New Fabia 1.2 owner

[woody252506]

Hello,

 

Im the new owner of a 54 plates Fabia 1.2.

 

A little background, myself and my wife had a baby in March and only had one car prior to then (2006 1.8 Civic - been superb for the last 2 years) so we really needed a 2nd car to get me to and from work while she uses the Civic on Maternity.

 

In January we bought a 1.0 l 52 plate Corsa - big mistake. Suspension problems, leaking water into the drivers footwell, it generally wasn't great so we got rid of it a month ago (Been honest with the buyer what the problems were ill add too )

 

Given we only had a budget of around £1k I was eager to steer clear of old Vauxhall/Citroen/Fords and wanted to focus on cars produced by Honda/Toyota/VW as they are more likely to be reliable, even if older and with a fair few miles on the clock.

 

We saw a private advert and went to view the car. There are a few age related scratches on the exterior as you would expect but the interior was in very good condition and its got a good service history. Its got 87k on the clock and has 12 stamps in the book, 7 of which are from a main Skoda dealer. Another bonus was it was only serviced in June this year and has MOT until February next year, with no advisorys.

 

I've been driving it a couple of days and its like comparing night and day in terms of driving the Corsa. It has air con too which is a big bonus. Its not as ice cold as our civic so I think it could benefit from a re-gas but that's not a priority. The 3 cylinder engine is a bit more noisy on tickover than other 4 cylinders i've had but its by no means bad and when driving you wouldn't know it was a 3 pot. It pulls really well too for the bhp it has.

 

One small problem this morning was that the exhaust emissions light came on. After leaving it for an hour and driving it again it went off. There was a brake light out which I have now changed so maybe this was a factor? Im giving it a good run on the motorway tonight as from previous cars this light tends to appear at times when short trips have been made in the car and it hasn't had a good run for a while.

Edited 12 August, 2015 by woody252506

[KenONeill]

I think that's about right; try an Italian tune-up and see if that clears an emissions light.

 

Beyond that I agree about small engined Vx Coarsers being loathsome things to drive.

[Breezy_Pete]

Which engine version is it that you've bought, 6-valve 54 bhp, or 12-valve 64?

You should probably invest in a cheap method of reading fault codes, to identify what exactly the fault lamp is trying to tell you.

 

Water leaking into Fabias is not by any means unheard of, unfortunately, but is relatively easy to fix. Watch out for little puddles on the rubbers at the bottom of the door openings after rain.

[woody252506]

Which engine version is it that you've bought, 6-valve 54 bhp, or 12-valve 64?

You should probably invest in a cheap method of reading fault codes, to identify what exactly the fault lamp is trying to tell you.

 

Water leaking into Fabias is not by any means unheard of, unfortunately, but is relatively easy to fix. Watch out for little puddles on the rubbers at the bottom of the door openings after rain.

 

Hi Wino,

 

Its the 12v 64 bhp version.

 

Ill have a look into the fault codes readers, thanks.

 

I did have a good feel around all the carpets everywhere and they were all bone dry. Maybe the seal on the inside of the doors has been fixed in the past by previous owners?

[Breezy_Pete]

Yeah, could well have been re-sealed by someone else.  The water does tend to leak into the space beneath the carpets though, soaks the sound insulation first and only shows up at carpet level when there's loads in there.  Look at those rubber seals after rain, and you'll know one way or another.

 

I bought a £30 code reader from Gendan for the missus's Fabia, which works fine.  Got a cheaper one for my Polo which also seems to do the job.

 

VCDS is another option, free software in its most basic form, and you just buy a lead for a tenner or less to connect to a laptop.

[woody252506]

Yeah, could well have been re-sealed by someone else.  The water does tend to leak into the space beneath the carpets though, soaks the sound insulation first and only shows up at carpet level when there's loads in there.  Look at those rubber seals after rain, and you'll know one way or another.

 

I bought a £30 code reader from Gendan for the missus's Fabia, which works fine.  Got a cheaper one for my Polo which also seems to do the job.

 

VCDS is another option, free software in its most basic form, and you just buy a lead for a tenner or less to connect to a laptop.

 

Thanks Wino.

 

When you say the rubber seals, do you mean the one in the picture below

 

[Breezy_Pete]

Yep. Rears tend to leak more readily than fronts, but keep an eye on all four.

 

When the door carrier seals leak, you get little puddles there, which sneakily drain down the gap between the rubber and plastic, straight down on to the floor metalwork.

 

Might look like this after rain:

 

 

Guide for fixing this problem here. Hopefully you'll never need it.  

[woody252506]

Yep. Rears tend to leak more readily than fronts, but keep an eye on all four.

 

When the door carrier seals leak, you get little puddles there, which sneakily drain down the gap between the rubber and plastic, straight down on to the floor metalwork.

 

Might look like this after rain:

 

 

Guide for fixing this problem here. Hopefully you'll never need it.  

 

Thanks very much for your help.

 

The impending rain over the next few days should give me a good idea wether I need to do some sealing.

 

I know the person I bought it off had it parked outside all the time so i'm hoping it isn't an issue. I have put all my weight on the carpets to see if any moisture works its way through and they are all definitely dry. There were some real heavy showers a few weeks ago here so if it was a problem id have expected some dampness in there already.

Edited 12 August, 2015 by woody252506

[woody252506]

Yep. Rears tend to leak more readily than fronts, but keep an eye on all four.

