Hi folks, our beloved Roomster 1.2 Tsi 2012 with 155,000 miles apparently has two leaky fuel injectors and our friendly local garage said £700 to replace them and asked me not to bring it back for another MOT next year  . I'm wondering whether it is worth fixing them, whether we try to do it ourselves or ask the garage. Anyone done it? Would it be mad to spend that much money on the old thing. Anyone got any wisdom? Thanks 

Roomster engines frequently came with dodgy injectors, ours included, though ours is a diesel. I have only replaced a couple injectors after 1 failed (electrical failure), and this got rid of 10yr issue of fuel ingress into oil.

 

Yes, new injectors, be it petrol or diesel are pricy (diesel ones 5x more than petrol), but if you look at used car market what alternatives and engines you have to the Roomster and at what price, the new injectors are well worth it in today's market in my opinion.

 

The key question you should be asking is why does the garage want £700 to replace them?

A quick look at my (reliable parts and) injector suplier from Czechia (skoda-parts.com) shows prices of EUR70 / GBP60 for a brand new Bosch 1.2TSI petrol engine injector, at this price I'd replace all of them. My guess is you were quoted Skoda original part prices, do not get these, they are Bosch injectors anyway. So my guess is you can easily reduce the repair cost by half by going to an independent garage that can get you exactly the same Bosch injectors as Skoda would supply and fit them

Edited 30 November, 20241 yr by dieselV6

Thanks for the reply and I agree, there’s nothing out there like the Roomster, prices of cars are off the scale at the moment, it’s not rusty and I want to keep it in the road if I can but there has to be a limit. I’m going to go and have a chat with the guy in the garage and find out exactly what the 700 is made up of.

On 28/11/2024 at 21:40, JonLongstaff said:

our friendly local garage ... asked me not to bring it back for another MOT next year

What works did they indicate it would require next year?

Yes doesn't sound that friendly if garage is saying don't come back next year for MOT.

DieselV6 gives good advice and try and find a honest small family run independent garage that wants your custom.

 

I would run it as long as possible. I was thinking of buying a Scala but from the youtube videos the complexity of the infotainment and other electrical aids and engine bay looks a nightmare to drive and maintain. £700 may seem expensive but that would soon be swallowed up by depreciation if buying a replacement vehicle. 

I probably phrased that wrong, and did the garage a disservice. I think they were implying that it wouldn't get through another MOT unless the problem got fixed, and I'm also doubting myself about the £700. Or it may be that they didn't give me the whole story as they were (as usual) extremely busy. I'll go and have a chat as per Paws suggestion. If 4 new injectors plus seals is all it takes and there aren't a load of other things on the way out then it has to be worth doing. As Ed says if the job does cost £700 it may feel like a lot of money, when you compare it to the potential cost of any replacement it isn't, and anything I bought would lose/cost 700 a year one way or another through depreciation and maintenance.

As a postscript, around 13 years ago an independent garage replaced 4 injectors in my petrol Fiat Multipla. I had to fork out £1200 and the mechanic questioned if it was worth doing it to an aging car. The pleasure and memories the Multipla gave for a further 3 years was well worth the outlay.

Hi folks, I have spoken to the garage and not have the whole story. It isn’t just the injectors it’s the Cat too so that explains the price, It’s decision time. I’m inclined to wait for a month or two but get the work done then unless something else happens.  If e we can get another year or two out of the car it will be worth it. Cheers all

I meant to say did not have the whole story. Sorry about that 

Update. Well we've been running along procrastinating about a decision quite happily waiting for something to happen, safe in the knowledge that our breakdown recovery would get us home if something did. Yesterday something did (happen) and it didn't (get us home) good old insurance small print means the Rooster is now in a pound 100 miles away and I have decisions to make. Trundling along the motor way and the battery warning and power steering warning lights came on hmm that's not right - speedo flickered up and down a few times, dash went blank, came back to life - engine still running and no power steering. To the hard shoulder and the games commence getting people home having decided $450 to get the car and us back was a bit steep. 

 

Any ideas what happened? It was too cold with too many family members involved to start trying to figure it out with the bonnet up on the hard shoulder so here we are. Any ideas what went wrong. Optimistic outlook is according to my son, auxiliary belt broke and the alternator stopped charging the battery, easy cheap fix. Pessimistic outlook is something more complicated and expensive that probably won't be worth doing. 

I'd say there's a good chance your son is right. 

4 minutes ago, Breezy_Pete said:

I'd say there's a good chance your son is right. 

