Update: Skoda customer care phoned the very next day (I wasnt in) and again the day after. Without any input from myself, the lady said they would change the rods foc, and cover it with a 2 year warranty. I asked her to clarify the warranty, she was unsure, 2yr parts 1 yr labour, and I said not good enough, 2yr parts and labour is what I need, to which she agreed straight away. I must say that Skoda cc lady was very polite (maybe thats why I didnt try for a 3yr warranty).

Car is booked in later this month, and Skoda cc phoned dealer and me to check if I was happy with everything so far.

I think octyal is probably right about the ties being the root of my problem. I spoke to the tech dealing with this, he was a bit evasive/sheepish about this, and immediately said this time they are fitting new boots and "squash clips".

Will update later when job done.

xman, that's great news and thanks for posting back with the solution. Great! I really couldn't see how they could not do this for you. 

Update: Skoda customer care phoned the very next day (I wasnt in) and again the day after. Without any input from myself, the lady said they would change the rods foc, and cover it with a 2 year warranty. I asked her to clarify the warranty, she was unsure, 2yr parts 1 yr labour, and I said not good enough, 2yr parts and labour is what I need, to which she agreed straight away. I must say that Skoda cc lady was very polite (maybe thats why I didnt try for a 3yr warranty).

Car is booked in later this month, and Skoda cc phoned dealer and me to check if I was happy with everything so far.

I think octyal is probably right about the ties being the root of my problem. I spoke to the tech dealing with this, he was a bit evasive/sheepish about this, and immediately said this time they are fitting new boots and "squash clips".

Will update later when job done.

 

Sounds like they are going to do it properly this time then - fingers crossed for the last time. I recently replaced the tie rod on my 2005 Octavia, which had covered 156,000 miles on UK roads, so they do last when done properly.

So it went it in last Thursday and got a courtesy car. It took longer than anticipated as they had to order 2 seals (not sure what those were for) and so took 2 full days in total.

 

Got it back late Friday, they had replaced inner rods AND track rod ends, greased them up (not sure why but I hope the correct grease was used), fitted new boots, and the correct factory style squash clips. Finally a full 4 wheel alignment was carried out and two road tests were carried to make sure.

 

Only outstanding issue is although I requested a copy of the alignment report, it wasnt to hand when I picked it up Friday, and still hasnt turned up as promised. I chased it today.

 

Skoda UK phoned Tuesday to check I was happy and if they could close the case. I agreed on the basis they have given a 2 year unlimited mileage parts and labour guarantee.

 

Time will tell if its finally fixed...

I had my Fabia mk2, purchased Oct 2014 and now with 16000 miles, into the local Skoda garage yesterday. I had the same creaking problem, in my case it happened intermittently which the garage thought a bit unusual. I suppose the joints may have had a bit more or less moisture depending on the weather conditions, perhaps a poor seal at the bellows ?

My car was one of the last of the model run and the point I'm making is that the issue remained even though writers such as those at autodata suggest the problem may have been identified/ended a couple of years before. Perhaps VW/Skoda remained confident in their original manufacturer and did indeed attribute the problem to inadequate lubrication or did they just decide to use up remaining stock items. Given that not all mk2 owners take their car back could VW/Skoda really be expected to return, repair or bin their stock of preassembled steering units ? Course they should have but ....

Of course, my car wasn't making the noise when I took it in but I was armed with video/audio evidence. No problems whatsoever from John Clark, Dundee. Staff were great, they replaced the offending items and adjusted the tracking. Well done folks.

 

 

^^^ That what happens when they have a very good Master Tech, and Skoda Specialist Cars Dundee do have.

Hello, my steering rods are knocking a lot when steering near full lock and in need of replacement, while looking for the parts numbers I found these:
 

6Q0 423 803 P (left) 6Q0 423 804 P (right) these are listed for the fabia II, ibiza 6L and polo 9N

I thought fabia II shared platform with polo 6R and ibiza 6J? anyway I found a part number for both audi A1/S1 and polo 6R and I'm wondering if these are an upgrade for the Fabia II's that eventually fail or I should just buy the ones listed for the Fabia.. Here are the Audi polo nº  6Q0 423 803 D       6Q0 423 804 D

13 minutes ago, Filipelol said:

Hello, my steering rods are knocking a lot when steering near full lock and in need of replacement, while looking for the parts numbers I found these:
 

6Q0 423 803 P (left) 6Q0 423 804 P (right) these are listed for the fabia II, ibiza 6L and polo 9N

I thought fabia II shared platform with polo 6R and ibiza 6J? anyway I found a part number for both audi A1/S1 and polo 6R and I'm wondering if these are an upgrade for the Fabia II's that eventually fail or I should just buy the ones listed for the Fabia.. Here are the Audi polo nº  6 Q0 423 803 D      6Q0 423 804 D

6Q0423803P  AND 6Q0423804P are still valid (end of the chain) part numbers...

