Hi,

Can anyone provide any advice.  I have a Skoda Fabia Mk3 - top of range 1.2 SEL - that I've owned from new, and is just over 6 months old.  I also have a 5 year old Octavia, that I've also had from new.  Never had any issues with Skoda before, and the dealership have always been great.

However, my Fabia warning lights - coolant leak empty - came on on Friday, and I had to get it towed by Skoda Assist to the main dealer.

 

Main dealer have since said that there is a hole in the "charge air cooler" that looks like a stone has hit it.  As such, they are considering external influence, therefore not covered by warranty.  £550 to repair.  They advised that I need to speak to Skoda Customer Services and see if they will do something.

Skoda Customer Services have since advised that the dealer makes the final decision about whether it is warranty or not, but have offered a 12% discount on the repair costs.  I have asked for the case to be escalated as surely the engine / radiator compartment should be properly protected from such "external influences", or should be made of materials that can cope with normal road use.  The hole is just to the side of centre, so well away from the wheels, so I don't understand how a stone could have been flicked up.

Does anyone have any advice, thoughts?  Should this be covered by warranty as a design fault or materials issue?  Or is it just "one of those things" and I have to pay?  I'm additionally worried that if it has happened once, then it could easily happen again, so is the car fundementally flawed?

Any advice welcome.

Many thanks,

Andy
 

They will almost always fob you off as its an easy one to blame it on.

 

I've had a condenser replaced under warranty at 3 years old on our Kia without any arguing, but I fit mesh stone guards behind the grill of all the cars we have so its harder to blame. That is something you should do once you get it sorted out.

It is worth having a search or google to see the various similar threads in recent years, Fabia, Rapid, Yeti, 

some owners had no luck with Skoda and others had the Accidental Damage covered under Warranty.

I doubt the stone will have come from your wheels, rather than from the wheels of a car you've being following or have passed in the opposite direction.

 

Have the garage showed you the damage, were you able to take any photo's? Did it look like stone damage, were the fins squashed?

Same thing here, I think.

does anyone know how to take out the front lower grill on the fab mk3 ? 

 

I think i will put some strong 5 mil mesh behind it ,  as looking at the grill and these posts , the car is VERY vulnerable to stone damage to the rads/ intercooler 

 

pretty stupid design flaw imho 

It appeared to me that the lower grill area was far too "gappy"; in the autumn I was always pulling leaves off the radiator. A mesh type grill is what is need in this area (being mindful of the radar box). I'd be looking to fit some aftermarket mesh however as noted above I worry this will end-up being a bumper off job.

 

Regards Bob

What it really is, is very disappointing from Skoda that are owned by Volkswagen,

they never were Simply Clever by learning some 'Vorsprung Durch Technik', from their master. (Bean Counters).

 

Failures in design with Octavia, Fabia, Roomster and Yeti with stones hitting components behind the grills, 

and they Build a Fabia, a Mk2, a MK2 Facelift and an All New 2015 one and we will see how the new even more open Grills 

perform or not as the years go on.

 

Be sure to let Skoda UK HQ know about each and every punctured Radiator, Condenser, Intercooler,

The New Brand Director of Skoda UK was a Parts / Product person with VW, 

he can easily check out the failures and a Fundamental Design failure if the numbers of Spare Parts ordered shows that is the issue.

 

Make your Warranty Claim regardless of what a Main Dealership Service Department says.

 i manged to put a aluminuim grill in ,  from bottom up to half way up the rad (  so just behind the lower level of the top grill ) 

 

pushed it in from bottom by taking off the bottom lower grills -  which are a bitch to take off,  you need trim wedge and lots of brave pulling .

 

the new grill is  cabletied to the botom  rad  plasic frame , and to the two midpoint brackets behind the top grill. left and right .

 

photos to come later.

Edited 28 January, 201610 yr by dadumtish

some pics here -  might help you figure out how to get the grills off   .

 

http://www.briskoda.net/forums/gallery/album/1924-fabia-mk3-stone-grill-addition/