Hi,

I have a fabia estate diesel eco (I think 2010)

 The catalytic converter needs replacing. Skoda garage has quoted £1200 to replace. I’m wondering if this is something that I could do myself or get cheaper elsewhere? Any advice welcome.

 Thanks

Ps. I’ve tried another garage but they said the part wasn’t available in the ‘aftermarket’

How has the cat been damaged and what are the symptoms please?

Who has deemed the cat is no good ? my old Fabia had the original cat for11 years and still was ok until car was written off after an accident, if you need a price for a cat try Bosal online exhaust, it was the only place i could find a replacement exhaust as most motor factors could not get the right bits for the estate model, price wise they were very good if i remember  the cat for my mk2 Fabia diesel was just under £300 and the rest of the exhaust with clamps and brackets was £154 but that did not include any fitting which i did myself

Thanks for the replies. I’m getting white smoke when starting the car and a slight hissing sound. Skoda garage said it’s the cat needs replacing. 
 

Not sure how it got damaged and not sure how to check myself.

13 minutes ago, junglejim01 said:

Thanks for the replies. I’m getting white smoke when starting the car and a slight hissing sound. Skoda garage said it’s the cat needs replacing. 
 

Not sure how it got damaged and not sure how to check myself.

 

I'd get a second opinion if I were you, take it to an independent VW specialist and let them take a look.

Garage said it was blocked.

4 minutes ago, sepulchrave said:

 

I'd get a second opinion if I were you, take it to an independent VW specialist and let them take a look.

Thanks that sounds worth doing.

1 minute ago, junglejim01 said:

Garage said it was blocked.

Thanks that sounds worth doing.

 

It's a crazy price, a grand plus VAT, it smacks of laziness, they don't really know what's up with it but they will fix it if you'll wear a silly bill.

2 hours ago, junglejim01 said:

I’m getting white smoke when starting the car and a slight hissing sound. Skoda garage said it’s the cat needs replacing

I'm almost certain they're mistaken, or even actively lying. The usual cause of white smoke on a cold start is bad glow plugs. As others, avoid the main stealer and get an independent to check the glow plugs.

Many moons ago when I had my Audi A8, it had 2 cats (V8) and one went down, or began to rattle.....Audi price back then was over £750, so I searched and found a replacement for over half the cost from here.

 

Seems they do one for the Fabia "if" you need one...

 

https://www.bmcatalysts.co.uk/catalogue/?search=1&search-location=1&keyword=&search-make=SKODA&search-model=FABIA&search-engine=1.4&search-fuel=

Telling us your engine code would help us know what we're dealing with. Look for it on your build sticker in the boot, or the letters in front of the engine number on the cambelt cover sticker.

Edited 11 September, 20214 yr by Wino

A blocked catastrophic convertor will result in a huge drop in power, an inability to rev or boost, you can often hear the gases straining to escape like a potato stuffed up an exhaust pipe, often it will blow a pipe off the EGR circuit or a pressure sensor which would make a hissing noise, white smoke? I very much doubt it.

 

I had one block on a Galaxy due to an incompetent warranty repair where on removing the gearbox they managed to stretch & break several cables including the Lambda sensor, it was running on a default map and back then (95) did not go into limp mode or bring up EML lights but the default over-rich fuelling instead of Lambda 1.0 blocked the catastrophic convertor.

 

So whilst when operating correctly they normally outlast the life of a vehicle these days a fault can quickly see them off.

28 minutes ago, J.R. said:

A blocked catastrophic convertor will result in a huge drop in power, an inability to rev or boost, you can often hear the gases straining to escape like a potato stuffed up an exhaust pipe, often it will blow a pipe off the EGR circuit or a pressure sensor which would make a hissing noise, white smoke? I very much doubt it.

 

I had one block on a Galaxy due to an incompetent warranty repair where on removing the gearbox they managed to stretch & break several cables including the Lambda sensor, it was running on a default map and back then (95) did not go into limp mode or bring up EML lights but the default over-rich fuelling instead of Lambda 1.0 blocked the catastrophic convertor.

 

So whilst when operating correctly they normally outlast the life of a vehicle these days a fault can quickly see them off.

 

On a diesel?

It was a petrol, I should have mentioned that, thanks for picking it up.

 

I would expect the same back pressure problems if a diesel cat became blocked but on reflection the overfuelling is irrelevant on a diesel.