AK555

Hi there, Looking for some advice about my fabia 1.4 8v, 52 plate bought about 6months ago. Apologies for the long message, I am rather confused what’s wrong with it and as I’m not the best with cars I’d really appreciate some advice! The last couple of months I have noticed a juddering when I am driving, mostly between 50-60mph and only when I press the accelerator. It seems like a judder/vibration coming from the floor of the car, feels as if it is coming from the engine. It got quite bad one evening, a lot of judder even at 70mph so I decided not to drive it on the motorway and called RAC. The RAC man said he thought it was my head gasket as there’s what looks like a small oil leak on the engine and he said it sounded like it was misfiring. I then took it to a mechanic, would had a look at it, took it for a drive and said it was driving very well, he couldn’t find anything wrong with it apart from I had overfilled the oil (which he removed) and said this may be why there’s a small oil leak. I have since taken it to another mechanic closer to home who has changed the front tires and discs and pads as he thought this would solve the juddering and it hasn’t 😭. I’ve had a look online about head gasket and it’s not displaying any of the obvious signs of a head gasket problem. The car has never overheated, there are no engine warning lights on the dash and the RAC man also ran another check on an iPad connected via a wire to the car under the steering wheel (sorry I don’t know what this is called) and there were no engine faults. It also doesn’t seem like it is misfiring as there is no loss of engine power. Also worth mentioning I have noticed some gunk in the coolant reserviour, my coolant is red and there is a dark green sludge (looks like snot) around the sides a bit and floating on the top. Could this mean oil has got into the system, meaning head gasket? I have attached a photo but its hard to see So I am rather confused as I’m getting some conflicting advice 😂 there seems to be so many different things that could cause juddering. Sometimes the car feels like it’s driving fine, other days it’s really juddery. Does anyone have any ideas? Does it sound likely it’s the head gasket or could it be something else? Thank you!

Thanks for the help! I’ll contact a Skoda dealer and investigate further

I had an E10 related question so I thought I’d put it in this thread! I was wondering if anyone knew if E10 was ok in Fabia MK1? I’ve recently got a 52 plate 1.4 8v and I believe they have the same 1.3 Felicia OHV engine just re-bored to make it 1.4. And it says E10 it’s not suitable for the Felicia engine. So was unsure whether it would be suitable for the fabia? Would really like to save my wallet the pain of buying the supreme E5 stuff 😭😂

Thanks everyone for all the replies! The models I have seen for sale with low miles that I’ve been interested in seem to be the 8 valve 1.4 with 68bhp. I will have a look also for some 16 valve options, although it’s good to hear it is ok on the motorway. also, is there anything I should look out for when buying/test driving? This will be my first time buying a car so I’m not entirely sure what to look for. For example, when timing belt or water pump replacements should be made?

Hi everyone! I’m new here, so this is my first post! I hope this is the right area for it (I have posted in the specific fabia mk1 forum and new car forum as I didn’t know what was best!). I’d like some advice about buying a used fabia. This will be my first car as I’m a student going on my placement year. I’ve recently been considering a mk1 Skoda fabia, as I have seen some for sale locally to me with low miles (40k-60k) and within my budget of £1000-£2500(max). Most are ages 2001-2003 (and I’ve rather set my hopes on a bright yellow one!) I was wondering whether this would be a good investment as they are getting on nearly 20years old! (Or whether it would cost too much to keep it running?) I will be driving around 10,000-15,000 miles per year and have been considering the 1.4 petrol model as I will be doing some longer motorway drives (4+ hours) to go home / see friends maybe twice or so a month. I’ll also be doing a lot of country roads and some town driving too. So my main questions are: I was wondering if owners found the 1.4 to be ok on the motorway? Doesn’t need to be amazing I just want to be able to overtake lorries and use sliproads without having to worry about the car being underpowered! Is this car relatively reliable? And what would realistic maintenance costs at this age be like? Hoping for something that won’t break the bank. What should I look out for/check when buying or test driving? I don’t know a lot about cars currently but I’d really like to learn more about car repairs and restoration. Would it be possible to carry out some simple repairs on a fabia or is it too mechanically complicated for novices like me? I’d be really grateful for any advice! Many thanks in advance! Alice

Hi everyone! I’m new here, so this is my first post! I hope this is the right area for it (I have posted in the specific fabia mk1 forum and new car forum as I didn’t know what was best!). I’d like some advice about buying a used fabia. This will be my first car as I’m a student going on my placement year. I’ve recently been considering a mk1 Skoda fabia, as I have seen some for sale locally to me with low miles (40k-60k) and within my budget of £1000-£2500(max). Most are ages 2001-2003 (and I’ve rather set my hopes on a bright yellow one!) I was wondering whether this would be a good investment as they are getting on nearly 20years old! (Or whether it would cost too much to keep it running?) I will be driving around 10,000-15,000 miles per year and have been considering the 1.4 petrol model as I will be doing some longer motorway drives (4+ hours) to go home / see friends maybe twice or so a month. I’ll also be doing a lot of country roads and some town driving too. So my main questions are: I was wondering if owners found the 1.4 to be ok on the motorway? Doesn’t need to be amazing I just want to be able to overtake lorries and use sliproads without having to worry about the car being underpowered! Is this car relatively reliable? And what would realistic maintenance costs at this age be like? Hoping for something that won’t break the bank. What should I look out for/check when buying or test driving? I don’t know a lot about cars currently but I’d really like to learn more about car repairs and restoration. Would it be possible to carry out some simple repairs on a fabia or is it too mechanically complicated for novices like me? I’d be really grateful for any advice! Many thanks in advance! Alice