nta16

Sign of cent (or fraction of cent) saving perhaps by VW, or supply issues, never would I suggest that it might be a further sign of further lowering of standards, I expect managers and directors expenses accounts remain at high levels. Used sensibly in appropriate conditions scissor jacks are fine but certainly first choice. Many years back I was given a Nissan (before Ren-No! but after Datsun) scissor jack and it was so well made I could raise a car a bit without the need of the lever handle, of course cars, and I, weren't so lardy then, I was a fool to give that jack away, so useful to support and locate components under the car too.

Hi, welcome. First verification, for reliable and more detailed error codes you do need to use a scan tool that has a VW program specific to your model and year and this program need to be fully updated. Has the car been fully and timely serviced, maintained and repaired, have the spark plugs been changed (perhaps twice now) and air filter? Is the car used for lots of short journeys? You are also best to have your car's 12v battery in good state of charge and health otherwise unexpected warnings and error codes may appear (not usually this tho'), the engine starting and headlights seeming bright enough does not necessarily mean that the battery is in a sufficient state of charge for the computers. If you have a scan tool have you tried clearing the error? There are members on the Briskoda forum that offer help with VW specific scan tools, most, but not all, can help for beer tokens with perhaps full reports / diagnosis / clear error codes. You could see if there's anyone close to you that can help from this link. - Briskoda VCDS Owners Map (click me) If the P0341 error code is correct then it is a generic code so generalised information. - https://www.obd-codes.com/p0341 HTH.

Just seen I didn't put this well, these aren't loose storage boxes but the proper fixed compartments for the car, they came with the car. They are quite shallow, I think the umbrella that came with the car new goes in there, my wife's puts the reflective safety hi-viz vests in them.

The photo DerekU used as an example is more of a 'how not to do it', I'm not even sure it is a puck, but as put by others they're for use with a trolley jack and then you have to match the puck to both the jack and car seam, jacks have saddles that can be removed or changed. Just as one example only of a 'universal' puck. -

Can you not search by your VIN or engine type an/or number.

Quoted in case your question was missed by ham92. I hear a, like, catch(ing), hesitation noise at the starts of engines starting but I'd not have a clue what it is, other than perhaps annoying. Yes that makes complete sense. I've use a spray on things you're not supposed to, or not supposed to help, but they have (perhaps more washing grit/debris out, I've no idea) but they were effective cures even after year(s) of use but I can understand the hesitation in this case. The fine VW engineers would obviously have to have some very special solution to the mistake the belt manufacturer must have made and not them. 😁 But of course it could easily not be the belt anyway.

If you have anything under the seat(s) remove it, nothing should be under the seats other than perhaps the ends of someone's feet (and perhaps not even then if they have big feet, make them sit in the front or walk).

Absolutely everything about cars is a PITA and possibly literally (and back) if it involves road wheel removal with those bl**dy stupid wheel bolts instead of studs. I've just had a look at the underside of the front seats in my wife's 2015 Fabia Mk3 and I struggled to see the connectors under them let alone get at them, but I'm old. Possibly it's easier to see or get at them by removing the shallow plastic storage boxes on my wife's car but I don't know. You might have more room under your seats. I expect there might be videos about the connectors on the internet - but bear in mind your connector(s) might not be the problem, just a probability given the sparse info

It may require a higher level scan tool to reset it or perhaps to help diagnosis, or perhaps find the fault. The hyperlink at the end is of Briskoda members with VCDS and OBDEleven owners who may be able to help you with your scanner or a better level scanner, most but not all are not professional so may be able to sort / diagnosis/ do a report /clear codes / reset for beer tokens - but do check that they also have a scanner that has a program for your model and year and that the program is fully up to date. Or you could look at and/or ask on the 'Diagnostics & VCDS' forum. - https://www.briskoda.net/forums/forum/23-diagnostics-amp-vcds/ Note also PetrolDave's post, many times it can a connector, often under the seat, that perhaps needs cleaning or securing, all electric/electronic connects need to be clean and secure and protected if exposed. Briskoda VCDS Owners Map (click me)

Sorry, I can't give you good news, just my experience having had various types of car insurance cover on and off since 1977 and a few claims. Your protected No Claims Discount will be protected but of course this will count as one claim against however many in what space of time your Protected NCD allows, some allow more claims and/or in a shorter time than others. Protected only if non-fault is new to me, sounds a cut-price half cover to me, with a 220 PS (or any PS level) car I'd want full cover but each to their own. How long things take may depend on lots of things. You have been involved in an incident no matter who's fault and no matter if you claim or not (such as parked up and you're not in the car and someone or something damages your car) so this is proof of risk, you have claimed so yes unfortunately your premium will probably increase at next renewal. If you paid for, or your insurance includes legal cover then you can pass all this over to them to try to sort, different policies have deferent cover and different providers are different quality. If the accident can be proven or taken as third parties' fault (if insured) then your insurance and legal cover will get you your vehicle repaired and possibly your excess and other from third parties insurance - but only the car repair is guaranteed. I learnt when I was young that low cost insurance is great provided you never make a claim, then you need good quality insurance which can sometimes (not always) cost more in premium but a lot less in time and hassle for the insured, things were a lot easier way back then though.

Quick thoughts: for airbag light do you mean the one on/in the dash (and not other for passenger), have you done any work on the front seats, steering wheel, elsewhere fairly recently, is the car completely standard or have bits been added/altered in anyway (infotainment, towbar, anything) is your OBD II (Eleven?) fully up to date with any program changes for your model and year of VW product (car), are there any other error codes coming up or issues on the car, er, I've forgot, that's all from me - just remembered, have you looked and/or asked on the relevant model forum on Briskoda?

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.