After buying a 2011 1.8 Octavia and having enormous oil consumption, 1L per 180mile, the dealer is offering a replacement vehicle, either an Octavia 1.4 se on a 10 plate, which I didn’t like, but he has a fabia mk ii 1.2 se on a 14 plate. I previously had a 54 plate fabia vrs, and  we also have a 14 plate 1.6 diesel roomster, is there anything I really need to look out for on a 14 plate 1.2? Any advice would be great. It has full Skoda service history.

Welcome.

How many miles has it done?

 

  Nothing much other than maybe door loom gets reported as an issue. 

Full Service History is good.  So what does it show, because Main Dealers do not do much.

Is it fixed oil and filter changes, or was it on variable?

Was the Brake Fluid changed in 2017, & 2019 or ever?

pollen filter 2016 & 2018,

Air filter changed in 2018 or ever.

Spark plugs at 4 years / 40,000 miles or ever.       

I assume as you're posting in the Fabia Mk2 section that it is indeed a late Mk2 Fabia rather than an early Mk3?

 

The Mk2s use the EA111 engine, which is camchain driven and can give issues.

 

The Mk3s use the EA211, which has a cambelt.

 

Have you driven it?  An 86hp Fabia will feel a much smaller, cheaper and slower car than a 1.8 L&K Octavia!  Or is it the 105hp version?

The 1.2TSI cam chain issues really are pre 2012 updates of the chain / tensioner. 

There may be some since, but not common, and if they were BRISKODA might be where you would read them.

 

PS

Anyone having had an Oil Burner 1.8 TSI which was a Cam Chain issue should know that speed means nothing when the car uses fuel and oil like a 2 stroke.

Edited 6 January, 20206 yr by Roottootemblowinootsoot

thanks all, I am pretty sure it is a late mk2 not an early mk3 as it has what I refer to as “The girly front end” with the indicator lights above the headlights. 
Ive not seen the vehicle in person yet, only the advert, but it reports a full Skoda service history so I assume whatever was required but I will look at the paperwork when I take a drive in the next few days and get a feel for the service history and what has been done. Mileage is 46k and it is apparently the 105bhp Tsi but I’d have to confirm

 

I know it is a step down from the Octavia but to be honest I’d rather have slower and reliable than 1L oil per 180 miles!

 

They also have a Passat and an Octavia diesel but both are higher mileage and my commute is now 5 miles a day most of the week, so a diesel concerns need with the dpf these days. But I’ll take a look in a day or two and see. 
 

I really wanted to know if there was anything specifically to look out for. I wish I’d asked before I bought the Octavia too, oh well live and learn. At least it happened within 30 days and still under warranty.

 

We have a 14 plate roomster, which is the same front end, it is ok size wise, certainly smaller than the octy though.

Best assume nothing with Servicing.  Full History might show what is done, and also what a owner never paid extra to have done.

Look at the Services and what is showing and also any Warranty Work the car might have had or Service Campaign work.

 

Check the 4 tyres, do they match, the windscreen is it chip free, even tiny ones. Is there a spare wheel and tool kit, etc etc.

Be sure on the 105 ps, there are mis-advertised cars about.

Yup, double checked, it is not the 105 but the 84.

grrrr

Edited 7 January, 20206 yr by dancingbear84

On 06/01/2020 at 09:13, dancingbear84 said:

After buying a 2011 1.8 Octavia and having enormous oil consumption, 1L per 180mile, the dealer is offering a replacement vehicle, either an Octavia 1.4 se on a 10 plate, which I didn’t like, but he has a fabia mk ii 1.2 se on a 14 plate. I previously had a 54 plate fabia vrs, and  we also have a 14 plate 1.6 diesel roomster, is there anything I really need to look out for on a 14 plate 1.2? Any advice would be great. It has full Skoda service history.

 

Check that the door open light comes on on the dash when opening each door (one at a time). If it doesn’t, a microlatch may be faulty. Not a big problem, but annoying and potentially a bargaining tool. 

