Took my 2000 Fabia 1.4 16v for MOT today and, as expected, it failed miserably.

 

Reasons for refusal of test certificate:

• Anti-lock braking system warning lamp indicates an ABS fault

• Nearside Front tyre has ply or cords exposed **dangerous**

• Offisde rear tyre has ply or cords exposed **dangerous**

• Offside front anti-roll bar linkage has excessive play in a ball joint

• Front (flexi) exhaust has a major leak of exhaust gases

 

Advisories:

• Offside front (inner) road wheel with a slightly distorted bead rime

• Offside front suspension arm has slight play in a pin/bush

• Nearside front brake fluctuating, but not excessively

• Offside front brake fluctuating, but not excessively

• Rear exhaust corroding

 

I guess I'll chat about each thing.

 

Tyres

I've had two punctures in the 18 months I've owned this car. First one was on side wall so had to be replaced, second one was in tread and is currently sitting in my boot with the spare on the car.

I had no idea the other tyres were so badly worn, so it seems a new set of 4 tyres are in order for the car to be roadworthy.

 

Suspension/Drivetrain

Not really sure what the 'Offside front anti-roll bar linkage has excessive play in a ball joint'. Had a search of these and other forums and it seems replacing the drop links would be the solution.

In addition to what's in the MOT I'm pretty sure there are other problems with this part of the car.

When turning the steering wheel at slow speeds, a distinct creaking noise is hear around the nearside front tyre - from reading online it appears this is a common symptom of a bad CV joint.

Also, when the car is being driven at around 55mph, a loud, pulsating hum is heard, accompanied by vibration of the interior. This is not affected by revs (ie even when placed in neutral the noise remains) and I've been told it sounds like my wheel bearings are the problem.

 

ABS

This is the part of the car I have most issues with. The ABS light is currently on, as it was at last years MOT. However, the mechanic replaced the ABS sensor and determined that would fix it which it did. But since around 3 months ago, I've had worrying issues with the ABS.

It's almost as if the ABS engages prematurely. Most commonly it happens when I've just started the car and am driving out of my street. So, slow speeds and braking gently at junction. All of a sudden the brakes grind and feel crunchy (as ABS does when it engages). It continues to happen for a few minutes, making breaking effectively useless at any normal speed, until the ABS light comes on and ABS is turned off. After a few days the light goes off and it will function fine for a while until suddenly it will occur again - ABS engaging at slow speed until light comes on and ABS is turned off. It has happened around 5 or 6 times.

 

The last time it happened was a few days ago, but the car had another worrying and dangerous symptom this time.

The breaks were acting crunchy/grinding noise but also the engine was revving itself. i.e. if I put it into neutral it would rev as if I had my foot on the acceleration pedal pressing on and off. If I put the car into a gear, it would continue to attempt to rev, thus speeding the car up/slowing it down as it pulsed - my feet not on any pedals.

Again, once the ABS light turned on, things returned to normal.

 

I have absolutely no idea what is going on to cause this, nor how it should be fixed. Any ideas would be helpful.

 

Exhaust

I had no idea there was a major leak in the front exhaust.

I was surprised though, that the car passed emissions test as this was the bit I was sure it would fail. Engine light has been on for ages with fault codes indicating O2 sensor in bank 1 sensor 1 wasn't working. Other symptoms were there too - engine slow to respond to pressing accelerator, very poor mpg. I had bought an O2 sensor with the intention of replacing it, but found it nigh-on impossible to remove because of its awkward position.

 

Alas, I'm left with an unroadworthy car and not really sure what to do with it.

 

For added woe - the driver electric window is gubbed and currently held up by cardboard wedged between door and window. I've already bought the part to fix this (motor is fine, just the wire is broke) but never got round to doing it because of rivets in the inside door frame.

 

I've ordered a Skoda Citigo, which is due to be delivered some point between end of april and mid-may. The idea was to get the Fabia through the MOT and sell it, or not get it through and scrap it. The MOT place I took it to does tests only, so not got any quotes on how much it would be to get the car up to scratch to pass the MOT.

 

Not having a car for a month or two isn't the end of the world - getting the bus to work, getting a few taxis, online grocery shopping - just a pain in the butt.

 

What do you guys think - should I get the problems fixed and sell the car (this also means I get to have a car between now and Citigo); put the car up for sale as 'spares or repair' (listing all the problems, of course, and that buyer would need to use trailer); or scrap the car.

 

Shame about the car really. It was my first car and I've enjoyed doing what I can do with my limited mechanical skills. Looking forward to the Citigo of course, but need to figure out what to do with Fabia.

Edited 29 March, 201412 yr by Linguist

Most of them things are cheap enough to fix. You not know anyone who's handy with cars so you don't have to pay garage labour rates on top of the parts? The parts you need aren't actually that expensive in fairness. The exhaust should be fixable depending on how bad it is or you could find the front section on eBay second hand. 

 

The ABS fault could be a little harder to track down, it could be something as simple as a bad connection or dirty/faulty sensor.

 

Tyres, you really should have kept an eye on them pal! Letting them run down that low is really dangerous not just to yourself but to other road users should you have a blow out or loose control due to lack of grip. Not to mention if you got stopped by plod you can get 3 points per tyre and a hefty fine. You can get a tread depth gauge for peanuts from car shops so there really are no excuses in the eyes of the law lol.

Definitely drop links, replace them both as a pair.

 

The ABS fault is very likely to be caused by the mismatched tyres giving different wheel speed readings, it's VERY important that the tyres all match so replacing all four is an excellent idea.

 

Exhaust flexi is simple, but a fast fit centre will probably try and persuade you that the whole system needs replacing from the cat back.