My Fabia Monte Carlo is just a few weeks old with 850 miles on the clock. On Monday whilst driving along the A2 the warning light came on to check coolant. On lifting the bonnet I saw that the coolant bottle was nearly empty and had sprayed all over the engine. I had to call in the Skoda Assist people and the prognosis was, a hole in the radiator,probably made by a stone getting in through the grill and puncturing the radiator. The dealer will not repair this under the warranty and is charging me £670. My belief is that there must be a design fault regarding the grill. Surely the grill is there to stop ingress. Has anyone got any answers for me or indeed know of anyone else that this has happened to? Needless to say I am gutted!

You need to make absolutely sure a stone or something was the culprit.

 

If it wasn't you need photographic evidence with an independent report.

 

If it's not a warranty job consider getting a quote from another VAG dealer and/or claim on your insurance.

2 hours ago, naneypaney250 said:

My Fabia Monte Carlo is just a few weeks old with 850 miles on the clock. On Monday whilst driving along the A2 the warning light came on to check coolant. On lifting the bonnet I saw that the coolant bottle was nearly empty and had sprayed all over the engine. I had to call in the Skoda Assist people and the prognosis was, a hole in the radiator,probably made by a stone getting in through the grill and puncturing the radiator. The dealer will not repair this under the warranty and is charging me £670. My belief is that there must be a design fault regarding the grill. Surely the grill is there to stop ingress. Has anyone got any answers for me or indeed know of anyone else that this has happened to? Needless to say I am gutted!

Serious question if you feel a stone getting through the grill causing damage is a "design fault" how do you expect it to get air through it? 

If it is a foreign body (stone etc) that has punctured the radiator no dealer wether it be a vag dealer a ford or Vauxhall dealer etc would entertain a warranty claim as it's not the manufacturers fault. That said if it's found to be a manufacturing defect then this would be a different story.

I don't know if it was a stone that went through the grill. Quite how I could prove otherwise I don't know. It's just that I question whether or not the spacing between the grills is maybe too wide. The reason I came on this forum was to ask if anyone else had experienced the same problem.

If you do a search in the various sections you will see when some drivers have had a punctured radiator or AC.

There have been grill modsfor the Yeti and others, and some DIY jobs.

There have been some Mk2 Fabia owners that moaned about radiators puncturing.

 

You probably have the same odds as a stone hit on a windscreen or headlight and they have not got design faults.

The reason replacement radiators are in stock is because radiators sometimes need replaced from stone hits, just like windscreens.

1 hour ago, naneypaney250 said:

I don't know if it was a stone that went through the grill. Quite how I could prove otherwise I don't know. It's just that I question whether or not the spacing between the grills is maybe too wide. The reason I came on this forum was to ask if anyone else had experienced the same problem.

It's not happened on my Fabia thankfully but it has on my Austin A40,before now,which has a wide grille.