Did l make right choice - secondhand Sodia Fabia

[5220]

Hi Guys,

Just found your forum and am delighted, as l require some good advice.

 

My wife used to drive a small green Skoda, that didn't like the cold weather.  Today, l bought my first Skoda, a Fabia and it was secondhand from a dealer.  We have known him for several years.

 

We paid £800.00 and we bought it last Monday, in that time the Management light has come on and the code 16785, which the mechanic has said is a GFR plug, they have switched off the light.  But it came on again yesterday.

 

Another couple of problems have arisen is that when you open the drivers door, the interior light doesn't come on yet according to the manual - it could be a sensor - where is it, and is it easy to get too and repair.

 

And finally, when the car goes on the road, its makes a bumpy noise, when over bumps.  It passed MOT in in December. And on the checklist it was asked about this noise - but no fault was found.

 

I am beginning to wonder was it a wise choice to buy a Skoda - can someone change my mind.  Its a lovely car as well.

 

It has a W vrm

Edited 14 February, 2014 by 5220

[devonutopia]

Which model is it? (engine) 

 

16785 relates to the exhaust gas recirculation system.  Is it a diesel?

Re the light switch - have you got the slider switch in the right place.  There's a setting for "all off" - "when doors open" and "always on"

[gallego1968]

Hi and welcome aboard.

[vrsjub]

Hi Guys,

Just found your forum and am delighted, as l require some good advice.

 

My wife used to drive a small green Skoda, that didn't like the cold weather.  Today, l bought my first Skoda, a Fabia and it was secondhand from a dealer.  We have known him for several years.

 

We paid £800.00 and we bought it last Monday, in that time the Management light has come on and the code 16785, which the mechanic has said is a GFR plug, they have switched off the light.  But it came on again yesterday.

 

Another couple of problems have arisen is that when you open the drivers door, the interior light doesn't come on yet according to the manual - it could be a sensor - where is it, and is it easy to get too and repair.

 

And finally, when the car goes on the road, its makes a bumpy noise, when over bumps.  It passed MOT in in December. And on the checklist it was asked about this noise - but no fault was found.

 

I am beginning to wonder was it a wise choice to buy a Skoda - can someone change my mind.  Its a lovely car as well.

 

It has a W vrm

As above that fault is EGR is it a petrol or diesel?? Being that cheap I'm going to guess 1.4 petrol?? They suffer with the EGR pipe blocking and valve sticking not an expensive repair really

As for the interior light not coming on sounds like the door lock there is a micro switch which fails very common on all the VAG range! You will have to strip the door card etc out to gain access to the door latch

And as for the knocking noise these are based on a polo and it sounds like the anti roll bar bushes are shot and need replacing not a MOT fail if the play isn't excessive! Or the console bushes on the lower arm split and cause noise but these are a common MOT failing point so hopefully they would have picked up on this?

As for a right choice all the issues are just wear and tear items maybe why the person got rid of the car in the first place still a great car and when these are done it'll be a nice car I'm sure!!

Hope this helps

[joncc]

Nice helpful answer vrsjub - nice to see people like you on here. (I went to a forum the other day about servers and got abused for not knowing about some software) I have had so much help on here in part 2 weeks.

[sepulchrave]

I would say drop links rather than ARB bushes.

[jamwatn]

I had a knocking at the front...thought it was droplinks because on every car I have owned, that is what it has been. On my fabia it was roll bar bushes which are fairly awkward but cheap to change.

As others have posted it will be your sensor which is part of the lock mech. Very annoying to sort out and something I won't bother to do till my carrier mechanism fails!

[BarnyBoy]

Hi, I'm in a similar position having also bought a 2nd hand 03 plate Fabia 1.4 petrol. It seemed a nice enough car on the test drive, and £825 seemed a reasonable price, but I was soon onto some niggling little problems and then a great big one. Didn't notice at first bit the coolant temp sensor wasn't working, this was easy enough to change myself (with help from this forum). Also didn't realise at first but the cabin air is stuck on recirculate, which is a bit of a pain as it means the car tends to mist up very easily - also hard to get rid of the ex-owners rather pungent smell (!they must have been smokers). And our drivers door light doesn't come on either. So far just minor niggles, but then the clutch completely went on sunday, just a over a week after I'd bought it. Bit of a nasty surprise that! I've been quoted £250 to have a new one put in, which is actually cheaper than I thought it might be so I'm going to go ahead and get it done. I am thinking of trying to get some of my money back off the seller though, although I don't hold out too much hope as he was a private seller and is bound to claim (possibly quite truthfully) that he had no idea the clutch was about to go. All that aside though, it's a nice enough car to drive and I'm hoping fervently nothing else major is going to go wrong with it in the near future! Good luck with yours too!

