Yesterday my wife's Fabia Mk1 vrs passed its MOT I took it to a Skoda dealer to change the transmission oil (had done 100,000 miles) as the garage which did the MOT (National tyre) do not touch transmissions.

Whilst changing the oil they carried out an unrequested vehicle check and sent me a video of them being unable to turn any of the wheels with the car on the lift. The discs and calipers were renewed 2 years ago. They told my wife who picked up the car that they would not let their wife or daughter drive the car without having the braking system checked out. The car was parked at home on a hill, so I released the handbrake and it rolled down the hill without any sign of binding, I then ran it round the block with no smoking brakes and when I checked Skoda's tyre wear readings there was no difference in the fronts or rears, the car doesn't pull or drag that I can see, am I being conned?

One other thing Skoda picked up was that the rear brakes are both missing a backplate, is this significant/necessary? The rear wheels were fitted with non Skoda calipers ie silver rather than green a couple of years ago.

Your thoughts would be very welcome.

It does sound suspicious to me, Jack a corner up and see if you can spin a wheel by hand.

 

Backplates prevent crud flicking up on to the disc and corrosion but they aren't a requirement, I ran my mk2 golf without any on the front for a while with no problems. 

Sounds like they were trying it on.

 

?

Was this an Arnold Clark dealership?

 

PS

They would be failing if they did not do a free vehicle check on a vehicle they are working on.

When the keys are handed over the person getting the car should check the bodywork and wheels as well before the technician gets it.

No harm in looking over a vehicle and reporting on what you see, even one that just had an MOT.

Edited 12 May, 20188 yr by Offski

@Boatman1 - Has your car had a brake service recently, if not it might be a handy thing to do now as it has been pointed out to you.  Maybe even get a brake fluid change if nothing is normally being done to the braking system.

To be fair they did check over the bodywork before taking it in. It wasn't Arnold Clark. Is it likely that all four wheels could seize, what could cause that?

An investigation would reveal what the problems are, doing nothing is just being silly.

You do tend to get a lot of build up in wet weather on brakes, after being parked. Sometimes takes a while to come off. But they would know that. Realised all dealers love to pick up on brakes. I.e. As soon as it gets to 50% pad wear they are over it like a rash recommending replacement. Problem for them they don't know your driving style. Plus is a good money maker. 

 

Anyway suggest you get second opinion if you are not handy/happy to jack up and spin/inspect  your own wheels. 

Boatman1,   my mate had a DSG that failed and was at Parks Hamilton for 8 weeks. 

No help from Skoda on the DQ200 which he had wrongly been told the flashing white spanner meant a service was required.

So failed pump, and he was told nearly a couple of thousand for the MCU.  Which Parks got, failed to get to work. 

Then he was quoted a few thousand more, for the clutch packs and another MCU.

Anyway, Skoda put in £200 and Parks were to put in £200 and he was to pay the rest.  So the Box goes to someone else to get the Clutch Packs, the MCU is on and the software correct.

Only the MOT has now expired.

 

So Parks did the MOT, and failed it, Brake Discs.   Quote £400.

Car collected, MOT done at another MOT station, pass & no advisories. 

Edited 12 May, 20188 yr by Offski

I don’t understand why the OP is taking a Mk1 Fabia to a Skoda dealership for work.

Surely Scotland has its fair share of good independents who will service and repair the car for a fraction of Skoda UK prices, and, if I may say, without unethical up selling and sharp practice.

 

 

 

32 minutes ago, kevberlin said:

I don’t understand why the OP is taking a Mk1 Fabia to a Skoda dealership for work.

Surely Scotland has its fair share of good independents who will service and repair the car for a fraction of Skoda UK prices, and, if I may say, without unethical up selling and sharp practice.

 

This ^^

 

Any VAG independent is a better bet.

 

Most MOT garages have an adjustable device to keep the brake pedal depressed while they check the wheel bearings and suspension parts, I'm not saying this is what they did when they filmed the wheels binding, there could have actually been a guy in the car who had ducked down while pressing the pedal with his hand.

 

I am saying that they're crooks and you should never go there again.

Drove the car again today no signs of binding at all, steering isn't pulling, car freewheels without the engine on, tyre wear is even, fuel consumption unaffected, no signs of excessive wear on the discs and the brakes work fine. I cannot for the life of me understand how all four wheels were binding in the video, I could understand a jammed caliper on one wheel but not on all of them. Will get a brake check when I remap it next month to 161bhp cost quoted is £320 and the insurer wants an additional premium of £54 due to this mod.

6 hours ago, Boatman1 said:

Drove the car again today no signs of binding at all, steering isn't pulling, car freewheels without the engine on, tyre wear is even, fuel consumption unaffected, no signs of excessive wear on the discs and the brakes work fine. I cannot for the life of me understand how all four wheels were binding in the video, I could understand a jammed caliper on one wheel but not on all of them. Will get a brake check when I remap it next month to 161bhp cost quoted is £320 and the insurer wants an additional premium of £54 due to this mod.

That’s good news.

Prrhaps a good opportunity to sort yourself a good independent for servicing issues.

All the best.

Well, FWIW my Octy has never had front disc shields (bought at ~3.5 years old from Arnold Shark but it was a decent price, good condition and FSH).

Wife had a Mk 3 Golf TDi. At 30,000 miles the dealer commented that the front pads were needing replacement. Checked when I got the car home and they were fine, loads of life. At 40,000 miles same again, still loads of life. Same at 50,000 and still loads of life. At 60,000 he gave up, no comment but I changed them at about 63,000 since they were getting well worn (not worn out though). If he does that to every time a car visits its a nice little earner and I bet many less savvy customers just take his word when he rings up.

