I've recently bought a new 1.2 fabia on the scrappage scheme. Very nice it is but I've got one or two minor issues...

Occasionally I get water coming in the top of the drivers door. I cant pin it down but it must be certain rain / wind directions. Is this a known issue?

Again an occasional one. I cant get second gear. It finds the gate, clutch to the floor but it just wont go in. Out of the gate and clutch up and down then in it go's. Again is this a known issue? I'm mechanically able so if I can avoid a trip to the garage I will.

Otherwise a very nice car. Cant recommend the customer services though. Got transfered garages as the first had lost its franchise. They didnt have a brochure. New garage didnt give me one either. Only choices I got was colour and trim. I got a brochure with the car and wanted the glove box lid, spare wheel and a few bits. Getting them afterwards isn't possible. 800 quid for the glovebox lid! 600 for a spare wheel! RUBBISH!

I've recently bought a new 1.2 fabia on the scrappage scheme. Very nice it is but I've got one or two minor issues...

Occasionally I get water coming in the top of the drivers door. I cant pin it down but it must be certain rain / wind directions. Is this a known issue?

I get water dripping from the drivers door but only after I have opened the door in the rain. I seems to drip down from the roof run down to the door frame on the outside and stay there until you open the door. It then runs inside the door frame, you shut the door and the water, now inside, drips down onto you. I have no problem with it entering the car while driving. I have a new 1.6 Fabia hatchback also got through the scrappage scheme.

David

The water dripping happens on ours too. Seems to soak into the felt like strip at the top of the door and then run down and drip.

Have raised it with the dealer and they have said there's nothing they can do. They have reported it to Skoda UK and they're 'looking into it' - but the dealer basically said there's fat chance of it ever being fixed - along with various other issues caused by design faults. Our other major annoyance is that with the rear windows open, you get a loud twittering sound above 30mph (less if its windy). Dealer couldn't fix it and recommended wind deflectors which helped slightly but doesn't completely get rid of the noise. Worst thing is that we paid extra for electric rear windows which are now kind of useless!

Ours is a May 2008 Fabia 3.

I've recently bought a new 1.2 fabia on the scrappage scheme. Very nice it is but I've got one or two minor issues...

Occasionally I get water coming in the top of the drivers door. I cant pin it down but it must be certain rain / wind directions. Is this a known issue?

Again an occasional one. I cant get second gear. It finds the gate, clutch to the floor but it just wont go in. Out of the gate and clutch up and down then in it go's. Again is this a known issue? I'm mechanically able so if I can avoid a trip to the garage I will.

Otherwise a very nice car. Cant recommend the customer services though. Got transfered garages as the first had lost its franchise. They didnt have a brochure. New garage didnt give me one either. Only choices I got was colour and trim. I got a brochure with the car and wanted the glove box lid, spare wheel and a few bits. Getting them afterwards isn't possible. 800 quid for the glovebox lid! 600 for a spare wheel! RUBBISH!

I have the same problem on my Fabia Scout, had it back at the Dealer and they tried for 2 hours to get water to come into the car but could not manage. After discussing it with the service manager, we decided to keep an eye on it as we reckon as stated elsewhere in this thread it is most likely to be water that gets in between the two seals when you open the door and it runs off the roof, poor design I would say.!!!!!!!!!!!! :S

Thanks guys. As you say I get the dripping when I open the door but this is coming in when the door is shut and I'm driving. Comes in and drips on the window switches and seat height adjuster. Wonder if its a case of wind and rain making it come in?

Anyone have the gear selection issue?

Thanks guys. As you say I get the dripping when I open the door but this is coming in when the door is shut and I'm driving. Comes in and drips on the window switches and seat height adjuster. Wonder if its a case of wind and rain making it come in?

Anyone have the gear selection issue?

If you force it into second does it grate. If so could be the synchro-mesh not working. Double declutching in first was normal on early cars because they didn't have synchro-mesh on first but doing it in second does seem to point to the synchro-mesh not working properly.

David

I've not tried forcing it. Its not everytime just occasional. I'm suspiscious of the synchromesh, just hoped it was a common problem so they knew about it. Makes things easier if a TSB has been issued.

Comes in and drips on the window switches and seat height adjuster. Wonder if its a case of wind and rain making it come in?

I find mine drips on my arm!

Kind of distracting - especially in the summer when I'm wearing a t-shirt!

Don't think it's wind so much.

I find that if you wipe a demister pad (or something similar) along the top of the door just before you shut it to soak up some of the water on the seal, it helps reduce the drips but doesn't completely stop them.

I've recently bought a new 1.2 fabia on the scrappage scheme. Very nice it is but I've got one or two minor issues...

