stiff wire with a curled up end that you smother in sticky tape? Maybe there is an easier way, I've not tried and hope never to find out.

Sounds like a good plan!

If or when you need any work done after the warranty has run out, AVW on Gilmerton Road always seem to get good reviews, they are a proper VW Group Indie and so have licences for access to VW Group resources etc. I use them for MOTs, and for removing CP (component protection) once, also got my older daughter to take her Ibiza there for a cam belt change, and probably her Leon Cupra for Haldex eDiff fluid change, they seem to be just capable and honest car problem fixers, who could ask for more.

Yes, we are a very "easy" market to sell into, mind you, I'd think that USA mainly only attack foreign producers/companies as part of their "free and open" market approach.

In this exact fault, there is a known time frame for engine build, so in USA and I think Canada, all possibly affected engines, ie cars, are recalled also any cars stocked as trade in are being checked over, the minimum effort is to replace all 4 bolts and torque them up correctly where there is no sign of bolt failure. So no real need to look out for or identify dodgy bolts - which probably don't exist, just wrongly torqued and then fracturing with time/injector pulsing ones.