jars' 2005 Fabia vRS

[AJFisher]

I’m not sure what turbo you have fitted as I read your complete project back in Jan, but I believe it was a PD150 Hybrid? I also have the exact same dip and had mine mapped to save the standard clutch. I believe it’s quite common for these hybrids to have a dip. See my dyno below. 

[Dark_Hero]

57 minutes ago, AJFisher said:

I’m not sure what turbo you have fitted as I read your complete project back in Jan, but I believe it was a PD150 Hybrid? I also have the exact same dip and had mine mapped to save the standard clutch. I believe it’s quite common for these hybrids to have a dip. See my dyno below. 

 

Interesting. I have a pd150 hybrid and has a similar dip as well

[Titanium_Man]

Interesting, AJ! Yeah, I'm running a PD150. 

 

I did take a bit of comfort when I saw your graph, Charlie. 

 

I’ve decided to take today off work, so will see if I can find other pd150 dyno runs and see if they’re similar, but I can’t feel the dip and no concerning boost spikes so won’t look too hard! 

 

 

 

 

 

[Lofty]

That power figure and graph looks identical to my Hybrid 150 as well on my black vRS. More than punchy enough for a daily!

 

What was the rattle you had diagnosed then???

 

 

[Titanium_Man]

24 minutes ago, Lofty said:

That power figure and graph looks identical to my Hybrid 150 as well on my black vRS. More than punchy enough for a daily!

 

What was the rattle you had diagnosed then???

 

 

 

That’s enough for me. Not gonna chase shadows as that’s four of us with similar graphs

 

Yup, not gonna set the world alight but plenty there to keep me entertained on the way to work 

 

If I heard him correctly and understood what he was saying (I now wear hearing aids, which haven’t solved all my problems) there’s a silver, metal brake line running close to the exhaust that he reckons has somehow gotten close to the exhaust and has bent or moved after getting really hot? 

 

As as I say, I had heard it a couple of times these last few weeks, but was never able to replicate it to try and find it.

 

It must have gotten REALLY hot on the dyno as it was a constant the minute he reversed off. To that point i had only ever heard it when reversing, but it was happening as I was driving away to park up. I left an hour or so later, by which point it had completely stopped and hads not been heard since. 

 

I’ll pop out and take a pic of the offending pipe later this morning and post it up. 

 

[Lofty]

The hard brake lines should be clipped against the chassis rail which is almost under the passangers right foot, then comes out into the engine bay against the bulkhead up to the ABS pump. It's probably popped out of one of the semi rigid fixings and is touching the healshield above the exhaust. Ball ache to get to tbh but you might get a hand in above the heatshield from inside the engine bay if you have really small hands?? 

[Lofty]

 

 

I lied... that's my old memory for you!! The brake lines are alongside the heatshield, as you can see here on my yellow one, so you should be able to get to them easy!!!

[Titanium_Man]

I have massive hands for someone so slight (symptom of congenital heart disease) so I’m glad it looks like this fix is out in the open 

 

As soon as he got out he went round to under the rear passenger door as that’s where the noise was coming from and pointed out the pipe that was knocking. That said, Zee contests that she could feel it under her feet before the weekend, so also ties in with what you reckon. 

[stevobeavo]

Mine too had a dip. Good to hear the cars running well after the cambelt snapped. 

[Titanium_Man]

Well, I think that solves that, a quirk of the PD150 it is. 

 

Popped out earlier and took the added picture of what the JKM tech said was knocking..... I believe it’s the exhaust clamp knocking on the brake hose clamp, but only when really hot. 

 

 

[andsoutham]

Yep, my PD150 hybrid also has the dip (from a couple of years ago) 

 

Was a good day 

[Lofty]

14 hours ago, jars said:

Well, I think that solves that, a quirk of the PD150 it is. 

 

Popped out earlier and took the added picture of what the JKM tech said was knocking..... I believe it’s the exhaust clamp knocking on the brake hose clamp, but only when really hot. 

 

 

Just wants slackening off and moving round a touch. Job done

[Titanium_Man]

That’s what I was thinking / hoping 

[Titanium_Man]

It’s been a while since my last post on here. Largely as I’ve had no spare money I can throw at my car due to getting married in Thailand in March, followed by our honeymoon in the Maldives ..... and did it all again in the UK last weekend with over 100 friends and family 😱

[Titanium_Man]

Not long after my cam-belt snapped in March 2018 I woke one morning to go to work to find my battery was flat 🤬 After taking a look at the alternator load signal wire in front of the gearbox, which was not broken, I noticed the A/C control wire had snapped.

 

I recharged my battery and fixed the wire and not had the same issue. Fast forward to the next hot day and noticed that despite not having A/C for the last 5 / 6 years, it now works 🖖 Just need to re-gas it now.

