Former

IIRC when the German engineering failed on the VW Eos model roof there was an expensive VW labelled and numbered stuff (VW do luv to add their spec and part numbers to stuff, adds value (cost)) or the owners got some stuff called Gummi Pflege, which is just the German words for Rubber Care. My personal choice to stop noises (and where you'd perhaps use the inferior WD-40 Multi-Use is GT85 (now made by the WD-40 Company but formerly a a British product). Silicone roof or other rubber use products.- My wife's 2015 1.2 TSi (4-pot) has always made various noises at various times from the engine bay mainly depending on what the computer programs want to do at any given time. Personally I've always found the VW 4-pot engines to sound noisy, perhaps why the VWs had so much insulation, so I'd expect a VW engine with one less to sound even noisier, especially as VW aren't that used to lower cc engines and three pots turbos (and as I'm used to smaller Japanese 3-pot turbos) but even then I thought your engine sounded noisy but you have the bonnet open. As a GTi, particularly if driven like a GTi, personally I'd be quite strict about changing the engine oil and filter properly and using a better quality engine oil, taking VWs servicing requirements of both as an absolute minimum but be changing properly sooner with better. This would also apply if the car gets lots of short low revs, high gears journeys too, especially if also low annual mileage and none or very few proper blowout runs (more so for a GTi, unless it's just a badge like some AMGs.

For @R_Blue and others (conformation bias is also discussed at the very start) a video about ZDDP (zinc) and diesel oils. The sound quality unfortunately isn't great and I have no idea how well any subtitle translations would cope with some of the words and descriptions. I watched a video yesterday with someone that speaks very clear English and the English subtitles (which I could not turn off) were getting some very simple and clear words totally wrong making nonsense of what was actually being said (such is the future?).

Now the great debate is where it would be fitted.

Link is at top of page -

You would be better asking on the Fabia Mk1 forum, for a start there's at least one member that knows about electrics and windows in particular. With electric and electronic (and engine starting) issues you need generally the car's 12v battery to be in a good state of charge (and state of health) and better still fully charged (slowly with an appropriate battery charger) to often carry out full and successful diagnostics and testing. Of course some or all of these issues could be because of wiring or connection(s) faults. A 20 year old car with only 40k-miles on it isn't necessarily so good and can present some issues because of its lack of use. You might find the 2004 is bigger and heavier and less communitive than a MK1 Golf but it might depend which model of Mk1 you had and how loaded with extras it was. Skoda Fabia Mk I (1999-2007) forum. - https://www.briskoda.net/forums/forum/26-skoda-fabia-mk-i-1999-2007/

If you are new to all this then you should take careful note of the advice already given here. First tuning you do on any vehicle is full and proper servicing of the whole car, on a 8-9 year old car that won't be the minimum serving and maintenance that most Dealerships/garages do, their servicing boils down to an engine oil & filter change and a look for other chargeable work. If the car isn't well serviced, maintained and set up then any further tuning will be have limited success. Engine tuning is always last on a properly set up car, brakes, steering, suspension (all three include tyres) are done before engine. A couple of points now that you and others may not appreciate being mentioned, the best, and easily transferable, to any car tuning is further driver training, not race track stuff but real world on the road driving. If you make changes to your car you will first need to check how this may effect your insurance. As well as the tuning I've just put above their are chips that can improve performance of the engine which can also improve the mpg perhaps even without the same amount of stress on the engine set up as some other tunes - mpg improvements of course until you mash the accelerator fully into the floor covering that is. Perhaps you need to drive other standard 2015 1.2 turbo Fabias to see how yours compares, to see if it's lacking generally to others similar. No matter how much more acceleration you get it's never enough in perfect situations and you'll want more as you've got used to it. HTH.

