nta16

I put my hands up, my mistakes. Perhaps I should have put "up to pressure" and I thought some VWŠkoda cars did have the sensors on the wheels system. However - the tyre(s) should always be put and kept at the correct pressure, whatever that is, and obviously whatever TMPS system fitted to the car it shouldn't be (re)set with any fitted tyre(s) at incorrect pressure(s). The system VW fitted to my wife's 2015 Fabia Mk3 is the non-wheel sensors type and the parameter for the alert to activate has an overwide margin to the point of being too late and stating the bleeding obvious, so it shouldn't be that Gammyleg's TMPS (if non-wheels type) is playing up because of his spare wheel, subject to the system being reset after the deflated wheel was replace. The car's 'Owner's Manual' will have about checking, and if required adjusting, the pressure in the spare wheel and resetting the TMPS as part of fitting the spare wheel. And I know Gammyleg is normally an avid reader of the car's 'Owner's Manual'. Good point about the spare wheel being a get-you-homer and/or tyre place or garage rather than regular use.

Yes, sorry, as per the photo I put up on which I put the correct code. Well VW go from flat washer to o-ring type washer in that photo. When I was trying to find and confirm the info on the sump plug and washer for my wife's 2015 Fabia Mk3 it was the usual VW nonsense with part numbers and what was appropriate. Apparently VW have it that N90813202 is what is fitted at the factory and at first oil change N90288901 and N0138157 probably so that they can charge you the excessive prices for two parts instead of one using the excuse that it's about saving materials and the environment by only having to replace the washer next time. However, next oil change they still charge for a new plug as well as the washer not mater what they actually use (probably just N90813202).

Are you sure, double sure the steel wheel tyre was at the correct pressure. Most spare wheels and tyres sit in the boot unchecked for years so that when they are need they are either under inflated or flat and need air pressure in them - done one only yesterday for a neighbour's brother/brother-in-law (2012 car), it looked well inflated but wasn't (I always check anyway because of previous experience). Sidewall bulge to tyre and dent to rim on usual road wheel but you can't hit alloy wheels to reshape them, my money on that car is that tyre and wheel costs will make buying a used wheel with whatever condition tyre on it and if required replace to a new tyre it will be cheaper. Might be our third-world red class road conditions that might have caused this and another claim to the council for us ratepayers to cover, at least the retired bankers are having a good time in their retirement abroad, there's always a silver linging.

Rob, is the thermostat correct for engine, thermoswitch correct for fan and engine and fully working, and wiring and connections good gauge correct to sender, and wiring and connections good rad you have asked about, what about the rest of the cooling and heating system is it standard and is it all in clean and good working condition, was the system fully bleed, engine block cleared and clean, coolant to correct quantity mix and type, radiator grill free from obstructions, engine oil level, type, temperature checked brakes for binding checked exhaust system for any partial obstruction and soundness engine set up fully correctly Usual basic checks first, check and recheck and check again and cross reference any readings and information you see and get. Engine is running warm not hot, so far. Others will be along with more specific and better information and advice. Good luck. ETA: I once had some very strange reading on a first test run on doing something to the cooling system and I had left some blue-paper in the thermostat housing (to prevent muck getting in) but failed to notice it and remove it before reassembling, the paper was thick enough to take a while to fully wick the coolant through and gave strange readings on the gauge on the test run. a silly schoolgirl error. I am not suggesting this is the case for you but an example of thinking all has been checked when it wasn't.

That sump plug combination appears to be the same as the one fitted to my wife's 2015 Fabia Mk3 1.2 TYSI engine (febi 402781653740) VW(?) N 90813202, if so you can cut the trapped washer off and possibly use washer N01308157. I know you will without need of telling check and cross reference this information yourself in case I, VW or others have balls'd-up this part information.

When dealing with bits of plastics on a car more than a few years old then sometimes it is better to leave them alone plus of course if someone else is doing the work and you can't or don't check what they have, or claim, to have done then they can tell you anything - but perhaps people in the motor trade are better where you are and I'm just cynical from decades of experience with the English motor trade.

Peter if that video doesn't sort you then this subject has been covered a couple of times before, if not here then in the 'General Maintenance' or perhaps(?) 'Diagnostics & VCDS' forums. Good luck, let us know how you get on.