 

Edited 28 July, 2019 by jars

[Titanium_Man]

In other news, I’ve come to the realisation that I bought this car in January 2011 with 69k on the clock, which is now at 138k! In this time the only issues I’ve had (not caused by me!) is a failed DMF and engine mount when I first bought her. Can’t grumble at that! Although I do have a couple of niggles right now; a broken ballast on the passenger Xenon, a knock coming from the passenger side, and that exhaust bracket is still knocking as I’ve not sorted it yet 🤪

 

What’s going on nowadays .... well, I still can’t chuck any money at her as I changed my job in June and became an apprentice car mechanic 😱 

 

However, we did have a silver Fabia with a failed cam chain come in our garage two weeks ago. We took the head off and came to the conclusion that all the valves were bent. The customer didn’t want it, so sold it to one of the other mechanics for £50 as he was going to fix it and sell it on. We did make a start, but he gave up on the idea as he wasn’t gonna make enough money on it. 

 

So, I’ve taken the halogen headlights, A/C pump, heated door mirrors, the alternator, bonnet and tailgate as the rust on my tailgate has reappeared! 

 

Edited 28 July, 2019 by jars

[Titanium_Man]

.... it was a 1.2, which of course does not have the vRS tailgate spoiler, so had to take it off mine and re-bond it to my new tailgate. 

 

I simply cut the wires on the tailgate on the 1.2 Fabia and pulled them out and used the wiring in my own car as felt this was easier than the alternative.

Edited 28 July, 2019 by jars

[Titanium_Man]

I’ve also changed my bonnet as I had two nasty rock chips(!) that have gone rusty. 

 

As I've still got the HTP badge on the tailgate I’ve been considering keeping the 1.2 bonnet grill on without the vRS badge 😇 but may change it at a later point?!?

 

I plan to wet-sand and mop the headlights before install them whilst o decide what I wanna do with the Xenons as they also need new bulbs, and could also do with splitting to clean the inside and mop the lens. 

[Titanium_Man]

Due to the poor apprentice wage for the first year, I’m likely to be taking my Fabia off the road and commuting on a moped to save some money. Not an easy decision, but my wages have dropped by £20k, so something has to give for a short while! 

 

I still have black vRS in my garage, which I plan to take the long-ratio box out of and install on my silver one, maybe put the Brembo’s back on. At that point I will also install a new clutch, DMF and an LSD. 

 

I still need to get the silver one on a ramp and properly investigate the knock I have, but the garage foreman reckons it’s the steering rack that’s knocking, but I’m unlikely to fix this before it comes off the road if it is. 

 

I also need new new discs and pads as the discs I installed in january 2018 have warped 🤬

[Tech1e]

16 minutes ago, jars said:

Due to the poor apprentice wage for the first year

 

Whilst I applaud your brave move in the career change and that, the poor wage lasts a lot longer than the first year. 

 

Money isn’t everything this is true and enjoying your work and life is more important. But even as a fully qualified master technician you’ll be lucky to get £30k a year. 

[Titanium_Man]

Just now, Tech1e said:

 

Whilst I applaud your brave move in the career change and that, the poor wage lasts a lot longer than the first year. 

 

Money isn’t everything this is true and enjoying your work and life is more important. But even as a fully qualified master technician you’ll be lucky to get £30k a year. 

 

Cheers, Ross. 

 

Of course, you are correct, I’ll do well to get my salary back up to what it was in my last job. The £3.70/hr rate in the first year is really poor, which is just about enough to cover my outgoings, but will  go up to national minimum wage in the second year, which will make finances much easier. 

 

However, we own 2 houses with small mortgages on them (1 is in fact almost paid off) and the primary reason for the change was to do something that I enjoy doing and nothing to do with the salary. 

 

 

[Lofty]

Congrats on the wedding and it sounds that the work move was done for the right reasons, money ain’t everything as long as you have your health and happiness mate.

[Titanium_Man]

16 minutes ago, Lofty said:

Congrats on the wedding and it sounds that the work move was done for the right reasons, money ain’t everything as long as you have your health and happiness mate.

 

Cheers mate and you’re right, health and happiness were the reasons for me making the change 👍 

[Titanium_Man]

Crappy update 😓 The knocking is my KW coilovers, which are leaking 🤬

 

I have contacted KW, who want £550 for two new struts. For £520 I can get AP’s, so leaning towards that route. 

 

The ballast in the passenger Xenon blew and can’t afford to replace the headlights, so took the halogen lights from the HTP Skoda above and put them on my car, for now. They were very cloudy, so attacked them a Sealey rotary polisher;

 

 

 

 

 

Next up, those pesky seats. Since changing jobs my seats have gotten really bad. Popped into work today to user the welder to fix four dinner table chairs that had broken, but took my Vax Multi-cleaner. Not a bad result if I do say so myself 😛 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If anyone is interested, I used a combination of Scotchguard, Vax AAA+ detergent and brake cleaning fluid we use in work 😱

 

Edit: the picture of the rear bench is pre-clean and will post a picture of how it looks now tomorrow.

Edited 14 September, 2019 by jars

[Titanium_Man]

Oh, and my car will be visiting a body shop thanks to a plonker who pulled out on me 🤬