Before the summer holidays, I had asked the mechanic to inspect the car from under (suspension, rubber boots, potential coolant or oil leaks, etc.). He did so, and (as I’ve mentioned in another thread) he found a loose lower coolant hose and replaced it. I took the car and drove about 200 kilometers to my holiday destination, but one morning, while reversing to pull out of my parking spot, I heard a hair-raising noise (grrrzzzt).

I was surprised because I couldn't immediately pinpoint exactly where underneath the vehicle the sound was coming from, and unfortunately, the situation worsened day by day. The steeper the incline when i reversed, the louder the noise became, whereas on flat ground, there was no sound at all ! Unfortunately, there was no repair shop there, so when I returned the next day, i took the car to another mechanic,he put it on the lift, and we both went underneath to see what was going on. The noise was coming from the front right side of the engine,in english may call it ''cover'' but in every day Greek the mechanics call it ''skirt" or ''protective skirt".

The photos are lousy because i was sin a hurry but you can get an idea.

He found that the grinding noise was coming from the front part of that ''skirt'', every time i was in reverse in an uhill it was touching the pulley producing that horrible noise.

Some hammer work from him (yes i know it's cruel but...) and things went back to normal.

If a fellow Skodian faces the same problem in the past, now knows where to look.