You could get black spots/areas just off what can grow in such places of condensation/damp. Plus of course anything dislodged from previously being inside the engine or cooling heating system parts, either from cleaning, flushing, change of coolant or just use of engine. Might even be debris that was formerly in the engine bay or garage, off mechanic's gloves or dirty wipe rag, and other stuff I can't think of now. Put a swab in there and remove it and forget about it.

Fair enough, but +1 hp at 254.46 would surely be within margin of error of testing but I do understand your general point.

12.2v might be better but not necessarily good, depends how high the battery was before the 5 days [ just seen it was 12.2v so that might mean it's holding charge, depends if the car was driven and/or battery charged after the 12.v reading but 12.2 isn't a great reading. ] When I suggest fully charged for the battery I mean 100% not the 80% (which may or may not be OK for your car's driving cycles). You can have the engine start easily and the battery still be in too lower state of charge for the car's computer systems. The A35 is the opposite with the battery causing starting issues and lights dimmer when the battery is low. Until two years ago for 16 years my everyday, one and only, car was a 1973 MG Midget with 1275cc A-series and only just young enough for an alternator instead of dynamo (lift bonnet to turn heater on, tap on cylinder head, no remote cable controls at all), Same front wheel bearings set up as A30/35 too, because of problems of getting those correct bearing sets now I built up a little library of Austin of the period Technical Bulletin Sheets or whatever they were called and old Lucas catalogues. Lucas parts were generally so well made that some are still working 50, 60, 70 years later. Back to your battery I would fully charge it or replace it at 12.2 after 5 days. Yesterday as I was checking a neighbour's car I checked the 3 year old AGM battery on my wife's car, not driven since the afternoon before, unlocked windows down all morning, 12.56v and the weather has been hot (battery discharges itself twice as much at 30c as 40c, and twice as much at 40c to 30c) so air-con has been used and my wife's car does lots of short journeys (2 miles), I can't remember if I've used an appropriate battery charger to fully recharge that battery once twice since Xmas 2023. You also need to check for parasitic draw(s). I don't know if you have seen this but if not you might enjoy it, funny to see the carefree overtaking, be different on that road now. - In Colour! - THE AUSTIN A35 - MAKING THE MOST OF IT - PATHE NEWS 1956 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=peF3kwFL_Qw

Is your engine in the region of 254.46 hp to gain this 1 hp at 83c.

I think I can see one small speck inside and some small deposits on the cap seal and then just coolant, looks more than reasonable to me.

It's not bad at all, it is almost all clear, forget it after all what can you do about it. I'm not surprised at this very minor stuff given your actions actions but it's not that bad at all, many cars of the age might be a lot worse, if your coolant temperatures are good then "don't sweat the small stuff".

Established brands often means very little, the Škoda brand that VW took over was/is one of (is?) the most established, you buy or not on condition of the vehicle you're looking at, history may help a little or be misdirecting. A 2023 car is away from covid times of production but perhaps not away from the effects and of there are loads of other influences on the car's manufacture. You know some of the car's history by it's age and mileage (assuming both are correct (my wife's car looks like it's bits were from April 2015 but the car wasn't registered until 30 September 2015 I think I know why this would be but I might be wrong)). Always strange to me that in the UK we fall for say 3-year warranties when other places get 7 years, if I was to buy a new or nearly new car I'd not worry about UK badge snobbery and get one with a 7-year warranty if I was keeping the car say 2. 3, 5 or 7 years or more and that could be from a "cheap" manufacturer as Škoda used to be. At the start of the 1990s I was told by my local Škoda friendly, helpful backstreet Dealership as they were then, that the quality dropped when VW first took over. Of course later VW Škodas became very good but now I think they are at similar quality to the rest of the VW brands and range. But you and others might find differently and think differently to me.

