Fabia Piston Rings - The Final Solution

[rogerbold]

Hi All,

I have a 2001 Skoda Fabia which developed the "infamous" piston ring problem at a very low mileage < 30K. I bought this car from a Skoda dealer second hand - and it had done 13K at the time. This was back in 2005.

Now, my car has done 80K - and it has been in for numerous sensor changes and work to "investigate" the engine management lights. I discovered in 2007 that this model suffers with this problem from my non-Skoda affiliated independent garage - who had contacted somebody who dealt with Skoda's a lot and was able to pass on the bad news.

I now want to sell my car but the engine management lights are on again - and I know it will cost me in excess of £350 to get a Skoda garage to "turn them off".

Who, like me feels aggrieved that this has happened? My main issue is that this seems to be a problem that is widely acknowledged and often talked about on this site - and it seems that the real villains of the piece (Skoda) never admit liability for this issue.

I have written to them - back in 2007 and they have denied that there is an issue with this engine... but this is quite obviously a smokescreen - because SO many people suffer with the issue. I believe that Skoda knew about this issue when they sold the car to me in 2005 - and if they did they are guilty of mis-selling.

I bought a Skoda because I believed that the Volkswagen engine was reliable (and Skoda was a little bit cheaper than a VW). This is the ultimate betrayal - because I have walked into the sort of problem that I was trying, desperately, to avoid.

I would like all people who suffer with this problem to write to me. Piston Rings should not go on any engine before 100K miles and even then - I would expect other problems long before the Piston Rings malfunction. Moreover, piston rings should not go on a VW engine after 30K miles. VW & Skoda have built their reputation on their engines. I believe Skoda are guilty of manufacturing an engine which has a crippling design flaw. The fact that they do not admit to it - is only because there's not enough of us who are prepared to do anything about it.

Reply to this post if you are in the same position as me. We will take it from there. Watchdog. Solicitors whatever it takes - but we need a lot of people to make the case as convincing as possible. I want some answers from Skoda.

[sepulchrave]

I sense your frustration but let me give you the good news:

When I bought mine about 18 months ago it used more than a litre of oil every 200 miles, everyone told me it was ruined and that 'they all do this', but I knew they were wrong because I bought my wife a brand new 75PS AUB engined Polo back in 2000 and it never had any oil consumption issues at all in three years of ownership and nearly 50k miles.

Mine now uses almost no oil at all and the performance has improved dramatically, torquey and crisp instead of flat and limp.

The secret is super plus unleaded and ruthless engine thrashery whenever I feel like it, I have learned to completely ignore the CEL and judge the engines health on the way it 'feels', it is currently in rude health and has just passed 70k miles and feels as fresh as a daisy, everything is still nice and tight and the car feels like a three year old not an eleven year old.

[MoggyTech]

Those engines benefited from really reving the nuts off them when running them in for sure. I had the AUB engined Polo, and despite being a boring Eurobox, it never had engine problems.

[KeithCheetham]

What is the "root cause" of this problem, is it bore glazing, rings and/or bores wearing, or is it something such as rings sticking in their grooves. If it is the latter, something as simple as internal steam cleaning/decoking of the engine (research this yourself as I do not want to trash anyones engine) or using a product such as a liquid de-coker (Ecotek power Boost) may remove the problem. For the sake of about £25 I would try the latter if I had a problem like this - run a 1.4TDI which has no history of such problems thankfully.

Edited 9 November, 2011 by KeithCheetham

[Rob.]

Although not my current car.. I previously had a 1.4 16v 2001 Fabia AUB.

I personally never had the piston rings fail.. but that was for 2 good reasons. When I bought it the ex-Skoda dealer said "It's just had the piston rings done".. so there ya go, that had only done 50k.

That engine got happier and happier while I owned it though. But that's because I took it up and down the motor way, overtaking lots in 4th and sitting at peak torque while cruising. I've since learned on here that's it's that driving that stopped me having piston ring issues.. It never drank even a drop of oil and became more and more eager..

But just to confirm, at 50k it had it's piston rings replaced..

It does have to be said, if buying an early Furby, the 1.4 16v is the one to avoid, becuase mine was in and out of the garage with sender, relay and pas failures as well.

[SOUNDMIXER]

My 16v AUB Elegance has just turned 156k and hasn't had the ring issues.

I thought that it had for a while but unblocking the crankcase breather pipe as it enters the airbox sorted that. Back pressure was forcing oil out of the wrong places.

Oil use is still within tolerance and like the others I find that trashing the nuts off it works wonders. Brechin to Beauley cross country in 2.5 hours in a ten year old car with that mileage is no mean feat. She still pulls cleanly right into the red in every gear, just ask the Merc driver that I passed going up Slochd summit in the rain!

Check your breather pipe as it enters the airbox, the rubber valve might be clogged solid. Drill it out and throw it away and see what happens.

Cheers

[MoggyTech]

The AUB was prone to bore glazing. Some engines just didn't bed in properly, probably due to poor bore honing at manufacture, or Miss Daisy driving habits while running in. Every new car I have owned, I drove out of the dealers, warmed the engine up to full temp, then red lined the engine in every gear on the way to top gear.

The worst engine for this was the Morris A series when they put it in the Mini. It was fine when used as a longitudinal engine in the Minor and Sprite. When it was made transverse in the Mini, with the exhaust at the bulkhead side, radiator in the passenger wing, and cold engine side blasted by air through the front grill, the engine had uneven temps across the block. The result was bore ovality, you could smell a Mini before you passed it on the road

[anewman]

I bought a Skoda because I believed that the Volkswagen engine was reliable (and Skoda was a little bit cheaper than a VW).

Oh dear. Skoda designed engines are so bad they used the newest Skoda designed 1.2l 3 cylinder petrol in the VW Polo. Also story goes before VW bought Skoda, VW put a Skoda engine and a VW engine on a test rig and ran them at extreme conditions. The Skoda engine survived, the VW didn't. Skoda also have a long history of numerous class wins in rallying prior to being bought by VW.

The VW brand has a far better reputation than it deserves.

[Torbo]

Interesting! Easy t understand. I have both 1,4 Skoda engine and a waek 1,2 VW, where everything is bad.