6th Aug 2006, 10:16

I am fed up with my Skoda Fabia 16V 1.4 comfort (on a 51 plate). Since we bought it from the in laws (still in warranty we have been ripped off, and fobbed off about all the cars faults. The boot doesn't shut properly - the engine rattles -the air con was stinking like decomposing god knows what - the most annoying of all is this...

ENGINE WARNING LIGHTS. We have had Engine management system fault lights on and off for a yr now. They plugged it in and reset it etc, and it came back in a day. They tell me it "could be" the exhaust gas recirculation valve. Having lost all faith in the skoda dealer, I went to another garage who told me he has had several skodas that he has replaced this part on (to get rid of the light), and hey presto the light doesn't go out! And it costs £300 to have it done. I have been on various website, and forums and some people have spent £1000 trying to get the damn warning lights to just GO AWAY with no success. I would love to sell this car, I just don't know what to do anymore. The engine is running great (which apparently wouldn't happen if it really was an EGR fault)!

By the way the inlaws bought another BRAND NEW skoda, and their air con doesn't work, AND they have the same warning light on as me!!! ARGGGGGGGGGGGG.

17th Sep 2006, 13:10

Hi I had a Fabia 2005 Comfort 1.4 diesel and found a lot of the faults already listed, especially when I had weight in the car ie goods or 4 passengers it would snake like it was on ice, and it had gone back into main dealers for all the noise from underneath, but they found no fault.

My son had to brake suddenly, and the ABS did not come on, and he had to go around the car he had needed to brake behind, and if another car had been coming against him there could have been an accident. A cousin who also drove quite often found the steering and brakes not something to be happy about.

18th Sep 2006, 09:05

I have just got a second-hand 51 plate Fabia and am experiencing just about all the faults listed here.

I'm very fed up as I no sooner seem to cure one problem than another raises its head.

Creaky dashboard, not a rattle, but an annoying creak be it on accel or brake, or turning the wheel.

Air con was gone, Evap sensor failure. Anti Roll bar bushes were shot, creating a constant knocking, needed a new roll bar. Drives nice and quiet now (apart from creaky dashboard).

Found a leak on the radiator fan switch, it's been losing coolant since I got it I think. First warning was the low level coolant lamp. Waiting for a seal to arrive to fix that. Meantime, keeping a close eye on the coolant level.

Then the headlights started their light show within the last 48 hours, flickering / dimming for no apparent reason whilst driving down the motorway. Apparently, this could be due to a myriad of reasons, from a faulty PAS angle sensor to a failing alternator, or battery, or just plain "standard odd behaviour"

The PAS warning light came on about a week or two ago, but once I'd turned the car off and back on, it never came back.

Both rear doors leaked like mad, I spent an afternoon sorting them out myself, so far they seem dry, but I'll wait until the next major downpour before I celebrate that little victory.

As others have said, lots of niggling "known" faults that Skoda/VW should address, the fixes are, it seems, by and large, well known, so why they are still not sorted at root is very frustrating.

My only hope is, once these faults are sorted, they will remain so and I can finally get some pleasure out of driving the car, which is, to be fair, a very nice little car. As it stands, I tend to start each journey with a certain amount of trepidation.

13th Oct 2006, 04:32

Skoda Fabia 1.4 W reg, owned since new, now on 67K.

Problems have included:

* air con not working on delivery

* power steering failure

* tracking - which took many attempts to correct

* lambda sensor failure

* EGR (apparent) failure and replacement (£170 from my independent garage)

* Several sundry suspension failures, including a failed front replacement shock absorber

* cam belt / timing belt failure

* brake light failure - signalled only by amber engine warning light (which I had had to learn to ignore)

* high oil consumption from 60,000 miles

* seat heater failure

* mirror heater failure

* slow coolant loss

* erratic alarm activation

* ignition system failure.

Why do I keep it? The car has always been a delight to drive for a pretty standard supermini, and with a 3 year warranty was economical.

Now 6 years old, the local independent garage struggles to keep it on the road. It's worth next to nought, but its possibly worth spending a couple of hundred quid a year to keep going, rather than the hassle and cost of exchanging it for another heap of trouble. A little while longer anyway before I throw in the towel.

Apart from buying the thing at all, or maybe buying it too early in the production run, my biggest regret was getting light coloured upholstery that looked dreadful after 6 months, and is now very much worse...

Took it back to the garage yesterday for one more attempt to put that engine warning light out, after changing the EGR failed to do so. The only reasons for bothering to correct this fault is that the garage said it would result in MOT failure, and that it also effectively disables the engine warning system.

The garage's latest idea is to add "Comma" injector cleaner to the petrol, and see if that stops the EGR picking up spurious faults. After running this, the garage reset the warning light yesterday. The light stayed out for a whole 5 miles. Fingers crossed.

Oh, I feel much better now.

25th Oct 2006, 08:22

I have just bought 2001 Skoda Fabia that had done less than 20,000 miles and it has the same steering problems (Inconsistent weighting of steering) as others on this forum, so I went to a local garage and the proprietor said he had just serviced a similar low mileage Fabia, which had the same problem. She had taken the car to the skoda dealer who tested the car and told her it was nothing unusual and she should learn to live with it. I went myself, the receptionist denied any problems with fabia steering and suggested I pay £68 for them to look at it. I declined their generous offer and am going to dispose of this seemingly unreliable car.