 

When the door carrier seals leak, you get little puddles there, which sneakily drain down the gap between the rubber and plastic, straight down on to the floor metalwork.

 

Might look like this after rain:

 

 

Guide for fixing this problem here. Hopefully you'll never need it.  

 

I checked this morning after a night of rain and there is some water on the rubber seals that you said to check. Not a great deal, just a few drops.

 

Oddly though the carpets are definitely all bone dry, even when I really push down hard with my hands there is no evidence of moisture whatsoever. The last owner had it for 4 years and parked it outside so maybe this isn't causing an issue and its drying out before any build up of moisture begins in the footwells.

 

The door cards in my fabia aren't plastic, they have a chequered fabric effect. When I feel along the bottom of the door card they are wet, maybe the fabric is soaking up most of the moisture and then drying out when the rain stops which is why there isn't a lot dropping onto the rubber seals? Just a theory!

 

Anyway, I don't want to leave anything to chance so ill be following the guide on the link you quoted to seal the carrier on the inside of the door card. For the moment ive put a microfiber cloth under each door where the water leaks so that will soak up most of the rain, its due to stop raining in a few hours anyway.

Edited 14 August, 2015 by woody252506

[Breezy_Pete]

Just rears, or all four doors?

 

Here's an annotated version of the same pic with further explanation and suggestion:

 

[woody252506]

Just rears, or all four doors?

 

Here's an annotated version of the same pic with further explanation and suggestion:

 

 

I think its just the rears. The front drivers door was dry at the bottom of the door card, I didn't check the passenger front so will do that shortly.

 

Its odd that the carpets are so dry yet this carrier seal is obviously leaking water. Im sure the fact the door cards have the thick fabric covering that soaks up water has helped stop the footwells becoming saturated.

[Breezy_Pete]

Yeah, could well be all soaking into, then evaporating off the doorcard fabric, if there's not too much of a leak.

 

It's not a big deal, but well worth fixing while the weather's warmer, ideally after a long dry spell so that the foam gasket between carrier and door has dried as much as possible.

Surface preparation/cleaning prior to sealing is vital to a lasting result, I believe.

[woody252506]

Yeah, could well be all soaking into, then evaporating off the doorcard fabric, if there's not too much of a leak.

 

It's not a big deal, but well worth fixing while the weather's warmer, ideally after a long dry spell so that the foam gasket between carrier and door has dried as much as possible.

Surface preparation/cleaning prior to sealing is vital to a lasting result, I believe.

 

Thanks Wino for all your help.

 

I agree about fixing it been well worth it. After the disaster of a Corsa and a leaking footwell its a pain having to take up carpet and dry it out. Id rather fix it and avoid any future problems just to be sure.

[Jimbob135]

I have a 64bhp 1.2 Fabia. It is a great little thing to drive. I've done 2000 miles now in just over a month and it has given very little issues. Hope yours goes well for you!

[woody252506]

Well the exhaust emissions light went away but has come in again and flashed for a while today! The car seems noiser on tick over than it was too, its almost like its struggling to breathe, especially from cold.

I've got a sinking feeling at the moment. I've reluctantly booked it into my local independent Skoda specialist next week, they could only do Friday though.

If I've got another lemon car I'll be an unhappy chappy!!!!!

[Breezy_Pete]

Get yourself one of those cheap code readers, then you'll have a bit more to go on, hopefully.

[woody252506]

I'm going to give the throttle body a good clean tomorrow without disconnecting it, then I wont need to get it re-aligned. I'll also have a good look round for any signs of damage to any pipes anywhere.

Where abouts does the cheap reader plug into on the fabia wino?

[Breezy_Pete]

The little cubby hole to the right under the steering wheel pulls open further than you first think, to reveal the OBD connection. Be firm with it.

[woody252506]

Thanks. I've found one on amazon for £13. If I dont see anything obvious tomorrow (split pipe etc) or the throttle body clean makes no difference im ordering one.

[Breezy_Pete]

Worth going through every fuse in the cabin and battery-top fuseboxes just in case one's popped, too.

 

Good luck, and keep us up to date with your progress please, so we can do our best to help.

[woody252506]

Thanks Wino, will do. Your help is much appreciated.

[woody252506]

Well I took the engine cover off and had a good look around. There was a couple of small cracks in the rubber pipe that ran from the back of the brake servo to under the area near the throttle body. Nothing major but this has been taped up tight.

The throttle body was clean too.

I took it for a run and id say there is a little improvement. The car drives great though the gears and is really smooth.

There is still a bit of a 'chugging' noise from the exhaust on idle and the exhaust emissions light is still on.I've ordered the reader from amazon.

[hafsol]

Had the emissions light a few months back. First appeared on the motorway, no symptoms, and a few days later it went into limp mode with the light flashing and what not.

The error codes pointed at the catalytic converter and cylinder #2 misfire. Only the misfire bit matters since the cat error code is a consequence of the misfire.

Had ignition coil #2 replaced.

 

Word of advice: check the codes as soon as you can!

[woody252506]

Thanks hafsol.

What solved the problem, did you change a spark plug, lead or the coil pack?

[hafsol]

It was a faulty coil pack. Initially we thought it was the plugs but they were still mint. It isn't a bad idea to replace both though, I'm just cheap .