Furby164

Thanks to all for the replies. I've looked at several other Fabias and none of them had this additional rubber trim around the windscreen either. Since everyone who replied also has exposed glass on 3 sides of their screens, I think it's safe to assume this trim is not meant to be there and has been added by the coachworks for whatever reason. Given the small scratches on the screen plus the presence of the Skoda security sticker in top driver's side corner, I'm fairly sure the screen is my original one. I have several issues with the standard of work carried out, so shall be contacting my claims handler at my insurers again. Thanks & Regards to all

Thanks for the replies! When you say there is rubber in the recess, is there just a piece of flat rubber in the recess (i.e on the metal) or is there rubber actually around the edges of the windscreen glass? (When you look at the top edge of the windscren, is it exposed glass or surrounded by rubber trim?) Thanks again

My car is a 2000 X plate Fabia Classic 1.4mpi. Could any other Fabia owners please tell me if their car has a rubber trim around the sides and top of the windscreen glass or is the glass of the windscreen simply exposed on 3 sides and bonded straight to the metal of the A pillars and roof edge? The reason I ask is that I've just got my car back from a certain coachworks today (it was in to have damaged roof panel removed and replaced with new panel). I was supposed to get the car back a week ago, but they had botched the paint job on the recessed area of the A pillars and roof edge that was visible behind the windscreen. Last week there was no rubber trim around the glass and this area was clearly visible. Today, there was rubber trim on both the sides and the top edge of the windscreen, which rather conveniently obscures the previously botched areas! I'd just like to check before taking matters further whether the rubber trim is meant to be there, but was previously missed off, or if it's something new they have added, perhaps to disguise or hide defective workmanship? Thanks in advance for any help.

Anyone else unable to register with this site?:confused: Every time I click the 'register' box, it simply refreshes the main page!:(

Hi All, To cut a long story short, some of the local neds have put a large dent in my Furby's roof over the weekend. I phoned my insurers and they arranged to have the car inspected at Nationwide in Ayr today. The nationwide guy wants to reskin the roof, a repair which he says will take 10 days and they can't book the car in until March. I really don't want to have them cutting my roof off, it seem unnecessary as the paint is unbroken, the car is 7 years old and further ned inflicted damage is pretty much inevitable wherever you live these days. I'd be happy with a repair that may not be 100% perfect, but that you wouldn't see unless you knew it was there. So, can anyone recommend any Paintless Dent Removal specialists in the Ayrshire area? Any help would be much appreciated, Thanks In Advance

Hi all, Here's the latest update in the hope that someone can help: My Fabia went back in to the dealers a fortnight ago, as, after being told that the thermostat had been changed, the temp. gauge was still slow to rise, taking 5 miles or more to reach the half mark and still reading erratically. This time, I was met by the service manager who told me that on the previous occasion they had changed the entire thermostat housing, not just the thermostat. The dealer ran a series of tests, checked the fan, etc. and could find nothing wrong. When driving the car home, the gauge rose to the half mark fairly quickly, with the engine still being warm, but whilst driving along the dual carriageway, I noticed the gauge drop towards the quarter mark, before rising back to the half mark again. As I was slowing to park outside my house, the engine revs just died and the car stalled, but restarted OK. Since then, the car stalls frequently when slowing for roundabouts, etc. and during slow speed manoeuvres such as reversing into a parking space. Sometimes, the car may not actually stall, but will be on the point of stalling and you can see the revs dropping way below idle and jumping about between roughly 500rpm - 1000rpm. Because of this stalling problem, the car went back to the dealer again today. On the way to the dealer, temp. gauge hit the half mark within 3 miles and stayed steady for the remainder of the approximately ten mile journey. This was about the first time since my problems began that the gauge has displayed what I would consider usual behaviour. As the dealer is not a Skoda specialist, they phoned Skoda for advice and were able to discover a fault in the upstream lambda sensor. Since the part has to be ordered up, they phoned me to come and collect the car and will phone when part arrives. On the way home, the car warmed up fairly quickly and the temp. gauge rose to half way mark within 2-3 miles. However, by the time I had gone 5 miles down the dual carriageway, the temp. gauge had dropped to the quarter mark and continued to drop until by the end of the journey, it was halfway between zero and a quarter! I was really pleased with my Fabia at first, as I find it a very pleasant little car to drive, but am starting to get frustrated now, so I'd be most grateful if anyone could shed some light on what may be wrong? Would a VAG-COM diagnosis perhaps provide some answers?

