harry vederci

They tried that nonsense about missing paint inspections at the start but I put them straight on that! Not only isn’t it a warranty requirement, I had job sheets attached to recent services by them stating that the car had been checked for perforation and nothing found. That resulted in the claim being accepted, with Skoda paying for 60% and the dealer coughing the rest. The car will be 12 in October this year so still inside the time limit. If it’s easy enough to replace those trim parts I might do it myself. I’d rather get it done by Skoda though as I still see it as their fault.

My car went in today for a warranty repair to the common problem of rust around the registration number lamps area of the tailgate. At the same time that I reported the tailgate rust (last October), I also reported the bubbling rust under the paint on the metal trims that sit at the top of each door. This affects both sides of the car but is worse on the passenger side (see photo). No explanation has been given, only that ”they believe this is not a defect” but I don’t see the difference between that and the tailgate rust. Both are a result of rust under the paint and there is no paint damage that has allowed moisture to get in. Anyone else had the same rust and had it repaired under warranty?

It’s a 2011 (61 plate) Greenline that I’ve owned from new. Funnily enough, the cruise control and the start/stop were all working normally again when I was out again in the car tonight.

The battery was showing 12.5V on the meter yesterday, before I put it on charge. The charger showed similar voltage initially then rapidly went up to 14.7V with just one bar (of about ten) flashing to show it didn’t need much more. I left it on overnight anyway and at disconnection, 16 hours later, it was showing fully charged. The battery is an E39 Varta Start-Stop Plus 096 AGM 12V 70Ah (570901076) which I fitted in July 2019 after the original gave up. The car had had a good run both on Friday and Saturday when I made a trip to Fort William and back (around 120 miles each way). I’ll look at replacing the air filter as you suggest.

Thanks for that. It does sound beyond my skills so I’ll leave that to a professional. I’m just back from the suggested motorway run of 16 miles at 60-70mph and on the out run it was definitely sluggish, very slow to accelerate through the gears, so I guess was in limp mode. Before the return trip I switched it off for a minute before rejoining the motorway and the glow plug light did not come back on but the exhaust inspection system light remained. The car was no longer in limp mode and drove as normal. Back at home, I switched it off and checked the fault codes again with the OBD reader; the same two faults were listed. I started the car again and it fired up well with no warning lights showing. Is it still worth getting the dealer to diagnose the two recorded faults? P.S. The only symptom I forgot to mention was that since all this started is that the cruise control function can’t be set. Don’t know if that matters.

Last night on my way home, the glow plug light began to flash steadily (1 sec on/ 1 sec off) and the exhaust inspection system warning light came on steady. No loss of power, the car appeared to drive normally. Recently the stop/start had been inactive for a few weeks so I took the battery out and charged it overnight with a smart charger. Put it back in this morning and started the car. It was very lumpy on idle and felt like a cylinder maybe wasn’t firing. I turned it off, waited a few minutes and tried again. It took a few cranks longer, maybe 1.5 seconds instead of the usual instantaneous start, and ran normally but still with the two warning lights mentioned at the start. (I don’t think this charging of the battery is anything to do with the faults but I’m including it for completeness.) I borrowed an OBD reader and it reports fault codes P0321 and P0697. Not being a mechanic, I have no idea how significant these are so I’d be grateful for some advice. I called the dealer who services it and they said to take for a good run at 50mph+ for at least ten minutes to clear the DPF but I’m not convinced that’s the problem. Car is regularly serviced and has 86,000 miles.

They had recorded the first few inspections correctly in the service book but none since. However, attached to previous annual service invoices I have their job sheet copy which states the paint inspection was carried out and no defects noted. 🙂 I hadn’t made them aware of that detail as I wanted to see how they handled the claim but it’s obvious that no such inspection was actually performed. It makes me wonder what else they didn’t do at each service but charged me for anyway.

