Ive had mine for over a year now and this is the first problem its had , mind you it has only covered 33000 miles from new with a full dealer history , im pleased with it , pity it wasnt a vRS tho!

Whats that saying about famous last words again??....I now know whats wrong with the Fabia , the steering rack has a leak in it , one of the seals has gone and all the fluid has been lost from there , but guess what- you cant buy the seal its slef , you have to get a new rack , £270 plus vat plus 5 hrs labour minimum to fit it...call it £600 approx......im not very chuffed....

What makes you say that?

How did you check the seal?

Do you have communication with the power steering - DId you VAG COM

Error codes

??

ive got mine booked in a garage tomorrow (not skoda) i hope its not the steering rack if it is i could be tempted to get rid!

Let us know how it goes - Good luck

will do!

I know its the steering rack because it was at the Skoda dealer today getting looked at! They removed the battery and tray to fill my steering fluid up for me (very bad design , by the way!) and now I have proper power steering , for at least as long as the fluid stays in the steering rack , and doesnt add to the puddle on the garage floor! The mechanic explained everything to me when I came to pick it up , including the part price , and approx labour . The car did not throw any codes on the VAG.Com , the steering warning light was never illuminated , even though there was no fluid left in the system altogether.

I dont think I will be paying the best part of £600 to sort it out , I'd much rather just chop it in at a garage somewhere for another car , at least then it aint my problem anymore! Selfish I know but......

Wise move Duncan - Only thing is - I doubt whether you can get rid of it part ex with no power steering ....

Id be interested to know if you do.

Perosnally I d reccomend everyone get mechanical breakdow insurance but hey...

The power steering is fine just now , they topped it up 4 me today and its back to normal just now , even before the car still drove okay whilst on the move , it was really just when braking and turning at the same time it went really heavy. But if you werent familiar with the Fabia , and you didnt have another one to judge it against , then I reckon most would be none the wiser about it (especially withe the light not being on), at least untill it was up on a ramp getting checked over , and by that time I will be long gone...i hope...heheh!

Ho hum...Having calmed down a tad , I have decided to go ahead and get the car repaired , after all its still cheaper than buying another car , and with the rubbish quality of modern cars Id more than likely just get another lemon anyways!! Will keep you all informed of costs , labour ect , just in case someone elses goes and is looking for prices ect via a forum search.

Cheers.

well took my car to the garage today and they hooked it up to the machine and found zero faults but they said that the steering definately isnt right. so it is now booked in at skoda on friday to get it looked at. when i went there today to book it in he said that skoda know about the sensors failing and that they had them in stock isnt that nice!

he also said that the sensor is £120 not £70 that has been mentioned on here so that gave me a bit of a shock and it would be half an hours labour. so i told him i felt like smashing it up because of all the faults with it and he just looked at me as if to say i dont give a **** so we will wait and see what friday brings.

by the way how far should the power steering fluid be filled mine is about an inch up the stick thing that is attached to the cap?

Think yourself lucky , you could have my car! I don't know owt about filling the fluid up , i left that to the professionals at the Skoda garage!

i might still end up having to pay for a new steering pump yet so i could be paying £400! anyone else know how much the power steering fluid should be filled?

I hope I dont need a pump as well then , otherwise my bill will be a grand!

i doubt there will be 2 problems with the steering but if there was and you had to pay a grand i think i would be tempted to push it of a cliff lol!

Especially when its only worth circa £2K!

Especially when its only worth circa

Hmm , unlucky right enough! My dealer said they had heard of other Fabias needing this work , I'm kinda wondering if all the speed humps I have to drive over every day have accentuated the wear on the rack , I know a woman who lives up beside me had to get springs and shocks on her Fiesta to pass its 1st MOT and the garage said it was probably the speed bumps wearing them out. Unfortunaltely I have no VAG specialists near to me and getting a dealer fix is the only way out for me! Lets face it , its £600 but could I get another car for that?...not a very good one I reckon , so its still the most cost effective way of sorting the situation for me!! I dont know whether you will be able to get the rack refurbed , there may be places that do that work , but would that mean you had to get your rack stripped out and sent away to them , thus leaving you without a car , or having to hire a car to get around?

not sure yet im still waiting to hear back from them if i have to do without a car for a while i will probs just go to the dealer to get a new one

Please keep us infomed of the progress as this power steering issue is a very common problem.

will do i will have to wait till monday now to see if i can get the steering rack refurbished.

Well , another small development this weekend regarding my car is that Ive just heard via the local grapevine that my dealer , Tweedmouth Service Station , are no longer Skoda service and repair dealers!! , this means that next time I have the car in for a service it will get a Mitsubishi stamp in the service book (their other brand) , no more full Skoda history , unless I want to drive to Cramlington or Edinburgh! That means I will probably not buy another Skoda , I cant be bothered with driving 90 mile round trips to get things sorted on a car! They are apparently using Benfield Skoda of Newcastle to get the bits for my steering rack , since they can no longer order bits direct from Skoda.....

well it is going to cost £450 to get the steering rack refurbished so i have decided just to get a new one instead for £100 more i might as well! so the parts are being ordered i am now just waiting for a phone call to see when i can book it in. at the minute the power steering fluid has been topped up and it is bliss to drive i never realised just how bad the steering was!

Well , another small development this weekend regarding my car is that Ive just heard via the local grapevine that my dealer , Tweedmouth Service Station , are no longer Skoda service and repair dealers!!

That is correct. :(