Hi all,

I own a Fabia VRS and today when I was driving it I came to a junction, selected first gear and suddenly the car wouldn't move.

Clutch seems okay as it's not been slipping nor is pedal at the floor.

With engine started I can move gear selector in to all 6 gears without needing to press clutch. I did have a quick look at gear linkage at box and I could see movement when moving through the gears but car doesn't seem to engage and move/accelerate.

Any thoughts?

Edited 7 September, 20257 Sep by donovan

Dive shaft stripped its splines? Common on some other VAG's. It would have exactly those symptoms. Sometimes accompanied by a grating noise but sometimes just put in in gear - no drive.

Edited 7 September, 20257 Sep by Rheumy

15 minutes ago, Rheumy said:

Dive shaft stripped its splines? Common on some other VAG's. It would have exactly those symptoms. Sometimes accompanied by a grating noise but sometimes just put in in gear - no drive.

Maybe but surely that wouldn't allow me to get into the gears when engine is started without pressing clutch?

Yes it would. When you select a gear without the clutch and with the shaft effectively disconnected, the diff just spins allowing the gear to be selected because there is no drive being created. No load. You might get a slight clunk but that would be all.

Years ago a giveaway would have been the speedo showing MPH while in gear but the speedo is worked by the ABS sensors these days.

12 hours ago, Rheumy said:

Yes it would. When you select a gear without the clutch and with the shaft effectively disconnected, the diff just spins allowing the gear to be selected because there is no drive being created. No load. You might get a slight clunk but that would be all.

Years ago a giveaway would have been the speedo showing MPH while in gear but the speedo is worked by the ABS sensors these days.

Thanks, is there anyway I can check this for myself or any tests I can perform? And what's the likely damage and cost to sort?

There isn't a simple way to tell if the splines in the inner CV joint have stripped without jacking it up. If the drive shaft outer CV joint splines have stripped, the shaft will be turning up to the point where it enters the outer CV joint when in gear but I don't advise anyone to crawl underneath to look with the car in gear! It's a similar thing for the inner joint but all best checked on a ramp.

Not sure on the Fabia but usually one of the drive shafts (the shorter driver's side one) has a centre bearing and they can pull apart at this point.

As regards price I would say between one and two hours labour. Genuine Skoda shafts are expensive (£250 ish?) but there are aftermarket versions for around the £80 mark. There is chance the the disconnection in the drive is inside the gearbox but it's less likely than a CV joint or drive shaft separated at the centre bearing. This is just my experience from being in the trade (I'm retired now) not specifically Skoda. Good luck!

It could be the clutch. My sons did exactly the same. No previous slipping and no noises at all. He was coming into our road end and changed down then no drive at all. Could select all gears but still no drive. I assumed drive shaft but they were fine. Eventually removed Gbox and clutch disc had totalled itself. There was no friction material on one side and the bell housing/starter motor was full of fibres. Luckily it was the clutch plate side and not the flywheel so no damage.

New clutch and back to normal again pus fitted a new slave just in case.

When I had his in our shed with smooth level concrete floor it did try to creep forward when in gear when accelerating but very slightly and could be stopped with very little resistance.

Alasdair

That is a good point Alistair. If the centre rips out of the friction plate or the lining shreds off it would leave the gearbox undriven by the engine and able to select a gear without pressing the clutch just the same as it would be with the engine not running. I have seen quite a few stripped drive shaft splines in recent times (no Skodas) but no centre plates fail that way since old Vauxhalls and others in the 70's. But it could be either. 👍

Pop the starter out and see if theres any clutch material visible. On my sons it was covered in fibres. You may also be able to see inside the bell housing. Weird thing with his was one side was about half worn but the other nothing apart from shiny metal. I reckon the rivets gave up due to age. His is an 06 plate and I assume original clutch.

Alasdair