BoroSnowy

Hi,

I was wondering if anyone out there had any advice as to what I should do about the following problem as I'm concerned it could cost me a fortune.

The power steering of my Y-reg Skoda Fabia 1.4 petrol has failed three or four times in the past week, as has the battery when I have decelerated quickly approaching lights.

On the most recent occassion I managed to pull over at a petrol station but after several attempts to start the car, the whole of the electrics then failed and I had to call the AA.

Their mechanic said the battery's voltage was on the low side but after he jump-started the car, it drove fine and did so for several days before slowly developing the same problems.

I bought the car second hand from a Skoda dealer in July 2006 so it is now out of warranty.

But it developed similar if not identical problems whilst still under warranty which the dealer fixed by first replacing the power steering sensor and, when that did not fix it, by replacing the power steering pump. At some point they have also replaced the battery.

The AA guy suggested it was a problem with the alternator but recommended getting it checked out by a local garage rather than the dealer as it would be far cheaper.

But I was wondering it the dealer should really deal with this problem for free, despite the warranty having expired, because it is problem that initially occurred under warranty which as far as I can tell, they still haven't fixed.

Any advice on what the problem could be and what I shouold do next would be much appreciated as I really can't afford to go spending hundreds of pounds on a problem which they have no guarantee of fixing long -term.

Cheers.

skomaz

Sounds like it's the exciter wire from the alternator to me - had the same problem a while ago - the wire is not well supported and under the car behind an undertray. It vibrates/flexes when the car is driven and eventually breaks. It's a known problem on Fabias and Golfs and should be about £40 to fix at a dealer (tey have a repair kit apparently sop shoud know about it).

__________________
If everything was as reliable as a VW... My Skoda would be at the bottom of the JD Power tables!

Octavia II 2.0 TDi 4x4 Estate and Fabia I 1.9 TDi Estate and Modified Mk1 Mazda MX-5 1.8iS

BoroSnowy

Thanks mate. I'll bear that in mind if the dealer starts trying to charge me for something major! They've told me that if the problem is with anything they've already replaced under warranty, eg. the battery, alternator, sensor or power steering pump, then then those parts are covered by a further 2-year warranty. But they're still gonna charge me an unavoidable £70 'diagnostic fee' even if the problem is caused by their faulty parts in the first place!

ExAudiSi

A certain dealership that I know of charged my Mother for looking at her car whilst it was under the 3 year manufacturers warranty because they looked at it twice and couldn't find the fault. It wasn't £70 mind you, but she still shouldn't have been charged.
Fortunately, the car was taken to another local dealership, the fault was found straight away and the front suspension bushes were replaced free of charge a few weeks before the end of the warranty period.

Will the dealer in question waive the diagnostic charge if the fault is found to be with one of the components which they have fitted?

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My other car is a Porsche....

skomaz

I would have thought that any dealer worth it's salt would know about this common fault and be able to sort it without resorting to a diagnostic fee. I'm not even sure if it will show up on the diagnostics anyway as it is more than likely to be an intermittent fault.

__________________
If everything was as reliable as a VW... My Skoda would be at the bottom of the JD Power tables!

Octavia II 2.0 TDi 4x4 Estate and Fabia I 1.9 TDi Estate and Modified Mk1 Mazda MX-5 1.8iS