An Expensive Design Flaw On Skodas

[paully]

Last week was on the A1 near Peterborough when the water low level warning light came on. Pulled over and saw steam from under the bonnet..alarming..Anyway, to cut a very long story short, got it off the A1 into a safe place and Skoda Assist (AA) were there in 15 mins. What had happened was that some sort of f.o.d probably a stone had gone through the gaps in the plastic grill below the number plate and smashed a hole in what we initially though was the radiator. It turned out to be the Air Conditioning Condenser (£373). The AA were excellent, put a patch on it, refilled and sent us on a test drive to make sure all was ok..Only when they were satisfied did they let us go. Good service.

 

    Now obviously this is not something covered by warranty and is an eye watering repair. The main issue here IMO is the design of the grille, which affects both Fabia and Roomsters, but from looking at threads on here, appears the Octavia/Superb are even more at risk of this damage. Skoda have produced a mesh to fit behind the central lower grille to prevent this happening, but why the hell don`t they fit these as a recall and start to fit them at the factory. Appears to be a problem across the VAG rangae, although my research isnt fully done yet.

 

    To be fair, DM Keith at Wakefield have been excellent. Without seeing the car, yet, they have raised a request for a goodwill gesture with SUK , via their service manager and I`m hopeful of some news later this week. I`ll keep you all posted. There was one guy with a 3 month old Superb that it happened to and cost the owner over £600...Without modification, in theory, its something that could happen every week..

 

    Have a look through the bottom plastic grille and the first thing you will see is the condenser and see just how vulnerable it is..Guys on the Octavia forum have made diy covers from 6mm mesh and fastened it with cable ties..

 

  Hope it doesn`t happen to anyone else, but it does knock your confidence in a car when you know its this vulnerable especially on fast roads..might affect how long I decide to keep this Roomster.

Edited 1 June, 2015 by paully

[Breezy_Pete]

I've always thought the condenser on our Mk1 Fabia looks a little vulnerable, with slats on the plastic lower grill straight fore-and-aft and about 15mm apart.

 

To get low coolant warning and steam though, it must have knocked a hole in your coolant radiator as well as the AC condenser, as the latter only has refrigerant flowing through it??

[edbostan]

Just looked at my roomie and there is minor damage to the fins of the radiators, caused by flying debris. Can't see the condenser though

[paully]

Thats what I fear as well, DM Keith raised this as a possibility as well, although the fact they were so swift in offering help leads me to believe this is a far from uncommon problem and both VAG and SUK are well aware. Fingers crossed

[paully]

Just looked at my roomie and there is minor damage to the fins of the radiators, caused by flying debris. Can't see the condenser though

 

What looks like the radiator I`m told is in fact the A/C Condensor , although I`m no expert but thats what I`m working on

[Ootohere]

Common as in as common as stones hitting a windscreen and breaking it or not.

Which is why there are Windscreen Replacement Companies.

There are Replacement A/C Condensers available on the parts shelves because A/C Condensers sometimes get holed.

Millions of cars built over the number of years to the same design and maybe hundreds or thousands of stone holed condensers.

 

Look at how often there are threads covering it on Briskoda.

I think about 5 posts i have read in the Fabia Mk2 section in 3 years.

 

One was a huge hullaboo from a lady that involved the RAC Forum and some attempt at a case against Skoda because of a Fundamental Design Issue.

Model after model or Face Lift the Design goes on for a decade, then another decade.

 

No issues now, the Model is Discontinued so end of Design Fault, until the All New Model arrives with pretty much the same mechanical and cosmetic set up as before.

No mesh to catch the stone that once in a tens of thousands of times will hole a A/C Condenser, or chip a windscreen. 

or brake a light lense, chip the bonnet etc.

[Outofthi5world]

Honestly, if a stone went between the gaps in your grille and punched a hole through your radiator, do you think a thin layer of mesh is going to stop it?

[fordfan]

There's not really much of an alternative location for the condensor.  They could fit protective mesh, but it will add cost & weight to every car without providing much of a selling point, it'll also impact on their prospective condensor sales.

[BossFox]

Yes, plastic mesh and it's job done.

Seen a few people that have done this already.

[Phil-E]

Posted in your other thread.

 

I've fitted this;

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/291200584095?_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1uVTTE6wVxAnCwRt5OU8nc7_7cejLILDV7w/view

[Breezy_Pete]

So is the OP getting a new condenser and coolant radiator, or is the AA's 'patch' thought to be adequate?

 

The account is confusing, but it seems to me that the AA couldn't have patched the condenser and refilled the AC system, so that must be water cooling system which was repaired at the roadside?

[paully]

Thanks for the helpful replies, anything that can save someone a lot of money is worth flagging up...whatever it turns out to be  damaged its going to cost more simply because the car is in warranty and the manufacturer has the last say on the parts you have to fit in order to keep the warranty valid..If it wasnt for this fact I`d have it repaired cheaply by a local garage, no problems, but you don`t buy a new car to void the warranty do you..

 

   Thanks to Boss Fox and Phil E for your suggestions and hope it helps someone

[Immelmann]

Not good, you got me worried, will take a look at mine but not tonight in this winter weather.

Wonder what Skoda dealers will say if I fit a mesh protection guard? Bet theyd moan.

[Breezy_Pete]

Yeah, good link that Phil E, I reckon I'll get a bit of that mesh, and use half on the Fabia and the other half on my Polo. Bargain.

[edbostan]

How do you fit the mesh grille?

[Breezy_Pete]

A few tyraps / cable ties pinning it to the back surface of the grille, by the look of Phil's picture. I might be really lazy on my Polo and put it on the outside.

[malcster]

ordered will fit as soon as it arrives 

[jonro2009]

Did you just jack the car up to get underneath? The Fabia doesn't have decent jacking/axle stand points so I'm a bit nervous and I don't know if I would clear the ramps with the monte splitter

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[Phil-E]

Not sure about the Fabia as on my Octavia there is more than sufficient room to access from above with just the bonnet open.

 

Have a look and if you can get our hand down in front of the radiator behind the grille then you shouldn't need to jack the car up or remove anything.

 

Phil

[paully]

On the Roomster, I presume the same on the Fabia...if you havent got fog lights fitted, pull off the outer grilles where fog lights would normally be and you can access the centre grille from there...In theory the centre one should come off but we couldnt get it off so be careful...

[malcster]

Got my mesh ordered

Do the blankers just pull out forward or is there some clip that is destined to snap holding them in

[jonro2009]

The fog lights will clip out so I may be able to access it that way, to access the fog lights the front grill is split into 3, a large centre section and 2 smaller sections either side to access the clips for the fog lights so may be able to do it. Didn't think of that Paully, thanks.

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[paully]

Further bit of info..Just heard back today from DM Keith that Skoda have requested that the car be fully examined and all the relevant parts photographed, and price estimates obtained etc..They want the car all day, so some work involved, which SUK are paying for. Going in in a couple of weeks time and they will make their decision based on the information they get..They haven`t binned off the claim so do appear to be taking it seriously..Fingers crossed for a fair result

[Immelmann]

Fingers crossed for you Paully and best of luck.

[Ootohere]

Paully,

Can you just confirm what all the relevant parts are,  is it a holed A/C condenser or more than that.

& what was it that the AA actually did when called out, was it a patch put on the A/C Condenser?