Diplo

I hate to be the first one to say something negative, but I wasn't too happy with the diagnosis they performed on my 2000 Fabia 1.4 comfort (petrol). At first, I was impressed with their customer service, as they picked my car up (from my work car park) and delivered it back, and it was spotless (they had washed it!). However, when it came to diagnosing the actual problem, they were not too accurate... Basically I had been suffering intermittent stalling at low revs in the Fabia - the engine would just cut out at lights etc. I took it to Alex Lawrie as they had the computer to perform a proper diagnosis. After doing so they told me that I needed a new ECM unit fitting - £300 + labour. I was doubtful of this, since I thought if the ECM was majorly faulty there would be many more problems manifesting themselves. So, to get a second opinion, I took it to a local garage and within five minutes they had diagnosed the problem - a bit embarrassing, but all the car needed was new spark plugs. After they had been fitted, the car was fine. Perhaps I was unlucky, I dunno?

Just a follow-up for this post with some good news: I took the Fabia to another garage and told them what the Skoda dealer had said. They basically said the dealer was talking rubbish, as the exhaust gasket was fine and they'd never heard of a faulty ECU on 2000 Fabia. So I asked them to have a look and clean out the throttle body and see if they could spot anything else. They did this, but said throttle body seemed OK, but whilst doing so they noticed the spark plugs were on their last legs (why didn't dealer notice this?) and they replaced them all. Since then the car has been fine - no stalling! So thanks to everybody for their help and advice - guess the moral of the story is don't take your car to the dealer but use a local, knowledgeable garage (and the BriSkoda forum, of course)!

Claire_t - that's really good news! Thanks for reporting back. I hope your success continues! I will certainly suggest these things to my mechanic next time I'm at the garage. Please do keep us updated and let us know how things are progressing.

Hi Claire_t, Good to know I'm not alone. If you get if fixed, let me know how! My little Fabia played real nice for a while after getting back from the Skoda vet, but now she's starting her old tricks again. Oh well, at the next service I'll get her seen to.

I have a 2000 Fabia 1.4 Comfort MPI (8v) that's done around 46,000K and generally I'm very happy with it. However, like many cars, there are a few known problems. Main ones I've encountered: Power steering sensor failure (just needs sensor replacing) Rear door trim failing (can let in water) Coolant leak (I just top up regularly!) Have a read of: Skoda Fabia Hatchback (00-07) Reader Reviews - What Car? Owners' Reviews - Parker's Skoda Fabia Reviews - Carsurvey.org Good luck!

Thanks everyone for all your input and advice - I really appreciate it. I tend to agree that spending lots of money on a new ECU seems like too much of a gamble. I'm sure if it had failed then there would be more symptoms than occasional stalling. However, it does seem wise to get the manifold gasket replacing. What I think I'll do is wait until my next MOT/Service in the summer and see how it is until then. If things don't get worse then I'll get my local garage to replace the gasket and check out the air-intake thingy and electrics etc. I've also read that cleaning out the throttle valve can help (is that right?). Hopefully they'll be cheaper than the dealer! PS. I've been lurking here for a while, but I know so little about cars that I've not been able to contribute much. But I'm learning from you guys

Thanks, heresmo, I appreciate you taking the time to reply. Unfortunately for me I know as much about cars as I do about knitting, and that's not a lot (so you've got one up on me already!) Sadly garages never seem to guarantee that what they will do will fix anything - most of the time they just seem to blindly follow whatever the computer diagnostics tell them and there is little room for experience or common sense to play a part. I might just leave it and see how it goes - unless anyone else has any advice?

Hi :wavey: I hope one of you experts can advise me.... I've a W-Reg (2000) Fabia 1.4 Comfort that has generally served me well and only done around 46,000 miles. However, in the last 6 months or so it has been regularly stalling at low revs - and it seems to be happening more often now. It's hard to predict when this will happen - some days it's fine, other days it will stall twice in a short journey. This invariably happens when slowing down at the lights etc. after depressing the clutch. Other times you can see that the rev counter, when idling, is wavering around and often dipping right down below 700 RPM. When the engine does stall it always restarts first time (I've never had a problem starting the engine, even in cold weather). Usually the battery light comes on at this point (though the battery is fine). Sometimes (but not always) the oil light will also illuminate after stalling and it will emit a high-pitched warning noise. However, this goes away after restarting the engine and the oil levels look fine. I'm worried this will get worse and that it might start stalling at higher speeds, which could be dangerous. Anyway, today I took it down to an official Skoda dealership where they ran some computer diagnostics on it. The diagnostics highlighted two potential problems: Fault with the ECU - they think it needs replacing (£368 inc VAT) Exhaust manifold gasket needs replacing (£94 + VAT) Obviously, though, there is no guarantee that fixing these would actually solve the stalling problem. So, I guess my questions are: Do people think that it's likely that either or both of these faults is the likely culprit with regard to the stalling? Or is there something else I should try first? And do the prices I've been quoted seem about right (bare in mind this is an official dealer)? I don't want to shell out loads of dosh and it not fix the problem. Any advice gratefully received! Thanks.