Just a quick update. I phoned the dealers to check exactly what work they carried out on Friday and was told that they changed the thermostat, but not the housing. I enquired if they had seen any signs of broken clips etc. inside the housing, but was told the housing appeared okay to them. The temperature gauge is still barely reaching the quarter mark after a 5 mile drive and only starts to rise towards the half mark after sitting stationary with engine running for a while. It will be another 10 days before they can take the car in to have another look at it, so I'm wondering if driving it like this is likely to do any harm, other than maybe using more petrol than normal?

Thanks guys, Thermostat housing would appear to be the most likely culprit then. I'm a little reluctant to start messing with anything myself to confirm this however, in case it invalidates the warranty. Given that the dealer isn't a Skoda specialist, I'm wondering how likely it is that they have changed the thermostat on Friday, but not noticed if the clips in the housing are broken? If the clips in the housing are indeed broken, would the thermostat still seat well enough to make them think all was well?

Hi All, Hope somebody here may be able to help with a rather curious temp. gauge problem. Car is an X reg. (2000) Fabia MPI Classic with the 8 valve OHV engine. Since I bought it used from a local Citroen dealer about 6 weeks ago, the temp. gauge has always risen to normal working temperature ( i.e: needle vertical at the halfway mark) within the first 2 to 3 miles of driving from a cold start and then stayed there, unmoving, regardless of road speed or conditions. From searching all the previous threads regarding, Fabia temp. gauges, I believe this is normal behaviour. Last week, on the way to work, I noticed that gauge was barely moving off the stop and, after a 5 mile drive to work was still only a needle width or two off the stop and only really began to rise after I sat in the car park with engine running. On leaving work, I sat with the engine running to bring temp. up to the halfway mark, but by the time I got home, it had fallen to the quarter mark again. This, combined with the other posts on the subject of Fabia temps. led me to suspect a faulty thermostat. Yesterday, the dealer took the car in for investigation and replaced the thermostat under warranty. When I picked the car up, they had obviously warmed it up, as gauge was sitting on the halfway mark as soon as I started it up. After approx. 10 miles drive home, gauge had again fallen to the quarter mark. Today, I started the car from cold and, after a 5 mile drive, gauge had still only risen to just under the quarter mark. I left the car parked for about 5 minutes, while I went to the auto shop for a haynes manual, then restarted the car and gauge immediately rose to the normal halfway mark. It stayed there for maybe 2 to 3 miles, but again by the the time I got home it had fallen to between the qurter and half marks. What could be causing this? Could it be that car needs new thermostat housing instead of just new thermostat? Or could it be the temp. sensor? Wrong thermostat? Airlock? Any help or advice would be very much appreciated! Thanks In Advance, Regards, Furby

Hi Fish, Thanks for the welcome! I did a search of the many threads about Fabia temp. gauge problems ( It does sem to be a partcularly common fault) and found them excellent in narrowing down the fault to the thermostat. However, dealer yesterday replaced thermostat under warranty, but gauge still isn't behaving normally.

Hello All, Hello to all, hope you are all having a good weekend. After owning 3 VWs over the past 20 years or so, I recently exchanged my 14 year old Golf for my first Skoda - 2000 registered Fabia 1.4MPI ( one owner & FSH). So far I'm very pleased with the car and find it very pleasant to drive. Have a bit of a problem with the temperature gauge at the moment, but will post about that later on. Anyway, I'm looking forward to getting to know some of you through the forum and becoming an active member of the community. Best Regards, Furby 164