To buy or not Fabia with issues

[Sp1tF1re]

Hi All

Im possibly going to buy a Y Fabia comfort 16v from a friend as my other half and bro need a car to learn to drive in and my normal car is to big. the reason why i need your help is it has a couple of problems and don't know if there going to cost a tun to put right.

1. When i start it it makes a short squeal (from the starter moter) does this meen its on the way out?

2 . the EPC light is on. i took it to my local Skoda dealer today and they reset the vcom as the airbag light and EPC was on due to the car batt running low. it was had turned off when i drove off the forecourt but 2 miles down the road the EPC light cam on again! :S what could this be!?

3. it seems to pull slightly to the right but i'm guessing this is just a tracking problem.

It had been kinda looked after but when i got it the engine oil was very low and low coolent could this have done any lasting damage?

i hope it isent to drastic as it seems a surprisingly nippy car and rather fun to drive (compared to my C5)

[giandougl]

The squeal most likely is a alternator belt slipping, it probably needs replacing, there are short term cures.

Pulling right as opposed to pulling left, could be low tyre pressures, tracking or along these lines.

As to the EPC can't offer any advice more than have garage check this point out.

Some members also reading your thread will probably offer better sound advice.

[TriggerFish]

Starter motor sound like that by chance? If so, I found that taking it out and cleaning the cog that engauages with the rest of the car fixed it - although I don't know if leaving it would be an issue or not.

What sort of trips does it do? The 1.4 16v is known for having piston ring issues. If its done lots of short journeys and isn't warmed up and revved/driven enthuiasticly then they could be a problem. This will lead to it burning oil, and maybe emmitting blue smoke under load if bad enough. The fact it had low oil could be down to this (although its not definatly the reason). For reference, mine at 100k miles used ~1l per 1,000 miles and was owned by elderly folk for the first 93k of its life, so unlikely to be driven hard.

[Sp1tF1re]

THATS IT! that's the noise it makes will get the farther inlaw to have a look at the weekend (was holding of letting him loose with it as he is an old school heavy handed retired mechanic). whats the going rate for a new starter moter if it needs to be replaced? could this be causing the EPC light?

as for history it has been doing short gurneys through cov city. the car is running fine with no blue smoke. from talking to the guy i might be buying it off he had not checked the oil for about 8 months from when he last had it's MOT

as for the car pulling i have checked the tyer pressure and the fount was 22 psi! but the manual hasn't got the correct pressure in from looking on the new it looks like it should be 32 PSI is the correct?

from what i have noticed the car just needs a bit of TLC and she should be a good runner touch wood.

all in all he wants £400 for it is this ok? it has done 57k

it also needs a new windscreen and a couple of new tyers and the back windscreen washer isent working but i have found a thread on how to fix it

Edited 7 January, 2011 by Sp1tF1re

[TriggerFish]

Well, a brand new reconditioned (now theres a contradiction!) starter motor is £100 in Halfords. Maybe £40 from a scrappy though? Mine was literally dust build up from the clutch meaning it didn't disengauge quickly enough. It started doing it again after a while if it was wet. Apart from sounding horrid it was ok.

Hmm, might be ok, all guess work really, but as long as it's not lived at under 3,000 rpm all its life I'd guess it's ok. City driving I'd guess would see it being revved, and hopefully the engine gets warmed up.

Tyre pressurs should all be in the fuel flap cover, 2.2bar springs to mind (so I'd guess around 33psi off the top of my head). Check the normal things like leaking steering rack (been there, done that!) clonking suspension and so on.

From my experience with the same car and same age, it was the rubber components that failed (steering rack, suspension bushes) and the engine, although mine was on 100k+.

But tbh, for £400 I don't think you can go wrong. Budget in £80 for a new screen on the insurance, and £80 for a couple of tyres, and you should be ok. Even if it lasts a year, at that price, it's pretty decent. Normally a car of that age etc would fetch about £1k - £1.5k so sounds a very good price. I got £1.3k trade-in in March, although mine was cosmetically fine, just mechanically bad!

Hope that helps!

[Sp1tF1re]

Thanks for your help will check out the starter moter strip down guide and give that a go. will let you know it that fixes it it does seem to play up more when wet.

had a look through his MOT history and the front and back brushes have been replaced over the last 2 years bit looks as if i could do with some new brake pads.

[TriggerFish]

No worries! On the starter motor, we just sprayed the end cog on mine (will make sense when it's out) with carb/brake cleaner and rubbed it with a cloth/brush - nice and simple.

Something I meant to add, if possible - see if you can get the FIL to do a compression test on it to give a vauge idea of the piston rings health. Although you'll need to find from somewhere what they should be for that to be on much use!

[bnjyn]

Budget in £80 for a new screen on the insurance

It's only about £120 fitted if you pay for it yourself. Really not worth trying to fiddle an insurance claim as they'll probably load your premiums in future to recover it.

[VWD]

Something I meant to add, if possible - see if you can get the FIL to do a compression test on it to give a vauge idea of the piston rings health. Although you'll need to find from somewhere what they should be for that to be on much use!

Haynes says compression pressures

1.4 OHV - MIN 7.5, MAX DIFFERENCE 3.0 bar

1.4 DOHV - MIN 7.0,MAX DIFFERENCE 3.0 BAR

12 OHV - MIN 11- MAX DIFFERENCE 3

1.4/1.9 Diesel -19, 5.0 max difference 5 bar

Might be worthf of a sticky somewhere .

[devonutopia]

Skoda dealer said low battery caused EPC light? Ummm, not to my knowledge it doesn't! Get them to read it again! I bet there were other fault/s they just couldn't be bothered to write down / tell you about.....

[Sp1tF1re]

Whats the worst outcome for the ECP light as the engine is running like a charm (apart from starter motor) from what i can tell is there anything to look out for?

as for windscreen were did you find it for £120 cheapest i have found it £150 although had to laff at autoglass £450.........

[dwappat]

The EPC light can come on for quite a few different reasons, and the low battery output is a possibilty. A simple alternator test with a multimeter along with a few different voltage drop tests would give a basic diagnosis to potentially rule that out. The earth strap from the body to the negative terminal of the battery is another potential (and cheap to replace) problem as I found on my own Fabia (this caused my Electric power steering light to illuminate). Another is the brake light switch failing. Unfortunately there is no one fault that brings on the EPC light.

[TriggerFish]

Mine came on one day in a a traffic jam down a hill (coasting, only kept the engine on for the brakes) and went as soon as I restarted the car and got it up to speed again. Nothing seemed ary with the car though.

Checked the brake lights? Think if they/the switch goes it can bring this light on.

[Sp1tF1re]

Have check the brake lights all ok although one is dimmer than the other (if i remember correctly the guy i might be getting it off got that one from Wilkinson so cheep as chips). u recon i should try changing it for a different one? if it is the brake lights will the EPC reset on its own?

[TriggerFish]

I think the brake light switch can activate the EPC light if it fails (switch also controls cruise control (if fitted), fuel injection etc) so thought it was worth checking as it's a cheap, well free, and easy thing to check. No idea regarding the resetting, sorry.