Hello,

                     I  put my  Fabia combi into my normal independent yesterday for the 4 year service. When they phoned to say it was ready they said they had 2 advisories to report.  This had never happened before. i have a slight leak from the waterpump and I have a  slight rumble from a wheel bearing.  The car  has done 23600 miles. It was originally on variable servicing and was changed to annual when  I  bought it. It has been serviced 3 times,  April 2019(  Skoda garage)  April 2020 and  yesterday( both at my independent)  Yes, I do know those particular  items are both wear and tear items but even so, beginning to fail at 23000 miles???

             

                Neither fault will improve of course, they will only get worse.  The bearing actually worries me than the pump because I  can top up the coolant easily enough,  I  have the correct coolant concentrate and the level isnt dropping at the moment.  Left unattended the bearing will get so bad that it could stop that wheel from revolving  and that is an accident in the making.  I trust my garage completely and do not believe they would try to pull a fast one on me.  I   did think of  part exchanging it  but theres nothing out there that  I  like and is within my price range so  I  will get my independent to do both jobs.  They will be getting the parts from  TPS  so the parts will be of decent quality.  Theirs is the cheapest price out of 3, Skoda want £ 710 for both jobs and the local VAG  independent want £698 and my indie wants £600.    i will run it to the end of the year and replace it then by when, hopefully, the restrictions will have eased and  I  have more money in the pot.    I have emailed  Skoda customer services on such poor performance from these parts so they know the situation and will read any response they make with great interest.     I  have never had a water pump fail before on any car in over 50 years of motoring and only once had a wheel bearing fail and believe me  this car is a heck of a  lot newer than those  I  used to run!

 

                    Apologies for the rant.  What  I want to ask is have any other  Briskodians had any issues with wheel bearings or water pumps on their not so old  vehicles?  I seem to remember a thread here on       Briskoda about a recall campaign on faulty waterpumps but  I cant remember whether  Mark 3  Fabias were affected or not.   I  havent seen anything on the wheel bearing issue but if anyone has please post.

 

                       Thanks for reading.

The water pump / overheating thread is pinned at the top of this section.  It is relevant to 1.4TDI 3 cylinder Euro 6 engines. First the Service campaign / workshop action but never a Recall was to change the coolant type.   Nothing to do with TSI,s 1.0 or 1.2

Wheel bearings seem to have a wide variation of quality these days. One of the guys I work with had to replace a bearing on his Golf GTD last year which was four years old and similar mileage to your Fabia. At least they've made them easier to change, but that's maybe part of the problem? 

 

As for your water pump, you'd be getting it replaced next year with your timing belt anyway wouldn't you? 

13 hours ago, HeavyMetalRich said:

As for your water pump, you'd be getting it replaced next year with your timing belt anyway wouldn't you? 

 

 

On 22/04/2021 at 13:39, hetty1 said:

i have a slight leak from the waterpump

 

It's a Petrol TSI engine.

Please note there are TWO water pumps on this engine.

Which one is leaking?

 

The mechanical one is on the opposite side from the timing belt so is not touched when the timing belt is changed.

It is integrated in with the thermostat housing and is on the gearbox side of the engine.

 

The other is electrically driven and is at the front of the engine.

 

On 22/04/2021 at 13:39, hetty1 said:

I have a  slight rumble from a wheel bearing

 

Is the noise the tyres?

 

Thanks, AG Falco

23 hours ago, AGFalco said:

It's a Petrol TSI engine.

Please note there are TWO water pumps on this engine.

Which one is leaking?

 

The mechanical one is on the opposite side from the timing belt so is not touched when the timing belt is changed.

It is integrated in with the thermostat housing and is on the gearbox side of the engine.

 

The other is electrically driven and is at the front of the engine.

 

Thanks, AG Falco

 

My apologies, thanks for pointing me straight @AGFalco.

 

I'll be honest, I haven't had any dealings with the older 1.2 & 1.4 TSis so didn't realise the mechanical pump was on the other side.