If you trust a large language model without for investigation and checking and cross referencing then there are foreign Generals that can help you with investments. Alphabet soup time, as VW love different letter and numbers codes on one component - cancelled AI misnomer and looked up MQ250, no idea if this is correct but here's the first, top of the list answer. - https://gearboxlist.com/volkswagen/mq250/ My wife has told me the two test driver's she going to on Wednesday at a Dealerships is a case of she drives the car by herself the salesman stays back at back at base, been a good number of years since I've experienced that. Unfortunately even if I go with her I'm not heavy enough to replicant her non-driving friend that sometimes gets ferried around, my suggested that her friend should contribute to all the additional buying and running costs to carry her and the additional boot space required for double the boot space was meet with the usual look and non-verbal response. More annoying is that one of the test drives will be in a SUV type thing that previously my wife said she would not look at SUV type things, as a salesman suggested it and not I she will consider it, such is long term life together, I know my place.

The swich is a tiny microswitch against a metal(?) flexible strip that is covered by plastic/rubber?, if the covering is off I suppose water might get in and cause issue. You could try a spray of lubricating water repellent to see if that does any good, it won't do any harm on a dead switch. To test wiring and the connector is a real PITA as the connector is so small and wires so thin, pins on a low wattage wired bulb might work(?). You can test the switch too again a PITA fiddlle job because of the tiny sunken pins on it. Does the boot open by using the button on the remote(s)? Just buying a new switch and trying it is the quickest and easy option and if you need a replacement anyway try that and let us know how that turns out. Just the switch replacement is easy work even if the switch is over priced but a new switch won't obviously solve any wiring issues these VW (German engineering) cars have. Good luck.

Assuming this chap in this video is correct, and this refers to Mk3, Mk4 owns may be able to say if it still applies, if enough use and miles has been put on the Mk4 to tell, 'Skoda Fabia 1.0 MPI clutch problems' - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vYzC6SYcEI [ETA: note, I am not a VW fan - personally I'd also not say it would be the only common Mk3 problem but that depends on how you quantify "common"] 'Skoda Fabia MK3 recommended gear nonsense for 1.0 MPI' [in my opinion, and others, this applies to all engines and gearbox combinations]. - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQ3Re6brBk4 HTH.

You can but I wouldn't as I when I did that to save taking the plastic interior panel off the small metal clip sprung off to inside the hatch door cavity and I had to remove the plastic interior panel anyway to remove the metal sprung clip as it rattled about and I found removing the plastic interior panel was very easy and quick whereas prying the switch out was a bit of a PITA. If you want to try prying out then pry from the left side of the switch (looking at the car from the rear. Putting the plastic interior panel back on just requires placing over the shut mechanism and locating the plastic pegs in that area first to help line up the plastic interior panel for easy tapping in of the other plastic pegs, then of course remember to screw back the pull handle. BUT - are you sure that it is the switch that is faulty, test it (another PITA fiddly farting about job) as the wires at the top left (and right) that come from the car's body into the tailgate through the trunking are prone to splitting their insulation and thin wires breaking (thank you VW engineers). HTH, good luck.

Have a look in the Fabia Mk4 forum, or ask, Derek and others are very informative. Another manufacturer but on AutoTrader only I've seen a couple of pre-registered 2025 (25 plate cars) last one with 10 miles on it.

Putting a lower powered 1.0 three cylinder non-turbo, or turbo'd engine into even larger and heavier vehicles certainly wont extended the engine's potential for longevity and whilst it will be OPK for short trips very noticeable carrying a family of four about on longer trips if you are one that likes to get their foot down a bit. My wife is looking to replace the Fabia, she lost confidence in it many moons back, surprising to many here I would sooner she kept it longer, to get some return on the money spent on it sorting out its issues, but there are plenty of good used alternatives about (with much longer warranties than VW give) just that everyone wants them so prices are high for them, but then the Fabia remains overvalued too. Another option is to buy an older car with simpler stuff on the engine and none or far less of the electronic entertainments and "assists" and "aids" to go wrong fitted to the car. Perhaps an old petrol Octavia or even older diesel Octavia without DPF if they existed or another manufacturer's model without DPF. TSI is direct injection and known to carbon up but to be fair my wife's 2015, 1.2 TSI (90PS) 4-cylinder engine that so far averages around 7k-miles a year with many journeys of 2 miles still goes well but I have not looked inside to see what the carbon situation is. Last couple of years she has got into the habit of occasionally filling the petrol tank with a higher octane fuel just to get the extra cleaning additive package the higher octane petrol contains - and of course the engine gets regular servicing - good quality engine oil and filter, engine air filter and spark plugs. Good luck.