Thanks Pete - I hope he is and if he is that would probably make it worth getting the car transported back here and he can fix it - if he can fantastic - if he can't, the scrap value will (almost) cover the transport cost. The biggest pain is the fact the car is 100 miles away!

Edited 18 February, 20251 yr by JonLongstaff

Whereabouts is the car currently?

I think it's somewhere near Gatwick but need to confirm tomorrow.

 

33 minutes ago, JonLongstaff said:

Optimistic outlook is according to my son, auxiliary belt broke and the alternator stopped charging the battery, easy cheap fix. Pessimistic outlook is something more complicated and expensive that probably won't be worth doing. 

The symptoms are exactly the same as what happened to me in my old car and that is precisely what happened, the alternator lost its drive belt when the tensioner fell apart and wiped the belt out at the same time.

1 hour ago, JonLongstaff said:

Optimistic outlook is according to my son, auxiliary belt broke and the alternator stopped charging the battery, easy cheap fix.

There's a good chance he's right; that or the aux belt just broke, which happened to me and was under £100 part and labour.

Thanks folks that is very encouraging, I think I'll roll the dice on getting it back here on a truck. Best case few hundred quid and we roll again. Worse case I get most of the cost of the trailer back in scrap - I really hope not though. It's pretty crazy how attached you can get to a car like this - so many memories and such a great tool. As for what to replace it with when the day comes I have no idea.....

16 hours ago, JonLongstaff said:

Trundling along the motor way and the battery warning and power steering warning lights came on hmm that's not right - speedo flickered up and down a few times, dash went blank, came back to life - engine still running and no power steering. To the hard shoulder and the games commence getting people home having decided $450 to get the car and us back was a bit steep. 

 

As the engine was still running it sounds simply like an alternator failure or broken drive belt.

 

As it is only 100 miles away I would get someone to drive me there with 2 charged spare batteries (one is likely to suffice) and drive it home keeping the electrical load to an absolute minimum, you will not have as much autonomy as a diesel (I did 150 miles and the car restarted after the ferry and at home the next day) but 2 batteries should do it.

 

Technically you only need one but if the alternator diodes have failed then the battery on the vehicle will be dead, if that is the case then disconnect the alternator before fitting the charged battery, the discharged battery can be charged using jump leads while your pal is following you in case you have to swap again during the journey.

 

Given the cost of fuel for 1 x return 100 mile journey plus 1 x single 100 mile journey and the aggravation you might find the £450 palatable.

43 minutes ago, J.R. said:

 

As the engine was still running it sounds simply like an alternator failure or broken drive belt.

 

As it is only 100 miles away I would get someone to drive me there with 2 charged spare batteries (one is likely to suffice) and drive it home keeping the electrical load to an absolute minimum, you will not have as much autonomy as a diesel (I did 150 miles and the car restarted after the ferry and at home the next day) but 2 batteries should do it.

 

Technically you only need one but if the alternator diodes have failed then the battery on the vehicle will be dead, if that is the case then disconnect the alternator before fitting the charged battery, the discharged battery can be charged using jump leads while your pal is following you in case you have to swap again during the journey.

 

Given the cost of fuel for 1 x return 100 mile journey plus 1 x single 100 mile journey and the aggravation you might find the £450 palatable.

We’ve had a cheaper quote to get it back here on the back of a truck and as you say the difference between the fuel and long distance aggravation plus 2 batteries that we would need to buy is starting to make the truck option seem the smart one.

It’s back and it wasn’t an alternator belt. The recovery guy said it started and the coolant light was on. Could it have overheated when it died on the motorway? It has just run for a half hour so I suppose I should test it later. Really stuck now I suspect we might be throwing money away if we start trying to chase faults now. 

16 minutes ago, JonLongstaff said:

The recovery guy said it started and the coolant light was on.

Curious. I've never known the coolant light throw a latching fault.

Could it possibly be dirty prongs in the expansion bottle?

Coolant leak into alternator??

 

Oil cooler and various coolant hoses seem close to it.  Maybe the coolant leak caused the non-charging of battery.  What's the level in the tank now?

 

We are getting a bit beyond my technical skills here with phrases like ’prongs in the expansion bottle’ I’m afraid 🙂. First I suppose I need to check whether the battery is holding any charge. Coolant is below minimum by a little bit.

The 'prongs' in the expansion bottle refer to the coolant level sensor - low coolant warning on instrument panel would be correct if level is lower than minimum mark.

When was the last time you checked the coolant level?