jeallen01

I hoped in vain - no sign of ANYTHING (email or phone call) from Skoda UK !🙄

FWIW, as I mentioned in another thread, I did FINALLY (but only at the 2nd attempt!) get through on the phone to a "real person" at Skoda UK Customer Services about an hour ago and was promised some sort of reply today - I can but hope!

FWIW, from VERY recent expereience , I would not bother trying to phone Skoda UK "Customer Service" on the number given on their website - they now have a chatbot (with a lady's voice) which asks stupid questions and then puts you to either a queueing system which then drops out after a couple of minutes or simply to a "dead line" which goes "nowhere"! This seemed to happen 9 times out of 10 times I called, and was worse at the end of the working day! Even getting a "real", rather than an automated, reply to emails to their customerservices email address seems to be a lottery - I didn't get a reply after 3 working days, whereas someone else got one "by return"!

That's a good point (for a change) - so does anyone have any other comments about the life of the tensioners on the TSI engine?

@briscaF1 OOPS, I think I must have confused you car with a 1.2l 110 bhp version mentioned by someone else! So it seems the engine in ours IS the same as the one in yours! I still have yet to receive any answer from Skoda UK, so is it possible for you to send me by PM a copy of that email you got from them - so that I can show the relevant "doubting Thomas" at this end what Skoda say about the belt change period? Thx in advance if you can!

Interesting: - via the PM system, it seems that we both used the same address to email at Skoda UK - but I have yet to receive any answer from them. Go figure! - Now that you have corrected the engine type, it seems that our car DOES use the same engine (CJZC), and yet one (yours) is the 110bhp version but ours is the 90bhp version! So why is that as I would have thought that they would have been given different codes? - However, assuming that both engines are inherently the same (but probably with different maps to get the power difference) then ours should also have the same lifetime belt (15 yrs or 180k miles) recommendation! Therefore thank you for all the info, and I hope I do soon get a reply from Skoda UK to confirm the latter (very important!) point!

Going to PM you to check which Skoda email address you used to get such a quick response.

FWIW, my preferred place to use a hydraulic jack (preferably with a rubber "puck" or a suitable flat piece of wood) on a VAG vehicle is somewhere under a wishbone arm, close to the inner pivots, at the front, or under either end of a beam axle or the pivot points of the IRS wishbones - others may well disagree! PS: and not under the sills themselves - those flatten or bend!

@briscaF1 Many thx for the above; so it looks like the Skoda UK reply (assuming I get one!) should be quite illuminating and very important (to us)! Our Fabia seems to have a different version of the 1.2l TSI engine to your 2017 car. Therefore it seems to me ATM that the engine version could be critical to deciding if the belt should be replaced at the 50-60k miles/5-6 yrs point (in which case, ours should be done now!) or at sometime during 180k miles as and when necessary due to condition/ or at 15 yrs.. I hope the latter to be the case for ours, but I'll have to wait until Skoda reply (hopefully tomorrow!). Will let everyone know what they say.

Was that for the 2014 Fabia 2 or the 2017 Fabia 3?

I sent my email to them on Friday but no reply today, nor could I get through to them on the phone late this afternoon (all I got was a polite but stupid chatbot lady !) - will try again tomorrow!

@Jim H Thanks for the leads & links as I've never found having too many manuals to be a problem in situations like this! I found & downloaded that Fabia III Owner's Handbook, and it's a soft copy of the paper one that came with the car - so could be useful in the future. Then followed the link to the workshop manual, but couldn't get any further because of the Ad blockers I've got loaded on this laptop! Nevertheless, I'll use one of the other machines to try and get further in a day or so! Cheers! PS: "my" version of your signature is "I used to be uncertain, but now I'm not sure"

1) I emailed Skoda UK this afternoon, so we'll see what the response is like! 2) I did buy the Autofix/Haynes "online" manual yesterday and tracked down the Timing Belt Replacement section - which I then saved as an HTML file on one of my HDDs. However I was also given the option to download a PDF, which I tried and failed to do!. Then raised a complaint with Haynes and thus someone sent me the required PDF this morning. Either way, that shows that removal of the top cambelt cover is fairly early in the replacement procedure (and shows an image of the cover & securing bolt), and thus it does appear that the right person with the right tools should be able to access and check the belt fairly easily & quickly.

@HyperDog & @briscaF1 Thank you both for that info, and I think I'll email Skoda UK to ask them to confirm that changes at 15 yrs or 180k miles also apply to our 7 yr 45k miles car! Nevertheless, since the misting shocks are going to be changed in a week so, I'll ask the guy doing that to do the visual belt check at the same time for "peace of mind"

Frankly, I can't "see where you are coming from"! So what do YOU think are the relative times and costs, and what does/does not justify a a change based solely on years since last change/mileage ??? PS: I somewhat resent your comment that I'm talking "nonsense" (as that word is correctly spelt!)!

