Hi guys, right I have been offerd a swap on a car iv got with a 2001 1.4 8v fabia! (my old car is too expensive on insurance for the new driver I passed it onto so looking to swap/sell it for something a bit more insurance friendly)

Now I know nothing about these cars at all! I know a bit about the 1.4 16v as I had a mk4 golf with the same engine a few years ago!

So on the 8v what common issues do I need to look out for with this car? What's the gearbox like? As I know the 16v was a terrible gearbox known for going!

The cars done 93k what will be coming upto needing doing anything inpacticalr? Also when is the recommended change for the chain/tensioner? Or is it run to fail basically when the tensioner starts getting noisy etc?

I only ask as I will be giving this to my brother as a first car! So don't want something that's a potential money pit waiting

The bloke has said the alternator bearing is whining? Is this a common issue or is he saying this hoping I won't question it and trying to hide a gearbox whine etc? Just so I know weather to take his word on that or investigate it further myself

Cheers for any help

Rob

Edited 1 April, 201214 yr by Rob_s

Any help on this?

TBH it's not a bad little car, it's quite capable of cruising along happily at 70mph though it takes a little more effort to get to than the 1.4 16v, it does 42mpg on a run, is (allegedly) capable of over 115 mph, normally came with 15" steels so top brand rubber is circa £55 a corner fully fitted - no need to go cheap, discs and pads are inexpensive, the other advantage is it's relatively cheap to insure car as the 1.4 8v mpi was usually put in basic trim levels coming in about group 3 for insurance iirc. The road tax is £190ish from memory so that's slightly higher. The only thing specific to them from memory was the early cars suffering from HGF. This was solved by a revised HG being fitted and torqued up correctly (look for a 'T' being visible on the HG at front right of the block as you look at the car from the front, this indicates the revised part). The timing chain has a 120k interval but in all honesty you do it when it gets noisy, appart from that it's the normal MK1 stuff.

Check the usual water ingress on the rear door seals, check it gets up to temp within a mile or two, the thermostat has a habbit of destroying itself but again they're inexpensive and easy to fit. Console bushes (or the rear bush on the front wishbone to normal people) tend to fail with age, a revised version was put out a few years ago it's £20 for the parts or £170 for a dealer to do it, have a look in the guides section, droplinks can go but again they're £10-30 a pair and simple enough to fit. As it's cam chain driven you've got an aux belt, check the condition of this and the tension, it should be possible to twist it circa 15 degrees if it's tensioned properly, they cost about £8 for a non A/C car and fitting takes a few minutes. The PAS was a bit of a weak spot on early cars, again Skoda came up with a revised angle sensor (£100 and 30 mins of your time to fit) so if the lights pulse and the (electric) PAS pump seems to be constantly flicking on/off while at standstill or the PAS weight seems to fluctuate during the test drive budget on changing it, check the condition of the springs as they tend to corrode (as does any car after 12 years) and have a quick look at the drive shaft seals for signs of leaking.

Service wise they're easy to work on and cheap to look after, the service schedule is basically oil and filter changes every 10k. The whole lot can be done including plugs for under £40 DIY or if you go to a 'fast fit' place it's circa £25 for the oil/filter and then 30 mins of your own time to do the plugs/air filters and about £20.

All in all it's a nice enough first car, it may lack the excitement of something with more power and the 'Polo' reputation but it's cheap to fix, easy to work on and reliable.

TBH it's not a bad little car, it's quite capable of cruising along happily at 70mph though it takes a little more effort to get to than the 1.4 16v, it does 42mpg on a run, is (allegedly) capable of over 115 mph, normally came with 15" steels so top brand rubber is circa £55 a corner fully fitted - no need to go cheap, discs and pads are inexpensive, the other advantage is it's relatively cheap to insure car as the 1.4 8v mpi was usually put in basic trim levels coming in about group 3 for insurance iirc. The road tax is £190ish from memory so that's slightly higher. The only thing specific to them from memory was the early cars suffering from HGF. This was solved by a revised HG being fitted and torqued up correctly (look for a 'T' being visible on the HG at front right of the block as you look at the car from the front, this indicates the revised part). The timing chain has a 120k interval but in all honesty you do it when it gets noisy, appart from that it's the normal MK1 stuff.

Check the usual water ingress on the rear door seals, check it gets up to temp within a mile or two, the thermostat has a habbit of destroying itself but again they're inexpensive and easy to fit. Console bushes (or the rear bush on the front wishbone to normal people) tend to fail with age, a revised version was put out a few years ago it's £20 for the parts or £170 for a dealer to do it, have a look in the guides section, droplinks can go but again they're £10-30 a pair and simple enough to fit. As it's cam chain driven you've got an aux belt, check the condition of this and the tension, it should be possible to twist it circa 15 degrees if it's tensioned properly, they cost about £8 for a non A/C car and fitting takes a few minutes. The PAS was a bit of a weak spot on early cars, again Skoda came up with a revised angle sensor (£100 and 30 mins of your time to fit) so if the lights pulse and the (electric) PAS pump seems to be constantly flicking on/off while at standstill or the PAS weight seems to fluctuate during the test drive budget on changing it, check the condition of the springs as they tend to corrode (as does any car after 12 years) and have a quick look at the drive shaft seals for signs of leaking.

