Hi everyone. I am selling my 182, and buying a MK1 VRS 1.9, what should i look out for, problem wise,

cheers.

Edited 10 June, 20232 yr by ColinD

Hi,

 

Welcome to the community.

 

The mk1 vrs is missed by many who sell.

 

it’s been a while since I had mine. The 1.8t petrol was fairly bullet proof. It was plagued by coil pack issues back in the day. That will be well sorted by now.

 

the odd leaky boot, and in rain if you opened, any pooling water has a tendency to spill in. 
 

good luck on the hunt.

 

The mk1 Octavia forum would be a fab place to start. A lot of topics going back over a lot of years. 

On 08/06/2023 at 22:25, Hamlet5 said:

Hi everyone. I am selling my 182, and buying a MK1 VRS 1.9, what should i look out for, problem wise,

cheers.

 

morning and hello! 

is it a 1.8T Octavia VRS or  1.9TDI Fabia VRS youre looking at buying? your post doesnt specify but says 1.9

 

On 08/06/2023 at 22:25, Hamlet5 said:

what should i look out for, problem wise

Buying an at least 20 year old car there are 3 things that matter:-

1. Condition
2. Condition
3. Oh and condition!

Try to find one thats been loved and not thrashed  by up and coming F1 drivers

1/ Find out when the timing belt was done last, it should be every 30k miles or sooner.

2/ Engine oil changes, how frequent, should be every year or 12k miles. I use Castrol 5/30 Fully Synthetic always with a new oil filter.

3/ Petrol, they love Shell V Power thats all mine gets.

4/ Look at the welded sill lip, if it has been crushed its because its been jacked on them,  they should not be used to jack the car, there are jacking points underneath

and you will need a low profile aluminium jack to get underneath, (about £100), or the jack with the car if its still there.

5/ The Y breather pipe on top of engine on right side ( viewed from front) gets soft and can split causing all sorts of running probs.

6/ Try to get a standard map one, at the most a Stage One mapped.

7/ They were sold from new with a full size matching alloy spare wheel.

 

The car will have had parts that wear out ie front and rear supspension bushes. If there is a clonk from the front when you drive off its usually the Dog Bone bushes.

They are easy to replace many polyurethane kits available, about half a hour with car on ramps or jacked up on stands.

Good Luck with your search

Peter

NB: Mine is coming up for its 18th birthday, there are older ones on here still flying strong

 

 

Edited 11 June, 20232 yr by Silver Bullet

On 10/06/2023 at 15:11, Silver Bullet said:

Try to find one thats been loved and not thrashed  by up and coming F1 drivers

1/ Find out when the timing belt was done last, it should be every 30k miles or sooner.

2/ Engine oil changes, how frequent, should be every year or 12k miles. I use Castrol 5/30 Fully Synthetic always with a new oil filter.

3/ Petrol, they love Shell V Power thats all mine gets.

4/ Look at the welded sill lip, if it has been crushed its because its been jacked on them,  they should not be used to jack the car, there are jacking points underneath

and you will need a low profile aluminium jack to get underneath, (about £100), or the jack with the car if its still there.

5/ The Y breather pipe on top of engine on right side ( viewed from front) gets soft and can split causing all sorts of running probs.

6/ Try to get a standard map one, at the most a Stage One mapped.

7/ They were sold from new with a full size matching alloy spare wheel.

 

The car will have had parts that wear out ie front and rear supspension bushes. If there is a clonk from the front when you drive off its usually the Dog Bone bushes.

They are easy to replace many polyurethane kits available, about half a hour with car on ramps or jacked up on stands.

Good Luck with your search

Peter

NB: Mine is coming up for its 18th birthday, there are older ones on here still flying strong

 

 

Thanks for that, most useful. I thought they used a 5/40 PD oil though?

18 minutes ago, Hamlet5 said:

Thanks for that, most useful. I thought they used a 5/40 PD oil though?

 

On 10/06/2023 at 08:07, mac11irl said:

 

morning and hello! 

is it a 1.8T Octavia VRS or  1.9TDI Fabia VRS youre looking at buying? your post doesnt specify but says 1.9

 

 

 

you havnt clarified this yet, so may have an impact on some advice re parts/ fluids etc...

On 10/06/2023 at 07:55, ColinD said:

Hi,

 

Welcome to the community.

 

The mk1 vrs is missed by many who sell.

 

it’s been a while since I had mine. The 1.8t petrol was fairly bullet proof. It was plagued by coil pack issues back in the day. That will be well sorted by now.