Also, check the electric windows and mirrors work, as they can commonly have wires break. 

Finally, check that the ac fan works at each speed (when resistors break, they only work on certain speeds).

 

I’m assuming that it has the silver Skoda badge rather than the green one? 

Yup it is a silver badge, it is only front electric windows and I would check them anyway, but never thought of the doors or mirrors, that’s great advice. Funny you should mention the fan though, that happened on the roomster a few months after buying it. I guess it is a known failure point on these.

 

He has given another option of an 11 plate Octavia 1.8tsi dsg with 80k at the minute I think I’m leaning towards the Fabia to be honest. It’s not as nice a car as the Octavia internally, but it should be reliable and hopefully not an oiloholic or chain munching beast.

Just so you all know the outcome of this slightly sorry tale, I have taken the Fabia as a replacement.

It is a bit of a step down spec-wise, but to be honest It is no worse that the Roomster, certainly nothing a new headunit and a couple of parking sensors can't fix.

 

thanks for everyone's help

1 hour ago, dancingbear84 said:

Just so you all know the outcome of this slightly sorry tale, I have taken the Fabia as a replacement.

It is a bit of a step down spec-wise, but to be honest It is no worse that the Roomster, certainly nothing a new headunit and a couple of parking sensors can't fix.

 

thanks for everyone's help

 

I think cruise control can be retrofitted as well.

 

Enjoy your Fabia!

Unfortunately for me I think I may be looking to retro fit a number of things. First stop will be the scrap yard for a spare tyre, as good as the inflator rubbish is it wouldn’t have fixed this that happened to my last fabia after a meeting with a pot hole in the rain that I didn’t see. Then I will see how tricky it is to fit the sensors, my concern is the drilling of the bumper tbh

3 hours ago, dancingbear84 said:

Unfortunately for me I think I may be looking to retro fit a number of things. First stop will be the scrap yard for a spare tyre, as good as the inflator rubbish is it wouldn’t have fixed this that happened to my last fabia after a meeting with a pot hole in the rain that I didn’t see. Then I will see how tricky it is to fit the sensors, my concern is the drilling of the bumper tbh

 

I agree, I’ve not attempted the parking sensors yet, and I’m not even sure I’d trust Skoda to drill the holes properly. 

I think some of the guides on here have measurements though

From my experience of retro fitting front parking sensors to my 2011 S4, the inner face of the bumpers should/could have an X moulded into them to mark the sensor locations, annoyingly these Xs are "proud" and not "recessed" so getting a pilot drill bang on the centre of the X is not so easy for perfectionists!

 

To do this job correctly, you should always aim to punch these holes out from the outside in as that allows a small area of the outer surface to "line" the hole for the sensor.

 

I "scatter cashed" this task and bought a kit with 2 sizes of punches and clamping pieces to hold the sensor mounting brackets in place while the bonding adhesive cured - the end result looked just like factory fit, so I was happy enough as a "first timer" doing this upgrade.

 

I think that it was B6 or so VW Passat sensor outer mounting brackets that I bought to mount the sensors into - their position on the bumper determines if you need flat or slightly curved ones, also I bonded them on using an Araldite twin pack which was a kind of structural adhesive, ie high strength as I didn't want to have to repeat gluing them later on, I bought that glue from Halfords. I painted the sensors using genuine VW Group Twin Spray Kit which costs about £15 (this is an up to date price as I needed to replace a mirror cap on my wife's Polo!). Not our fault, just an older than me even gent who thought driving on my side of the road was okay when passing cyclists - except I was there when he pulled out!

