fabia - worst car i've ever owned

[TeflonTom]

it's not my day today

head gasket has gone on my 2.0, plus o much other stuff that's gone wrong on it in the past

time to scrap it i think

[Captain Sisko]

LYKs Fabia just got written off too.

2.0 Furbies are gonna be rare now

[devonutopia]

Man, if I had the money now I'd have it off you for a 1.8T quattro conversion. Not to be, at least not during 2008.

[Emily-Elizabeth]

Originally Posted by devonutopia

Man, if I had the money now I'd have it off you for a 1.8T quattro conversion. Not to be, at least not during 2008.

Don't give him ideas!

[VRStu]

Not having much luck with that one mate are you.

[Tom_vRS]

Imagine if it had the 1.4 PD engine

Sorry to hear you're having problems fella

[GlacierNR]

Sorry to hear about it. On these sorts of days one starts to entertain ideas of Japanese cars - or even Vauxhalls...

[anonymouse]

Shame - sorry to hear

[Dave_G]

Nothing to worry about, get a Peugeot - the running costs of your life.

[markyvrs]

I think the problem is that the 2.0l Fabia is running V8 type power and it just can't handle it.

Surprised the HGF didn't happen sooner.

[ap0gee]

Sorry to hear it - is the Felly a runner yet? Could you use that instead?!

[TeflonTom]

ah well! it's not the end of he world

trouble is i can't be bothered to fix it at the moment...

[Td-eye]

I'm tempted to agree with you, I can't believe how often I have had to fix or replace something on SWMBO's Fabia ! It seems like as soon as everything's running ok it's time for another problem to arise, I can't remember owning another car like it for problems !

Having said that, when it is going well it really is a great wee car and I keep thinking that every time I fix something that'll be the last for a while, but no, there's ALWAYS something else crops up !

Tempted to buy another Tdi Golf for SWMBO instead, never have to touch that !

[cheezemonkhai]

Originally Posted by TeflonTom

it's not my day today

head gasket has gone on my 2.0, plus o much other stuff that's gone wrong on it in the past

time to scrap it i think

Sorry to hear that mate... Can't you just DIY the job or has it gone past that

Would that nice little felly engine you have not fit in a fabia?

[TeflonTom]

of course it's a DIY job in fact i've even got a spare engine sat on the floor in my garage, but i just cant seem to be able to muster enough effort to do the job

[cheezemonkhai]

Originally Posted by TeflonTom

of course it's a DIY job in fact i've even got a spare engine sat on the floor in my garage, but i just cant seem to be able to muster enough effort to do the job

Well if you're bored and want a hand i can pop over post work one evening.

From the scrap comment I was worried it might have cracked the block or warped the head

[TeflonTom]

Originally Posted by cheezemonkhai

Well if you're bored and want a hand i can pop over post work one evening.

From the scrap comment I was worried it might have cracked the block or warped the head

the other stumbling block is that my dad has all my tools at the moment and he lives in devon

i'm not sure yet, need to get it vag-com'd first just in case it's something else, but she's only running on 2 cylinders when under heavy load, and the missfire clears on the over-run... haven't started her up yet this morning to see what happens
it might be something 'cheap' like a coilpack or something else.

[WW_VRS]

235k and counting on this Fabia - but yeah you've had a ton of bad luck

[Tom_vRS]

If its running on 2 cylinders then my guess is coil pack, as they run on 2 cyclinders each iirc, would also make sense to run fine on overun then too!

[jasc1988]

Ive came from owning a pug 306 and so far in the fabia's short ownership its had more problems in 4 months than the 306 had in 2 years.

Hopefully it will be all plain sailing from now on. Might get a new fabia vrs when the come out so ive got some nice warranty...... ahhh warranty

[tag1_uk]

I have to agree as well I'm afraid. I replaced an ailing 12-year old Hyundai Accent with 100k+ miles with my 6-year old Fabia and I've had far far more trouble with the Fabia than I ever had with the Accent and yet the Accent was less than 2/3 of the respective price of the Fabia when new and is a bigger car. So far in five months/2000 miles of ownership I've had nearly £2500 in work/repairs:

starter motor
battery
heater matrix (v. expensive)
ARB + drop links + bushes
rear suspension bushes
wing mirror button
wheel bearing
(cambelt service + 4 tyres)

I've got other niggles such as excessively noisy/sticking brakes, awful throttle response, relatively high oil consumption suggesting eventual piston rings and steering niggles. I never had any suspension issues with the Accent until a control arm rusted through but that was just purely an age thing rather than the crappy workmanship/design that seems ubiquitous with the Skoda. I bought a Skoda to try an buy into perceived VAG reliability compared to other European makes and I'm sorely disappointed and it spoils what otherwise could be a decent car. I'm afraid the only way for me to go in the future is a Honda or Toyota which is why assume these brands appear to carry a premium in the second hand market.

[TeflonTom]

Originally Posted by Tom_vRS

If its running on 2 cylinders then my guess is coil pack, as they run on 2 cyclinders each iirc

you are indeed right in saying that this engine uses a basic wasted spark system whereas 2 cylinder fire simultaneously, cylinders 1+4 fire together, and 2 +3 together, the 'wasted' spark allways occurs on the exhaust stroke so it doesn't affect the running of the engine, i must admit it is a great system and it simplifies the wiring somewhat, the only main disadvantage of this system is that it halves the life of the spark plugs... also becuase of the way they are wired one of the 2 paired plugs wears out quicker because one fires from the centre tip to the outer edge of the plug, whilst the other has it's polarity reversed and the current flows in the opposite direction and fires from the outer edge of the plug to the centre electrode (hence positive and negative spark)

FYI, some of the 1.4 16v engines use this system too

[FAST FITZ]

well fellas' i have had lots of cars, from evo's to passats, including a brand new vectra sri 150 derv, she had three gear bags, inlet manifold, powersteer pump and an injector pump in it twice in 6 months.

this is my third fabia vrs, and they have never gave me any bother, apart from 7thousand miles to a set of brake pads and 21 to a set of disks, and maybe 4thousand to a set of tyres. but mechanicely she is great, never coughed once.

the only car that would put a patch on my fabia for hassel free driving is my toyota supra(ma70) mk3 turbo.

[L-Y-K]

my old 16v 1.4 was more unreliable than the 2.0 that just kept going and going and going. i loved my old friend! haha. ill find out where it is tom you can buy it for spares infact its only recently been serviced, adn the recon gearbox, new fron breaks man!! thats depressing

[cheezemonkhai]

Originally Posted by FAST FITZ

well fellas' i have had lots of cars, from evo's to passats, including a brand new vectra sri 150 derv, she had three gear bags, inlet manifold, powersteer pump and an injector pump in it twice in 6 months.

this is my third fabia vrs, and they have never gave me any bother, apart from 7thousand miles to a set of brake pads and 21 to a set of disks, and maybe 4thousand to a set of tyres. but mechanicely she is great, never coughed once.

the only car that would put a patch on my fabia for hassel free driving is my toyota supra(ma70) mk3 turbo.

From your profile:

Date of Birth: August 28, 1985
Age: 22

So you've owned all those cars in that time and the fabia (heavily modified) is ultra reliable.

Pull the other one mate!