My little Fabia recently failed it's MOT, and after nigh on 80k miles the cause of this (among other more easily rectifiable defects) was "Suspension arm pin or bush likely to become detached Nearside Front Inner" and similar for the offside. 

 

I have heard this is not an expensive thing to fix and an common issue around the 70-80k mark, and was hoping someone could advise me of a) if this is something I can do myself with a few tools OR how much I would roughly be looking at to have it done at a garage, and b) which parts I need/part numbers. I'd prefer to source them myself than risk being shafted by a stealer and their hefty mark up. I am in London so understand labour rates are likely to be higher than elsewhere in the UK. I have a garage up in North Yorkshire but don't feel it's safe to drive her 200 miles to have it done.

 

Another major defect was "exhaust has major leak of exhaust gases Central Front". Any idea if this requires a whole new exhaust system or if I can again source a part myself and have a garage do it?

 

Any advice greatly appreciated, hoping to get her back on the road ASAP as a car is more useful than ever at present!

 

All the best

It would help if you could tell us which model Fabia you have, I couldn't find "little" listed as an official uk model.

Exhaust likely to be the flexible coupling and the console bushes are not really a DIY fix either.

15 minutes ago, sepulchrave said:

It would help if you could tell us which model Fabia you have, I couldn't find "little" listed as an official uk model.

Exhaust likely to be the flexible coupling and the console bushes are not really a DIY fix either.

 

It's a Fabia Classic 12V Htp. 1198cc 64BHP

 

Ideally would like to buy the parts myself. I have seen tutorials on YouTube of people changing the front arm, but maybe it's more effort than it's worth.

 

 

1 hour ago, Geoff_Linton said:

 

It's a Fabia Classic 12V Htp. 1198cc 64BHP

 

Ideally would like to buy the parts myself. I have seen tutorials on YouTube of people changing the front arm, but maybe it's more effort than it's worth.

 

 

 

Unfortunately changing the front arm will achieve nothing since the bushes are fitted to a separate cast alloy assembly called a console which is in turn bolted to the subframe, you need a special tool to remove the bush and fit a new one.

2 hours ago, sepulchrave said:

 

Unfortunately changing the front arm will achieve nothing since the bushes are fitted to a separate cast alloy assembly called a console which is in turn bolted to the subframe, you need a special tool to remove the bush and fit a new one.

 

Yeah I just realised after a little research i'll have to remove one of the bushes as it's attached to the console. I was hoping I could just buy a new front arm with bushings already fitted and just swap it out, but of course nothing is that simple. 

 

Any idea of how long it should take a garage/how much is a fair price? Same for exhaust.

No idea, I recently paid a garage £220 cash to replace my clutch assembly, I supplied the parts because I'm picky about these things.

As I understand it the exhaust flexible coupling is part of the manicat assembly on a 1.2 and that's an expensive part. I have previously removed console bushes myself using a reciprocating saw to cut out the centre, then splitting the nylon sleeve and drifting them out but it was a lot of aggro.

4 minutes ago, sepulchrave said:

As I understand it the exhaust flexible coupling is part of the manicat assembly

No, just bolts to the bottom of it. Front section is only a few tens of pounds, if it's like ours. 

 

What year is the car?

1 hour ago, Wino said:

What year is the car?

 

It's a 55 plate. 

Depending on whether it was built before or after November 2005 it'll either be a plain pipe with the flexi in it, or have a small resonator box on it, as per illustrations 3 or 3A here:

https://skoda.7zap.com/en/cz/fabia/fab/2006-453/2/253-253050/#3

It'll be a BME engine code.

 

GSF or Eurocarparts will have cheap aftermarket parts that'll do the job, though they may not fit quite as nicely/well as genuine.

 

First step is have a look underneath and see which type it is (with/without resonator as part of front pipe).

 

Edited 25 March, 20206 yr by Wino

Other thing to do is clarify where it's leaking. "Central front" could mean the middle of the front pipe, or the front of the middle section?

11 hours ago, Wino said:

Depending on whether it was built before or after November 2005 it'll either be a plain pipe with the flexi in it, or have a small resonator box on it, as per illustrations 3 or 3A here:

https://skoda.7zap.com/en/cz/fabia/fab/2006-453/2/253-253050/#3

It'll be a BME engine code.

 

GSF or Eurocarparts will have cheap aftermarket parts that'll do the job, though they may not fit quite as nicely/well as genuine.

 

First step is have a look underneath and see which type it is (with/without resonator as part of front pipe).

 

 

Thanks gents for all the information, it's invaluable.

 

I'm seeing that 55 plate cars were built from September 2005 to February 2006, so it should have the resonator box. From memory (car not currently parked at my house) I've seen the resonator before when looking underneath, and remember it being badly rusted. Would you recommend a whole new exhaust system or is some rust inevitable? 

 

The reality is the car is probably worth no more than £600-700 if that, scratched and battered. I would love to keep it as a runner for knocking about in London but if costs get beyond several hundred quid it barely seems worth it. At only 80k miles though it would be a shame to scrap her.

