Here's the story... starting to wish I had made a project thread simply to have all these small niggles in one place.

Purchased my Fabia back in November at a price expecting it to have a couple of little problems. It did but nothing big:

1. Plenum chamber filled with crap meant a flood into the passangers' footwell. solved after trawling this forum.

2. Very lumpy on tickover etc. needed new coolant temp sensor. again solved after looking here.

3. glovebox stuck shut. has been removed but not replaced.

4. new clutch required. no real problem bearing in mind 101k miles.

4. Happened since purchase: window regulator broke. solved after looking here.

And now the reason for the title:

1.what the hell is this hole?

I have had a buzzing noise coming from OSF for a long time now, perhaps since purchase but i am pretty sure it's been worse recently.

I had put this down to the tyres on the car being Ceat Spyder - budget and therefore a tad noisy. However, all four are the same and this buzzing comes from the OSF.

Wind onto today and i decide to have a look under the car and find this:

http://s1232.photobucket.com/albums/ff380/ollie_cb/fabia%20issues/

the first 4 photos show a large piece of plastic missing from behind the wheel. it also hangs down slightly if you look underneath the car.

now to help clarify a few things.

have i crashed or removed this myself? NO. this has 100% been there since i purchased the car but i haven't noticed it until now.

is the buzzing always there? no. it only happens at about 30mph+ getting slightly louder the faster i go. it's like a resonating boom in the cabin if that makes sense.

what if you turn the engine off? i turned the engine off at 50mph and the buzzing remained.

so my question, do you think it's the loose trim vibrating in the wind or is this worse?

and part 2 of the title "why the duct tape"

this is far more simple to explain.

the last 2 photos in the above link show duct tape over a tube. what is this tube?!

again, this has been there since i purchased the car. i first noticed it in january/february when replacing the coolant temp sensor but thought nothing of it.

Finally, my aircon does not work at all. i only say this as it may be related to the above tube. i intend on getting the aircon done by a garage though.

If anyone lives near Dorking and fancies a look at any of the above, PM me. likewise, if you know a trusted indy to look at all this please PM me. My trusted mechanic lives miles away now unfortunately. I don't fancy a main dealer just plugging a VAGcom thingy in, finding nothing but the problems remaining.

Thanks in advance!

Someone has hacked a hole in the arch liner instead of removing the wheel and liner to do a proper job. Obviously a shortcut too far! Disgraceful! This hole has allowed access to the bottom of the timing belt I think, or the auxilliary belt. Maybe a shortcut when doing cambelt change @ 60k/4 years?

The pipe going to the front is either water or aircon - going to the radiator or condensor. Not sure but it appears someone might have used duct tape as some form of sealer tape when refitting some pipework? Perhaps it was seeping before? Either way, another odd shortcut

Thanks for that helpful reply as usual.

Sounds about right for the wheel arch lining to have been cut to replace the cambelt (i say that having no mechanical expertise!)

At least it doesn't look to have been crashed... So a trip to a scrap yard then? or what part would i search for on ebay?

as for the duct tape, i'm glad this isn't serious but am disappointed it's another bodge job. will get a mechanic to de-bodge it when i find one i can trust not to rip me off

The wheel will be chucking nasty road crud all over your cambelt,

that's not ideal. Can't do it any good can it?

A new arch liner may not be as expensive

as you may think from the main dealer. Got to be better than shortening

the lifespan of your cambelt. I had one go on my van earlier in the year and the

repairs to the engine came in at £1500.

Arch liners are often found in scrapyards but the front ends which extend into the front bumper often get mangled in shunts. I cut & shut two broken ones a while back to create one decent one, with a bit of overlapping, superglue and some self tappers

That's the aux belt - it has no teeth.

The pipe is part of the aircon.

Thanks for that. I'll track down the wheel arch lining ASAP.

As for the pipe being part of the aircon, do you know which pipe it is and what it controls? It may explain the lack of aircon. I'll remove the tape tomorrow and see what it's concealing.

Auxilliary belt drives the A/C compressor too, so maybe someone has been fettling around with it, The duct tape is still an odd thing though. Its quite a high pressure system so tape is never going to seal it....

"i turned the engine off at 50mph and the buzzing remained."

You did what?

"i turned the engine off at 50mph and the buzzing remained."