 

45 minutes ago, Lyminton said:

6Q0423803P  AND 6Q0423804P are still valid (end of the chain) part numbers...

 

I know that part, so no need to venture on the audi a1 polo 6r ones right?

Can you not source Lemforder parts to be sent to you, the price of their kits or even individual parts needed to replace steering rods is a lot cheaper than buying genuine parts, Lemforder are part of ZF group of companies and that includes TRW who manufactured these steering systems for VW Group.

7 minutes ago, rum4mo said:

Can you not source Lemforder parts to be sent to you, the price of their kits or even individual parts needed to replace steering rods is a lot cheaper than buying genuine parts, Lemforder are part of ZF group of companies and that includes TRW who manufactured these steering systems for VW Group.

Yes I can and that was what I was looking for, either meyle or TRW good to know Lemforder is also good, thanks. 

https://www.skoda-parts.com/catalog/fabia-2/spare-parts/steering-shifting-pedals/steering/steering-bar-steering-rods-200.html

As a bonus I have discovered that the overall diameter of the knuckle of the Lemforder steering rods that I bought for a late 2009 Ibiza is the same size as the original ones that I removed, so the same size of steering rod removal tool fitted both - not like the time I replaced the steering rods on a 2002 Polo, that time the original rods had a much smaller knuckle overall diameter, which meant that I needed to buy a second smaller size removal tool.

I'm just adding these comments just in case @Filipelol attempts this job with one of these rod removal tools and finds the new parts a different size, maybe VW Group had changed to the later design before his car was built.

4 hours ago, rum4mo said:

As a bonus I have discovered that the overall diameter of the knuckle of the Lemforder steering rods that I bought for a late 2009 Ibiza is the same size as the original ones that I removed, so the same size of steering rod removal tool fitted both - not like the time I replaced the steering rods on a 2002 Polo, that time the original rods had a much smaller knuckle overall diameter, which meant that I needed to buy a second smaller size removal tool.

I'm just adding these comments just in case @Filipelol attempts this job with one of these rod removal tools and finds the new parts a different size, maybe VW Group had changed to the later design before his car was built.

I won't be doing it myself but thanks for the warning, by the way, do the boots and clips come with the Lemforder rods and if they don't do I need to buy them or use the original ones?

I have done this job two times now, first time was many years ago on a 2002 VW Polo and I refitted the original boots/gaitors/bellows, used new Oetiker clips on the steering rack side of the gaitors/bellows/boots and used plastic tie wraps on the steering rod end of the gaitors/bellows/boots only because I could not use the original constant tension clips as the new rods were slightly bigger diameter. The next time, this week when working on a late 2009 SEAT Ibiza again I reused the original boots/gaitors/bellows - but on the steering rack end of the boots, I had to give in as access seems to be a bit more limited than on that 2002 VW Polo and just do what other people seem to do and that is to use a suitable plastic tie wrap at these points, this time the Lemforder rods were the same diameter as the originals so I reused the contant tension clips.

 

Lemforder kits:- so far I have bought a pair of Lemforder steering rods with track rod ends - when you buy that, that is exactly what you get, ie a steering rod and locking nut + a track rod end and nut.  This time my usual source did not have any kits in stock so I had to buy 2 steering rods and one RHS track rod end and one LHS track rod end.

 

I've now wised up and if I really really wanted to fit Oetiker clips to the steering rack ends of the boots, then I would need to be prepared to unbolt the steering rack from the crossmember and drop the crossmember to get good access to the steering rack - then probably need to get a full four wheel alignment check/adjust carried out, I don't need that problem! Exactly how I managed to fit new Oetiker clips to that 2002 Polo many years ago and tighten them - I have not got a clue!

On 10/04/2019 at 16:34, Filipelol said:

Hello, my steering rods are knocking a lot when steering near full lock and in need of replacement, while looking for the parts numbers I found these:
 

6Q0 423 803 P (left) 6Q0 423 804 P (right) these are listed for the fabia II, ibiza 6L and polo 9N

I thought fabia II shared platform with polo 6R and ibiza 6J? anyway I found a part number for both audi A1/S1 and polo 6R and I'm wondering if these are an upgrade for the Fabia II's that eventually fail or I should just buy the ones listed for the Fabia.. Here are the Audi polo nº  6Q0 423 803 D       6Q0 423 804 D

I had my steering rods and alignment done under warranty as they were creaking when manoeuvring at slow speed. If you have a knocking noise near full lock is it possible that the CV joints are causing this?

Just  a thought before you spend your hard earned.