Sirbendy

Our 1.4mpi takes me, the missus, my 3 year old in a Britax Max-way ERF seat, and my 8 month old in his stage 0, without issue. Plenty of room when we up to another max-way too. There's a bit less room in the back with that setup than in my Astra (main familywagon), but then it's a narrower car. We don't use a pushchair though..we use a soft carrier and wear the kids on our fronts/backs. Way more versatile than a pushchair.

Ooh, nasty. I hit a pothole in my Astra a few years back - was stickign to the far left of the road, as there were schoolkids on the right. Lots of puddles everywhere...then BANG, BANG.. 2 bent steelies, 2 burst tyres, a mile drive home on the rims. That was fun, not. Council paid for that little lot.

I just did the missus Mpi, along with my Astra MK4..mine were slightly clouded, hers were opaque, you couldn't see the bulbs! Polishing mop, drill on low speed, spray bottle of water, T-Cut. Keep it wet, keep it moving, check often for clarity. 40 minutes or so, both cars have nice sparkly lenses. I will wax them when the baby wakes up, but I'm quite happy with the result. Lets see them quibble on the MOT now, shall we...it had been flagged on the "check up" I had done a month or 2 back.

Mm, I looked at he speaker plastics/shelf support panels for one as thats where my Astra has it..nothing. Unless a PO has removed it. I had that down as a design oddity. We have the remote boot relese by the drivers seat, but it's a PITA, as the boot doesn't "pop" as such, and you need 1 person moving the boot as the other pulls..heh.

Whoa, fabias have boot lights? The missus 1.4mpi Classic (W reg) doesn't...not that I've ever found. I just classed it as "silly design", like the lack of external boot release..

Just having a good old prod at the missus 1.4mpi, and found a disconnected..pipe, I think. Small bore, right angled end, looks to fit a bullet ended counterpart that passes through the P/S bulkhead. I've plugged them back together, but I can't see it in the haynes...can anyone shed any light? It's down under the brake pipe clips, if it helps. I've also realised the ECU is loose on the bulkhead, which is a bit worrying. Easily sorted though. I can't believe how restrictive looking the air intake is on the 1.4mpi...is it really as bad as it looks? I'm wondering how much that's contributing to the random "flat as a fart" performance it does. We've concluded it's not heat, or cold that seems to trigger the flat response of the engine, but the wet. If it's got wet/rained etc, the whole lump goes into a bit of a funk throttle wise. No lights on the dash to show a fault, but it loses all get up and go. If it's not rained etc, the engine is considerably more poky..anyone found this, or have any suggestions? I've carb-cleaned the TB, done a basic service, changed the plugs, checked the obvious wires and connections and introduced some WD-40 if needs be...just trying to cover all bases.. Cheers all.

The missus Fabia Classic has quite short rear seatbelts, certainly compared to my Astra - can anyone tell me if it's possible to swap the belts (or at least 1 of them) for longer ones from another VAG/Skoda family vehicle, and maybe suggest a donor? It's a bit of a PITA, as baby seat #2 has it almost at full stretch, and sprog #2 is fast approaching the limit of that seat. Was pondering a scrappie raid to hunt for maybe a Golf, Polo or similar, but don't want to do so only to find it won't work. Cheers all

AH! And there was me telling the missus she was imagining things on her MPi...oops...WHY is it not mentioned anywhere? She's been worrying about that...

From what I read on various sites (when looking about keycoding), there are 3 different dash setups on Fabias...the "base" clocks, the "fuel computer" clocks on the ..erm..elegance/comfort?, and the fancy top end ones. However, more that that I do not know...the Missus W reg 1.4MPi classic already has the dash with it in...looks to have been that way since the factory. Odd, mind, as it's as basic as it gets apart from that and aircon..

Finally got round to dropping VAG-Tacho and VCDS onto my netbook this weekend, and plugging into the family Fabia, a 2000 Classic 1.4mpi. Some faults logged on engine ecu - evap control, start denied by immobiliser, and a whinge about the O2 sensor. Cleared them, started it up and ran it to the fan cut in..no faults recurred. Flicked out of curiousity to the ePAS..and there was 1 logged. "Open or Shorted to plus". Hit clear, DTC wouldn't go away. However, ePAS works fine, always has done....this car has had 2 rack replacements according to the history... Any ideas? I'm waiting to see if the engine ECU throws any more codes out....I'm still getting complaints that it tops out at 50mph with foot to the boards and loses power sometimes. No MIL light though...

I do believe I've seen one swapped with a Golf part somewhere...heh. Unrelated, but how do you get the TB "top hat" off on the 1.4mpi? I have a tin of carb cleaner that has a date with ours...

Last time I did my Astra, I de-fused the fuel pump and just cranked it until the oil light went out and pressure came up

Interesting mod...would the intake pipe need to be that diameter though? I know more volume is a good thing, but that intake is larger than the air tube from box to TB...so in theory surely, it'd bottleneck there?

I bought a MK1 Fabia for the Missus (1st Car, only the 1.4MPi), but I did so after reading the safety ratings etc. It'll be used for carrying my (currently 1, anytime now 2) kiddies, in conjunction with the main family wagon, my 2001 Astra. Safety rating was critical, as was low cost. Fabia fitted the bill nicely. Then we added in a top-rated rear facing baby seat (I have a multitech in mine, it's too big for the Fab, so that has a Britax Max-Way in it), and I have no doubts about the safety. In fact, when the Astra dies...I have to say a MK1 Fabia is rather looking like a pleasant idea.

Does that removal method also apply to ones with the aircon fitted?