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I had a K&N panel filter in my Yaris and to be honest, no big difference! I thought of fitting one to the Fabia but after buying genuine bosch or similar, paper filters so cheap from ECP, CP4L, etc, I wouldn't bother. They are so cheap, easy to swap etc that a nice clean one, once a year, along with the pollen filter, oil and oil filter, suffices!

No such thing as free electric... We all end up paying the cost! Nice to save but whats the cost of the car? Twice the petrol version usually! 😀 Annoyingly, many Leccie outlets down here in the Smoke will only let you charge for an hour, then you will get a fine, automatically, if you stay longer and thats for PAID FOR electricity! e-Roottoot, how long does the Corsa take to charge from flat, if you don't mind me asking? Standard and fast would be nice to know. Oh and lets hope the batteries last longer then Bon Scott, before they die and need replacing!

No luck with that battery, then?

Sorry if you feel aggrieved, AMD87. As the thread was current, I for one, did not realise it was over a year old, but I do stand by my comment, based on the mention of it being a road car, with a standard set-up. Totally different thing if you go racing with it as you will obviously go braking very hard and very late, to get the best speed and position possible, etc. I have not done motor car racing but have done a little bit of competitive cart racing and have decades of experience of driving cars from complete shonkers to brand new, out the factory gate cars, along with being a motorcyclist for in excess of 40 years and a driving instructor for the past 13 years or so. I have gone from using the cheapest fluids I could find, to the best available and then back to a certain budget, depending on the product meeting the quality and criteria for its use! Many fluids nowadys, are as good, even better then what would have been the higher spec stuff when I started my driving career. As I mentioned, if you are using the fluid to run a bog standard family hatchback, thats a bit barmy but even then, that is still YOUR choice anyway. No-one else has to feel the need to do so. It will not really out perform other products in normal road use and will almost certainly need changing sooner anyway but if you like it, can afford it and want it-hey, thats your choice! Many owners use say, Castrol Edge for their car's oil, whilst others use Aldi stuff and others will think a different brand is better. As long as they meet the criteria or beat it, great. As you are still an active member and the thread was so old, i recon you found your answer by now, anyway. No sign of it in the Haynes manual. Happy motoring.

Standard sized brakes, standard road use? Are you barmy or made of money! Sure, if you are a pop star/footballer/lottery winner, driving a Bentley but for a bog standard set up on a Fabia? Thats like giving a Cuban cigar to a street bum, who is picking up fag-butts to make a roll up!

That would kind of present issues! 😀 Funny, I didn't even think of things from that perspective... Thinking mainly about the battery and alternator.

As temperature sensors seemed a little higher in price then I thought, for a genuine one at least, I decided just to order a new O-ring and the retaining clip as they cost around £3.50 from the Skoda dealership. Unfortunately, its not a stock item and the O-ring is a difficult size to find in kits so I ordered one to be delivered. Still topping up with water for a few more days, then!

Very difficult to say whether it is or is not the battery as the Fabia hates worn batteries anyway so replacement is most likely desirable. If it IS the alternator, the battery will run flat in no time if the car is used with lights etc. You will also most likely get other glitches/faults pop up as it dips too low. A bad alternator will probably have killed the battery anyway, if overcharging but if undercharging, it might still be salvageable but still, best to replace it! Is it possible to try one of those little alternator test things? They are usually cheap and have lights suggesting if the alternator is faulty, how much charge the battery has, etc. Below, is one you will find on eBay (Copy and paste it in eBay search). but they are found anywhere, really. Lidl or Aldi sometimes do one, as should Halfords, etc. AccuSpark LED 12 volt Battery and Alternator Tester

Glad its sorted, sad about the bill!

For the sake of repairing them, a free job if you can do it yourself, worth a try!

If you do this, you may also want to swap the switches for windows, headlights, etc for VW versions as they too, will be red, not green. Personally, I like the green. Often, people buy new switches from ebay or somewhere and only spot the colour difference after fitting!

My part arrived this morning (Thursday) But I also ordered some G12 longline coolant as I have been "Watering down" the existing coolant for a few days! I ordered 10L as the Haynes manual states the capacity as 6.2L and the seller (Ebay) had two 5L bottles for £15.99, delivered. This is the ready mixed version, made by a company called Mannol, which meets the VW specs at a fraction of the cost! So, when that comes, I plan to remove the battery and the airbox, to gain better space to remove and refit the flange. I will most likely run the car on de-ionised water just prior to doing the refill with the G12, to remove any impurities in the normal tap water. I am happy that I won't cause any damage just filling with water for such a short amount of time, though, just being a little fussy and de-ionised water is fairly cheap. I may also look in to swapping the temperature sensor as it needs to be taken off, to change the part anyway and I think they are only a few quid! I will try and add a photo of the new flange but it does look fairly robust. Not as cheap and nasty as I was thinking after Wino mentioned the firstline part might be! I have had difficulties with my phone so I will see what I can do... On looking at youtube clips, replacement of these flanges across the VW range, is a fairly common thing and a few higher powered vehicles are more prone to have them fail multiple times. One person even made a supply kit of replacement parts:, flange, thermostat housing, etc made of metal, with a flat face and a paper gasket, rather then the rubber O-ring. It was mentioned that perhaps VW should have built them that way! (It was also suggested that you could custom paint/powdercoat the parts, if desired). They did, however, carry a premium price, in the range of $120 or so!

Sounds like a solution if yours is still working as it should (If genuine) Be plug and play but if yours has failed, most likely by the time you have removed yours to blank up, you might just as well fitted a new valve. Of course, they can be a bugger to fit on some cars and pricey from main dealers.