Service wise they're easy to work on and cheap to look after, the service schedule is basically oil and filter changes every 10k. The whole lot can be done including plugs for under £40 DIY or if you go to a 'fast fit' place it's circa £25 for the oil/filter and then 30 mins of your own time to do the plugs/air filters and about £20.

All in all it's a nice enough first car, it may lack the excitement of something with more power and the 'Polo' reputation but it's cheap to fix, easy to work on and reliable.

TBH it's not a bad little car, it's quite capable of cruising along happily at 70mph though it takes a little more effort to get to than the 1.4 16v, it does 42mpg on a run, is (allegedly) capable of over 115 mph, normally came with 15" steels so top brand rubber is circa £55 a corner fully fitted - no need to go cheap, discs and pads are inexpensive, the other advantage is it's relatively cheap to insure car as the 1.4 8v mpi was usually put in basic trim levels coming in about group 3 for insurance iirc. The road tax is £190ish from memory so that's slightly higher. The only thing specific to them from memory was the early cars suffering from HGF. This was solved by a revised HG being fitted and torqued up correctly (look for a 'T' being visible on the HG at front right of the block as you look at the car from the front, this indicates the revised part). The timing chain has a 120k interval but in all honesty you do it when it gets noisy, appart from that it's the normal MK1 stuff.

Check the usual water ingress on the rear door seals, check it gets up to temp within a mile or two, the thermostat has a habbit of destroying itself but again they're inexpensive and easy to fit. Console bushes (or the rear bush on the front wishbone to normal people) tend to fail with age, a revised version was put out a few years ago it's £20 for the parts or £170 for a dealer to do it, have a look in the guides section, droplinks can go but again they're £10-30 a pair and simple enough to fit. As it's cam chain driven you've got an aux belt, check the condition of this and the tension, it should be possible to twist it circa 15 degrees if it's tensioned properly, they cost about £8 for a non A/C car and fitting takes a few minutes. The PAS was a bit of a weak spot on early cars, again Skoda came up with a revised angle sensor (£100 and 30 mins of your time to fit) so if the lights pulse and the (electric) PAS pump seems to be constantly flicking on/off while at standstill or the PAS weight seems to fluctuate during the test drive budget on changing it, check the condition of the springs as they tend to corrode (as does any car after 12 years) and have a quick look at the drive shaft seals for signs of leaking.

Service wise they're easy to work on and cheap to look after, the service schedule is basically oil and filter changes every 10k. The whole lot can be done including plugs for under £40 DIY or if you go to a 'fast fit' place it's circa £25 for the oil/filter and then 30 mins of your own time to do the plugs/air filters and about £20.

All in all it's a nice enough first car, it may lack the excitement of something with more power and the 'Polo' reputation but it's cheap to fix, easy to work on and reliable.

Hi & sorry hit the post by mistake (above). Definately +1 for Avalon and what a comprehensive response.

We've had a few issues with loose trim relating to the arm rests on the doors, noisey/sqeaky anti roll bar bushes & annoyingly a persistant temp warning light coming on despite as recommended having changed the expansion tank etc. Apart from that very little and second Avalon on concluding comments.

The Temperature sender does fail on these and causes the Temp warning light to come on as robk1 describes, this is about £12 and is a 5 minute job to change with no real tools required (other than getting the plastic engine cover off).

Coilpacks *can* fail if the plugs are abused, the ones in the current car could be gapped with a phone book (64,000 miles old!) and caused the coilpack to breakdown internally, this is a £50 part. So check the plugs are gapped right and not worn.

The rear washer pipe has a habit of falling off, but this just clips back together. It can pop in the car, causing wet carpets/door card.

The rear trailing arm bushes can fail an MOT, depending how rigerous the tester is, a pain to change too so worth having a garage do them.

Engines are good up to 150k, the last one was running fine but burning oil. Chains rattle all the time, replace it but don't expect it to stay quiet very long.

Dave.

The Temperature sender does fail on these and causes the Temp warning light to come on as robk1 describes, this is about £12 and is a 5 minute job to change with no real tools required (other than getting the plastic engine cover off).

Coilpacks *can* fail if the plugs are abused, the ones in the current car could be gapped with a phone book (64,000 miles old!) and caused the coilpack to breakdown internally, this is a £50 part. So check the plugs are gapped right and not worn.

The rear washer pipe has a habit of falling off, but this just clips back together. It can pop in the car, causing wet carpets/door card.

The rear trailing arm bushes can fail an MOT, depending how rigerous the tester is, a pain to change too so worth having a garage do them.

Engines are good up to 150k, the last one was running fine but burning oil. Chains rattle all the time, replace it but don't expect it to stay quiet very long.

Dave.

Hi Dave & thanks for that it gives me some more pointers on other areas to be mindful of.

Thanks for that guys there is apparently a knocking sound he says is alternator? Id say more likely water pump myself

Cheers again