Big Sheep

I had minor problems with the operation of the passenger side window. Sometimes when half open it would go down instead of up when you pressed the close button. Mentioned it to the dealer and they said they would change the winder motor under warranty, no questions asked. They said electric window problems were common on the Fabia II. Apparently there was a modification/specification update, which they applied when mine was fixed. Can't fault the service I get from my dealer.

I completely agree. The first time I took my vRS out on dark country roads I was amazed at how bad the dipped beam was and can honestly say it was the worst car I have driven in this respect. The shut off of the beam pattern was very abrupt and with very little forward light penetration on dip. Fitting Philips Extreme bulbs and raising the beam height sorted it out.

Castrol Edge 5W-30 is currently £27.99 with free delivery for 4 litres from Euro Car Parts with promo code OILBONAZA30 http://www.eurocarparts.com/

We are still hearing some ridiculous comments from some of the dealers. Perhaps some have had little experience of the oil consumption issues, perhaps some staff are just ill informed. I strongly advise anyone in this country who suspects their vRS oil consumption is too high to open a case with Skoda UK. Also demand free top oil whilst your case is under investigation.

At least 30 people have reported on this forum that they had the breather mod fitted. Over 20 have subsequently reported that it did not work. Only 1 or 2 positive reports exist on here for the breather mod. Therefore I would question Bickertons response.

Jabo Just re-read my last response and what I meant to get over was the high quality of the refurbished engine, i.e. looking like new, and not that the replacement looked like the new CTHE. Obviously there are internal differences. The different ECU is the give away for people trying to determine whether they have the CAVE or CTHE.

My late 2011 vRS had a CAVE engine and was replaced with a CAVE engine (even though I asked Skoda UK for the CTHE). You can only really expect a CTHE replacement if that is what the car was originally fitted with. If no CAVE engines are available, you may be lucky and get a CTHE. However, I doubt that there is much difference between a rebuilt CAVE and a CTHE engine. I got a factory rebuild long engine. When it arrived in a crate at the dealers you couldn't distinguish it from a new engine. All the existing bolt-on ancillary engine units were transferred over. The car was as good as new when I got it back and oil consumption is much improved, although it still uses a bit.

Vicky, Surely you haven't got problems with your new Monte!!! That's just bad luck after everything you went through with the vRS. I have now done 3,700 miles since the CAVE engine replacement and have used one litre of oil (that is two top ups of 0.5 litre a time when oil level from hot was down to the bottom of the hatched area of the dip stick). The new engine was run-in using the Jabozuma method. Oil consumption is much better than before but at this rate I will be using 3 litres of oil per year (12,000 miles) assuming it doesn't get any worse. I'm happy with the car again.

Signed

Best features are engine and DSG gearbox. Seats, steering wheel and Maxidot are all good. I like the vRS only colour choices. Headlamps are one of the worst features, as are the interior rattles. I would not want any additional features as standard that would inflate the price.

I guess we stand to get better treatment from Skoda dealers here in the UK since there is probably much more experience of the problem. Once I realized I had an issue with oil consumption, everything progressed smoothly and without too much hassle. I got the breather fix done (no consumption test necessary) but it made no difference. All oil used for top ups over the whole period was paid for by the dealer. Then a consumption test was carried out followed quickly by a replacement engine. The dealership is on my way to work. They always had a courtesy car waiting for me so no loss of time or convenience. Skoda UK gave me a one year extension on the warranty. The replacement engine has only needed 500ml of oil over the first 3,500 miles. I don't hear too many problems with DSG boxes on the vRS in the UK. There have been widespread DSG problems throughout Asia on VAG cars. Possibly down to differing quality between the factories in Europe and Asia. The alternative warm/hot hatches on the market are too expensive compared to a Fabia vRS on a VAT free deal.

I was being ironic

Skoda UK say that no extension of the vehicles warranty will be made in the event of an engine replacement and they won't give any additional warranty on the engine alone. It may be possible to get one year's warranty extension as a 'good will gesture' if you push. This is likely to be for the original owner (non transferable) and may be mileage restricted. It is probably the view of many that this is not good enough and that Skoda/VAG owe their loyal customers more. After all, customers in China with 7 speed DSG gearbox problems are getting 10 year/160,000 km warranties. So it appears that VW are happy to look after a developing nation, whilst ignoring customers complaints closer to home. http://www.autoevolution.com/news/faulty-volkswagen-dsg-gearboxes-reported-in-europe-46766.html Over sixty Briskoda members have reported oil consumption problems with the Mk2 Fabia vRS. Many have now had replacement engines. Extended engine and gearbox warranties should be expected, but more pressure will need to be exerted on Skoda/VAG before this will happen.