I think that's true for most "older generation" VAG engines (and was the approach I've taken with the Octy II and my wife's Golf IV) , but maybe not for some of the newer ones where SKODA (and maybe VAG as a whole??????) seems to have moved to a "check & replace if necessary" approach with some engines (such as this 1.2l fitted to the Fabia 3) according to recent observations made in this sub-forum. However, I'm now even thinking that that approach could be justified for some of the older engines; for example, the last time the belt on the 1.8 8V engine in the Golf was changed was when I thought that, after about 6yrs, it really ought to be changed. But when it then was, and the old belt came back to me afterwards, it was in pretty much "perfect" condition and thus didn't actually need changing (especially considering that the car was/is doing a very low annual mileage and didn't/doesn't get driven "hard")! Therefore I think it's a case-by-case decision as to whether to change the belt on this 1.2l and similar engines - especially if the cost differential between a check and a change is very substantial (maybe £100-£200 v £700-£1000??). PS Edited: now thinking about the belt changes we've had done on that Golf (we've had it for 20 yrs!), the Golf IV TDI (which was driven hard!) which we had for about 10yrs and the Octy TDI estate (driven hard for 10 yrs), and having seen the belts that were taken off (same guy did all the changes) I don't remember any that showed much if any signs of wear or damage!

PPS to my last post: I now realise that the latest Haynes manual is an online-only Autofix/Haynes product, which I'll probably buy anyway, but I would also like to get some form of actual "paper" manual that I can lend to the guy doing the belt check - if, of course, that's possible???

@pikpilot Thank you very much for all that info - I'll pass it on to the guy who will be doing the check. BTW: can anyone recommend an easily obtainable and good manual that will cover this check and, more generally, most of the general servicing and repair tasks on a Fabia III? (I always try to get a manual, even if it's for some other brand/model in the VAG range - that's why I got a Golf V manual soon after I bought the Octy II because a lot of the Octy II range was based on the Golf V, and because, at that time, there was no Haynes manual for the Octy II. Even when the latter became available, the older Golf V manual was more informative in some areas than the Octy II manual !) PS: still wondering if someone has any ideas as to the price of a belt change job by a VAG dealer or an independent shop? (we're in West London, so prices in this area are likely to be higher than in other parts of the UK🙄)

So, does anyone know (I'm sure someone does!) if the 1.2l VAG engines fitted to the Fabia are "wet belt" or "conventional" dry ones, and what the dealer and independent shops typically quote to change them? Thx in advance.

I've just realised that the data plate includes another row of characters, starting, seemingly by what looks like a wheel with a chain around it, and followed by "R 14" "R 15" "R 16" "R 17". I'm guessing that this row might be something related to snow/ice chains but could someone provide a little more info? (OTOH, we are in London and likely moving to the S.Coast, so I don't think we'll need those chains very much! 🙂) Thx in advance!

I have both a genuine RossTech cable and a generic 3rd party cable (bought when the genuine one "went walkabout for a couple of years" - but was actually in the "almost hidden" compartment under the Octy's passenger seat, where it became "forgotten"!) However, my question relates to replacing the genuine one! ISRT some statements (probably from either RossTech or Gendan ) that the old cables can only access some of the basic functions on newer vehicles, whereas the newer cables/connections can do a lot more - and since we aim to move to an area where we won't have "contacts" in the independent servicing/repair networks I want to be able to diagnose as much as possible before I have to try to find repairers etc., which is why I want to get the most up-to-date piece of kit that is cost-effectively available to me for the Fabia. (I do know that the existing cable & the the VAGCOM/VCDS s/w has certainly saved me far more over the years than it cost me to buy!) However, IF the existing cable would work correctly and fully with the Fabia then I would be delighted to know that!

Haven't tried the old cable but it was bought via a forum "group buy" in around 2004 or 2005 - so I doubt it would work, or at least work correctly, on a 2016 vehicle as ISTR something to that effect on the forum (or the Gendan website) some years ago!

Thx and that's the impression that I was getting - so I'm going to get the belt on the "new to us" Fabia checked in the near future as I can find nothing in the service history to say that it has been checked or changed, and I rather doubt that it has been driven hard by the "one previous lady owner" (nor that it will be driven hard or far by the new one - my wife)!

I have an old VCDS cable but I understand that this won't work for the much later and "new to us" Fabia - therefore please can someone point me to the correc VCDS cable for this newer vehicle? Thx in advance. PS: I always try to look to see if a question has already been answered, and so only post here if I haven't found relevant answers & info!