I have recently had a head gasket go on my Fabia MPI 8v 1.4 W reg. I had a few problems fixing it, with having to skim 0.050" off the head to get it flat and erratic idle problems when cold.

I would like to clarify a few misunderstandings relating to doing this job as a DIY project. I was firstly told that you could not skim the head at all, this is not correct as 0.050" is rather alot to take off, but beleive me it works fine.

I was then told by Skoda that the head bolts were stretch bolts, where Haynes say they are not. I believe Haynes on this one, as the head bolts have 10.8 written on them which in my book makes them high tensile bolts and hence not stretch. If someone knows any different, please let me know, as the old ones also work fine.

The compression ratio has gone up from 10.1:1 to 10.78:1 with no problems, and finally the eratic idle at cold was an over adjusted tappet rather than a bent valve as diagnosed by my Skoda specialist, who offered to strip it down and fix it for me at an extortionate price.

Just to give some of you novice DIY mechanics out there some advice if your head goes on this engine, it isn't too difficult to fix, give it a shot, as this only cost me £80 to fix with only the cost of a diagnostics from the Skoda specialist, new oil, gasket and coolant.

Good luck!!!

not too sure about the bolts mate as we always replace them ( tbh i've used the old ones on a private job or 2 and its worked fine)

and the skoda dealer was right to say you should'nt skim the head as i work at a skoda dealer and they really overstress that in the technical books;p

seems you were lucky tho as one we did skim (cant remember how much was taken off) ran rough as hell afterwards and only cured it with a new head:(