Kalum0101

So I was thinking this, but I had all of these replaced in April 24 and the car has only covered just under 10000 miles since. Can they really fail that quickly? Visually they look okay. I think I need someone to give me a hand checking then, one to steer and one to listen.

Tracking was done at the same time I did the ARB Bushes and the Tie/Track Rods only 2 weeks ago, made no difference unfortunately. I haven't done the console bushes as I was told they didn't need doing, however I don't fully trust my mechanics word.....

Good Evening For the past two months, I have had an issue with my Fabia where if you hit potholes or really rough patches of road surface on the nearside, it will kick the steering to the right. The car also feels very rattly when hitting them too, like the vibrations are not being dampened by these rough patches of road. It does not suffer this on the offside. I've taken it to the garage twice now and both times they have said there is nothing wrong, but its very clear there is an issue. I've replaced ARB bushes, inner tie rods and track rod ends on the recommendation from the garage that it could be those, but it hasn't resolved the issue. This time last year it had shock, springs and top mounts, so I would be surprised if they are going again, however that doesn't necessarily rule them out. One other thing of note, although its done this throughout all the time we have owned it, is the steering creaks when you dry steer or turn slowly to the left. It doesn't do it when turning to the right. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Its had a pre-cat lambda sensor about 3 months ago, an oil pressure sensor about 4 months ago, and a new exhaust flexi and cat about 8 months ago. Been driving it round since then with no hiccups (other than some squeaky bushes and a rattly bonnet, the latter finally fixed). Oil consumption has always been a bit of an issue since I bought it in Feb this year though. I haven't checked the oil separator. How easy is it to remove?

Back trying to solve some of my niggly problems. Oil consumption has always been a bit high. When I had 5w30 in there, it would use just over 1ltr per 1000 miles. Since putting 10w40 in at my last service, its slowed it down some as now its only using about 1ltr per 1500 miles. I would like to swap back to the 5w30 however, because I noticed a drop in MPG since doing the oil change (nothing else on the car has changed), but I want to get to the bottom of the consumption first. She doesn't seem to blue smoke, and I can't see it physically leaking out of the car. Any recommendations for what could be causing it?

So, I finally solved the issue, after countless replacement parts, it was the simplest of things. It was the catch that was loose, so while the bonnet was secured, you could still lift the bonnet up slightly. The fix? Some duct tape around the metal catch, just enough to remove the slack. So if anyone else has a rattly bonnet, the £5 miracle of duct tape might save you tearing your hair out like I was.

It really depends on the engine. I've had cars run on whatever and not miss a beat, and I've had others that were really picky. I run my 1.4 fabia on Mannol 10w40 semi synthetic. Some say it's cheap crap but it's been running great and it's VW 502 certified. It's a lot quieter on the thicker semi synthetic than it was on the thinner fully synthetic, not too much loss on the MPG either. If you go with something that has VW 502/505 on the label, you shouldn't have any issues.

Hmm, I had that with my old BMW and it was the oil filter that had basically collapsed from sitting too long soaked in oil, was restricting the flow. I would look at getting an oil/filter change as soon as possible and if that doesn't help, look at the pick up pipe like Pete suggested above. Next would be oil pump and after that I would honestly look at moving to a thicker oil as the low pressure could have caused damage to the bearings. I had a car that had worn bearings and 5w30 was not thick enough for the extra gaps, would trigger the pressure light. I ran it on 20w50 till I could afford a new car and didn't have any pressure issues.

Passed a milestone on the way to work the other day.... I'm a child at heart

So I have done this, and I can hear the clunking as the bonnet moves while closed. Checked the blocks and they are all there. I have found a happy medium for now, where the bump stops are out enough that it doesn't rattle over small bumps. Any larger bumps I probably hear the Console Bushes squeak more than the bonnet rattle, but thats a job for another day. Think I am going to call this one done for now, plan is to find a for parts Black Magic VRS and do some body part swaps, so I will look at a bonnet as well.

Hopefully this will help? Sorry about the two screenshots, I had to piece it together from a terrible website that makes you pay to download the actual doc.

100% the pressure sensor. Had this happen to me on the M5 at high speed, scared the crap out of me. New sensor fitted the next day and problem has never come back.

Pressure sensors going are common on Fabia's. Had my pressure light start beeping at me on the motorway, scared the crap out of me! I would get a new sensor as well as a cable. For the sake of less than £10 its worth it. I am curious as to what you mean by 'fixed it in his own way'? I don't have a diagram, but here is the link to a new cable/connector. If you have the other end that goes back to the ECU and are good with a soldering iron, you could splice the wires together and put some heat-shrink tubing round it. I'd advice against the 'twist the wires together and slap some electrical tape on it' method, I don't see that lasting long in a hot engine bay. https://www.autodoc.co.uk/abakus/18300934

So quick update: Got the new parts in, fitted them all and.... still rattles. Sigh... One thing of note is that even with the new bonnet bump stops unscrewed so much the bonnet sits slightly above the wings, it still rattles, although not as much. Its almost like there is play in the bonnet catch as when you lift it by hand without releasing the bonnet it makes the same knocking sound that I hear when driving. If anyone has had anything like this before, please help as I am at my whit's end.