Correction. What I saw rusted was actually the muffler, right toward the rear of the car. Excuse my idiocy, i'm a relative novice when it comes to cars.

11 hours ago, Wino said:

Depending on whether it was built before or after November 2005 it'll either be a plain pipe with the flexi in it, or have a small resonator box on it, as per illustrations 3 or 3A here:

https://skoda.7zap.com/en/cz/fabia/fab/2006-453/2/253-253050/#3

It'll be a BME engine code.

 

GSF or Eurocarparts will have cheap aftermarket parts that'll do the job, though they may not fit quite as nicely/well as genuine.

 

First step is have a look underneath and see which type it is (with/without resonator as part of front pipe).

 

And i've also realised Sept 05-Feb 06 doesn't tell me when exactly it was built. I'll have a look today and report back.

Phone the place that did the MOT and ask for clarification on which section of exhaust was leaking, also ask them if the wishbone bush/pin fails were just the bushes being 'shagged' or if they think the wishbone pins are also corroded beyond saving. Usually just the former, and the wishbones can be re-used.

 

Update.

 

Managed to find a garage under the railway arches down here, and got both the console bushes changed today. I took along two new wishbones with bushes that I had sourced from Euro Car Parts but upon inspection of the existing wishbone it was deemed unnecessary to change them as the bushes were in reasonable condition. 

 

The bushes set me back £20 for two and it took the guy just over 2 hours to do both sides, including getting the old bushes out the new ones back in, something he did with relative ease with the use of a vice and some brute force.

 

He also identified the part of the exhaust that was blowing as the flexi pipe, but instead of buying this piece individually, recommended I buy the whole part as while it may be slightly more expensive, it would save in the labour costs as there would be no need to cut and weld the piece in. Does this sound about right? Any idea exactly which part he is referring to?

 

Appreciate all the advice given previously!

 

 

Good news about the console bushes; which type of replacement bush did you buy?

 

The flexi is in the front exhaust section (3 or 3A in the parts diagram previously posted), and is the usual first place for trouble, because it flexes (extends and shrinks in length) every time the engine rocks on its mounts, e.g. when changing gear or accelerating/braking.  Did you establish whether it is the simple 'boxless' front pipe type or the one with a resonator towards the rear end of it?

 

Edited 30 March, 20206 yr by Wino

These are the bushes I got: https://www.eurocarparts.com/p/starline-control-arm-wishbone-bush-610442529

They were the ones recommended to me by the member of staff and seem to be generic across the Polo/Fabia/Ibiza range.

 

As for the exhaust, the mechanic advised me to go for something like this, without a silencer/resonator, https://www.eurocarparts.com/p/klarius-downpipe-front-pipe-704790281 as it will be a much easier than replacing the flexi separately.

 

I just want to do enough to get it through it's MOT, so I am quite ok with using aftermarket parts. 

Those bushes should be fine.

Your mechanic seems to have advised you well on the exhaust, as long as it fits, it'll be fine.

 

I discovered that the flexi is leaking on my newly-acquired Polo yesterday, and it has both cats as part of the same pipe, so I think I'll be replacing just the flexi, no matter how long it takes me!  Might be a good time for me to learn to weld...

 

2 hours ago, Geoff_Linton said:

I took along two new wishbones with bushes that I had sourced from Euro Car Parts but upon inspection of the existing wishbone it was deemed unnecessary to change them as the bushes were in reasonable condition. 

 

I'm baffled by this. You had bought two new wishbones and they didn't bother fitting them even though they took the old ones off to change the bushes?

So he could take them back for a refund?

Just now, Wino said:

So he could take them back for a refund?

 

Ah I see

50 minutes ago, Wino said:

So he could take them back for a refund?

 

Yeah the existing ones weren't too badly worn so I took the parts back. At £50 per side I was more than happy to do so! 

 

You can see the old bush in the photo below and then again side by side with it's successor; this was the nearside and the worse of the two. 

 

I'm amazed at the difference it has made to the ride, the steering feels tighter and more responsive and it's eliminated the nasty clunking that would occur when braking at low speeds. I had no idea they had gotten so bad or I would have replaced them earlier! 

1 hour ago, Wino said:

I discovered that the flexi is leaking on my newly-acquired Polo yesterday, and it has both cats as part of the same pipe, so I think I'll be replacing just the flexi, no matter how long it takes me!  Might be a good time for me to learn to weld...

 

 

Best of luck, i've always wanted to learn how to weld. I live opposite Blackwall Basin in London, and there's a chap in the harbour who owns a retired tug boat that he keeps tied up among the residential moorings, and he has been welding away on the thing for nearly a week now. It's blindingly bright even in the daytime, but I love sound of the welding torch and associated sparks, it's like a firework display at times!

Geoff, next time those bushes fail MOT, go out and buy some Polyflex bushes. Once upon a time ,it was the horror of Metalistic bushes( steel outer with a rubber filing). My Fabia had similar ( and possibly so do others ,where the metal outer  is replaced with plastic, and it can be removed with a tap. FIT poly flex ,pay once for fitting and forget for life of car.

^ You mean Powerflex?

Edited 30 March, 20206 yr by TMB