SY-Pete

I’ve made inquiries with Ricky Evans Motorsport at Tamworth as they seem to be the only firm that say they can supply heated windscreens for the Roomy & Mk 2 Fabia. BUT, they have none in stock & need a minimum order for 5 to get them made. Is there anyone out there who wants to upgrade to a heated windscreen? They cost approx. £250 each plus fitting & the additional electrics. Not cheap but what a safety feature to have when all else are scrapping the ice away or pouring hot water on a freezing windscreen! If you’re interested, please give Ricky Evans Motorsport a ring on 01827 283688. If he can get 4 orders mine will be added automatically.

You’re a star Breezy_Pete. Most excellent info. I shall be contacting a heated windscreen manufacturer shortly & I’ll post a reply to let you know how I get on

Excellent, I suspected it was & I appreciate the confirmation. Anybody out there know which Fabia has the same windscreen as the Roomster?

I am looking at changing my standard clear windscreen on my 64 Plate Roomster 1.2TSI for a heated version. Now before any of you say you can’t get a heated windscreen for a Roomster, it appears you can. They were never fitted, as far as I can find out, as standard or an option on the Roomster but the windscreen is the same as the Fabia (haven’t found out which exact model yet) & there are companies out there who manufacture heated windscreens for Fabias to order. Before I make any further enquiries, I would like to know what the thin metal looking line is down the middle of the windscreen as this may have a bearing on upgrading to a heated screen.

Indeed, whatever the facing material is, it will wear. From your photos the facing material looks like a Phenolic resin-based material. Phenolic resin-based materials have been around for years. The best-known one is Bakelite. If it is Phenolic resin based it is most likely the cotton fabric-based version. Very tough & hard wearing. I came across this stuff years ago in bearings used in model plane/boat engines. Standard rivetted or folded cages tended to fall apart rapidly at high RPM. Phenolic caged bearings lasted 5 times plus longer. I with you on the chain elongation as you photo shows. There’s actually very little load on the chain. If it where a final drive chain on a motorbike it would be significant. I’ve seen elongation of over 20mm & distorted sprockets. I think the wear is in the guides rather than the chain itself. The modified duplex chain used in my engine should last a lifetime and greatly reduce the guide wear. Sorry no access to VCDS. I’ve looked at the procedure to change the chain on my CBZB engine & it took me a while to fathom out that there were no timing marks on the crank/camshaft sprockets or keys to positively locate the sprockets. Then came the light bulb moment of realising with the camshaft locked in place & in the case of the CBZB engine a wedge to lock the crank, there’s no need for positive timing location marks. Actually, remarkably simple. Sounds like your 1.2 HTP engine used the same basic idea. My thoughts on a quality filter & short-term oil changes are as yours for a low mileage user such as myself. Thanks for you input. Don’t forget I’m still looking for an answer to my original question of how to measure the cam chain wear.

Thanks for all your replies. Sorry I’ve been a bit slow in replying but been busy catching up with & visiting family & friends before we go into another lock down! Wino; yes the tensioner has a strong spring inside the piston that, as you say, would always keep some tension on the chain via the pivoting guide arm. I assume this keeps the chain from rattling prior to the oil pressure coming up. Edbostan; your rattle is odd that it only happens from time to time. Does it do it on a cold start but after then is it quiet? From what I have learned so far, and Wino confirms this, the internal spring takes up any slack until the oil pressure comes up. There is no doubt that the tensioner is fed with oil as the oil pressure sensor is in the same oil gallery as the tensioner. My rattle was worst at a cold start & not so noticeable on warm starts. I have some more questions for you all: · What material is used to face the chain guides? It’s got to be tough stuff to stand up to thousands of miles of running with a chain sliding over it. Could it be PTFE? From pics of chain kits, the 2 guides look like they’re engineering plastic. Nothing wrong with that after all the inlet manifold is plastic. · Oil filter anti drain back valve. If installed incorrectly surely this would means very little or no oil pressure at all. (Have seen posts about this) Are there preferred brands of oil filters that are more reliable than others? · Oil & filter change. I’m a very low mileage user & rarely cover more than 6K miles in a year. Should I be considering an oil & filter change around 3K miles or every 6 months? FYI: I’ve now covered about 600 miles since changing the tensioner & I’ve not heard any rattling noise when starting, hot or cold, like I did before. I did go to my local Skoda dealer for another matter some months ago & as part of their “Health check” they told me that the cam chain was about to fail. They quoted £750 to fit a new chain kit. When I asked if there were any cheaper alternatives & I was informed there wasn’t. It now seems it was a good job I didn’t agree to have the job done when a new tensioner seems to have solved the rattle. Have a look at these pics & you’ll clearly see the difference between the original fitment & the new one with the larger end section. Can this difference in length stop the rattling? Back to my original question, does anyone have an answer as to how to measure cam chain wear?

Hi stratosg, Thanks for taking an interest in my post. It’s a DSG. I did read about the manual version being left in gear & can roll back turning the crank anticlockwise pushing the tensioner back & loosening the chain. Not a problem here. Nice to know you think there is a design flaw in the tensioner, my money was on that. Could you explain further as to why the tensioner is too high?

I’ve spent a lot of time recently scouring this forum for information as to how you can measure the wear on the cam chain with no success. So, if anybody can point me to an existing thread on the subject, I would be most grateful. I have a 2014 1.2 TSI Roomster (CBZB engine) with 45K on the clock. From what I have read this version should have the beefier cam chain & sprockets fitted as original, but it had the infamous cold start rattle. The dealer (not Skoda) I bought it from insisted that the rattle was normal & nothing to worry about. I had my doubts & investigated this on the web & found you guys. Very interesting reading but, I was unable to find anyone with a detailed procedure to check the cam chain wear. I have been quoted £750 for a cam chain replacement by a Skoda dealer) & didn’t want to shell out that sort of money without being sure it was really necessary. I found one thread that mentioned wear should not exceed 74mm but where exactly is this measured from? I have obtained a new chain tensioner (Febi Bilstein Part No 40379, VW part No 03F 109507 & fitted it myself. An easy job only needing a 27mm socket (& a cold engine!). With this new tensioner fitted all is now quiet. So, the logical conclusion is that the original fitment is either faulty or of poor design. I did measure the overall length of the new part from underside of the sealing washer to the end of the plunger at 76.72mm. the original was 72.07mm. Could this 4mm make all that difference? The other difference I saw was that the end of the new tensioner is much larger than the original. Could this make a significant difference? Going back to the max wear @74mm could this measured from the face of the cylinder head, where the tensioner fits, to the pivoting chain guide? Any help would be much appreciated.