Glenn_1966

Cheers guys, that's pretty much what I needed to hear. When I repaired the power steering, which needed a rack and pump, I changed the bushes, droplinks and track rod ends as it made sense to do that at the same time and now both front wheel bearings have been replaced so I wouldn't imagine too many problems at the front end. Like a lot of people I do the maintenance I'm confident I can finish myself and leave the bigger jobs to the professionals, although I did the steering stuff myself because a Skoda dealer quoted me £1000 for that (!) and I did it myself for about £300 using parts off a scrapped car. I'm happy to run the wee car until it expires because most of my car budget goes into a classic car I have as well. The Fabia still feels tight and new at nearly 140k and it is very cheap to run.

On my old Fabia diesel I take the EGR valve off every 6 months and clean it with some Gunk. Cleans everything from anything (including oily hands!).

Hi Just wondering what sort of mileage is on other people's first generation Fabia's now. I have a 2001 1.9SDi with 137,000 on it now and apart from having to rebuild the power steering last summer it hasn't given any real problems. Last week I replaced both rear brake cylinders and shoes myself and today it is in a local garage having a front wheel bearing and CV joint replaced (couldn't be bothered doing this myself!). It will need the timing belt done at 150k and it needs a new exhaust, but the clutch is original and still has wear left in it and the engine is sweet as a nut as long as I clean the EGR valve every 6 months. I change the oil every 5,000 miles with a good semi-synthetic. So what can I expect in the next year or so? Should I get rid and get another one or is it still cost effective to repair things as they come up? I have a perverse streak would like to take this wee car to 200k, but not sure if it is worth it My last car, an Audi 80, was scrapped with 230k on the clock. Glenn

In short, that seems very expensive for an oil and filters service. I can buy a service pack for £40 and DIY that in an hour so that means you're being charged at least £100 an hour in labour. I'd shop around.

1.9 SDi -- 470 or thereabouts. Mixed driving conditions.

Hello again I've decided to fit a replacement clutch to my 1.9 SDi and was wondering if anyone who has done this could give me any tips or advice. The last time I did a clutch was on a Mini 1000 over 20 years ago so I'm keen but rusty (so says my wife anyway). I'm going to invest in an engine hoist and some tools rather than pay someone else to fit the clutch, but it's always helpful to get a heads-up on any potential pitfalls or sticking points. I've read the Haynes manual section and it seems straightforeard enough, but past experience has told me never to trust that! All the best and thanks in advance.

Yup, was the EGR valve. On the SDi engine the quickest way to check this was to pull the power connector from the compensator valve (or whatever it's called) that feeds the EGR. That keeps the EGR closed and the car ran fine, but didn't warm up. Fuel economy seemed to improve a bit though. Anyway I cleaned out the EGR valve which was caked in carbon deposits and now the car runs 100%. We bought this car 4 years ago at 87,000 miles and now it is just shy of 130k and it has always run a bit hot, but now the EGR valve is cleaned out it is running at a slightly lower temperature so I'm going to add 'clean EGR valve' to my annual to-do list. I'm guessing it has been sticking the whole time we've owned the car. Another point on the learning curve.

Thanks guys. No MAF sensor on the SDi engine. EGR is a possibility. Diagnostics showed nothing, but they never have on this engine.

Hi all Spent most of this summer sorting out the steering on my 1.9Sdi and the day I got it fixed the engine starts misbehaving. - Idle is fine, no problems - Accelerating hard, the car is pulling away fine - At cruising revs the car is losing power, then kicking in again, feels like a rabbit is hopping under the bonnet. Fuel filter is fine and the timing belt seesm to be okay tension is good. Anyone got any ideas?

Power steering now working again. Replacement rack (c/w sensor) £80, pump £145. Total £225. The pump does not need to be reset if there has been an error, once the error condition is cleared it will go back to normal. I think my old pump gave up because I ran the car for a month with no fluid in the rack thinking it was disabled. A bit stupid and if this happened again I would immediately pull the pump fuse. That said, my old pump was in a pretty dire state compared to the replacement and I put that down to the stupid foam jacket. It seems the pumps and racks MAY not need to be matched (DYOR). I tried both types of sensors with a working pump (TRW) and they both caused the pump to kick in when the steering pinion was turned.

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Okay, update (!). I have the replacement steering rack in the car, fluid levels look okay and no obvious leaks, but no joy from the pump. There's a healthy 12 volts at the power terminals for the pump and everything electrically looks okay. I don't have easy access to a working diagnostics system, but I'm trying to borrow one for this weekend. Now the replacement rack had a different steering angle sensor to the one originally in my car (these aren't easily interchangable), can anyone shed any light on whether that is critical? If needs be I'll swap the pinion drive from one rack to the other, but I'd rather not because the old rack has leaking seals all over the shop. This is turning into a right PITA! All help greatly appreciated.