I am not an expert in anything, so that includes scan tools. If I remember correctly as far as I have seen the Launch is nearer TopDon programing but I might be wrong. These and Autel are Chinese and may share or copy each others machine casing (and carrying cases) from the same Chinese suppliers, I always imagine that they got much of their original programing from it being 'gifted' by arrogant Western car manufactures or their contractors. Lifetime updates is good but that might depend on the country the unit is sold to and the price of unit at point of sale. The small screen and speed of operation of the basic Elite might be a bit annoying if you are used to larger screens and quicker operation but fine for our DIY use if your eyes are OK. I can not imagine that the basic Elite will be able to do as much as the VCDS on a VW vehicle but of course if you can load more brands on and unrestricted VINs those are advantages. The basic level OBDEleven I am not sure how restricted or not that is. There are lots and lots of different makes and models of scan tools and the models seem to still change so good prices being offered for new unused previous models, to clear stocks, that are fine other than not being the latest model. All scan tools even the very expensive professional ones have their pros and cons and some garages and diagnostics professionals will have a collection of various priced scan tools finding some better and/or more convenient to use on some vehicles than some of their other scan tools. You are in the ideal position of being able to compare your friend's Elite against the VCDS and basic OBDEleven on your Superb MK3 so perhaps then you could report back and tell us how you find the comparison on the Superb and perhaps on your friend's and other vehicle makes and models it can work on. Do remember to make sue the scan tool is fully updated before you use it on a vehicle and that the vehicle's 12v battery is in a reasonable state of charge and health.

O/T warning ETA: apologises @thamestrader I totally forgot you are/were the foodbank man and your Metro, just seen a photo of it when I was looking for something in another thread. My memory and mental faculties aren't the best - but might qualify me for a future job when the vacancy comes up over the pond. 😁

The name C-reader Elite could cover a number of options and may vary depending on which country it is sold to so you need to ask or see from your friend which model it actually is and see or research yourself what the one he is getting actually claims it can do. If it is a bi-directional tool then it will probably cover some 'coding', activations and adaptations and service stuff, what exactly depends on the exact model and package bought. If VAG brands are covered then it will probably cover a 2021 VWŠkoda Superb Mk3 for some 'coding', activations and adaptations and service stuff, what exactly depends on the exact model and package bought. Your friend and you if either of you are using it on your car will need to ensure the programs on the C-reader Elite (or any other scale tool) are up to date before using and that the car's 12v battery is in a good state of charge and health otherwise on long use you might have issues. It is very doubtful that the C-reader Elite will be at the same level as OBDEleven and certainly not VCDS but it depends at what level you want or need to operate as to what it covers. The package that your friend has bought with it will detail what service stuff it can do and possibly other bits but this might not be across all ages and marques and models or ages and models of VAG. What is it you want it to do?

As far as I know sadly the answer is no there isn't. As with UK there might be some sort of Government forced Recall but that's for safety recalls (too) few of those are actually done, car manufacturers are allowed to get away with a lot in the UK. Seems like VW might have been caught out in Spain about something as in the UK they easily avoid Recalls they don't want to admit to by simply not admitting to the need for a Recall they don't want to know about or keep things hushed up at the Dealerships and see if they can get customers to pay for the resolves rather than do them or make a partial contribution. Good luck.

Lee, low mileage on a car isn't always a good thing for some aspects of the car, the engine possibly being one, cars are designed to be driven but lots of short trips wouldn't help the car generally and certainly not the engine. 7k-miles in three years isn't that uncommon for smaller cars but it does mean, new or old, that the engine oil at least probably was in need of an annual change which you would have thought and hoped took place on a new Audi. If there's not a fault in the engine then it would need a silly error or fair bit of abuse and neglect to get the engine oil level 1 litre below 'min' was it a hire/rental/courtesy/pool car, though I'd have thought those usually get much higher mileage in one year let alone three.

Most/many car owners in the UK begrudge even an annual engine oil & filter change let alone more timely and frequent changes if required. They also like to use the cheapest engine oil they can get their hands on, hopefully to specification for the engine. A 3-year old Fabia in the UK will be out of manufacturers warranty (usually?, I forget if you can pay for longer) car manufacturers here offer 5 and 7 years but not the VAG lot AFAIK. So second and subsequent owners may or may not stick with timely service and maintenance of the whole car including looking after the engine, looking at a dipstick (virtual or real) is outside of their ideas of car ownership. Carbon cleaning reminds me of going back to the quaint old times of decoking the engines on a service basis when petrols and oils weren't as good as they later became, how we have progressed with all of these technologies. 😄 Most are concerned with fuel economy driving and would think 10 miles, or less, at 50-60 mph in top gear to be a suitable blow-out run but there would have to be another reason for the drive otherwise rightly considered as a waste of petrol, time and life. Having lived with older and elderly people for the last 44 years I have experience of cars that are used almost, or always, exclusively for very short trips with very low to extremely low annual mileage, luckily most don't yet own direct injection turbo engine with petrol particle filters cars.

