Hi .... i have skoda fabia 1.4 estate diesel. Never owned a skoda so its all new to me. The issue i have is that i can not put it in 4th gear at 30mph.. is this normal .... i can only use 4th when i get to 40mph. If i try it labours .. i dont want to ruin anything any advise would be appreciate..  its a 2004 reg .. Many Thanks in advance

Hi Jmpg and welcome to the forum. I owned a 1.4Tdi Fabia bought new in 2007 and although it was a MK2 model compared to your MK1 the gearing would be very similar. Because both our cars have only 5 forward gears Skoda had to make the gaps (ratio's) quite long to achieve decent economy on the motorway (managed over 70mpg in mine). So because the gearing can be described as tall it will not happily sit at 30mph in 4th gear because this drops the revs too low. Better to stay in 3rd as you say and not labour the engine which can vibrate the bottom end, leading to damage. My current car is a petrol but very torquey, so my gear shift indicator tells me to change up to 5th gear at 32mph but I ignore it and stay in 4th gear because this is better for the engine. All good for you just the way you are driving presently. Any other such questions post on here and someone will give you good advice, happy Skoda motoring.

@Jmpg - I've never driven a 1.4TDi, so I can't comment on what is or is not "normal" for it. What I can say is that you're driving more sensitively than my sister ever manages (and she's been driving for over 20 years).

My 1.4 TDI happily drives at 30 mph in 4th, sounds as though the torsion value needs re-setting.

 

DB.

 

Edited 11 January, 20197 yr by mogwye

I don't have one but it seems unusual that you can't use 4th gear around town ie at 30 mph. What does the rev counter read (if it has one) in 4th at 30 mph?

17 hours ago, shyVRS245 said:

Hi Jmpg and welcome to the forum. I owned a 1.4Tdi Fabia bought new in 2007 and although it was a MK2 model compared to your MK1 the gearing would be very similar. Because both our cars have only 5 forward gears Skoda had to make the gaps (ratio's) quite long to achieve decent economy on the motorway (managed over 70mpg in mine). So because the gearing can be described as tall it will not happily sit at 30mph in 4th gear because this drops the revs too low. Better to stay in 3rd as you say and not labour the engine which can vibrate the bottom end, leading to damage. My current car is a petrol but very torquey, so my gear shift indicator tells me to change up to 5th gear at 32mph but I ignore it and stay in 4th gear because this is better for the engine. All good for you just the way you are driving presently. Any other such questions post on here and someone will give you good advice, happy Skoda motoring.

Well now i know i aint doin wrong thing in 3rd gear. Many Thanks really greatful .. Happy New Year

On 11/01/2019 at 10:08, mogwye said:

My 1.4 TDI happily drives at 30 mph in 4th, sounds as though the torsion value needs re-setting.

 

DB.

 

Hmm i will let my garage man know this.. many thanks mogwye 

On 11/01/2019 at 10:37, LB123 said:

I don't have one but it seems unusual that you can't use 4th gear around town ie at 30 mph. What does the rev counter read (if it has one) in 4th at 30 mph?

Yes it has revs on 2th when in 3rd if i put in 4th it labours loudly an revs go down 1 half. It only gies ok at 40 in 4th.

 

On 11/01/2019 at 10:08, mogwye said:

My 1.4 TDI happily drives at 30 mph in 4th, sounds as though the torsion value needs re-setting.

 

DB.

 

Many thanks i will discuss this wiv my garage man thks