The last time I took my fabia to the main agent because it failed MOT on emissions, I paid £200 took it back for the MOT and failed again. The main agent did take it back and put it through an MOT again but I had the sneaking feeling that they had repaired something quite unnecessarily for the £200 and then did a minor cleaning job which was all it needed.

This week Ive had the little engine icon light on the dashboard on all the time. I booked in for the diagnosis - they said a gasket inlet or something - letting in too much air. Booked in for this next week about £79. On the way back the car starts jerking and choking. Id had NO problems with it before I took it for the diagnosis.

I have a long journey on Monday and now Im very anxious about the car. I cant understand how every time I think Im doing the right thing taking it to the main dealer I seem to get more problems.

Scream ...................................

If it's out of warranty, why bother? You will probably find a local independent place that can do as good a job for less money. They might be talking about the inlet manifold gasket but can't be sure.

Where are you based? There are several decent VAG specialists - you may find one is very close by.

You surely had an invoice stating what work was carried out, and there should be some sort of warranty on that work - parts are 2 years. There could be an unrelated intake air leak (from a number of places) but it seems a little too much of a coincidence to me. I think they may well have disturbed something when they did the original work. I would be tempted to speak to the service manager about your expectations of not having any further combustion problems that you will have to pay for.

It seems a coincidence that every time I go there I end up with a car worse than when I went though :(

wja - Im actually in south norfolk

Im actually in south norfolk

Suffolk..?

Jabbasport are in Crowland, just to the East of Peterborough.

Theres some members up in Norwich and Thetfor way, hopefully they'll spot this thread and point you in the right direction. It might just be the case of you have a poor dealer. ALS at Ely might not be too far away from you.

EDIT: in fact wja is Norfolk member. lol

Suffolk..?

Jabbasport are in Crowland, just to the East of Peterborough.

Theres some members up in Norwich and Thetfor way, hopefully they'll spot this thread and point you in the right direction. It might just be the case of you have a poor dealer. ALS at Ely might not be too far away from you.

EDIT: in fact wja is Norfolk member. lol

I used to take mine to ALS in Ely - they are one of the best SUK official dealers, but now I'm out of warranty I get all my work done by Unit 18 (between Milton Keynes and Wellingborough - they're a fraction of the price and they don't mess about).

I didn't have any issues with Robinsons in Norwich. I took it to Chequered Flag (my local dealer) once only, and I didn't enjoy the experience, so I never went back.

I know 85 miles to Milton Keynes seems like a long way to go to get your car serviced, but the savings on labour rates alone will easily cover 4 gallons of fuel to get you there and back and you can be absolutely assured that Ross (Lummox) won't let you drive off unhappy. And he practically lives on these forums so if you have any queries you can just ask. I haven't met the other partner (Alitech on here) but they are both VAG Mastertechs and both have huge experience on VAG cars, especially Skodas and Volkswagens.

Where are you based? There are several decent VAG specialists - you may find one is very close by.

Cattermoles of Ipswich have been good to me.

They are Skoda specialists - they lost the franchise when Skoda hit the bigtime with VAG.

Many thanks people. I drove the car about 35 miles today round journey and on the way back I had another problem :( I dont know if its connected.

When I changed gear from 2nd to 3rd, I was getting that over revving and jolt that you get sometimes if you go from a higher gear into a lower one by mistake. Ive had the car 4 years so I cant think Id suddenly not be able to get the gears in properly. Is this an additional problem or something to do with the first one please. It was only from 2nd to 3rd and not every time :(

Many thanks people. I drove the car about 35 miles today round journey and on the way back I had another problem :( I dont know if its connected.

When I changed gear from 2nd to 3rd, I was getting that over revving and jolt that you get sometimes if you go from a higher gear into a lower one by mistake. Ive had the car 4 years so I cant think Id suddenly not be able to get the gears in properly. Is this an additional problem or something to do with the first one please. It was only from 2nd to 3rd and not every time :(

If you join 'Freeedom' you can ask questions like this in the 'Ask a Tech' special forum and someone who knows about this sort of stuff will tell you what's wrong.

It's the best £10 or so you can spend.

Sounds good - the car is going into the main dealer tomorrow for the gasket inlet thing so I dare say I shall be told if theres another problem for them to charge for :(

I am thinking may be its time to change my car - Ive had it 4 years nearly and its served me well but its now 7 years old and may be this is when all the bits and bobs are going to start costing me a lot.