Mk1 Fabia seems to be the pick of the Fabias, Mk2 don't seem to have been as good as MK1s from what I've seen on Briskoda, Mk3s (my wife has a 2015 1.2 TSI 90) don't seem to be as good as Mk2s from what I've seen on Briskoda, Mk4 I imagine to be not as good as Mk3s but I could be wrong. To me the German marques have been that great this century/millennium but some seem to prefer them, my neighbour went from Honda to BMW to SEAT to come back to his senses with a Honda again now having the problems with BMW and VW products. For the rough running my wife's Fabia usually makes different under the bonnet sounds at different times but if the engine hasn't been run for a few hours it gets rough idle from IIRC the computer program giving priority to the cat being warmed but you don't notice when driving. The 3-pots seem a little rougher but I think yours is a 4-pot, personally I've always thought of VWs 4-pot petrols sounding rough (and I'm used to BMC/BL engines) and VW don't have the experience of building small 3-pots, with and without turbos, that the Japanese do so well. If it has ACT, on top of the complex and intrusive computer programs and the car battery was low in charge from being neglected and car sitting around at a Dealership/garage and you were at high electric consumption, the engine, cat, not fully warmed, DSG, perhaps it all added up. 10 miles isn't much of a test run, personally I'd have told the salesperson my disappointment in the engine and asked for a longer test drive and/or a test in a similar model with the same engine and gearbox. What I call rough (or sounding rough) you might not and visa-versa. There might be a fault with the car you test drove, take no notice of it only being a 1 year old car the Dealership /garage have probably done nothing with the car than paper checks. As you might have discovered very low mileage cars also come with issues, cars are designed to be driven and very short journeys and/or infrequent use cause issues that you don't get so quickly on cars used for longer journeys and/or much more frequently. At that sort of mileage and age you could take the gamble and run the car in more but only if the price is right, I'd not pay a premium price or too much of a premium price on such as low mileage car (I wonder if it has actually received it's first oil and filter change which it'd need even more than a car with more miles on it (mention it to the Dealership as I did with my wife's car and it appeared, well was recorded on the computer system). If you're not happy with the car get the seller to put it right or walk away (I'd at least want a brand new battery fitted and coded) and I'd plug in a [ETA: appropriate for model with up to date program] scan tool to get a full report, salesmen are easy to deal with garage staff less so. Good luck.

I must admit I was confused about which vehicle as I missed/forgot the 2017 bit, so say a 7 year old vehicle with 100k-miles so not high or low mileage over the time but as a diesel 4X4 perhaps out in the wilds or towing something it might have heavier use than the "Chelsea tractor" type of school-runs only use. @keifrb unless you have another Škoda you have a typo in your name badge. -

String method with outset wire wheels. -

I'd go Mahle, Hengst or Mann. Depending on the sump plug used you may only need a sealing washer, or fit the plug that only needs a new washer next time, less expensive to but 5 or 10 of each and put them in your stores. Engine oil and filters changes isn't really a car service and only deals with the relatively unimportant engine (and cabin filter) brakes, steering, suspension (all three include tyres) then safety electrics (horn, lights, etc.) are more important, then you could lubricate hinges and moving bits. At 100k you might want a change of coolant, steering fluid?, I'm not sure about your transmission fluid, brake fluid, I'm not sure what engine sensor you might want to clean, throttle body. Run on a couple of tankfulls of V-Power before, during and after serving (and MoT). Don't just change the engine air filter clean out the box and inside the hoses as much as reasonable too, same for cabin filter and perhaps a spray if required. Servicing a diesel engine and engine bay will have you wishing it was an electric engine, I only check the dipstick on a mate's diesel and my hand was covered in black liquid coal dust - but good luck to you, let us know how you get on.

