Hello to all you Skoda fans

[linandal]

Hi Guys (and gals),

I joined the Forum to discover if any of you other Skoda owners has had any of the same proms that I've had with my 'S'Reg 'Felicia'.

I purchased my

[LittlePaul]

Welcome to Briskoda!

Sorry you've had problems, there are some shoddy dealers around. There's actually a forum on Briskoda listing various Skoda dealers and places to comment on them - have a look and see if either of yours are there, or if theres another nearby recommended one. It's worth the two hour drive up to lummox for services tho!

Hope to see you around, Paul

[colkai]

Sounds like bad luck mate.

I bought my Felly from new 1996, went to the same garage every time Carlton Autos, Southport, (now under the 'Mr Clutch' franchise, same owner).

I've had normal wear and tear failures, alternators going whacky, but one thing I've never had, a dodgy job done by Guy when I've taken my car to him. He'll never charge for work that doesn't need doing and is always happy to advise, top bloke.

I've just moved up to a Fabia after a decade of long and reliable work by my Felly and will have no hesitation in making the hours drive to Guy for him to look after this car.

He's the only mechanic I know who will work on the car to a level I would myself if I were still capable of it, (motorcycle crashes are NOT good for your health ).

[TeflonTom]

sounds like you've had very bad luck with the dealers!! you dont say which engine your felicia has but if it is the 1.6 version there is more than one water pump listed for that so depending on year/spec they may just fitted the wrong one!. it's also very unusall for the voltage stabilizer in the alternator to take out the ecu, the fuse normally goes before that happens!

[AwesomeSarah]

Hi

I am sorry to hear of the problems that you have had.

It is a shame you are still not covered under warranty as you would have had a better leg to stand on with a complaint to Skoda UK

0845 7745745 is their number.

As for the sump plug falling out and them not even paying for the oil , I would have dropped the car off in front of their forcourt and refused to remove it until they had resolved the matter for you.

I myself used to work for 2 Skoda dealers , they was not as bad as that , but I could see it coming on.

The alternator is very very common to over charge.

But then it is uncommon for the ECU to go with it.

I have seen 1 in the 5 and a half years I was there.

Possibly 2 to 3 voltage regulators a week.

Batteries was common to go as they would start to boil.

If we can help on this forum just give us a shout.

Lummox is a techie so there is some very valuable information available on this forum.

Have a look round this forum , there will be many answers on here.

Take Care

Sarah

[TeflonTom]

Hi

As for the sump plug falling out and them not even paying for the oil ' date=' I would have dropped the car off in front of their forcourt and refused to remove it until they had resolved the matter for you.

Sarah[/quote']

i would have driven it through the front window of thier showroom if they said they didn't want to pay!

[linandal]

Hi guys and Gals,

Thanks for the various suggestions regarding all my Skoda problems. The Felicia is a 1.3 MPI so the water pump should in my opinion have been no problem to the dealer who were Anglesea Motors at Nursling, now defunct which comes as no surprise to me. Another dealer was Wrynams of salisbury who also went down the pan and were taken over by Mercs ('We don't service Skodas, Sir')

Derek Warwick of Southampton were as useless as the other two but likewise do not service Skodas any more.

I would have liked, as suggested, to have driven the car down to Anglesea Motors but when the Felecia went in after making spaghetti out of the drive belt it came back minus the radio aerial and a busted wing mirror.

Answer 'We are not responsible for vehicles left on our premises. Sir. You can take us to court but you won't get anywhere.'

Another garage to avoid is tha VW garage at Rocheforte in France, south of la Rochelle. They knew that the Alternator was Kaput but did nothing about replacing it although the car was in there for three weeks.

I took an AVO down when I collected the car and checked the voltage.

Phone call to AA foreign breakdown in Lyon.

The AA "The (French) mechanic says that the alternator is OK"

Me " So why are the voltages so high, the output should be 14.1 volts"

The AA "The mechanic says that it wont hurt, if you are really worried about it then switch all of the electrics on and drive home like that." Hangs up.

Incidentally the EMU fuse didn't blow and some idiot had put a 35 amp fuse in the radio.

Phoned Skoda up at Milton Keynes when I got home and the replacement alternator didn't fit.

Skoda. "All our dealers carry a stock of replacement alternators for that car, if it doesn't fit then someone must have fitted a different one."

Me " But I've had the car from new, and I've not altered it!"

Skoda " Well, there is nothing we can do about it." End of call.

Guess why I was so p*****d off with the car, I almost torched it at that time.

My personla circumstances then were such that I could not afford to trade the Felicia in especially as most dealers were offering me a rubbish trade-in value.

Sorry to keep on whingeing, on the bright side at least with a bit of TLC from myself it has probably redeemed itself over the past two years. Also, I know now where to come for more technical advice.

Thanks,

LAH

[TeflonTom]

have you tried freeborn in southampton?

[linandal]

Whats this film "Team America" all about then? Not being a film buff I wouldn't know , and it's probably a Generation thing?

No, haven't tried Freeborn down by the Stadium, but I' ve heard some good things about them. As I've a high-ish Lamda reading (still passed the MoT last month I will give them a try next Spring.

Incidentally, we're off to France again next week, so I still have faith in the car!!!

LAH.