Genuine kit

 

https://www.cars-equipment.com/www/en/shop/skoda/oem-bea700001-rear-parking-sensors-fabia/#prettyPhoto

 

OEM kit

 

https://www.cars-equipment.com/en/shop/park-assistent-sets-kits-8/oem-rear-parktronic-for-fabia-2/#prettyPhoto

 

3 hours ago, UrbanPanzer said:

Genuine kit

 

https://www.cars-equipment.com/www/en/shop/skoda/oem-bea700001-rear-parking-sensors-fabia/#prettyPhoto

 

OEM kit

 

https://www.cars-equipment.com/en/shop/park-assistent-sets-kits-8/oem-rear-parktronic-for-fabia-2/#prettyPhoto

 

this is a legitimate question, how is this any better than 4 sensors and a box from eBay for £15? Other than having the display on the screen, and being OEM. I did also debate trawling the scrapyards round my way for a fabia or roomster for a spare wheel and maybe getting lucky and being able to remove the sensors if they were fitted?

11 hours ago, rum4mo said:

From my experience of retro fitting front parking sensors to my 2011 S4, the inner face of the bumpers should/could have an X moulded into them to mark the sensor locations, annoyingly these Xs are "proud" and not "recessed" so getting a pilot drill bang on the centre of the X is not so easy for perfectionists!

 

To do this job correctly, you should always aim to punch these holes out from the outside in as that allows a small area of the outer surface to "line" the hole for the sensor.

 

I "scatter cashed" this task and bought a kit with 2 sizes of punches and clamping pieces to hold the sensor mounting brackets in place while the bonding adhesive cured - the end result looked just like factory fit, so I was happy enough as a "first timer" doing this upgrade.

 

I think that it was B6 or so VW Passat sensor outer mounting brackets that I bought to mount the sensors into - their position on the bumper determines if you need flat or slightly curved ones, also I bonded them on using an Araldite twin pack which was a kind of structural adhesive, ie high strength as I didn't want to have to repeat gluing them later on, I bought that glue from Halfords. I painted the sensors using genuine VW Group Twin Spray Kit which costs about £15 (this is an up to date price as I needed to replace a mirror cap on my wife's Polo!). Not our fault, just an older than me even gent who thought driving on my side of the road was okay when passing cyclists - except I was there when he pulled out!

Thanks for that, it is really useful, as we also have a roomster, I might just nick the factory fit ones from there and tell SWMBO that they broke and fill in the holes with plastic shims covered in black sharpie 😀 

 

I guess the answer would be to use a really small drill bit to make a pilot hole in the center of the X if it has one for punching through correctly?

 

hope the guy in the wrong didn’t do too much damage, the only problem I have seen with mine so far is a slight scrape to the mirror housing, no big deal really but not something that’ll buff out. I’m certainly not going to be fixing it any time soon.

 

On the last service apparently the main dealer stated that it needed 4 new tyres and alignment, quoted hankooks at the very reasonable (ha ha) price of 720 inc VAT for the tyres and alignment. I can see why the previous owner rejected the work 

Yes, then if you buy the punch tool listed in the second listing it will do the job okay.

 

My wife's Polo probably got the usual bits damaged, the trim cap vanished though it probably ended up in many pieces, but I could not spot it anywhere - even asked the old guy if it came in through his smashed window! The other bits that tend to get wrecked are the LED indicator assembly and the frame assembly - that bit only costs about £10 from VW Group, the LED indicator assembly costs about £40, just under £100 for all the stuff needed to sort it out, I had estimated it would cost round about £450 so I got a pleasant surprise, a good enough surprise for me to keep telling my insurer and the old guy's insurer to clear off and let me fix it properly in my time without faffing around booking/driving it in, collecting it and then finding a crap job had been done using special lookie likie insurance claims quality parts.

 

Retro fitting parking sensors to operate like factory fit does get very expensive, I think that all VW Group marques sell what used to be Cobra but is now branded as Vodaphone stand alone parking sensor kits - these look like factory fit  units but only provide a buzzer type warning in use and don't integrate into the car's infotainment system, which might be all you want/need. I just had to get mine to be like factory fit - so paid the price for that even though I did all the fitting!