Have a look at this for a general idea, bear in mind the car is RWD and the (15.5", 394 mm) steering wheel is easy to remove and position and the only airbags in the car are your lungs. -

Restricted/limited mileage on "classic" insurance policies are different to the usual standard car policies for standard usual policies with these the estimated mileage is more of an estimate and different policies may have different bands anyway. Provided you don't go too far over and perhaps, if required, adjust the figure at your next insurance renewal it should be fine, obviously only your provider can tell you for sure (and they might get things wrong if you speak to the wrong person in the company). You are supposed to notify the insurance company of any changes in use (and any accidents even if you are not going to claim on them) but reasonableness should apply. "Classic" insurance polices are a different kettle of fish, I had 30+ years of those including business use (no problem what so ever) both limited mileage (as at times I had more than one "classic" in daily use) and much more usually unlimited mileage, the coverage and costs would have those with standard policies in tears, I found the few times I had limited milage (6k-miles a year) it was very restrictive but other times when I had unlimited mileage I could have had limited mileage. The last policy I had for about 12 years had unlimited mileage as a no-cost option anyway.

ETA: if you just want front wheel alignment you don't have to have the full computerised 4-wheel alignment checks that cost far too much and little if any adjustments can be made to a lot of what it shows on mass-market road cars, look for a place that uses the old laser light plates just for the front wheels as that's well below the cost of a tyre (even the crap tyres) to do toe-in/out and they can look at/for any other issues if there are any, usually something worn unless you've been crashing kerbs or potholes.

You can do adjustments with using string, wood, floor markings or there use to be a plate(s) you pushed the front tyres over (forget what it is/was called but that worked as do the other methods. My eyes were never good enough and too much farting about on a car for me but great joy to others. How much more farting about a Fabia is I've no idea, far too much for me, and beyond me anyway. There will be loads of videos on the basic methods, undoing the track rod nuts I'd not imagine (don't know) on a Fabia wouldn't be different. HatBoyHarvey seems to do good videos of DIY on Fabias so you could have a look and see if he's done one, or there's a John Twist of University Motors doing this on a MGB or MGA IIRC. https://www.youtube.com/@HatBoyHarvey/videos HTH a little.

Sorry, I have just noticed a typo I can not edit now AGM batteries when 'coded' correctly on the VW cars regularly run at 80% charge which is around 12.4 v - (not 12.v as in previous post).

I take it you mean test the fuses with a multimeter for parasitic drain rather than testing the fuses for any fails. There will be lots of videos showing you how to do this, and testing for fails, the video below is just the first example I found, it is in American English, I do not know if it will offer you subtitles in your language. If you are disconnecting the car battery to test read the battery then do first read the Owner's Manual for your car to see what might be needed to be reset after reconnection of the battery, often it is not all that is listed but that depends on model and year of car, I find fully closing (not locking) all doors, windows, and sliding roof if fitted, and turning off all electrics that you can reduces the need for some resets but the resets and quick and easy to do (including synchronising the remote key fobs) that I do the them anyway. Again read the Owner's Manual for how to reset items and synchronise the remote fobs (so easy to do). Please note I am not an auto-electrician, mechanic or expert in anything, there are other posters much better at such than me and I am more used to cars made in the 1960s and 1970s which are much simpler electrics (and no electronics at all as standard) but the basic principles remain the same. HTH. If not I know a straightforward video of testing for fuse fails.

Needing the ignition on to open or close windows really annoys me (I'm used to wind-up anyway) on my neighbour's car I can open and close the windows with the remote keyfob on locking and unlocking the doors. I can't stand getting into a solar gain heated car I want the windows or doors open to lose the excess heat before I get in the car (and glass roofs covered over). Why VWŠkoda Fabia Mk3s don't have the facility is beyond me not doubt they have their reasons, good or bad.

If you're not keeping the car for the next change of spark plugs and you have to buy the tools now it might be more economical sense, less PITA hassle, to pay the Dealership to change the plugs (don't forget the engine air filter element) at the next service. Or if you still want to go DIY then you can make or use other bits as pullers, metal wire, cable-ties, bent, shaped metal. You may find an end plug more of a pain so want an appropriate grease/lubricant to make replacement and next extractions easier next time. Changing the spark plugs on a Mk3 has been covered before in this forum with details, photos (video?) previously so you can find lots of info here, or a Google search will probably bring you back to the forum.