 

Most of the Fabias and Octavias here are diesel or newer petrols. I have seen an MPi timing belt being done on an Up and the belt on the other side of the engine was replaced too. Are the four cylinder engines a similar set up?

 

  Hello,

          T his an update on what has happened since.  I  did contact  Skoda customer services and they couldnt help. They essentially  said that they couldnt help financially as the car had been serviced outside the  Skoda network.  I  also contacted the Skoda dealership  I bought the car from.  They  did make an offer, the price of the bearing and the water pump was reduced from £710 to £449  BUT  they also required me to have the car serviced there only days after having it serviced at my independent.   They said they would only get financial  support from  Skoda if the car was serviced there and the diagnosis of the 2 faults was made by them.   The price of the service was reduced by about 8%. There was also talk of a £65 diagnostics fee but that eventually got subsumed in their reduced price.      No way  was  I  going to pay again just days later and have parts like  Castrol Edge oil plus  filter and spark plugs get discarded, that is just crazy to even contemplate.  I paid £241 last week and they wanted another  £299 so   £540 for a service.    I would still  have been over £100 out of pocket when  I  totted it all up even after their offer on the two parts. So it wasnt  just that it made no sense, it didnt stack up financially.  I also asked the garage if they could make a purely goodwill payment, nothing to do with  Skoda  UK,  just a goodwill payment from a garage to a customer.  They wouldnt do that either, everything had to be done through  Skoda  UK. 

 

                  So  I got absolutely nowhere.   It was all done without anyone  losing their temper( including me!) but  I did find the attitude of both  Skoda  UK and the  Skoda garage to be very intransigent,  " Rules are rules"  and there was no room at all for individuals to do anything other than observe the rules.  Thats the update done,  the car goes in tomorrow to my independent to get the 2 jobs done.  Would  I buy another  Skoda again?    Probably not.

On 25/04/2021 at 11:13, AGFalco said:

It's a Petrol TSI engine.

Please note there are TWO water pumps on this engine.

Which one is leaking?

 

The mechanical one is on the opposite side from the timing belt so is not touched when the timing belt is changed.

It is integrated in with the thermostat housing and is on the gearbox side of the engine.

 

The other is electrically driven and is at the front of the engine.

 

 

Thanks, AG Falco

  To AG Falco,

 

          Apologies for not replying sooner.  Regarding noise and the tyres, the tyres are not making any more oise than they ever have, nothing untoward there.  I asked the mechanic at the independent which pump he saw leaking and it wasnt the mechanical pump. it was the electrically driven one.   I could be unlucky and have the mechanical one fail of course after tomorrow but thats out of my control completely and what will happen will happen......   

     

             Thanks for posting.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On 28/04/2021 at 18:34, hetty1 said:

it was the electrically driven one

 

This I think is easier to replace as it is on the front of the engine just above the oil filter.

It is not connected to the cam belt at all.

 

Thanks, AG Falco

On 28/04/2021 at 17:27, hetty1 said:I also asked the garage if they could make a purely goodwill payment, nothing to do with  Skoda  UK,  just a goodwill payment from a garage to a customer.  They wouldnt do that either, everything had to be done through  Skoda  UK. 

   So  I got absolutely nowhere.   It was all done without anyone  losing their temper( including me!) but  I did find the attitude of both  Skoda  UK and the  Skoda garage to be very intransigent,  " Rules are rules"  and there was no room at all for individuals to do anything other than observe the rules.  Thats the update done,  the car goes in tomorrow to my independent to get the 2 jobs done.  Would  I buy another  Skoda again?    Probably not.

Just one question if I may, why on earth would you expect a dealership to make a good will contribution to your repair costs?. You have stated you don’t use them for service. This is something that I see a lot working in a dealership and it baffles me why you would expect a dealership after sales department to assist in paying for repairs when you are not a customer of that department. 

