Oil-guzzling Fabia

[CyberCynth]

Hi Folks, I haven't posted for a long while now because my Skoda runs like clockwork and I have other interests to follow!  However, I am wondering whether the problems that have cropped up recently with my Fabia are to be expected of a 5 year old car.  It's a 1.2TSi S  Estate, 105PS 7Spd DSG, 2011. Mileage 38400.  

 

1.  For the first 3 of years of ownership I never had to put in any engine oil at all.  Last year it used about 1 litre every quarter.  This year I have already tipped in 3 litres!  There is no loss of power; no smoking, no oil leakages, no overheating.  Petrol consumption averaged out at 41mpg last year.

 

2.  The central locking system doesn't always include the tailgate!

 

3.  There is a very irritating rattle under the bonnet when the car is idling.  I took it to a Skoda dealer last year who just said 'Oh, they all do that!  Nothing we can do about it!'  I find that hard to believe.  

 

Hope some forum users can throw some light on these issues.  Thank you.

 

 

 

 

[Ootohere]

Welcome to the forum.

 

Sounds like it is worth buying a Skoda Warranty for about £300.  (Since your car has no known issues!!)

 

Maybe after you have that in place you can have the Warranty to deal with any issues that arise.

Like Unacceptable Oil Consumption.

That is if your car has been Serviced as per Manufacturers Service Schedule & Guidelines.

 

There are threads in the Mk2 Fabia Section on the Skoda Warranty available.

[CyberCynth]

Thanks for that.  I have had the car serviced at the prescribed intervals, but after 3 years I took it to a non-Skoda garage as I couldn't afford the £95.00 per hour labour charge!  Equally, I would struggle to find £300 for an extended warranty at the moment because of a series of very expensive bills from other sources.  So I guess I will have to just keep tipping oil in the top end for now!

[Old Webbo]

Can't help with the oil consumption issue but you may find the rattle at idle is from the petrol pipe (and air con pipe, I think) where it disappears down the hole on the left hand side next to the bulkhead. Mine did the same and a lump of hard foam rubber stuffed down the hole did the trick.

 

[CyberCynth]

Thanks Old Webbo!  Will have a look to see where to shove some padding.  The rattle isn't constant; yesterday it was as quiet as a church mouse.  If as the dealer said, all Skodas are like that, I'm amazed nothing has been done at manufacture to stop it!

[Ootohere]

^^^ Check that out, and Skoda had a TPI on the fix above as a Skoda TEchnician should well have known.

 

Sadly who ever you spoke to last year at a Skoda Dealership mislead you at best, but actually just lied.

If they had dealt properly then your car would only just have been out of warranty.

 

There was and are Timing Chain Issues and there was and is a fix, no idea if your engine could be covered by this and the upgraded timing chain and tensioner.

As the the high oil use, this is being reported more commonly now with the 1.2TSI.

Nothing like as common as with the 1.4 tsi twinchargers, but the 1.2 TSI is in lots of VW Group cars.

 

No idea what you are going to do other than contact Skoda UK Customer Services and get talking to a Customer Services Manager.

[Ootohere]

On another matter.

Did you ever get a letter from Volkswagen / Skoda on your DSG Gearbox.

To inform you of the Service Campaign on the DSG & did yours need this or get it done.

 

Check and see if there are any other outstanding Service Campaign Works, they call them Recall Actions Now.

The Wiring Loom, DSG, or maybe even the pipe padding issue.

http://master.skoda-auto.com/mini-apps/recall-actions

[xman]

I wonder if your independent used the correct oil. Many many moons ago I ruined my Passat engine by using cheap Ford oil. It started to drink oil like a fish in the way you describe.

Certainly some coincidence your problem started when using an independent.

You have to crawl under your car to properly check for oil leaks. My Alhambra leaked after a service, but the oil only leaked at motorway speeds, coating the underside of the car wothe oil and presumably dumping the rest on the road. No sign of a leak on the drive though.

