When I had my Fabia 1.4 TDI last serviced at a Skoda dealer I was presented with a fault sheet of work that needed to be done.

My car will be 3 years old on 14th April 2010.

Amongst the listed items were the rear axle Bump Stops.

It is currently in the their workshops having the other faults done under warantee, however my Skoda dealer says the 'perished (their wording) rear Bump Stops are not covered by warantee, they class it as wear and tear.

Can anyone confirm whether they are right or wrong.

Thanks.

I would have thought that they should be covered, after all console bushes are.

If in doubt contact Skoda customer services and find out.

Way I see it

Perishing = part manufacturing defect.

Damaged due to, for example overloading the rear axle or taking speed bumps at 90mph, = wear and tear.

I would have thought that they should be covered, after all console bushes are.

If in doubt contact Skoda customer services and find out.

If its a skoda extended warranty they ll more than likely not pay out unfortunately , they should be relatively cheap to replace in any case .6 to replace both iirc

If its a skoda extended warranty they ll more than likely not pay out unfortunately , they should be relatively cheap to replace in any case .6 to replace both iirc

It's the original warranty though as the OP says the car is not quite 3 years old. I know that they are cheap and relatively easy to replace, but that isn't the point is it?

Edited 28 January, 201016 yr by ExAudiSi

If they have genuinely perished within three years then that is a manufacturing defect and should be covered by warranty.

Hi,

I totally agree, I have stressed that they are similar to a rubber based console bush, but they are adamant about not replacing them.

On the Visual Health Check which they presented to me they are quoting £139.00 + VAT to replace, that is why I am trying to get them replaced under warranty.

Thanks for all your inputs.

DV.

Edited 28 January, 201016 yr by mogwye

139 not inc VAT?

Is that not abit steep - are you sure thats for the bump stops and nothing else?

Seems very expensive. You can change yourself. Just jack the car up, take out the shock eye bolt, lift out the spring and then pry out the old bump stop and push in the new. The actual rubbers themselves are cheap. I would, however, persist with trying to get this done under warranty. Its not even as if these are a 'working' part (like a bush which is under continuos load) they essentially just sit there!

The bump stop is on the shock absorber and requires the top mounting to be removed too. Spring stays put and does not need to come out.

Seems very expensive. You can change yourself. Just jack the car up, take out the shock eye bolt, lift out the spring and then pry out the old bump stop and push in the new. The actual rubbers themselves are cheap. I would, however, persist with trying to get this done under warranty. Its not even as if these are a 'working' part (like a bush which is under continuos load) they essentially just sit there!

If the car had been outside it's 3 year warranty period, I would have done in my younger days, but now I am 70+ I am expecting the 3 year warranty to be implemented.

Hence trying to get all the reported faults corrected beforehand.

DB.

try contacting customer service sounds like a defect to me, i know rubber perishes but not that quick in normal conditions. try and push it as much as you can and try as fast as you can as they may try and hold out until warenty is over!

OK, but how do you contact Customer Services, have you any contact info ?

DB.

http://www.skoda.co.uk/aboutskoda/contactus-1.aspx

They're made out of a high density foam, when they 'fail', they just slide down the the damper piston, and in my opinion they still do their job. I would have thought that they would be warrantable as they are not a maintenance item and claim wise, it wouldn't be any different to a coil spring breaking. If Skoda don't cover them, you can either leave them, or get them replaced elsewhere for less money.

The bump stop is on the shock absorber and requires the top mounting to be removed too. Spring stays put and does not need to come out.

Sorry, I thought he meant the rubber spring seat.

If its the long foam stop on the shock then I'm surprised that's 'failed'. I have taken these off 8-9 year old Fabias and they have still been ok and functional. I'm surprised its failed unless the car has regularly been very heavily loaded.

They failed on my wife's 51-plate Fabia late last year. I tried replacing them myself, but couldn't get the nut on the top of the shock absorber rod off. Local garage did both in about 30 minutes. Right tools for the job, clearly - ring spanner and mole grips as recommended by Haynes clearly weren't compatible with my 'three spanner' skill level.

But I digress...

The reason they fail is that the mudguard around the shock absorber rod hangs off the bump stop. As a result, it's subject to constant, variable stresses as the mudguard wobbles about whilst driving (it's not a tight fit around the shock absorber cylinder) and over time it starts to tear. Once it starts to tear, the stresses get concentrated, and eventually the whole thing goes. I am surprised the OP's failed after only three years, though!

It's important the the mudguard stays where it should be, since its job is obviously to stop water and dirt getting inside the shock absorber and causing it to seize. FWIW, however, the MoT test on the shocks is simply a functional test AFAIK, and the lash-up job I did before I took my wife's car to the garage (insulating tape wound round and round the top of the mudguard, carrying on to the first 'shoulder' on the bump stop) might well have been sufficient to pass the test had it been due. How long the repair would have last is debatable, of course!

It's the original warranty though as the OP says the car is not quite 3 years old. I know that they are cheap and relatively easy to replace, but that isn't the point is it?

Easy tiger, i ll not bother trying to help in the future then eh? the OP may not have known they are easy to replace like yoursel f??????

As for the warranty they wont cover it unless you make a real fuss with customer services

Easy tiger, i ll not bother trying to help in the future then eh? the OP may not have known they are easy to replace like yourself??????

As for the warranty they wont cover it unless you make a real fuss with customer services

...Except they're not especially easy to replace - from experience you need TWO jacks for starters, and things like a breaker bar, ring spanners and a work bench. Which not everyone has... Don't sweat it...

Easy tiger, i ll not bother trying to help in the future then eh? the OP may not have known they are easy to replace like yoursel f??????

As for the warranty they wont cover it unless you make a real fuss with customer services

Sorry if you thought I was having a go, because I didn't mean it like that!

I know that you were pointing out that they don't take long to replace, but wasn't sure if you'd picked up on the fact that the car was still within it's 3 year warranty. I was just trying to make the point that the reason for the 3 year warranty is that the customer shouldn't have to pay for things that are covered and this wouldn't have been the first occasion that a dealer had said no when something was actually covered. I had the same issue with the heater matrix on a MkII Golf GTI, dealer said no, VW Customer Services said yes, no problem.

On collecting my car I discussed the matter further and eventually was told that, as suggested by ap0gee, that the plastic splash guard has cracked and has allowed road water etc to splash onto the Bump Stop which in turn has caused it to perish.

The vehicle has never carried more than 4 people and has never been overloaded.

So it's the poor quality of the splash guard which cracks, which is nowhere near a load carrying component, but simply causes other components to fail.

I still maintain that both the splash guards and bump stops should be replaced under warrantee.

Awaiting a reply from Skoda Customer Services.

DB.

Edited 29 January, 201016 yr by mogwye

Erm, that wasn't actually what I meant! The mudguard hangs off the bumpstop which, being foam, doesn't really have the tensile strength for the job. Sooner or later, it (the bumpstop) starts to split, and the stresses get concentrated at the ends of the tear, causing the damage to snowball.

Anyway, we'll just have to wait and see what SUK have to say...