Edited 24 February, 2014 by BarnyBoy

[joncc]

Hi, I'm in a similar position having also bought a 2nd hand 03 plate Fabia 1.4 petrol. It seemed a nice enough car on the test drive, and £825 seemed a reasonable price, but I was soon onto some niggling little problems and then a great big one. Didn't notice at first bit the coolant temp sensor wasn't working, this was easy enough to change myself (with help from this forum). Also didn't realise at first but the cabin air is stuck on recirculate, which is a bit of a pain as it means the car tends to mist up very easily - also hard to get rid of the ex-owners rather pungent smell (!they must have been smokers). And our drivers door light doesn't come on either. So far just minor niggles, but then the clutch completely went on sunday, just a over a week after I'd bought it. Bit of a nasty surprise that! I've been quoted £250 to have a new one put in, which is actually cheaper than I thought it might be so I'm going to go ahead and get it done. I am thinking of trying to get some of my money back off the seller though, although I don't hold out too much hope as he was a private seller and is bound to claim (possibly quite truthfully) that he had no idea the clutch was about to go. All that aside though, it's a nice enough car to drive and I'm hoping fervently nothing else major is going to go wrong with it in the near future! Good luck with yours too!

Personally I think you'd get along well in the small claims court. Think they'd struggle to say they weren't aware (although they may claim the price reflected it - not sure!), I'd go softly but if they start being a***holes you could always drop that into discussion...

[sepulchrave]

Personally I think you'd get along well in the small claims court. Think they'd struggle to say they weren't aware (although they may claim the price reflected it - not sure!), I'd go softly but if they start being a***holes you could always drop that into discussion...

 

I think that would be a complete waste of time and money, it's just bad luck, you have no real recourse with private sellers unless they've intentionally deceived you which I doubt is applicable in this case, even a dealer would not have to rectify since a clutch is a consumable and as such is not covered by any warranty.

[joncc]

I won't spend the evening arguing my point - since the only proof would be in actually taking them to court. But I think it's highly unlikely that the clutch has just gone without any prior signs. I'd take them to court because I've had success doing so in the past. But each to his own! No pressure! :-)

[Barnsey]

I would like to possibly help on the other issue of a 'pongy' interior. I've found the best thing to use is one of the hand held steamers. I bought mine from Ebay for about £14. ( It got rid of the pungent smell of cat wee from my door mat ) . No chemicals needed and does not leave seats,carpets or headliner soggy. Buy or borrow one and give it a try.

[vRSAnt]

It could be worse. Its second hand, bear in mind you are buying second hand not from new, you can get problems when buying particularly at this low price mark with ANY model. But I'd also be particularly annoyed myself at buying a car and having problems so soon, and certainly want to have some redress on this, possibly compensation.

Edit: on that point, seems that there was another discussion piggybacking on yours mentioned clutch failure on someone elses purchase, bit confusing that as I thought that was for your car and it isn't.

 

Future learning lesson. You only stand any chance of not running into difficulty in the first few weeks of ownership, if you've done serious homework/ vehicle checks or AA check. Just buying from a used dealer isn't a recipe for troublefree motoring.

But you only have a sensor issue, bit of a suspension knock and an interior light issue. It could be a LOT worse.

 

I also think no one can really understand if a car is a long term sound purchase at a model level, or slander the quality of a whole brand for being bad until you've owned the car from new or at least, nearly new from a dealer IMO. That addresses your point "I am beginning to wonder was it a wise choice to buy a Skoda"....I think you'd be better focussing your discontent back to the dealer IMO.

 

BUT I would say stay in for the long haul if you can and sort the niggles. Just jumping from one used and potentially unknown car to another certainly isn't the zen of motoring.

[TMB]

There are always things that need putting right on any older car you buy, no matter what the make. ALWAYS.

Edited 24 February, 2014 by TMB

[PD75]

I am also beginning to question whether or not it was wise to buy Skoda. My clutch has gone and it's only done 265,000 km.

I have owned the car from new.

[mogwye]

I am also beginning to question whether or not it was wise to buy Skoda. My clutch has gone and it's only done 265,000 km. I have owned the car from new.

 

PD75 - Are you bragging or complaining ??

 

DB.

[BossFox]

I am also beginning to question whether or not it was wise to buy Skoda. My clutch has gone and it's only done 265,000 km. I have owned the car from new.

 

That's shocking, I'd take it back.

[PD75]

Well, there are a couple of ways to look at it.

A)I didn't quite get the mileage the wife did with the clutch in the Almera 182,000 miles.She bought that car second hand at 23,000 miles.

B)I got a hell of a lot of more miles than some of the posts on the forum, but then again, it's "the gutless TDI that ain't worth having" according to a lot of people? A lot of those miles have been done with a trailer on the back laden with coal, turf what have you.

Basically, I was neither bragging or complaining - maybe taking the p*ss a bit.

I can assure you, I've swapped plenty clutches in the past, all bar one in cars that came to me second hand with unknown history but bought at a price where replacement of parts was factored into that price.

[inventory-photo]

Understood. Unfortunately, in my experience, sarcasm rarely works on t'internet forums, at least not if it's subtle.

 

Now, am I being sarcastic? 

[5220]

I am so lucky that l have found these answers to my main question.  My Skoda is  1.4  and its petrol.  Its a lovely car, and l am scared to drive it as it 'looks posh' for me.

I used to drive a Corsa, and my daughter nicknamed it skip.

 

The main problem is only faint when bumping, and the EGR valve is working so far, after the mechanic has a look at it.  it is 67.ooo on the clock.  My wife found the fault on the door light and everything looks fine.

 

The only niggle that l have now is that is that when l brake, you hear a sort of scratching noise   My wife has said that it could be a rusty sound, as she had it on an old skoda and was told that by a mechanic that we always use.