bobbyforeman

According to the Haynes manual:- 'No 1 cylinder location...............Timing belt end'.

Agreed but I think they have also depressed the second hand market too by offering lower p/ex figures. This is compounded by long delivery times. Last week I was quoted mid February delivery for a 1.6 CR 105 Elegance estate but they would hold it until 1st March to get the 11 plate! The offer for my current car was a little below what I would have wanted but was told it would have dropped another £1000 by 1st March. In the meantime, I would have needed to get it MOT'd and it would need four new tyres by then which I would have to pay for but get very little use from them. Six months is simply too long to wait. Skoda's priority must be to get the delivery times down to something acceptable and another offer like this one is not going to help.

Good question..... Not sure which bushes and as they said they would be changed free of charge under warranty, I haven't bothered to dig out my trolley jack to go and have a look. The leaking shock is obvious when looking in the wheel arch and can't have been like that for too long or I think I would have noticed when checking the tyre pressures. The dealer said it was possibly due to speed bumps and pot holes but most of my journeys are on A-roads and motorways so I haven't hit too many of those.

My Fabia has just been in for it's 40k service and I have been told that I have a leaking rear shock absorber and the rubber bushes on the front suspension are split. These are all going to be replaced under warranty but I am surprised that the car has needed this work at all. I cannot recall ever having this kind of work done on any of my previous cars and certainly not on one with such low mileage/age. Is anyone else having suspension parts replaced earlier than expected?

Thanks for the various suggestions. I think a trapped stone sounds most likely. It certainly sounds like a stone or something scraping on something metallic and it only does it on right hand lock. A power steering pump problem would surely be heard no both left and right lock. It is definitely speed related and becomes louder the more lock that is applied. I think it is possible louder first thing in the morning too. Anyway, I had intended to get the thing up on a jack and take the wheel off for a good look around last weekend, but the noise suddenly stopped. Perhaps the stone has dislodged itself and the car has been fine now for a few days. Watch this space!

My Fabia 3 1.9TDi (35k miles) has also just started making a grating noise when turning right only, seems fine when turning left. Tyres are the same, Conti Sport Contact 2. It doesn't do it all the time though, it's seems intermittent. Did you ever get to the bottom of this problem?

22k and running very well

On several occasions I have had both headlight bulbs blow within a few days of each other and on one occasion within an hour. I was recently told that it is all to do with Dim Dip circuit that ensures the Dipped Headlight is on at low power if the engine is running but just the sidelights are turned on. Apparently if a bulb blows, the circuit is unbalanced and will over supply the remaining bulb causing it to fail in the near future. It seems headlight bulbs should always be replaced as a pair when one bulb fails. Now I don't know how true that is but on my last car, I went five years without changing a headlight bulb and then changed one or other every few months after that. Perhaps if I had changed both together, they might have lasted another five years. If you have separate bulbs for full beam, they are not affected in the same way.

Just had my windscreen replaced on my Fabia (last one before that was on a Peugeot back in 1994). Stone hit the windscreen at motorway speeds just below the wiper blade so very near the edge of the glass. Three miles later, I had a crack about 30cms long and it got longer still when parked overnight. Chap from Autoglass did a good job of replacing it but the interesting thing is, he said it had been changed before. Now that's odd I said as I bought the car from new and I certainly hadn't replaced it before. Autoglass chap reckons they change a lot in the factory before they get delivered to the dealers.

I happen to have a go in a VW Fox the other day. No temperature gauge in that either which was no surprise, but it did have a Rev Counter that looked like your average temperature gauge:-

I recall being told that new tyres take around 100 miles to bed down and give full grip. If the spare has never been used, it may not offer full grip particularly in the wet. Rubber deteriorates with age and I think it is recommended that tyres should be replaced when they are five years old. A spare on a middle aged car may have deteriorating rubber. My Fabia was delivered with an alloy spare which was an option that I didn't order. Dealer didn't charge me for it either. No speed limitations marked on it that I can see. As for mpg, 1.9TDi averaging 48mpg communting to work on mix of A-roads and motorway. I managed 55mpg once on a gentle cross country run.

That's sounds re-assuring and the car has behaived since Saturday. As for rattles, mine is totaly rattle free at present.

An interesting fault. Finished work today, about to drive home and car wouldn't start. Lots of cranking but looked like fuel starvation, not even a splutter of life. Got out lifted bonnet, looked for something, well anything really, but all looked in order. Tried again, car started. Closed door and engine stopped!! Opened door, engine could be started and ran fine, closed door, engine stopped. Repeated this four or five times, always the same result. Driving home with door open would be drafty and probably attract the attention of the boys in blue so opted to phone Skoda Assist. 90 minutes later, help arrived and the Technician had a good look around before starting the car. Started fine, closed the door and ran okay still. Typical I thought. Next thing, the technician gets his laptop out and pulled off a panel under the dash to access the diagnostics port. As he did this, a fuse fell out in his hand and the engine stopped. The look up table showed it to be the fuse for the engine management system. Pushing it back in, he restarted the engine and hooked up his laptop. There seemed to be many 'sporadic' communications failures amongst electrical systems connected to the ECU. He reset the memory and declared the car fixed. It ran okay on the drive home. Do you think it was simply a loose fuse or something else lurking? New Fabia 3, 1.9TDi, 4,800 miles in four months, average 48mpg with spirited driving!

Overall purchasing experience I would say about 9 out of 10. Salesman, Greg Bartlett, was very polite and friendly, not pushy, not arrogant unlike some other garages. He listened to my requirements and made sensible suggestions. He allowed an un-accompanied test drive without pre-booking and it was the test drive that really sold the car. Talking numbers, discounts were not on the table but I got a really god price for my old banger and zero percent finance over three years, so I keep my money in the bank earning me interest. We agreed a delivery day which fitted in with my shift work and the salesman ensured the car and paperwork was ready on time. Collecting the car was a joy. No hassles, the car was in pristine condition, well valetted, the paperwork was all ready and and an added bonus, I got a 16" alloy spare instead of standard steel wheel throne in free of charge. I have had the car for four weeks and done 1,500 fault free miles averaging around 50mpg. Will see how they perform when the first service is due, but for the moment, well done Ashmore Green. B.