Hi all, advice would reeeally be appreciated here!

 

Quick summary - bought a 2010 Fabia 1.6 tdi SE CR 90 (bit of a mouthful!) and this is my first car, so pardon me if there's something obvious I missed! Driven it around a bit and loving it so far.

 

Question: I just got the car and had a look through the service booklet, it seems that there hasn't been a cambelt or spark plugs change even at 93k miles and was serviced by main dealer? (Incidentally, the wipers don't seem to have been changed and the air con fluid could do with replacement but such small costs I'm not worried about.) Is the mileage limit on these things much higher than normal cars or something, or has it just been missed? The only things that do seem to have been changed are: engine oil, fuel filter, air filter element, pollen filter.

 

3 year warranty JUST ran out and an unbudgeted £3-500 this soon would be painful >.<

Edited 8 August, 201312 yr by student91

I'm no expert but in my experience diesel cars don't change spark plugs. They have glow plugs which needed changing rarely. Last time and only time I have changed glow plugs was on my omega when it had done 120+k miles so not too worrying I think. You'll know when they need changing when the car doesn't start as well as it used too. Not sure about the belt though. The handbook should state when that needs doing. Again my omega had a chain so no belt ever had to be replaced. I had that car from 75k to 140k miles.

My service book says change for my 1.9tdi se cr 75 (same as yours but only 75bhp) cambelt at 210 000km (130 000 miles).

Diesel engines do not have spark plugs to ignite the fuel. The typical diesel will compress at approx 20 to 1, petrol engines 10 to 1 approx. So the fuel & air ignite under compression. My mechanical knowledge is not great so I expect someone will explain how a diesel works a lot better than me.

 

Suggest you google differences between petrol and diesel engines. I have had 4 diesel cars and never had to change glow plugs.except on a ford orion. Only swap these if they go wrong. Posting at 03:24, google sleep paterns and effect on your health too .

Agreed - you don't have spark plugs in a diesel, and glow plugs only get changed if needed so are not a service item.

 

As for the cam belt - I suspect it is a 120,000 or 130,000 mile item, but the service book should say?

As far as I know all TDI CR change their cambelt at 210000km or 130000 miles.

It sounds like you have a good car student91. As the guys are saying, if it's been dealer maintained, it'll be fine. In spite of what some may think, main dealers won't normally cut any corners as it's not in anyones interest, particularly the dealers. They soon get a bad reputation. I spent many years in the trade and at main dealer level you are generally speaking in very safe hands. Things like wiper blades are generally left for the owner to decide when to change as this can vary considerably from car to car depending on useage. It's easy to do yourself too. No spark plugs as has been said. Glow plugs don't often need changing and can go nearly forever depending on use. Cambelt is variable from engine type to engine type and I don't know what it is for your car. 130,000 maybe correct though. I would check this to be sure. The cambelt tensioner and waterpump should be changed too as they are very cheap and normally come as part of a kit. I think they do for your car too. It's water pump leaks that can cause a belt to fail amongst other things.

Edited 8 August, 201312 yr by Estate Man

In the service book, it specifies what service is due and when - just double check.

With such high mileage, in a relatively short time, it has probably just needed oil, without a great deal of stress on other stuff (I would suggest).

My Fabia has done 15000 in a year and is like new, wife's Golf 25000 in a year, commuting 2 days a week, so getting 100k in 3 years would be easy if we did her journey daily (and I know some people do).

As long as the stamps are there and genuine (phone the dealers, ask for their service history print out or equivalent), then you should have a good car.

You have a very good car and at a cracking price according to your previous post. I would just enjoy it. Of course you can research the validity of the service stamps if you wish. Personally if it's bought from a reliable source I would expect it's okay.

 

If you don't trust the services that have been done, why not just get a new service done yourself by Skoda or a good specialist? That usually gives peace of mind and ensures everything is covered. There HAS to be trust somewhere along the line though as you'll appreciate, you can never be certain a garage has actually done what they said etc.

Wow I can't tell you how glad I am to have stumbled across this forum, you've all given such helpful advice especially for a beginner like myself!

 

I'll check the book when I get home but it does seem that it's going to be something like 130k miles which will give me at least a couple years before worrying about it. And I guess no reason to worry about spark plugs. The wipers... I'll pick some up for a tenner somewhere!

As others have said,diesel cars don't have spark plugs....standard joke to a young starter at a garage is to send them to a motor factor to collect a parts order and then say "Oh,and while you are there get a set of spark plugs for that Golf tdi"

Wow I can't tell you how glad I am to have stumbled across this forum, you've all given such helpful advice especially for a beginner like myself!

 

I'll check the book when I get home but it does seem that it's going to be something like 130k miles which will give me at least a couple years before worrying about it. And I guess no reason to worry about spark plugs. The wipers... I'll pick some up for a tenner somewhere!

 student, you can get the genuine Skoda/VW ones from any Skoda dealer for just £6.45 each plus VAT. They tend to work better and last longer than some cheaper generic ones at less cost. Oh...and you can also get some new paint with stripes in it!! Just joking...

Edited 8 August, 201312 yr by Estate Man