Hi all

I have a 51 plate 1.9 TDI Fabia Elegance. Going to put it in for a major service but in the meantime have developed a turbo problem. Car is now driving like my old Fabia Classic 1.4 8valve - in fact probably worse. Car goes but turbo not kicking in. I have been advised by various family members that in order to diagose this I am better off getting a skoda mechanic to look at it. However, can't seem to find a skoda specialist locally - main dealers 15 miles away and I am nervous about driving the car too far in its current state as well as the main dealer pricing. I do know a good guy but he's 85 miles away. Just wondered if anyone knew of a good skoda mechanic or garage specialising in Skodas near to Haywards Heath in West Sussex. Alternatively, can anyone recommend a good garage in the area where the guys know their stuff? I will be checking out Lindfield Garage in Bridge Road, they look professional and give an itemised list of what is included in a major service but are not Skoda specialists so am not sure if they can pinpoint the turbo problem quickly. Has anyone ever used them? Would really appreciate opinions on this. Thanks

Try South Coast Performance just by Drucillas on A27... They specialise in performance cars and turbo problems, they do all the work on my 4x4 octy :-) just ask for Pete. 01323 520600

If performance is rubbish all of the time, try driving the car with the MAF unplugged (this may throw a fault code). If performance is better, then the MAF is probably to blame. Other issues which could cause lack of turbo are vacuum related - n75, or maybe as seems to be rather common on the 110 is sticky vanes in the turbo. If the latter then a dealer won't fix (ie. clean) then turbo all they will do is replace it (=expensive).

If the car just turns into a dog after say booting it up a hill in 3rd gear then I would be tempted to say it had dropped into limp home mode (cycling the ignition clears the fault), then the chances are it is sticky vanes in the turbo. My car has had this for several years till I took the turbo off and cleaned it.

Not sure what engine is in 03 Fabia Elegance, as I have an Octavia.

Chances are that driving the car will be fine to drive (just slow!). If you can find someone locally with VAGCOM (or now known as VCDS), or a fault code reader that could be a good place to start. There is a list of vagconm owners on here who might be able to help you.

I'm fairly local there are loads of places that are good with Skoda -VAG to us pm me if needs be