 

Another example, wife had a Micra which went for a service and MOT. Dealer rang at about 10 am to say car passed MOT and once service completed they would ring again. After lunch they rang to say that the rear tyres were bald and must be replaced. That was pretty remarkable for 2 reasons, first it had passed its MOT only 4 or 5 hours earlier and I knew the tyres were fine since I check them regularly. at the end of the day only a total muppet takes a car for an MOT with bald tyres (and other obvious faults). I asked the dolls head that rang to point out to whoever had informed her that the car had passed its MOT earlier that day and would not have done so with bald tyres, I also informed her that I would be speaking to the service manager when I collected the car. On collection the manager was very apologetic about the "mix up", it was another car that needed tyres not ours but they had put a bouquet in the car as a good will gesture..

 

Lying sharks.

When I started to drive in the eighties, I horsed around in XR2's, Capris etc and never had I to change the brake discs on any of my cars......I think then it was just the washer fluid needing topped up and new wiper blades was the scam and it is now progressed to more expensive items.

It's passed the MOT. Part of the test is a brake test ( posibly an MOT tester /Tech will pop in to verify) which tests the efficiency of all corners and across each axle , and also tests for proper brake release with brakes off( AFAIK). sO IF IT'S PASSED AN mot, then Skoda are dolling out large portions of flannel. As for oil changes- why not get a set of  car ramps, a small torque bit , and for engine oil- the appropriate socket.For the transmission oil it's a large Allen type key ( can't remember if it's square or hex -but someone will advise). Empty one is low down on gearbox, whilst fill one is ( on mine) at front of gearbox. Simply empty- replace plug and top up through front  hole ( with car on level ground), till oil overflows.

In general on all the cars I've owned in over 50 years motoring, the engine oil plug is a HEX nut, whilst trnsmission ( and on RWD) the diff is something akin to an allen key-either square or Hex.

 

Gearbox plugs

 

https://m.ebay.co.uk/itm/4356-BGS-VAG-Gearbox-Drain-Plug-Tool-M16-Security-Spline-1-2-inch-drive/321009063846?hash=item4abda197a6:g:2sAAAOSwAF5UaoeT

 

Sump plug requires a 19mm spanner/socket.

 

IIRC the torque bit you need is a t20 for the undertrays or if it's like mine then a plethora of random bolts and screws.

Torx!

25 

 

On 5/14/2018 at 12:44, king_o said:

When I started to drive in the eighties, I horsed around in XR2's, Capris etc and never had I to change the brake discs on any of my cars......I think then it was just the washer fluid needing topped up and new wiper blades was the scam and it is now progressed to more expensive items.

 

 

Back in 'them days' I suspect we still had brake pads with asbestos in them. They were much softer in nature and kinder to discs. The pads wore out, not the discs. Pads today have no asbestos for health reasons and are made of sintered metal compounds that are much much harder, so these days the pads take a lot longer to wear, but take a much bigger toll on the disc surface.  The MOT has always been surprisingly easy on brake discs and some I have seen that you or I might fail are passes.

 

I do however agree that some garages do chase the money when it comes to brakes....as "brakes are vital for safety and nobody wants to compromise on that do they "......, so people often just agree to have the work done regardless, and sometimes needlessly.

6 hours ago, rum4mo said:

Torx!

Derp, yep didn't even notice I had a brain fart.

Edited 20 May, 20188 yr by retro

On 12/05/2018 at 12:37, kevberlin said:

I don’t understand why the OP is taking a Mk1 Fabia to a Skoda dealership for work.

Surely Scotland has its fair share of good independents who will service and repair the car for a fraction of Skoda UK prices, and, if I may say, without unethical up selling and sharp practice.

 

 

 

I will tell you why, I took the car to a well respected Indi garage to have the drop links done on the steering and they didn't check the tracking after doing the job, cost me two new front tyres after about 2,000 miles due to wear on the inside of the tyres. The guy who owns this garage is a lecturer in automotive engineering at one of the local colleges and allegedly takes the brightest students on as automotive mechanics, I also had another issue with this garage where they damaged the rubber  boot on the front wheel, not good.

10 minutes ago, Boatman1 said:

I will tell you why, I took the car to a well respected Indi garage to have the drop links done on the steering and they didn't check the tracking after doing the job, cost me two new front tyres after about 2,000 miles due to wear on the inside of the tyres. The guy who owns this garage is a lecturer in automotive engineering at one of the local colleges and allegedly takes the brightest students on as automotive mechanics, I also had another issue with this garage where they damaged the rubber  boot on the front wheel, not good.

 

The drop links are connected with the anti roll bar and not the steering, they cannot affect the tracking of the car.

Unless you specifically asked for the tracking to be checked then they would have no reason to do so.

Tracking issues are caused by physical trauma to a wheel while driving, typically glancing blows against kerbs while parking or manoeuvring.

I assume you mean a CV joint boot, this would be very difficult to damage indeed since it is completely surrounded by the suspension structure, I find it very hard to imagine a scenario where the garage could damage this during the course of performing other service work.

You've obviously fallen out with them and no longer have a viable working relationship so perhaps you need to try someone new.

5 hours ago, Boatman1 said:

I will tell you why, I took the car to a well respected Indi garage to have the drop links done on the steering and they didn't check the tracking after doing the job, cost me two new front tyres after about 2,000 miles due to wear on the inside of the tyres. The guy who owns this garage is a lecturer in automotive engineering at one of the local colleges and allegedly takes the brightest students on as automotive mechanics, I also had another issue with this garage where they damaged the rubber  boot on the front wheel, not good.

Seems like you are sadly not having much luck then.