I bit the bullet and ordered Febi version which still came in at just under a tenner, deliver free. I think that brand has a half-way decent rep for its products. The K-sealwas just a stop-gap so as to be able to continue for a few days but I don't really like that sort of thing. I do however, think K-seal tends to be a better, safer bet then many other brands. I used it on a few cars previously to no adverse effect, where others (One that sounds like drinking holes) Has given up fairly soon and been not worth the money. I just read about black pepper, bizarrely! Apparently it swirls about, plugs a little hole and expands a bit, without deteriorating so may help you get home. (Eggs, cracked into the rad was an old, old favourite, to some drivers if stuck out in the sticks or somewhere eggs are easily found and garages not). I take your point in quality but if I am gonna get someone to fit it, They will spend longer cleaning up and hopefully sealing the old one, over just slipping on the new!

Are the fans/is the fan working? Not the blower motor but the rad fan.

You will be completely right in saying about the O-ring but I guess by the time you order one rom Skoda or find the exact size, then take the trouble to remove the item to fit a new O-ring, I may as well fit a new flange as the old one will be ten years old anyway. Many thanks. I may just take it to my local guy, after getting the part as ECP and CP4L seem to be double the price and I can't find them on the online store so no extra discount code, either! I might just add a little K-Seal for a few days until its sorted. Then complete change of coolant. I too, think the pump is at the other end as I can see no sign of belts/covers, etc. There is a metallic caring just above this flange but I am unsure what that is either, it has a black plastic face to it, with around five or so security screws. (Torx type things). Thanks for the heads-up, regarding the flange, though. I think it IS either that or one of its adjoining pipes.

They should all go in simply and then twist clockwise, around a quarter to half a turn, I think. It might be just a little light to do but that is needed. Just don't over force them.

SKODA ROOMSTER 5J 1.4D Coolant Flange / Pipe 06 to 10 Water Firstline 038121132D Does that look like the part you mentioned, Wino? They are only around £8 so not sure if I should just order one and have a proper close look when it arrives in a few days! Where I could see though, looked like a silvery-metallic covering. That is not to say the water is not coming from here... Would the pump be on the opposite end of th engine, though? I just want to eliminate it, if it is! Thanks.

I find that diagram a little hard to follow, unfortunately!!! It seems to be in the right area and where it looks like it joins the engine there seems to be a silver metal cover of sorts. It then seems to drip down on to the transmission, where it just cooks or on to the floor. Mine is also the 3 cylinder engine I think it was a BMS but I could be wrong.

Hi, I have a water leak coming from the right hand side (As you look at the engine) near the engine and next to the battery and airbox. There is a large rad hose and if squeezed, water and/or bubbling can be heard from somewhere under that area. It is not a massive leak but when hot, will necessitate the expansion bottle being refilled perhaps frequently. I am unsure as to if it may be the water pump as I know there are auxiliary drive belts on the opposite side of the engine, nearer to the coolant bottle on the left, (Again, as you look at the engine). I am unsure if the coolant pump will be with those belts or if there is another belt on the other end of the engine. If it IS the water pump then fine, its about time to change but if not, what else is that side? Could it be the thermostat and its housing, etc? Although I know the pumps and belts need changing regularly, I am unsure where they are!!! I always assumed it was the same side as the visit;le belt, that drives the alternator among other items! I have the 1.4 TDI greenline, 2009. Thanks for any help you can offer, Gary.

...Sprung a little leak today (possibly earlier but proper leak and needed to fill up the rad) and wondering if its MY water pump! I have the 1.4 diesel Greenline, 2009 and the leak appears to be on the water pipe area, on the right of the engine as you look into the bay, next to but lower then the battery/airbox. There is a fairly thick water pipe there which when squeezed, you can hear air/bubbles coming out. The dripping seems to be lower then the pipe, though just the back pressure makes the sound.

Vadimbo, Scot5 was not saying YOU put diesel in your car, he said it SOUNDED as if it WAS a diesel car! I think you missed his point a little.. Having said that, please don't suggest someone is dumb, if they do put diesel into a petrol car or vies-versa, this happens VERY frequently and breakdown companies run dedicated patrol vehicles just for this issue. It still happens, despite supposedly being more difficult to do so due to differing pump nozzle sizes and different colour holders. I have often thought how simple it would be, to fit say diesels with a round filler, petrols with a triangular filler or something like that. No-one has as it is a win-win situation for petrol stations, Governments and breakdown services alike! Sorry to detract from the initial thread though, sounds like Skoda have fitted a clutch that is may under the quality/powr needed, for these vehicles. I have always maintained the clutches on the 1.4L turbo diesel Fabia's, which have a three cylinder lump, are NOT really up to the job. They seem to be the weakest link of an otherwise nice package!

Steve vRS, even if you decided to get the A?C serviced, there are many places to go who offer better prices. ATS, for example, had it on a groupon voucher, for £98.49 on its own, £106.99, with the anti bacterial clean added. You will need to join groupon, if not already signed up but thats simple enough! P.S. For the older gas, the prices are,£38.99 and £45.99, respectively! I have no connection with nay of the companies mentioned and if you choose to use, thats sole your choice. I say that as I would not like to suggest something and have people complain if they did a bad job but they are in the business so you pays your money!!! I am planning on booking the normal gas version myself, BTW!

Try not to cut the seal or split it. It is only really a kind of window wiper as the window gets raised/lowered and not totally watertight but you wouldn't want to damage it. Perhaps use a little rain-x on the outside of the glass so as to repel water/sap, etc. There is also a method to reset the auto windows, after removing the battery so as to have the one touch function.

They would want to be a little tight so as not to let in moisture so I think they should be ok. You might have needed a more dedicated set of O-rings if you wanted to go round the whole set of bulbs on the car like I did. The flat one would be a flat rubber washer or gasket, rather then an O-ring . I think the ones I used were just a little small and you gently stretch them over the end of the holder so then, they were perfect.