The 1.4 auto doesn't have an air intake pipe that attaches to the slam panel, it gets its fresh air through a hole in the side of the engine cover, which also acts as the air filter housing. Threw me off at first but I learned quickly all about it when I was diagnosing another issue. The boxes also have a flap controlled by a thermostat that switches between fresh air and warm air from the manifold, I think its supposed to make the car warm up faster by recycling air coming from the manifold. Flap was stuck in the always warm position which hurt performance and MPG when hot, so I just bolted the flap down to be in the always cold position. I think its 100% the grille. the rattle vanishes when I lift the grille up even slightly. My guess is time and a life of sitting outside hasn't been kind to the bolts and arms holding it in place. I got a set of new bolts and arms along with the new rubber buffers, so all thats coming apart when it arrives. Hopefully the combination of those new parts and the rubber silicone stuff will help to finally put this issue to rest. If not, might see if anyone is scrapping a VRS in black magic and I'll just put a new bonnet on. Might be nice to have the sound deadening panel that comes with those too.

Found it, skoda-parts.com. Ordered some the other day and should be coming next Tuesday. The rattle has got worse, it makes the same sound duff droplinks do over bumps and when sat idle it buzzes through the bonnet. Thinking about taking the whole grille assmebly off and sticking some rubber tape between where the grille sits and bolts onto the actual bonnet, maybe some rubber sealant in the small gap between the two too, just something to stop this god awful rattle without having to resort to a new bonnet.

Do you know where you get those rubber buffers from? I can't seem to find them on eBay and I'm guessing they are not made new anymore?

Thats the plan! I have done it in my Vectra and did part of it in my old 318i a couple years ago. Will be interesting how the fabia handles it, especially with it being an automatic.

I did have a look at it when I was tinkering this weekend and it looked okay. Water pump and aux belt was changed at the same time as the timing belt back in 2018, so hopefully they have a good bit of life left in them. I'll probably look to change them in the new year though for piece of mind and when I have some extra cash. I probably wouldn't do the belt change myself. I'm good with general servicing but my last belt change I did myself (on a Vectra) didn't go so well so I would rather know its been done properly as this car is not only my weekend car but also my partners main car so I can't break it.

Technically yesterday, but I fully serviced her, got a full set of Yokohama Bluearths fitted, installed and wired a subwoofer and put some sound deadening in the boot. Planning on taking her up to Scotland for a 10 day road trip end of October so needs to be ready!

I figured out part of the issue, the rubber stops on the bonnet lid were screwed in all the way which caused the front grille to clatter against the chassis. I unscrewed them about two turns which made the bonnet sit more flush with the wings. This stopped the rattle over bumps, however caused another issue where the chrome grille now rattles in the frame while stationary idle, similar to yours. I might stick some glue on it like you have suggested

Good Morning After the success of my fabia sailing through the MOT with just a cracking tyre advisory (which has now been changed), I thought I would give her a full service as its coming up to 12 months since the last one. I noticed in the service book that its been 6 years since the last timing belt change, but the car has only done about 10,000 miles in this time. Coming from Vauxhalls, the change interval was every 80,000 miles or 8 years, but researching the Fabia gives conflicting results of 40,000 or 4 years, or 60,000 or 5 years. Is there a reason the age interval is so low for the fabia compared to other car manufacturers? Is it safe to keep driving on a 6 year old belt for a couple months even if its only done 10k?

Here's a picture of my gear. Not the best angle, but you can see the worn part on the tab pointing towards the TDC, but the rest looks okay.

Yes correct, the key on the left has been completely worn away by the pulley but the key on the right is fine. I'll get some proper photos of my drive wheel / gear / sprocket (not sure what to call it now) when I get home to show the damage done. So looking good, just need to figure out how to extract the drive wheel, as there doesn't seem to be much info online about replacing it.

So on the Vectra Z18XER engine they have the pulley (first pic) and it attaches to this crankshaft gear/sprocket (second and third pic). The pulley sits of a keyed ridge on that gear best seen in the third pic, then you tighten the crankshaft bolt down so that the pulley stays keyed with this ridge. Its this that has been sheered off so the gear is now basically flat, meaning the pulley now doesn't sit right. The gear however stayed in place the whole time, so I would like to think there is no damage to the crankshaft What I am wondering is if I extract the gear from the crankshaft and replace it with a new one, then get a new pulley and a new bolt, that it should be the end of it and hopefully its not damaged something internally. Sorry if I am not explaining it very well.