22 hours ago, dancingbear84 said:

this is a legitimate question, how is this any better than 4 sensors and a box from eBay for £15? Other than having the display on the screen, and being OEM. I did also debate trawling the scrapyards round my way for a fabia or roomster for a spare wheel and maybe getting lucky and being able to remove the sensors if they were fitted?

 

Well, I think you get what you pay for as with anything. For me, If I was going through the hassle of doing it, I would want it factory looking / working.

 

Must admit, I fitted a "cheap" set about 20 Years ago to my in laws range rover, it worked fine, just had the most annoying "bleep" and as mentioned below couldnt hear it if the radio was on.

 

The link also shows an OEM verison, which will be as good, is cheaper, but will still work with the other systems in the car. most importantly mute the stereo etc when reverse is selected.

 

Really is personal choice tbh.

 

 

To be fair I’ll probably wait and buy the genuine/oem kit rather than a 15 quid cheapo one as it really does make sense. I’m just impatient and miss the feature. I guess I will also need to get it coded in with vcds too if it’s a genuine kit?

On 11/01/2020 at 22:27, dancingbear84 said:

 

On the last service apparently the main dealer stated that it needed 4 new tyres and alignment, quoted hankooks at the very reasonable (ha ha) price of 720 inc VAT for the tyres and alignment. I can see why the previous owner rejected the work 

 

Hmm, is that a potential problem? Was this after the previous owner scrubbed through a set of tyres. Might be worth finding a good 4 wheel alignment garage.

 

A good thing is the EA111 engine was pretty sorted by 2014 - just make sure you do regular oil changes(not long life servicing - go for fixed) to look after the cam chain etc.

 

 

 

Edited 12 January, 20206 yr by bigjohn

1 hour ago, dancingbear84 said:

To be fair I’ll probably wait and buy the genuine/oem kit rather than a 15 quid cheapo one as it really does make sense. I’m just impatient and miss the feature. I guess I will also need to get it coded in with vcds too if it’s a genuine kit?

 

Yes it will need coding to say the PDC is fitted.

23 minutes ago, bigjohn said:

 

Hmm, is that a potential problem? Was this after the previous owner scrubbed through a set of tyres. Might be worth finding a good 4 wheel alignment garage.

 

A good thing is the EA111 engine was pretty sorted by 2014 - just make sure you do regular oil changes(not long life servicing - go for fixed) to look after the cam chain etc.

 

 

 

The tyres all look to be ok to me, I think it was an example of main dealers looking to make their money. I have a local Indy tyre place near me, that could do 4 conti eco contacts for less than 400 fully fitted, another local Indy tyres place does good wheel alignment for 35 quid, all in with premium tyres it would be under 420. If I went more mid range it’d be nearer the 250 mark. A long way from the 700 odd the main dealer suggested! I thought Hankook were a mid range tyre but could be wrong.
 

It looks like it was on variable servicing, presumably all I need to do is change the oil annually and then all is good. It won’t matter that it was variable and is now annual? I will still use the 503 spec oil (or whatever it should be for variable) just change it annually.

 

Do the sparks need to be checked, I can’t see anything suggesting they have been done, so may check with the main dealer to see, given that time it was under some form of warranty service thing it’s all been done my them. If not I’ll get that done in the next month of so too.
 

now it’s mine I doubt it’ll ever see the main dealer again in it’s (hopefully long) lifetime, I can do a fair bit myself, and if I can’t I’ll go to my local trusted garage

Spark plugs important on tsi engines- probably time to treat it to a new set.

 

When changing oil/filter - Always fit Original Equipment filter as on the EA111 they have a funny valve arrangement (no drain back and oil release on removal). One mistake is to leave behind part of the rubber seal when fitting a new filter, or overtightening it - either issue can cause oil pressure issues which could damage the engine. Also just to make sure - always worth covering the alternator just in case to avoid a potential oil bath (should be ok - but!!!!)

 

 

 

Yeah that's what I thought, just figured I'd check the main dealer hadn't done them in the last 6k or so, as I suspect that they would/could/should have done.

I'll not be attempting any oil changes until I get a service manual at least