 

the odd leaky boot, and in rain if you opened, any pooling water has a tendency to spill in. 
 

good luck on the hunt.

 

The mk1 Octavia forum would be a fab place to start. A lot of topics going back over a lot of years. 

Its the 1.9 D engine one ive looked at. 60,000 m £3995 Obviously belt kit and water pump / service will be my first job. Brakes arnt as good as i expected, are there any simple up grades? Suspension, again any useful modifications'? I won't be doing any track days, as i co-drive in a Fiesta R5 / EvoV / Darrian Gtr+ for my kicks, i just like something that goes well on B roads etc

Fiesta R5.jfif

3 minutes ago, mac11irl said:

My apologies.  Fabia 1.9 Vrs

 

 

you havnt clarified this yet, so may have an impact on some advice re parts/ fluids etc...

Ahhh,

So your going over to the dark side lol, seriously tho' I got to drive a Fabia 1.9 diesel vrs on a standard map and the torque was very very impressive.

The only thing I didnt like was you seem to sit very high up, this was one of the early ones.

As has been said above forget about engine oil spec ive got no idea what you need.

 

@DeanVRS20VT

could you move this thread to the Furby 1 section?

 

 

34 minutes ago, mac11irl said:

@DeanVRS20VT

could you move this thread to the Furby 1 section?

 

 

What’s the Furby 1 section?

5 minutes ago, Hamlet5 said:

What’s the Furby 1 section?

 

the Mk1 Fabia sub section of the forum.

this thread was posted in the mk1 Octavia section, thus why you were getting advice on those above

 

i had a feeling when you mention 1.9 litre, and coming from a Clio that you may have been talking about a Fabia instead, as there is no diesel Octavia mk1 vrs, only the 1.8T petrol, likewise the mk1 Fabia vrs was diesel only.

Mk2 has the petrol and diesel options.

Done.

Hi, 182 gone and now the owner of the Fabia Vrs 1.9. As I mentioned before, belt kit and pump are this weekends job. The brakes arnt great, is there any up grade VW swaps? 

2 hours ago, Hamlet5 said:

Hi, 182 gone and now the owner of the Fabia Vrs 1.9. As I mentioned before, belt kit and pump are this weekends job. The brakes arnt great, is there any up grade VW swaps? 

 

You can convert to 312mm front discs by buying calipers and carriers from an old Audi TT 2WD or similar, they bolt straight on.

3 hours ago, sepulchrave said:

 

You can convert to 312mm front discs by buying calipers and carriers from an old Audi TT 2WD or similar, they bolt straight on.

 

On the Fabia MK1 VRS, fitting bigger front brake discs than the standard 288x25mm will mean that 15" wheels will no longer fit.

 

Considering that the Fabia MK1 VRS uses small outside diameter tyres such as 195/50R15, going up to 16" and beyond will result in a noticeably harder ride and more prone to pothole damage compared to 15" tyres as the height of the sidewalls become very low once the wheel size exceeds 15". I would probably choose 185/55R15 because it matches the outside diameter of 195/45R16, so won't increase the standard gearing. On the Fabia MK1, you could use 185/55R15 on 5.5Jx15 ET34 rims. 185/55R15 is a size that's used on the much later Citigo/Up/Mii, and on these cars the 185/55R15 tyre size is also fitted to a 5.5J rim.

 

Even the Fabia MK2 180HP VRS only has 288x25mm front brake discs, so you are in good company.

 

If the brakes don't feel powerful, they may simply be worn out or someone has fitted cheap parts, with a common culprit being cheap brake pads.

 

The front brakes on the Fabia MK1 VRS are a TRW system, so it makes sense to use TRW brake pads...as shown in the links below.

 

TRW GDB1414 front brake pads (for Fabia MK1 VRS)

https://www.autodoc.co.uk/trw/2192029?search=TRW Brake pad set (GDB1414)

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/334815641540

 

Edited 14 June, 20232 yr by Carlston

The Mark 1 VRS comes with 16" wheels as standard.

 

The brakes are a straight swap and fit under the wheels just fine.

17 minutes ago, sepulchrave said:

The Mark 1 VRS comes with 16" wheels as standard.

 

wheel-size.com also lists 195/50R15 as a standard option, so it may depend on the country. The UK has a history of fitting lower profile tyres than many other European countries.

 

The sidewall height of 195/45R16 tyres is a shockingly low sub 3.5", whereas with 185/55R15 you get a full 4.0" of sidewall height.

