PAO72

Hello, I currently own a 51 plate Skoda Fabia 1.4 16V Elegance and have loved owning it for 7 years. I have begun looking for a new car recently and I have narrowed it down to 2 cars either an 07 plate Skoda Fabia trim level 2 or an 05 plate Mazda 3 TS. I am going to look at an 07 plate Fabia 1.4 16V this week, it is currently based up in Middlesborough and is being transported closer to where I live. Apart from the usual possible rust/damage etc, what should I look out for when I go and inspect and test drive the new 07 plate Fabia? Are there any common issues with the re-designed Fabia? Best Regards, Paul

Hello, I have been a Skoda Fabia driver since 2006, when I bought my Skoda Fabia 1.4 16V Elegance from Horners Skoda in Manchester. I am currently thinking of changing my car for another Skoda and have seen a 2008 Skoda Fabia 1.6 16V in a dark grey colour, it has 60k on the clock and is in reasonable condition. looking on the back of the car it looks like it has rear parking sensors. When i put the car into reverse, the LCD display withing the radio part of the car shows an image on the car. However when I reversed the car backwards towards a wall I did not hear any warning tone. Does the Fabia 2 trim, come with the option of rear parking sensors? Do all Skoda Fabia 2 have these sensors but some have them active? Please advise. Paul

Hello again, Thanks for your quick responses. I have just picked my car up from the independant garage and can confirm the following fault codes: 17978 - Engine ECU blocked intermittant P1570 Does the P1570 mean anything to anyone? Best Regards, PAO72

Hello All, Does anyone know how much Skoda charge to replace the immobiliser? The reason I ask this question is that I have recently had trouble starting my car on numerous occasions. When the car fails to start the Immobiliser indicator on the dashboard flashes as I attempt to start the car. Eventually the car does start and I'm able to drive away. I took the car to my local independant garage who has access to some enginemanagement coding equipment. He said that the reading(s) he obtained from the engine management system indicates that the system is sending a code out to force the engine not to start, and this may indicate a problem with the immobiliser, the coded key or something else. He advises that I take the car to a Skoda dealer to get it checked out. I will do this but thought I would ask if anyone on this list has had similar problems? Best Regards, PAO72

Thanks for your responses to my enquiry. It looks like it is a post code lottery regarding car insurance. I entered the same details on comparison sites for my own Manchester 'M' postcode and a friends postcode. At a friends home I could get insured for around £300-£350, whereas with my postcode it was £600-£800. It must be classed as a high risk area! I tried all the well known comparison websites and Quotea. I also tried independant insurance companies such as Admiral, More Than, Direct Line, Aviva, Churchill, Endsleigh, Privilege and CIS plus numerous others. The best offer I received was from LloydsTSB which came out at £579.60. So I have signed up for that policy.

Does anyone know of any good insurance companies? The reason I ask is because I just received my insurance renewal and its up by almost £200.00 :rotz: Last year I had 7 years no claims bonus and managed to get a deal with Swinton Insurance for just over £500 for fully comp. I have had no accidents or claims this year and thought the renewal would be close to what it was last year. When I obtained my renewal notice I was shocked when they said their most competitive quote was in the region of £730.00 for my 8 year old Skoda Fabia Elegance 1.4 16V / 100bhp. I've looked around and found a few quotes in the region of £630. Just thought if anyone has had a good offer they could let me know the name of the insurance company so I could see what quotes I get.

Thanks to all of those individuals who replied to my enquiry. I obtained a replacement Coolant Temp sensor from Claybank Skoda in Greater Manchester and took the car to the local independant garage near where I live to have it fitted FOC last week. The car has run fine now for over a week, so it looks like it has resolved the problem. Once again Thanks to all who responded to my enquiry.

Reflex88 I'll try what you say later and see if it comes off with some upwards tugs! I will let you know how I get on regarding the removal of the cover and the sensor.

Thanks again for the quick responses. CJB - The independant garage use a generic reader with plug in adapters to read the ECU. They reported no fault codes. When I took it to Skoda they checked the ECU and also said there were no fault codes registered either! Reflex88 - I know what you mean about the readings not showing it to be faulty. Because the fault is intermittent and did not show itself during the test proceedure the results are not 100% accurate. Since you had similar symptoms I thought I would obtain the Coolant temperature sensor and try fitting it myself this weekend or get the local independant garage to obtain one and fit it for me. But so far I don't seem to be having much luck! I can't get in touch with the usual local independant garage to ask them to order the part, as they are not anserwing the phone. I've phoned VW (as they are closer than the Skoda dealer) and since most parts are VW but they say they can't help beacuse it's a Skoda! I've even tried phoning another local garage and was advised that they will do the job, so long as I buy the right part first! During my lunch break I had the intention of removing the engine cover so I could see if there was a VW or Skoda Part number or any other part ID on the Coolant Temp Sensor but I couldn't work out how to remove the engine cover! I followed the instructions in the Haynes Manual, I removed Skoda logo cover but found no bolts to remove. I felt around the front and rear of the engine cover and found what felt to be screws about five under the front and four under the rear of the cover. They were actually T20 torx / hex bolts. I managed to remove the ones from the front but couldn't get acces to the rear ones. Anyway I tried to lift up the cover at the front but it would not lift up. My lunch break was nearly over so I ended up replacing the Torx / hex bolts and came back in to work! I'll try phoning the garage again and see if I get an answer!

