Hi, I'm sorry no formailities cos I am panicking so I'll just come right to the point guys.

It is a 1.2 petrol, manual, 04 plate, 5dr hatchback. Full service history well looked after - almost 70k miles.

I have recently had my front suspension bushes replaced. I have now got a knocking once again like I had just a few months ago. I cannot possibly need a new set already, surely? I am a very careful driver I aint here doing 45 miles an hour over a speed bump. I read something about a suspension roll cage maybe being the issue. That's the first problem. How much are they to fit, typically?

The second is all of a sudden my power steering light has come on intermittently though my steering has never been affected. The third is that my check engine electronics light came on and the engine started violently shaking when i looked under the bonnet - and finally the foruth problem - when i press on the accelerator I get a hissing sound.

All of these problems happned at once. Today. I'd like some worst case scenario advice please. I had seen the intermittent flashing of the check electronics light once before - when I had put the rear heated window on and suddenly lost power. This only ever happened for a few seconds once and never happened again so I did not look further into it.

As I said the bushes were only recently done but that noise is worrying me whenever I go over a speed bump cos there is simply no way I'll be able to afford more than about £300 at the absolute most to fix all these simultaneous problems.

All advice is welcome and GREATLY appreciated, since I have been shafted by c u next tuesday mechanics in the past far too often I thought I'd come to the skoda forum. How can all this crap happen at once? I assume based on these symptoms that you might be able to have worst case/most common/best case scenarios for what I might expect the problems to be and how much I could be expected to spend. I am taking it to get the computer read soon and will update as soon as I know more. Thanks once again in advance

Id say the knocking is either the anti roll bar bushes or the droplinks.

Hissing sound could be a vacuum leak

Other problems dont know

Knocking - droplinks / ARB, as has been suggested

Hissing - vacuum, as has also been suggested

Electrics - look at condition of battery in first instance. If it's still on the original, it's had a good innings...

thanks a lot guys - i'm getting the computer read tomorrow. Would the vaccum leak make the engine shake the way it does? Also do you guys know how much I could expect to pay to have a leak fixed and to have new drop links?

Much appreciated

thanks a lot guys - i'm getting the computer read tomorrow. Would the vaccum leak make the engine shake the way it does? Also do you guys know how much I could expect to pay to have a leak fixed and to have new drop links?

Much appreciated

an air leak (unmeterd induction of air) will always make the engine shake, the bigger the leak, the harder the shake.

mine had a couple of hoses that where doggi (felt like clay) replaced them and the hissing whent away.

i would advice you to rock the engine, posibly is a little loose and thats causing the shaking to be more noticeably, if so, lower engine mount is more probable.

everything you guys mention make me wonder if there is something atacking the rubber (since the hoses and the other parts presume in faul are rubber) and thats is causing all the problem (to happen all at once)

Turns out it was a coil. Running on two instead of three caused the engine to shake and was also responsible for the hissing sound. The whole thing cost me just under 60 quid which even though I know nothing abut them, it doesn't seem bad. Is that right?

As for the knocking - he said he'll have a look at droplinks as there is no way it could be the bushes again so early. Fortunately these are not expensive either and take little time to replace, which we can do next week. Cheers for the advice guys. Much appreicated.

Ok so the check engine electronics light is back on again and this god awful expulsion of air hissing every time i touch the accelerator is back. They obviously have not fixed all the issues and I am getting more than a little angry at having to take it back. It lasted one god damn day.

How could the code reader not pick up on another fault? My understanding was that they should get told immediately what the problem(s) is. If it was a bettery issue how would I know? Surely the lights and wipers wouldn't work proerly, but they do. Also, presumably the battery light would come on?

Also, could someone please tell me on average how much it should be to replace drop links? Thanks.

The main sign of a problem with the battery is poor starting, but you can get an idea of its condition by going for a reasonably long drive (or attaching the battery to a charger) and leaving it overnight once charged. The next day, the voltage should be 12.4V or more with the battery just sat there. With the car running, the voltage across it should be around 14.4V, which will show if the alternator is working correctly.

As for the cost of replacing droplinks, the quoted time for replacing the entire ARB is just over an hour, so you certainly shouldn't be charged more than this! The parts themselves shouldn't be much more than 30 quid.

See more here:

http://briskoda.net/forums/topic/172170-fabia-vrs-drop-links/