Last October I noticed very slight bubbling on the tailgate, just where the body panel turns horizontal for the reg plate recess. When I checked where the number plate lights are mounted there was heavy rust staining. I pointed this out to the dealer when it was in that week for its annual inspection and service and they said I’d have to bring it back and leave it for the day so they could take off the interior trim to establish the cause. After that inspection, they requested a scan of my service book to supply to Skoda, which I provided. They subsequently emailed to say that, in their opinion, the corrosion must have been evident for at least two years and the car had missed several paint inspections. I pointed out that they had inspected & serviced the car for 11 years and if this corrosion was ‘evident’ for me to have seen then it equally should have been picked up by their service staff. I drew their attention to the text on each service page which states, “Make sure that the corrosion protection of the body is intact or note any possible damage.” No possible damage was ever recorded and I asked them to explain this failure. I also challenged them to explain how paint inspections could have been missed when the car was presented to them every year for service and inspection purposes. I didn’t get a direct answer to any of my questions but they did come back to say that they would resubmit my claim, based on the proof of regular servicing and the fact they had since checked the job sheets which showed that the car was inspected for corrosion but they hadn’t recorded this in the service book. (That still didn’t explain how they’d missed the rust; they’d obviously just ticked the box to say they’d checked without actually doing so.) They now advise me that Skoda will pay for 60% of the repair with the dealer paying the balance “as an apology for the inconvenience caused”. What I don’t know yet is what form this repair will take. Having read through the numerous similar threads across Briskoda, I see that the most common fix is a replacement tailgate. However, I suspect they will try to fob me off with a sand/fill and respray only. What was the argument for successfully getting a replacement tailgate? I don’t trust that a filler job would last or that should other rust appear elsewhere they wouldn’t try to get out of fixing that because the panel had been resprayed. Any advice welcome.

I’ve checked the rest of the paperwork and the maintenance list says they’re using VW 507 00. Thanks for all the replies.

It doesn’t specify on the invoice. All it says is “51 SERVICE Carry out oil and inspection service 185. Carried out oil and inspection service. Retail oils/litre: quantity 4.3” I suppose I’ll need to ask them to clarify.

Thanks for the detailed reply @toot. Can you dumb it down for me though?🙂 Is using QG1 engine oil in an engine that’s meant to be GQ2 okay? The car has done 85,000 miles and has been serviced every 12 months. I haven’t asked for one type of service or another as I assume the dealer knows what they’re doing.

The service book for my 2011 Fabia Greenline II shows it to be on QG2 service intervals. It’s had all eleven annual services done by the same Skoda dealer and I’ve noticed that in seven of those services they have ticked ‘yes’ in the box “Use engine oil for variable service intervals QG1”. (On the other 3 entries, no response has been given.) Is this okay or not? Could this cause any reliability or running problems?

I've been quoted a good price for a refurb so I guess my next question is, does anyone know the RAL code for the Antares original (silver) colour? The Skoda code is 7ZS but that's no use to the guy. I'd like to get that but anything fairly close will do.

Looks like I’ll be reconsidering refurbishment, skoda-auto won’t ship to the UK. Bummer.

The wheels are undamaged, just flaking and corroding after being refurbished several years ago. The cost of refurbishing all 4 again is around £300 so I'd rather spend another £100 or so on new ones and sell my old ones to offset the difference.

Import cost is only the VAT at 20% of goods + shipping + insurance, there's no other duty to pay. I've asked for a delivery quote but it shouldn't be more than £40-50.

I've been trying to replace my original Antares 15" alloys like for like and discovered the price has rocketed. Last December they were £400 and now Skoda wants £920! I've checked and it's the exact same part but they've changed the part number and doubled the price. 😡 These wheels for a Roomster aren't the style I wanted but the price (£340 plus delivery and VAT) is nearer my budget and are 6J x 15 ET43. Is there any reason I shouldn't go for these? LINE 15" alloy wheel for ROOMSTER, FABIA II | Aluminum discs | Wheels & Rims | We will work for | Catalogue | Czech Republic (skoda-auto.cz)

Hi @mrgf, do you know if that source still supplies those springs? Could you let me know who it is?

I've decided to do that and it's booked in. £285 for supply and fit new discs & pads, front and rear.

Looks like it was at my end, they worked fine when I switched off my VPN 🤷‍♂️.

Your links. The error is Hmmm… can't reach this page It looks like the webpage at https://go.skimresources.com/?id=38947X1001323&isjs=1&jv=15.1.0-stackpath&sref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.briskoda.net%2Fforums%2Ftopic%2F495085-replacing-front-and-rear-discs-pads-part-numbers-needed-please%2F&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fitm%2F112142844048&xguid=&xs=1&xtz=-60&xuuid=103ddebeebd929e295e5bea873f9fe6f&xjsf=other_click__auxclick [2] might be having issues or it may have moved permanently to a new web address.

The links both throw up an error page. If it helps, the front calipers are marked with "FS III", which I've seen referenced elsewhere in brake discussions. Does that tell me which of Carlston's options is right for me?

Can I determine the right option from the VIN or the sticker inside the wheel well?

Thanks for that, that's a good resource. I can see that mine is the Fabia II Combi (545) 10/07 - 12/14, 1.2 TDI 05/10 - 12/14 55kW so at least I'll be able to point the garage to the right spec.

I wanted to be sure that my preferred option, let's say Brembo just for an example, was actually bought and fitted. I'm a bit cynical and wary of paying for one thing and getting another. I'm probably being daft so I'll get a quote for supply and fit from the garage. Any idea what I should expect to pay for labour? £100? £200?