IIRC the older Fabia Mk3 1.0 MPI had weaker manual gearboxes, not good for a car used on short trips as proportionately there are more gear changes so clutch and gearbox wear but a lot of that wear can also depend on the driver and how they operate the controls. Plenty of info on 1.0 TSI with DSG, some get used to the combination and some others don't.

On a 25 year old car it could be a good idea to change the gearbox oil to help a bit with shifting, replacing the gearbox oil with fresh new better quality gearbox oil after a thorough hot/warm drain of the old oil and whatever else out of the box. Don't follow some of these idiot guides available on the internet, always check and remove the filler/level plug before removing the drain plug as you don't want to find you can't get the filler plug out after you have drained all the oil out of the gearbox. Redline (MTL) if you can get USA stuff or any good quality synthetic 75W or 75w-80W or if it is hot in summer 75w-85 or 75w-90, all to GL-4.

Other car manufacturers made MPI in 2023, some may be better than VW cars in many ways and not so good as VW cars in some ways. Widening the choice will widen the opportunities. No car will do well with too many short journeys but they will survive especially with timely and proper servicing and maintenance, how long and how well they survive engine wise will vary but it depends on how long and how much you want to put up with each car. Direct injection, turbo, engines with petrol filters (GPF) wouldn't be first choices for lots of very short journey use and an engine manufacturer with lots of experience and history of making smaller and 3-cylinder engines than VW may be preferred, though the VW 3-cylinder may prove to be fine/OK given time. It depends on how often you go on longer trips if not much then it might well be better to have an electric for usual use and for the occasional longer trip just hire/rent a bigger vehicle.

Hi, welcome. I have asked if your post is best in the Fabia Mk3 forum, a moderator will move it there if they think so. Regardless the Fabia Mk3 forum is where you will find lots of information and advice from owners and others ( though the idea of drifting might not go down so well in that forum with some, possibly including me, but you do say your driving experience is limited). Also you could look at and/or ask in the 'Fabia Projects' and 'Performance & Tuning Upgrades' sections. HTH. https://www.briskoda.net/forums/forum/205-fabia-projects/ https://www.briskoda.net/forums/forum/212-performance-tuning-upgrades/

A soft strap might be better on a boot floor panel, then not too long for stuff to get caught in it, no need to get more complex unless you want to.

Yes you can remove the rear set bottoms and backrests. Whether you are upgrading from a 2014 Mk2 to a 2021/2 Mk3 is a different matter, up to you if and how much the newer car is better, less wear and tear on the 2021/2 car may well be a good improvement depending on the condition of the 2014 car to 2021/2. The extra "aids" and "assists" give both improvements (for some) and potential for more issue (or annoyance for some). Whether the 2021/2 Fabia at 11/12 years old will be in the same condition as the 2014 is again a different matter. Fabias are very popular but that doesn't mean they are the best, or the VW products and brands - but obviously plenty of owners like them and I'm an outlier here. My wife's 90PS, 1.2 TSI, 5-speed manual has plenty of power for certainly two people and some luggage and more, I did notice a difference when driving with three passengers (no luggage) but the direct injections turbos need at least occasion higher revs driving to stop them clogging up a bit over time. I realise you are just using o-60 mph as an example but 0-60 has always been a silly measurement in real life driving on the roads unless you're a boy or girl "racer" you need to, as you seem to suggest, compare power bands of the cars actually on the move, to see the spread and depth and cross over points. Ego figures can easily be achieved at the expense of more practical driving and component and parts overall longevity. Car electronic can also overcome some lack of driver skills and sense, particularly with launch controls for real 0-60 ego figures. As already put there's a modifying thread in this form but also more information in the 'Fabia Projects' and 'Performance & Tuning Upgrades'. HTH. https://www.briskoda.net/forums/forum/205-fabia-projects/ https://www.briskoda.net/forums/forum/212-performance-tuning-upgrades/