Hi all - Am new to the forum and what a way to start! I bought a 58 plate Fabia 2 (1.6 16v) in Aug 2010 (14,000 miles on the clock) from a small indie dealer and recently the car has developed problems with starting from cold. After 5 visits to the relatively new Skoda dealer nearby and coil pack,ecu,software updates etc later, they tell me the head gasket has gone and the block is scored. At this point I should say the Skoda warranty ran until March 26th (the problem began before then). Skoda Technical tell the dealership that from photos and info, the car has been "run dry" and therefore with that and no warranty work history, refuse to address the issue and that a new engine from them will mean a 3k bill.

Here are the facts - the car hasn't been run dry (or overheated) since I bought it as used last year.My brother in law (an F1 mechanic) has looked at it and said from the state and lack of smell from the oil it can't have been run dry. A friend of his says that the Fabias had manafacturer related gasket problems in the last few years, so :

Has anyone had a warranty quibble relating to this model and if so, what was the outcome?

Does Skoda have some kind of appeals process?

And finally, the small indie dealer I bought it from - would they have to have some kind of insurance in place to protect against buying and then selling on a car which develops this scale of of problem?

Many thanks in advance for any help.

Edited 27 April, 201115 yr by John Rose

Sorry about your fabia woes.

Firstly I would ask Skoda to put IN WRITING exactly why they believe that this engine was "run dry", exactly what they mean by that term, and how they have arrived at that conclusion. You may have to push a lot to get this, but the information is vital in getting them to nail their colours to the mast. The purpose of this is to force them to formally lay out their case. Depending on the facts/evidence you have you can then either accept it or formally rebut their position.

Secondly have you got documentary evidence that this problem was raised by you BEFORE the warranty expiry date? (I'm assuming you have a used car Skoda warranty). This will then define whether your claim should be dealt with within the warranty contract, or under Skoda "goodwill". You obviously want to be dealing with a warranty claim if possible. "Goodwill" has amuch more uncertain outcome.

Do not give up yet. Skoda will inevitably try and rebuff you intially (they are in business to make money after all) but with persitence and patience you may arrive at an acceptable outcome.

I'm not sure if this model suffered generally from head gasket failure or not. The more expert amongst us will be able to advise. But if you have a warranty and the problems arose during the term of that warranty then the issue of whether this model is prone to this type of failure or not is irrelevant.

Best of luck.

Edited 27 April, 201115 yr by Minimoke

Hello John and welcome to the site. Again, sorry to hear about your problems with your car.

I believe the head gasket problem that your brothers friend speaks of is relevant to the 1.4 petrol unit. I'm unaware of the 1.6 suffering from this problem...but that's not to say it doesn't, just I haven't heard of it.

As I understand your problem, you reported the intial starting issue to the Skoda dealer within your warranty period. This is a dealer that did not sell the car to you originally. In an attempt to fix this starting problem the dealer fitted various parts without success. The dealer (and or Skoda techs) then diagnosed the problem as being, "the engine has been run dry" and this has damaged the engine. The Skoda dealer, now the car is out of warranty, is refusing to deal with the problem under warranty as the car needs a new engine.

I agree with Minimoke, you need to gain some clarification regarding what is meant by being run dry. In my book this could mean either the oil has been allowed to virtually run out, or the engine coolant has leaked out/been pumped out through a leaking head gasket (this is probably what the dealer/Skoda means I suspect). It may be difficult to prove what happened first, a warped head and blown gasket causing the coolant to run dry, or the coolant leaking out from some other source and the engine overheating resulting in the warped head and head gasket blowing. Either way, this will have caused the engine to run excessively hot and has resulted in the other engine damage you speak of. Overheating causes cylinder head gasket failure (head usually becomes warped too). It would also explain why your brother believes the oil was ok and it was not run dry of oil. Modern synthetic engine oil is very resistant to being damaged by excessive heat.

Two points, and firstly: Skoda have been "treating" the car since well within the warranty period and have acknowledged the problems you have been experiencing, and have failed to fix the problem. To now present you with these other facts, very late in the day and out of warranty is somewhat odd. Technicians should have picked up on engine irregularities much sooner within the warranty period in my opinion and may mean the engine was not properly examined in the first instance. This is basic stuff after all. A car with 14k on the clock shouldn't be going wrong like this. It would be hard to neglect a car this young to produce this engine damage unless there was an intrinsic problem from the word go when, or before you bought it. Can you confirm the car has a full service history? Has it been service recently maybe just prior to the problem beginning?

Secondly: what about the other dealer who sold you the car. It sounds as if just 6-7months after you bought the car from them it developed problems. They obvoiusly sold the car with the remaining Skoda warranty, but for sure, in reality you will have a one year warranty with a car so new bought second hand...regardless of the Skoda warranty. The car should be of merchantable quality too so you should have some sort of claim I would think. I would point out that USED CARS are covered under a special section of the Sale of Goods Act. It's not quite so straight forward as buying new. So I would suggest a friendly chat with them as the supplying dealer. They may have insurance against this sort of problem, it's called fleet warranty for used cars. or something like that. Substantial claims may be made against it depending what level of cover they have. And hopefully they do have cover.

Your main difficulty could be proving the engine has not been neglected by you. This sort of problem can develop very quickly, and driven just once with insufficient coolant in the engine can do the damage. My advice would be to get more information from Skoda regarding what actually has happened to the engine to cause this problem in the first place and as MInimoke says get it in writing. Then make a decision about who to go after for a fix. You may find the supplying dealer very helpful. On the other hand, Skoda have a good reputation for sorting things if pressed by customers with a good case. Come back to the forum as soon as you have some more information and we'll see if we can help. Good luck.

Edited 28 April, 201115 yr by Estate Man

Gents

A huge thanks to both of you for two really helpful and insightful contributions; very much appreciated. This really is a great resource - will keep you posted as to my progress and in the interim if anyone else has anecdotes/knowledge of this Fabia issue then please do let me know.

Thanks again