Thanks for your responces so far. My car was first registered in November 2001, and had 1 previous owner. I bought it three years ago from Horners in Manchester (which has since ceased trading). As stated the car has only done around 38,000 miles and is in otherwise perfect condition. CJB - I asked the mechanic at the local independant garage that I trust about the cost of obtaining a Throttle Body Assembly. He contacted a parts provider (possibly Skoda) and was quoted £450 for the part alone. He said that he couldn't justify spending that much on the part, as his testing was inconclusive at the time. Reflex88 - Thanks for the suggestion of the Coolant Sensor and the Relay. When I took the car back to the independant garage this week he tested the ECU again and said that no fault codes were listed. He attached his scope to the different connections and tested the voltages with the ignition off, on, at idling speed and at full revs recording all variables. When I arrived to pick up the car, he was still testing it and shown me the results on his computer system. I could see that as he turned the ignition on / off and reved the car the signal from the throttle body assembly was changing as it should. He gave me the completed check list with the typical value from his data sheet and the voltages he recorded. Regarding the Coolant temp Sensor the results are listed below: Ignition on - coolant temp 80 deg - Data sheet = 0.5V, recorded = 0.631V Regarding the Throttle motor position sensor: Ignition on - Data sheet = 5V, recorded = 4.949V Ignition on pedal released - Data sheet = 4.3V, recoded = 4.116V Ignition on pedal depressed - Data sheet = 0.7V, recorded = 0.581V Unfortunatly during his day of investigation the fault symptoms did not show... Best regards, PAO72

Hi, I have a Mk1 1.4 16V 100bhp Fabia Elegance with only 38,000 on the clock. Over the last 12-18 months, my car has been back and forth into the garage for testing both at independant garages and at a Skoda dealer and still the fault symptoms persist. The faults being rough idling, engine cutting out, lack of power and hesitation whilst driving. More recently I have found that sometimes it stuggles to start, the engine turns over but the car doesn't start. When this happens the Imobiliser light illuminates. If I leave the car for a few minutes then try starting the engine again it starts up first time. I payed just over £400 to get the car through it's MOT and Yearly service, the car has been into Skoda for engine management investigation. I was told there was no problem with the ECU, they put the rough idling and engine cutting out down to a dirty Throttle Assembly and charged just under £100. After a week of running reasonably well the symptoms returned, Skoda did say that if the symptoms returned then I would need a Throttle Assembly (costing about £450 plus laboour). I phoned the independant garage for there opinion and they disagreed with the Skoda diagnosis. They asked if I could return the car to them so that they could do further testing to see if anything was a miss. They had the car for a day and run tests on the engine management system, ignition and throttle assembly and all tests were inconclusive as to the cause of the problem. The mechanic said that he could not justify spending £450 on a Throttle Assembly 'just to see if it cured the fault'. Because during his testing there was no indication of anything wrong. All signals, voltages etc were correct. So should I trade in for another Skoda, buy another car or take a chance and pay the money to Skoda and see what happens?

Hello, I have a Skoda Fabia 1.4 16V (51 plate) which has been experiencing strange happenings and I would like your feedback. For a while now I have noticed the Rev's fluctuating (this usually happens whilst at ideling speed e.g. when stopped in traffic). However, a few times whilst driving along the Rev's have suddenly plummeted resulting in instant loss of power for about a second before the rev's returned back to normal. The result being the car suddenly slows down then speeds up again! On a few occasions whilst stopped in traffic the revs fluctuated then the engine cut out. On each occasion I have managed to start the car and have driven away ok, only for it to happen again! I took my car to an independant garage and they thought the Engine Management System was either faulty or needed to updated. They arranged for the car to be booked in and for the Engine Management System to be taken out and sent away for investigation. I booked the car in, dropped it off then received a phone call to say that the Engine Management Company they use did not have the neccessary equipment to test my Engine Management System. So I returned for my car, they said it would be best if I took it to a Skoda Dealer, which I did. I informed them of the fault symptoms and hoped they would experiance the fault themselves which luckily for me they did whilst out on a road test. They put the fault down to fault with the Throttle Assembly. They apparently disassembled, cleaned and reassembled the Throttle Assembly and returned the car to me. The car drove fine for 10 days, but now the symptoms have returned. On the bottom of the repair document I was given it stated if the symptoms return then a replacement throttle assembly would be needed. Has anyone else experianced similar symptoms? Is it likly to be caused by a faulty Throttle Assembly? How much does a Throttle Assembly cost (Approx)? Best Regards, PAO72

Hello All, I have had a few strange things happen with my 2001 1.4 16v Fabia recently and wondered if you could advise me of the possible causes and suggest a cure. Whilst out driving recently I have been sat at traffic lights and noticed that the rev dial move a bit then suddenly the engine shut down. After turning on the engine the car drove as normal. Also whilst stuck in slow moving Motorway traffic after stopping for a while I put my foot on the acclerator an the car sort of juddered a few times! After pumping the accelerator it drove normally! I've also noticed on a few occasions that when starting the engine it doesn't sound right and there is sometimes an odd smell of fuel! After pumping the accelerator all appears well until the next time it happens. What are the possible causes of these strange happenings? What are the suggested cures? Will a general service at a local independant garage resolve the problem or does it require a bit more investigation? Best Regards, PAO72

Great photos I also prefer the second image!

I have seen questions on numerous forums about people asking about removing car radios from Skoda Fabias. Today I have installed a Skoda Symphony CD stereo using a set of (PC5-107-H) Kenwood radio removal tools (Item code 254334) that I purchased from Halfords for £3.99 So if you are having trouble removing a Skoda Stereo try a set of the above tools. Best Regards, PAO72