I also had a replacement engine fitted earlier this year for my 2011 vRS. I asked for the latest CTHE but SUK wouldn't agree to this. Most replacement engines will be factory-refurbished units with the latest mods (whatever these mods might be). Phil at SUK is very helpful but has very little technical knowledge. My ECU is still the original CAVE type. I ran mine in quite aggressively and I really think that has helped. It hasn't used much oil over the first 3000 miles. You do need to work these engines once warm. My dealer recorded that the engine had been changed in the back of my service book. The new engine will retain the old engine number.

Update following engine replacement: - Have now driven 2,300 miles. Avoided 'gentle' running-in this time round. First oil top up today. It has used 750ml. I'm reasonably happy with that, but will monitor carefully over the next few thousand miles.

From the Briskie forums we now have reports of drinking problems on at least 59 cars (vRS Mk2's). 24 of these are known to have had the oil breather fix, although there are now 17 reports of failure. 25 of these cars have had engine replacements (with no further reports of problems apart from one case). 2 cars were rejected/exchanged. SUK now have well documented procedures for addressing oil consumption issues.

Yeah, I've got one of those too in my kit car . I must be a sucker for punishment. At least it never uses any oil. The 1.8 VVC K-series was a brilliant, if flawed piece of design, and not helped by penny pinching in production (plastic dowels, etc.). I love driving a light weight car with the VVC on song. The vRS is nearly, but not quite as much fun.

When I saw the replacement engine, the castings were pristine and unmarked, suggesting that it was a new rather than refurbished unit.

My replacement engine was complete, i.e. total block and cylinder head assembly, but without any ancillary units (turbo, supercharger, etc), which were transferred across from the old engine. I saw the new engine in the crate before it was fitted. There was no engine number. The dealer was not sure about the process regarding the number so contacted SUK. It turns out that the old engine number will be retained for the new unit. A 'sticker' issued by Skoda/VAG after the old engine is returned, which carries the engine number will then be adhered to the engine. This will be done the next time my car visits the dealer for a service. The engine currently carries no identity! Details of the engine change have been entered into the rear of the service book.

I'll second Jabo's running in advice! It has worked for me on my second engine (much easier when you haven't got to be concerned about being gentle on a brand new car and when you are already familiar with how to drive it in manual). Take a day or two off work, find some clear roads and have a plan in your head about how you are going to drive it. I did 500 miles in the first day with a cool down in between. Whatever you do, don't sit on the motorway at constant revs or get stuck in slow moving commuter traffic. Use full throttle in high gears frequently once the engine is warm to create pressure in the cylinders. I did avoid red lining in the first few hundred miles, but have not held back since. Do check that your dealer has not over filled the engine with oil. Check the oil level once warm. If overfilled (as mine was) take it back.

That's rubbish. No way should you wait that long. Push for the new engine. The majority of posts relating to this on Briskoda suggest that the breather fix made no difference to oil consumption or made it worse. Make sure you contact SUK.

I assume my replacement engine had these modified parts. Still not overly sure if it was a factory refurbished unit, but it looked new to me. The engine had no number and takes on the identity of the old engine, although the exchange is noted in the car's service record. By the way Jabo, I took your running-in advice and the new engine has used virtually no oil over the first 1,600 miles.

My vRS never pulled off a straight line until I put my summer wheels and tyres back on the car last spring. I then noticed a very slight pull to the left. I had swapped the positions of the tyres to even out tyre wear, which turned out to be a bad move. I decided to put them back in their original positions and this fixed the problem of pulling to the left. Experimenting with tyre positions on a car can correct minor pull problems assuming the tracking is not out. Note tyre directions when doing this. This is why tyres can influence pull: - Depending on how the belts are positioned during construction of a tyre (through normal variations in the manufacturing process) any deviation from nominal will allow the casing and the tyre tread to 'run out'. The disparities allow differences in compression amount over the tyre cross section from one tyre to the next which will determine its tendency to steer off a straight line, i.e. the amount of pull. The manufacturer measures the degree of run out and marks the severity onto the tyre by the position of a coloured band, typically red or blue. If the colour band is central then the run out is considered zero, if the band is toward the outer edge the tyre will need a 'reactive' partner to counteract any pull. Runout stripes on the same side of both front tyres will make the car tend to pull in the direction of the stripe. How much you can play around with this will depend whether your tyres are symmetrical in tread construction, asymmetrical or directional. In theory, when you buy new tyres, if you understand the markings you can obtain a balanced set, although most tyre centres won't know what you are on about if you ask them.

Yes. Frequent gear changing, plenty of full throttle to load the engine (once warm) and not holding back too much with the use of high revs. This will mean a certain amount of manual gear changing. If this theory is correct, cars that have been demonstrators should be well run-in and less likely to use oil.

I believe that MilgeS has the CTHE engine. He is reporting 3 litres of oil used in 2465 miles.