[CyberCynth]

Ok, these replies give me some food for thought, thank you all very much for your input.  I could ask the independent garage what sort of oil they'd used at the last service; they seem a pretty decent crew and I think they'd probably tell me the truth?  (Ever the optimist!).  I must admit I hadn't thought of it leaking oil only when on the move.  I'll have a jiggle underneath and see what I can see.  It will be handy to have some ideas of what might be wrong before taking it to a garage.   I've only just moved house (and area) and don't know anyone in the area to ask for recommendations, so perhaps a visit to Yell.com to see if there are any good reviews for workshops in the area.  You can imagine the scenario, can't you; female senior citizen wanders into garage and says 'my car's burning oil', Although I do know a little bit about the workings of an internal combustion engine, it's still very easy to baffle me with science and technology...

 

Oh, and no, I haven't had the car recalled for any reason, let alone the DSG box.

 

I am slightly concerned about talking to the customer services manager at Skoda, as said already, I'm worried about how much it will cost if it gets taken into a Skoda workshop!  Really, in my current financial state I'm beginning to wonder whether to just trade in this car against a cheap-and-cheerful old Nissan.  Have had one before and it was the nearest thing to perfect as regards reliability  that I've ever owned.  But saying Nissan on a Skoda forum?  Have I just committed a major faux pas?!

[Ootohere]

?

What Oil are you using to top up with?

 

DO NOT USE SEMI SYNTHETIC OIL, and neither should have the Garage Servicing the car.

 

The Oil Used at the service should have been to meet the spec VW 502 00,  Which would be 5W 40 Full Sunthetic

Or 

5W 30 Full Synthetic Long Life / VW 504 00,

which is a little bit more expensive and suits Variable Servicing. (Your car did not require that.)

Edited 12 April, 2016 by GoneOffSKi

[vxh26]

<SNIP> I've only just moved house (and area) and don't know anyone in the area to ask for recommendations, so perhaps a visit to Yell.com to see if there are any good reviews for workshops in the area. <SNIP>

 

Have a look at The Good Garage Scheme.

 

I don't think that you will get any serious criticism here for considering a Nissan but you can't guarantee that you will not be jumping out of the frying pan into the fire.

 

Nil desperandum, there may be an easy fix, an authorised Skoda dealership may be the safest solution but the Good Garage Scheme may well lead you to a very good, reliable, honest local workshop.

 

Good luck

[Guest]

I'm with xman and GoneOffSK concerning what type of oil is being used by the independent dealer that you are using. It wouldn't be the first time that an independent has used the wrong oil causing high oil consumption. Often they don't even realise the issues it can cause, but sometimes they do.  I've even known them to use straight dino (mineral oil) and selling it as synthetic. Of course the first thing that happens is the sump tries to empty itself, with the car using it up fast. Do follow that up with the dealer to see what they put in. I bet they are unlikely to admit they've put the wrong oil in though. 

[CyberCynth]

Hi everyone again, and thanks for the input.

I have just been out to the shed to see what type of oil I have been feeding my Fabia lately.  

The last time I bought oil was mid-journey, 'cos the oil light on the dash came on.  I dashed into a Sainsbury's superstore but being faced with all the different types of oil on offer I couldn't remember which one I should buy.  A young sales assistant came up and asked me if I needed help; he was very kind, and keyed in my reg. number in his mobile to check what I should be using.  The result was 'Fully synthetic 5w30', so off I ran to the check-out so that I could top up my engine before progressing my journey.  However, I noticed when I got home that this oil is labelled as being for high mileage vehicles, which mine isn't: a 5 year old car with 38400 on the clock.

 

Thanks Vxh 26 for your recommendation to the Good Garage Scheme, that's really useful.

[Brian69]

5w30 would have been fine. That's what Henry's (Skoda dealer) stick in mine and five and a half years on the car is fine - and mine certainly isn't interstellar mileage - just coming up for 29,000.

Edited 15 April, 2016 by Brian69

[Guest BigJase88]

As a top-up

Any oil is better than no oil

[CyberCynth]

Thanks guys. 

I don't know why potentially expensive outlay always comes along when you're already skint.  Sod's Law in operation I suppose. I think I will just have to grit my teeth and get the car looked at.

Thank you all for your ideas and input.  Wish me luck!