You did what?

I assumed that everyone would have filled in the gaps such as:

on a straight, dry road with no other road users around.

You have no aircon because the hole is where one of the service valves should be :(

your sad face implies it may be expensive. i'll take a photo of what is under the tape tomorrow.

i am guessing that it's a metal pipe and the service valve is something plastic that has come off?

Would you happen to know how much it'd cost for a new valve/what could have caused someone to tape it over?!

My guess is that the metal service valve is sheared off the pipe, so the pipe needs to be replaced and that costs about £175 for the part!!! (If it just needs a new valve then it would less than £15).

Post your picture and we'll see if the threaded boss that the valve screws into is still there.

My guess is that the metal service valve is sheared off the pipe, so the pipe needs to be replaced and that costs about £175 for the part!!! (If it just needs a new valve then it would less than £15).

Post your picture and we'll see if the threaded boss that the valve screws into is still there.

well when you said either 175 or 15 quid, i had to go out in the dark and look. for once with this car, it looks like i have been lucky!

first photo in this album:

http://s1232.photobucket.com/albums/ff380/ollie_cb/fabia%20issues/

just had a quick look on ebay to no avail. what's the name of this part please?

once i get the part, do you recommend having it checked before having the system regassed? or does a regas include fault finding? sorry for so many questions but i've never had issues like this before!

The tape may be there in place of the dust cap, which is missing in your photo.

Your aircon problem could be down to low gas. IIRC, Kwitfit will regas it for £50, but will not charge if they don't get it working.

Fantastic. I'll head to a dealer tomorrow.

Thanks for all your help and I'll let you know how I get on!

Driver side liner is £32 from tps.

Driver side liner is £32 from tps.

thanks mattie. ordered it this morning along with a glovebox for £50 inc VAT and postage.

Also, i see you're based in leicester. I go to uni there and if you have a trusty mechanic, would you mind PMing me their details? Thanks.

thanks mattie. ordered it this morning along with a glovebox for £50 inc VAT and postage.

Also, i see you're based in leicester. I go to uni there and if you have a trusty mechanic, would you mind PMing me their details? Thanks.

Yeah I have a mechanic that I trust completely.......... Me! Lol

I recently had great service from Gary at Skospares breakers:-

http://www.skospares.com/index.php

He may well do the wheelarch liner but a bit large to courier......

Haha Matt fair enough!

Funnily enough awfabia, that's the guy i got my wheelarch liner + glovebox from. Really helpful and a good price. Unfortunately i missed fedex today so will have to wait until tomorrow. Will all be fitted by Wednesday if all goes to plan

So, wheel arch lining and glovebox are installed.

Unfortunately buzzing noise has not gone so back to the drawing board :( perhaps it's the wheel bearing so i'll be booking the car in again this week. yay...

Looks like i'll have to go to a stealer for a replacement cap for the aircon system. I can't find it online anywhere!

I'll update this topic again once the problem has gone as it may be of help.

So an end to the story....

Took my car to the garage on Wednesday and the buzzing noise was indeed diagnosed as a wheel bearing. Unfortunately not just one but TWO! Both front bearings needed repairing and i got the bushes done at the same time

Needless to say, it is perfectly silent now and handles like new (or how I imagine it was when new...)

So thanks for your help everyone. The hole has been replaced with new wheel arch lining and the buzzing noise has been stopped.

Unfortunately I have not been able to get hold of a new aircon cap thingy to replace the duct tape but this is only a minor issue as I have found out from a couple of you.

Now I can move onto a few cosmetic things and the car will be as good as new

I'll post this here too instead of making yet another thread but if no success, I'll make a thread anyway.

As many of you will know, the recommended fuel for 1.4 16v 100bhp is 98RON.

I have been running it on 95RON since I purchased it (so for last 5k miles or so). There is no way of knowing what previous owners used too.

Anyway, to make the swap between 95RON and 98RON, do I just wait to the fuel tank is as empty as possible and then fill up next time with 98 RON?

It may sound like a stupid question but I just wonder whether switching fuels when the tank is half filled with 95, putting the other half of 98 wold cause a problem?

And to anyone using 98RON, which would recommend; shell, BP etc? I read Tesco super or whatever is called is 99+. Is this even better?

Any current users' feedback would be appreciated.