Occasionally I get water coming in the top of the drivers door. I cant pin it down but it must be certain rain / wind directions. Is this a known issue?

Again an occasional one. I cant get second gear. It finds the gate, clutch to the floor but it just wont go in. Out of the gate and clutch up and down then in it go's. Again is this a known issue? I'm mechanically able so if I can avoid a trip to the garage I will.

Otherwise a very nice car. Cant recommend the customer services though. Got transfered garages as the first had lost its franchise. They didnt have a brochure. New garage didnt give me one either. Only choices I got was colour and trim. I got a brochure with the car and wanted the glove box lid, spare wheel and a few bits. Getting them afterwards isn't possible. 800 quid for the glovebox lid! 600 for a spare wheel! RUBBISH!

I wouldnt touch the gearbox for fear of invalidating your warranty in case you cant fix it. I'd say straight back to the dealer (or any dealer in principle) and get it sorted

Hi FLD,

As others have said...the water drip is a known and is pretty much the same as many other motors these days. It is just water getting trapped inbetween the seals when you open the door and water comes down off the roof. Looks like a genuine leak but it isn't. It isn't really a problem for most people (just wipe the seal now and again in heavy rain if you must...although I don't) and all of our Fiats and Fords had the problem too. I wouldn't worry about the second gear problem at the moment. Tell you dealer about it so he has a record of the possible issue. In nine cases out of ten this problem goes away and is probably just the gear selector or synchro needing to 'bed in'. Synchro hubs sometimes get through with a rough spot on them during manufacture making selection difficult, or the selector itself may have the rough spot causing slight misalignment. Should wear in over a couple of thousand miles or more depending how you drive it. If not go to the dealer for a fix. It's usual to swap out the gearbox when this happens as it is cheaper than stripping and fixing. It's a doddle to do on those 1.2's. They are beautiful little motors and bullet proof.

Don't worry...it'll be fine!

Bests and happy Xmas

I've recently bought a new 1.2 fabia on the scrappage scheme. Very nice it is but I've got one or two minor issues...

Occasionally I get water coming in the top of the drivers door. I cant pin it down but it must be certain rain / wind directions. Is this a known issue?

Again an occasional one. I cant get second gear. It finds the gate, clutch to the floor but it just wont go in. Out of the gate and clutch up and down then in it go's. Again is this a known issue? I'm mechanically able so if I can avoid a trip to the garage I will.

Otherwise a very nice car. Cant recommend the customer services though. Got transfered garages as the first had lost its franchise. They didnt have a brochure. New garage didnt give me one either. Only choices I got was colour and trim. I got a brochure with the car and wanted the glove box lid, spare wheel and a few bits. Getting them afterwards isn't possible. 800 quid for the glovebox lid! 600 for a spare wheel! RUBBISH!

We've got the glovebox lid as a factory option, well worth the £35!! The dash is a different moulding which makes retrofit prohibitively expensive. We got a spare wheel and tools from Skospares in Poole for £55. All the Fabia's I've had have had a notchy gear change, but don't think it ever been as bad as the problem you discribe.

JON

With regard the front drivers window, mine dripped in heavy rain. The black plastic cover on the A-pillar that has 4 torx bolts car be finely adjusted to pretty much eliminate the issue. Release these nuts and move the whole plastic panel (with seal attached) up and down). When you look at the top of the A-pillar from the outside where this meets to top door seal I had a tiny hole through which water drove when driving in rain. Moving the seal slightly removed this tiny hole and stopped the leak. However if it's just when the door opens there are issues with the felt like door seal at the top which becomes saturated in rain and fills the void to the second door seal. Only drips initially when you open the door. An annoying design fault and one of those things!

With regard 2nd gear, if this has only happened recently whilst the cold snap was on and improves when driving this is not unusual. The gearbox when cold along with cold oil can be stiff and take a little gentle engaging. If permanently hard to engage it can be incorrect clutch cable adjustment (unlikely though as self adjusting), gear linkage issues (again unlikely as wear takes years to become apparent) or bad synchromesh. Not much help on point two, just ideas .. sorry!

Just a quick question re clutch cable, my Monte has done 21k and I've noticed recently that the clutch cable isn't as smooth as it was, it's a bit 'grabby' whilst doing slow movements of it and also lets out a bit of a 'groan' like an old barn door when moving it slowly.

Is this a replacable part under warranty or can I lubricate it myself without too much hassle?

Cheers for any advice

There isn't a clutch cable it's hydraulic, so I'm guessing there is an issue.

There isn't a clutch cable it's hydraulic, so I'm guessing there is an issue.

Must be my dual controls that are cable operated then, I'll see if they can be lubricated, thank you.