  Andymod,

 

      Thats a reasonable  point to make.  However, it does not address the underlying issues here.  The water pump would not have been serviced whether the car was serviced at an independent or at a Skoda dealership.  It doesnt get serviced; period.  The same applies to the wheel bearing. Both those parts were either substandard when fitted new or were fitted poor;y or both. the car had only done 23600 miles and neither should have failed at such a low mileage as you will agree.  That is, of course, why the Skoda garage offered a reduced price on the repairs even though, as  I said in my post, they knew the car had not been serviced there.  Incidentally,  I do know how the motor trade works,   i was a used car salesperson at one point in my career. 

@hetty1From the past stories over your last Skoda then this one it looks like if you did not have bad luck you would have no luck.

 

The issue with car salesmen or women is they might be salespeople but that does not mean they know anything about cars or car maintenance.

 

You bought a used car and got an Approved Used car warranty even though the Dealership or you have no idea what the previous owners had done.

Then only you and the place you used knows what they did.

 

As it is you have ended up with a low mileage car that really should be cheap enough to be given servicing and maintenance long into the future if it is done properly.

If you worked in sales then you will have absolutely no idea how 90% of a dealership works. Both items reported at your service were described as a slight leak and slight play. Would be interesting just how slight.

 Andymod,

                    How can you possibly make such a claim?   90% is a figure you have conjured up, its pure fiction.   I  trust my independent completely,  they didnt put me under any pressure, it was my decision alone to have the work done.  Yes, "slight"  is not quantifiable, they certainly wouldnt get better, we can agree on that much? They might have survived for quite a while or they might not.  Neither the indie mechanic or you can honestly say how long such parts will last post diagnosis and it could be that   I could have delayed getting the work done and thats just unknowable.  I actually do have a good understanding of how a car dealership works,  i have friends and family involved in the trade. Some are mechanics, one or two are general managers and some are in sales.   You have made no comment at all on the kernel of this , that neither of those parts are service items irrespective of where the car was serviced:' indie or Skoda dealership and even slight leaks or slight play are simply unacceptable in a car less than 4 years old with mileage of under 24000 miles.  Why else do you think that the  Skoda dealership even offered a reduction on their normal prices when  I  i had told them upfront that the car had not been serviced by a Skoda dealership??  I have owned immumerable cars and have driven over one million miles and  I have never once had even a slight leak on a waterpump reported and just once have  i had a failing wg=heel bearing diagnosed.

 

              I  will not be responding to any more of your posts as you clearly have a prior agenda and are not interested in reasoned debate about an issue but only in making unsubstantiated claims .

 

          

 

19 hours ago, hetty1 said:

 Andymod,

                    How can you possibly make such a claim?   90% is a figure you have conjured up, its pure fiction.   I  trust my independent completely,  they didnt put me under any pressure, it was my decision alone to have the work done.  Yes, "slight"  is not quantifiable, they certainly wouldnt get better, we can agree on that much? They might have survived for quite a while or they might not.  Neither the indie mechanic or you can honestly say how long such parts will last post diagnosis and it could be that   I could have delayed getting the work done and thats just unknowable.  I actually do have a good understanding of how a car dealership works,  i have friends and family involved in the trade. Some are mechanics, one or two are general managers and some are in sales.   You have made no comment at all on the kernel of this , that neither of those parts are service items irrespective of where the car was serviced:' indie or Skoda dealership and even slight leaks or slight play are simply unacceptable in a car less than 4 years old with mileage of under 24000 miles.  Why else do you think that the  Skoda dealership even offered a reduction on their normal prices when  I  i had told them upfront that the car had not been serviced by a Skoda dealership??  I have owned immumerable cars and have driven over one million miles and  I have never once had even a slight leak on a waterpump reported and just once have  i had a failing wg=heel bearing diagnosed.

 

              I  will not be responding to any more of your posts as you clearly have a prior agenda and are not interested in reasoned debate about an issue but only in making unsubstantiated claims .

 

          

 

Calm down all that underlining will give you a repetitive strain injury?.