SKODA FABIA MK1 (6Y) [1999 .. 2007]1.9TDI

129 hp

EUDMRUS

• Generation: Mk1 (6Y) [1999 .. 2007] [EUDM]   
• Production: [2003 .. 2007]
• Sales regions: Europe, Russia+
• Power: 129 hp | 96 kW | 131 PS
• Engine: 1.9 L, ASZ, BLT, I4 , Diesel
• Trim Levels: vRS

• Centre Bore / Hub Bore: 57.1 mm
• Bolt Pattern (PCD): 5x100
• Thread Size: M14 x 1.5

TYRE
OE195/50R15
OE195/45R16

https://www.wheel-size.com/size/skoda/fabia/2005/#trim-mk1-6y-1999-2007-eudm-19tdi--129

 

Edited 14 June, 20232 yr by Carlston

Main problems

 

Previous owners doing bad modifications

Previous owners not doing maintenance

Previous owners driving into things

Previous owners lowering cars as far as they can, then beating the floors and sills to death on every bump in the road.

 

Inner sill rust

Clutch slip

Console bushes (front bottom arm rear bush)

Plastic collars on the front anti roll bar breaking up.

Injector wiring loom breaking up (leads to a misfire as the car warms up).

Camshaft wear (misfire on idle)

Window linkages

Window motors

 

Also, bear in mind that they don't drive anything close to what a Clio 182 does. Less power as standard and a much lower, narrower, power band. Very front end heavy on the weight distribution.

Edited 15 June, 20232 yr by StevesTruck

12 hours ago, Carlston said:

 

On the Fabia MK1 VRS, fitting bigger front brake discs than the standard 288x25mm will mean that 15" wheels will no longer fit.

 

Considering that the Fabia MK1 VRS uses small outside diameter tyres such as 195/50R15, going up to 16" and beyond will result in a noticeably harder ride and more prone to pothole damage compared to 15" tyres as the height of the sidewalls become very low once the wheel size exceeds 15". I would probably choose 185/55R15 because it matches the outside diameter of 195/45R16, so won't increase the standard gearing. On the Fabia MK1, you could use 185/55R15 on 5.5Jx15 ET34 rims. 185/55R15 is a size that's used on the much later Citigo/Up/Mii, and on these cars the 185/55R15 tyre size is also fitted to a 5.5J rim.

 

Even the Fabia MK2 180HP VRS only has 288x25mm front brake discs, so you are in good company.

 

If the brakes don't feel powerful, they may simply be worn out or someone has fitted cheap parts, with a common culprit being cheap brake pads.

 

The front brakes on the Fabia MK1 VRS are a TRW system, so it makes sense to use TRW brake pads...as shown in the links below.

 

TRW GDB1414 front brake pads (for Fabia MK1 VRS)

https://www.autodoc.co.uk/trw/2192029?search=TRW Brake pad set (GDB1414)

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/334815641540

 

I will go through the brakes in a couple of weeks, they seem spongy, change the fluid, check the calipers pads and discs then go from there. The torque from this engine is amazing, although not as quick as the Clio, just as much fun, after the brakes, a set of Bilsteins, and im sorted for some happy motoring.

The rear calipers do like to seize, so be ready for a battle there. 

 

and yeah, the torque is an absolute laugh when you get the hang of keeping it in that narrow power band, just got to remember to look after the clutch. Then you get the flipside that when you don't want that, it's just a 55+mpg diesel hatchback. 

23 hours ago, Hamlet5 said:

I will go through the brakes in a couple of weeks, they seem spongy, change the fluid, check the calipers pads and discs then go from there. The torque from this engine is amazing, although not as quick as the Clio, just as much fun, after the brakes, a set of Bilsteins, and im sorted for some happy motoring.

 

Checking all of the pads, slide pins, pistons and handbrakes levers (on the rears) are all nice and free along with the fluid change to see if that makes much of a difference to the braking feel is a great first step.  You'd be amazed at how a little bit of stickage can remove feel. The standard brakes are pretty good when they're all in good working order.

12 minutes ago, HeavyMetalRich said:

 

Checking all of the pads, slide pins, pistons and handbrakes levers (on the rears) are all nice and free along with the fluid change to see if that makes much of a difference to the braking feel is a great first step.  You'd be amazed at how a little bit of stickage can remove feel. The standard brakes are pretty good when they're all in good working order.

Thanks, i hadn't thought about the hand brake levers!