Hi,

My 2002 Fabia automatic had a problem, which the garage say was causing the piston rings to damage the bore. Fortunately, I got a Skoda approved warranty when I bought it and the repair is being done under this. However, the garage doing it want to charge me £240.00 to replace the valve stem seals 'cos they're not covered by the warranty on the grounds that nothing in the cylinder head failed. This seems a bit steep to me considering the engine is already stripped to install the new 'short motor'. I know 'best practice' dictates that they should be done when the head gasket gets changed but is it vital? The car has only done 43,000 miles. I would have thought they should last longer than that.

Any thoughts on this? £240.00 is a lot of cash to pay out. Especially when I didn't expect it to cost me anything for the repair.

Cheers

R

You don't need to do the valve stem oil seals to fit a new short motor becaue you don't need to take the valves out. So if nothing on the head has failed, why are they saying that they need to be done?

At that mileage I wouldn't have expected them to need doing, although they can harden with age so perhaps that is the thinking behind it.

I cant see how they would need to be changed. After all its on lower mileage. I have to do them on my pug 306 with was a 1997 and had over 80000 miles on it and it only took an hour or so to do.

Best thing I think is go down there and check yourself.

It would make sense to have them changed whilst the head is off. £240 does sound alot, but you need to bear in mind that there are 16 valves, so £15 a seal, to remove the valve, possibly grind it in and decoke the head. You could not have them done, but you'll need to bear in mind that if they fail at a later time, you'll be paying alot more as the head will have to come off again.

It sounds to me that the garage are trying to save you money in the long term.

You don't need to do the valve stem oil seals to fit a new short motor becaue you don't need to take the valves out. So if nothing on the head has failed, why are they saying that they need to be done?

At that mileage I wouldn't have expected them to need doing, although they can harden with age so perhaps that is the thinking behind it.

Hi,

Thanks for your reply.

That's kind of what I thought cos the last time I had some changed was on a 12 year old Golf estate at around 105,000 miles. This being our first Skoda I wasn't sure. I don't want problems in the future but at the same time I hadn't budgeted for £240.00.

R

It would make sense to have them changed whilst the head is off. £240 does sound alot, but you need to bear in mind that there are 16 valves, so £15 a seal, to remove the valve, possibly grind it in and decoke the head. You could not have them done, but you'll need to bear in mind that if they fail at a later time, you'll be paying alot more as the head will have to come off again.

It sounds to me that the garage are trying to save you money in the long term.

Hi,

Thanks for your reply.

You make a good point: £15 per valve doesn't appear expensive especially when you consider the peace of mind factor. It's just that at the moment I haven't got a spare £240.00 so I was hoping I could get away with leaving the seals as they are. If they last another 30,000 miles that's just over 2 years motoring and plenty of time to stick the cash on one side (although it'll probably be more expensive by then :S ). I bought the Skoda because my Golf was written off by another driver and reliable, economical motoring is important at the moment. So far it's been a great car - other than this current issue.

and in no way would the stem seals be affect the bore/rings