 I  wasnt going to demean myself by responding  to any more of your posts which are meant only to mock and to belittle.   However, I  must reply to your latest offering which may give you twisted pleasure but doesnt move the discussion on at all. The underlining was an error, I  didnt check it before  I  posted.  All of my points above are valid, you havent addressed any of them.  I  joined Briskoda because it seemed to be a good idea to get thoughts from other  Fabia owners on issues that were new to me and  I still think that was a good idea.  I should have realised that some people do not want to share let alone help others, they engage in trolling for their own amusement,  I originally posted on the unexpected problems because  I genuinely thought they should not have happened on a car not 4 years old and under 24000 miles and  I   still  think that. 

 

       Take the trouble to  actually read what   I  said but please if you do reply only do so  constructively. 

 

            

You have posted numerous times about your Fabia problems but my point still stands, why would you expect Skoda or the dealer to repair your car when you are not a customer?. Just another forum member who wants to complain and belittle the dealerships because they don’t want to pay for your repairs. It’s the poor staff at the dealership I feel for when they see you walking in

 You and  I clearly are at opposite ends of the spectrum. You clearly think dealerships get a bad time from people  like me    I am making the assumption that you are a master technician with  a  Skoda dealership from your email address so you naturally take the side of the  Skoda dealership, thats only  natural.   There are other ways to view this however.   The staff at the dealership certainly didnt flinch or make the sign of the cross(!) etc when  I  bought the car from them   and quite a few thousand pounds changed hands.  I  was certainly welcome then,  I  was certainly a customer then.  When did  I stop being a customer?  The minute  I started using an independent for servicing?   I am sure the staff at the dealership  are all decent people   BUT  they charge a lot more than my independent does to fit the same  genuine Skoda parts which is why  I do not use them for servicing.   You are saying that  I am not a customer therefore, ergo,   I  have no standing with them and thats why they wont pay for my repairs.  You are not taking any account of the fact that my car is serviced with only  Skoda genuine parts so its not inferior parts that are the issue here.  Its purely, according to you, that I havent had the car serviced by the dealership that accounts for them not wanting to pay for my repairs .  Its nothing to do with the car being serviced correctly with only genuine parts being used. Its a matter of finance only.  neither my independent or the dealership will have specifically serviced either of the 2 parts in question. Essentially,  you are saying that redress/support only comes into it if you have paid more to have your car serviced at a dealership even though the quality  of the labour and parts is exactly the same as if an independent had done the service.

 

             I  believe that your partisan approach has prevented you from giving my view a fair and objective assessment.  For my part  I  can see where you are coming from.  I reject  completely  your assertion that am being unreasonable with the dealership.   You are saying that my car must be serviced by a dealership to get any chance of redress/support when parts fail .  That used to be the case with new cars when manufacturers insisted their cars had to be servived at a relevant dealership but that changed. As you will know, as long as an independent garage is registered for  VAT  and only  Skoda genuine parts are used the warranty remains valid.  That change may well not suit the manufacturers or their franchised dealerships but it most certainly benefited the  customer .

 

           I have not changed my view on this one bit and i dont suppose you have.  Lets agree to disagree.  OK  with you?

 

 

You are correct I am a Master tech but no longer at a Skoda dealership, Now at a VW dealer.The Goodwill system which dealers have access to is designed primarily in situations like yours. It’s a range of tools to help loyal customers. 
The VW system is a little different to Skoda but the point I am making is it’s a tool to help loyal customers, not people who decide to have their vehicles maintained outside of the network regardless of where the parts are sourced. 

 

Andymod,

 

               Thanks for that information, that had never been spelt out before.

@hetty1, I think that you have missed a trick there, as with most things, there are no "free lunches", saving money by getting repair and servicing work done outside of any marque's dealership circle will always end up saving you money if nothing else goes wrong, but when it does you will be on your own basically, I've never ever been in doubt about this and know I run the risk of missing out on out of warranty monitory help, but it suits me.