Problems on this car are like buses. You wait years for one and.......you know the rest. Mine was registered September 2015 but I've owned it since September 2017. In the last 4/6 weeks;

Main car key snapped.

Coolant tank drains in one day from full.

Inner door handle snapped.

Has your coolant tank sprung a leak and if so, what did you have to replace? I want to give a garage a heads up when explaining the issue. And I'm not going to Murray Group main dealer. They scammed me out of £860 on a brake job.

Also, how simple is it to DIY replace the inner door handle? Need to find the part number. Same with the car key. Thank you.

You really need to find out where the coolant is leaking from, you can't just blame the reservoir for leaking unless you already can see that it is.

Maybe include your engine type/code.

Car key blade should be able to get a new one cut and fitted. Try an autolocksmith or timpsons. The handle you will get the part number off LLLparts under original manufacturer diagrams although there are some on Amazon (chinese) cheaper.

Alasdair

1 hour ago, rum4mo said:

You really need to find out where the coolant is leaking from, you can't just blame the reservoir for leaking unless you already can see that it is.

Maybe include your engine type/code.

You mis-understand me. I mention the coolant tank draining quickly so you get the gist of the issue. I do not know and will not claim to know where the coolant is actually leaking from. I want to know if this has happened to others and where their leaks were sourced, so I get a rough idea of where to start looking, prior to taking it to a mechanic.

I am not a mechanic and I don't expect anyone to diagnose my issue.

1 hour ago, Alasdair1 said:

Car key blade should be able to get a new one cut and fitted. Try an autolocksmith or timpsons. The handle you will get the part number off LLLparts under original manufacturer diagrams although there are some on Amazon (chinese) cheaper.

Alasdair

Thank you for your helpful response. I will do that. Appreciated.

As far as coolant leaks it could be anywhere but if tank is emptying quickly its a fairly major leak so check inside of car front carpets arent wet (leaking heater matrix) Check around any radiator hoses you can see for signs of crystals(dried antifreeze) and also radiator itself. Could also be a failed waterpump but not sure where that is on your engine. If you fill it to max and park over dry garage or even cardboard it may help pinpoint where the leak is. All depends if its dripping straight down or running along a pipe etc. Quite often drops onto undertray and runs backwards. Also does it drop overnight or when left for 24hours without starting?and is there white smoke from exhaust when car running.

Alasdair

1 hour ago, Alasdair1 said:

As far as coolant leaks it could be anywhere but if tank is emptying quickly its a fairly major leak so check inside of car front carpets arent wet (leaking heater matrix) Check around any radiator hoses you can see for signs of crystals(dried antifreeze) and also radiator itself. Could also be a failed waterpump but not sure where that is on your engine. If you fill it to max and park over dry garage or even cardboard it may help pinpoint where the leak is. All depends if its dripping straight down or running along a pipe etc. Quite often drops onto undertray and runs backwards. Also does it drop overnight or when left for 24hours without starting?and is there white smoke from exhaust when car running.

Alasdair

Carpets are dry. This is where I spotted a wet patch after a 50 miles drive last night and the tank emptied from full on that journey alone. Running fans on full heat/speed and staying below 2000rpm until I reach a garage tomorrow.

One more image as it exceeded 10mb limit. Thank you for the help once more. Helped me to begin troubleshooting as a complete beginner.

Also no white smoke. Only seems to drop when I'm driving. In hilly Devon so constantly revving the car up hills and doing long distances, which isn't helping. Taking it very easy now.

Edited 8 hours ago8 hr by Lord_Danny

If the carpets are dry it rules out heater matrix and no white smoke headgasket is good. From memory the water pump is on the gearbox side of some engines on mk3 fabia so it may be leaking there or perhaps(hopefully) a hose/hose clip has given up. Garage should be able to tell quite quickly where its leaking from. If it does overheat on way to garage wait till it cools down before topping up. Hope its an easy fix

Alasdair

Yes the water pump is on the gearbox end of these engines.

Prompted by the picture of the broken key blade, I checked up on the Skoda parts list for this age of Fabia - and the key blade is not available as a spare part from Skoda - surely that is crazy as it is fixed in place by a tiny spiral pin!

So that just leaves buying a new blade from another source and no doubt there will be plenty even although aftermarket key blades, its seems, are made from harder material - so cutting it to suit the car's locks will be harder on the key cutting machine.