ive had my fabia for less than a month now, its a 1.4 16v, 8 years old done just under 50k. the other day the exhaust management system light came on so i took it to the garage where i bought it from, they said there was three things that could be wrong with it but when asking for the paper work and enquiring what it was i was told i can't see the paper work as it was done under warrant (surely this is not normal), they also fixed my air con which was wasn't working. all was fine and drove it to work the next day. the day after i got up and went out to start it and it was completely dead, absolutely nothing, called the rac out and he started it for me and told me to leave it running for about an hour to charge the battery. as soon as he had started it the fans kicked in every 30 seconds aftert that, and the air con was off. got up next day to go to work and again all was fine, how ever next day (happened to be my day off :() went out to start it and again nothing... so rang the garage again and sent somerone out.. who said it has to go the garage his scanner wasn't saying anything (?).

so thats the story so far.. sorry its long winded... but has anyone any idea as to what could be wrong.. should i be worrying as the warranty runs out in a month or two and the exhaust etc.. isn't covered... should i get my money back and buy another one from else where?

Duff battery would be my guess, or alternator not charging properly.

The fan problem suggests that the A/C was low on pressure, so possibly the system has a leak.

To be honest, the garage sounds a bit dubious not letting you see the paperwork.They've had a chance already to fix the fault(s) and haven't done so properly so I would certainly reject the car and buy a Fabia from another source.

thanks for the info. im going to give them a chance to get it right, but if they fail again then im going to just drive it up there and get my money back.. sad though.. i love it :(

It's not an exhaust management system light, it is an engine management light, which will come on if a fault develops with the engine electronics that will affect the exhaust emissions. It seems to me that they have fixed the problem that caused the light to come on and that another problem has developed, whereby the fan is possibly running intermittently with the engine switched off, thereby flattening the battery.

Why would a garage want to give you paperwork/invoice that is made out to a third party? What they chrage labour rate wise and what parts discount they give the warranty company is none of your business. They could give you a written/verbal explananation of what faults they found and how they have effected a repair.

Has the car had the piston ring problem? Search 1.4 16v and you will come to many posts.

Does it use much oil, Pink, etc. The EGR and lamda sensors will start to light the EML if its the case.

Roger.