saskia7

Yeah same car . yep changed oil every year. recommended oil 5 w30 from skoda dealer. owned it 3 years. yes big end can suddenly fail, as witnessed by my wife. No warning just the tapping noise. green flagged recovery home. Needless to say the next car will not be a skoda. Oh big ends gone diagnosed by a German motor engineering company of good standing. Towed the car round to him and he said with out doubt. big ends., Also said these 3 cylinder cars are basically a self destruct button ready to go off. Just wish i knew this before i parted with hard earned. :( Ps. yes i checked oil every month

Don't be tempted by thier good looks and attractive price. BE WARNED !! 57 plate (2008 fabia 2 with 47k on the clock big ends fail on motorway !! Now have a pretty red and white Elephant on the Drive.

OK my latest findings, inspecting the hydraulic lifters/tapets. I found on every single lifter i was unable to move the plunger/spring (compress the lifter) at all. I am now sure this is the main cause of the metallicy noise. Even though i have replaced with new ones i was unaware they made need freeing up or priming prior to installing. 1. Can anyone confirm this is the case? 2. Should i be able to squeeze these lifters ? 3. Once i soak them in some petrol to clean them will they compress? 4. Last of all is do i prime these lifters with correct grade oil prior to placing back in their holes?

Hi carlo I might of touched this rocker when i took off the cover , really i was not sure it was off the cam. previous post suggest if this had happened i guess a lot of damage would of occured. My only conclusion for the noise now lyes with the cam chain jumping a few teeth. or just one tooth. i was not driving it so im relying on my wife's Quote saying it still ran ok. although made this noise. I've now checked out everything. had the head off too checked pistons valves. springs. looking around over various other posting on the net. Suggest cam chain may have jumped as it seems to be common in this model after 30k or so. And getting a new set of guides and new tensioner should remedy this fault as apparently there is a slight mod to the parts making cam chain jumping impossible to happen. I'm now getting ready to set up the timing so any info or guidance would be welcomed. I'm going to be using the 4 piece timing set to do it. Just need any useful info to help me along. PLEASE> THanks to you all who have given me ideas and suggestions along the way. Regards PAul

Hi there thank you for your response. engine is BZG045039 (FABIA2 2008 1.2) HTP70. All the above seems intact and ok. Well heres a thing. Ive now checked all valve to see if they are sound. They are. i've now taken off the timing chain cover. And initial inspections show little wear on both cam chain guides. tensioner is working but not sure if spring is as good as it should be. But it works. Also i noticed that the actual sproket (at end of camshafts). the teeth seem very shallow. Which leads me to believe that the cam chain could of jumped a couple of teeth causing the valves to bounce off of the pistons. Initial timing setup inspection shows that timng is out. But with out proper locking tools and such im unable to confirm this positively. (so i will get a proper timing set up kit). On further trawling through net topics on this it does seem possible that this could of occurred. And believe there is now a cam chain kit that is slightly modified to stop the chain from jumping. Can anyone confirm my finding so i know at least im actually on the right course of action to fix this problem. Thank you all once again for helping me with your ideas. regards paul.

fabia 2 2008 model. 1.2ltr Ok so i go the timing cover off to check all timing marks. According to the book (haynes) when the 2 dot on the balance shaft and connecting cog align this indicates TDC on number 1 cylinder. This is correct. However when turning the engine over the cam chain sprocket. (bottom one) came off the crankshaft key slot, meaning the engine was turn but not the cams. So now i have no idea if im at TDC on the compression stroke or the TDC exhaust stroke. My Question is both cam ends (battery end) have a concentric slot, this slot should indicate correct position at TDC. Since i do not have the cam tool that locks off the cams im having to do this visually. The Concentric slot should they indicate correct position with the slot uppermost or below actual centre? AT the moment they are indicating an exhaust stroke as the recess on the cam is not visible through the cam sensor hole. Can anyone confirm this or give me a diagram of cam positions in relating to the Balance shafts.

hi thanks for your reply. The sound is as if someone is tapping a hammer on the side of the engine its pretty loud. I have put new rocker arms in and new hydrualic dampers. Reluctant to take off the head. but today i took the timing cover off. and inspected the timing chain. all seems ok there. i turn the engine with spanner and saw the chain was tight all the time. So my hunch is the chain did not jump any teeth. My next forray will be to take the head off. since there cannot be any other reson for this noise. But when i took the cam cover off i did visually inspect the valves and saw nothing untorward. but i did not try and depress any. Maybe that would be the next think to do before head removal. To put it a better context. several years ago. i had a car that had one worn out lobe on the cam which made the loud tapping noise just the same as it is now. But a good look at both cams and theres hardly any wear on them atl. I am at a loss but the noise is loud enough to turn heads. So any further thoughts and ideas are very welcome before i delve deeper into the engine tomrrow. Also if anyone coiuld send me a diagram of timing set up that would be great. as the manul does not give any info on markings to use. on sprockets. and the cam lock idea at 1cylinder. seems odd as theres not a recess to lock it off on the cam. at least if i had a diagram i could check there all is good on the setup as i have the camchain cover off. Thanks once again all who help me out here.

Incidently can anyone shed some light. Does the haynes manual on the skoda fabia 2 2000- 2006 also cover the 2007 model. as i cannot find a manual from 2006 to newer ?

thanks for that. it's not the cam chain tensioner i would know that sound. it's more like a valve being hit but, i wanted a 2nd opinion before i started taking the head off. . the visual inspection i did did not show any valves had dropped but i was unable to see if a valve is bent unless i take them all out and inspect. But any other ideas welcome. Before i start dismantling. Thank you.

It runs fine no loss of power or eractic. smooth ticks over as it should. I'm at a loss

FABIA 2 1.2LTR 2007 MODEL. 47000 MILES. I have got a Metallic clicking noise coming from the top of the engine. My first thought was maybe a rocker had come off, dont know if this is a common fault with Fabia's. I carefully removed the top of the camshaft cover. with a little pull it came away. But when i ifted it off i did see a rocker not where it should be. (inlet side by the cam sprocket). I thought that this was the cause of the clicking noise. I replaced all the rockers and while i had the cover off i replaced all the hydrualic dampers too. Buttoned it all back up and filled up with new oil. and oil filter. I then turned the engine over about 10 times to get some oil around the system. Put the plugs in and started the car. But the Noise was still there. MY Next questiion is could the cam chain have moved/ jump a couple of teeth causing the engine to be out of time?. Although it starts fine and ticks over fine. other Q. is could one of the valves posibly bent when or if the rocker did come off ? Thirdly Please let me know if i have missed out anything else. it could be.

HI Sarah well i bought a new sensor and thermostat and replaced my coolant with some nice pink stuff. but i still have the same problem starting from hot. so im gonna rig up a swithc to cut the feed supply to the plug that goes into the sensor. just gotta find out which 1 of the 4 wire i need to put the switch in on. This really cheesing me off NOW.

Thanks M,Man but the links dont work.:thumbdwn:

OK so it's back to the drawing board. Today i bought a NEW Thermostat. And another NEW Temp Sensor. and some NEw Antifreeze. all fitted and done. back still the same problem not starting when hot. So surely i cannot be that unlucky to have bought two duff sensors. So in going to put a switch in line with the feed to the sensor so it will think its; cold then it will start no problem. OH ken i also went round all the feul pipes and put new jubilee clips on all. Cracked open the injectors pipe to see if any airlocks, but none there. So it's a complete mystery.

IF i was you and i was disturbing all that gubbins then yes i would change them too. Really it makes sense.