2001 Skoda Fabia Comfort from UK and Ireland - Comments

Wow, so many faults with this Fabia car.

Don't other cars have problems too.

I drove a Fabia and enjoyed it though.

SKODA FABIA 1.4 052PLATE.

Oh the joy of the creaky dash, a good slap on the dash stops it for about 15-20mins.

Other Problems Encountered:

Coolant leak

Replaced drivers door locking barrel, passenger side going now.

Back doors let in rain even after new door.

Have replaced front suspension bushes, anti roll bar problems.

Y bar??? Bushes now need doing at @£400.00

There seems to be a trend of problems with the bushes.

I am not a happy customer and would no longer purchase or recommend a Skoda.

I have had a Skoda Fabia 1.4 16v Elegance 2001 (Y).

Not a bad little motor, but recently have had and engine management system problem; the light keeps coming on and off along with an orange steering wheel light.

Started car the other day and got stuck on 500rpm with the throttle doing nothing; switched off and wouldn't start for about 5 - 10 minutes after, what is this all about?

The car getting booked in on Saturday, but I am just interested in someone who knows what they are talking about's view here on carsurvey, as I am not very clued up on this. If anyone can help that would be great.

Thanks.

Dan.

I recently purchased a 2002 51 plate Fabia 1.4 16V Comfort with only 32,000 miles on it. I've had a number of the problems mentioned in the above comments already.

Dimming headlights when the power steering is used - it is booked in for a new battery so I hope it is cured with that otherwise it sounds like a new steering position sensor.

Noisy interior heating fan which is apparently due to a common problem of leaves getting stuck in the inlet/pollen filter.

Dashboard rattles.

I've also got to get the complete anti-roll bar replaced and all associated bushes and links replaced. Very cross by this, it is obvious that the the plastic end stops on the anti roll-bar are a design flaw and should have been replaced as a recall. I've also got to get bushes replaced on the rear suspension.

I bought into the Skoda brand expecting VAG reliability and am therefore very disappointed by the endless list of common faults. A real shame as otherwise it is a lovely car and preferable to the Almera, 206 and Fiesta I test drove.

1.9 TDI 2002 Comfort

Can anyone offer any suggestions on the common fault that prevails on this car i.e. the leaking back doors???

After reading these comments most seem to be very minor faults, but then most Skoda stealers seem to be rip off merchants, it's an OK little car and all cars have issues find an indy garage to look after it.

Hi All.

I appear to have some of the problems mentioned, but not all of them maybe more will come.

Can anyone give me an idea as to the cost to rectify the anti-roll bar knocking issue?

Cheers.

James.

Hi, I m an owner of Fabia 2001 1.4 16V

and have some of the problems mentioned above.

1- Engine Management light: Engine Management light is always on, and the dealer told me that it is because of lambda sensor. But after I read these comments I have a doubt that it s due to lambda sensor. Is there anyone who overcome this problem not changing the lambda sensor?

2- Flickering Lights: Lights are flickering mostly when the car is parked and at nights. The dealer told me to change the electronic box that controls the locking system with remote control. But it costs too much. And I did search internet and saw it may be due to some other reasons like alternator or low battery etc. Does anyone give me an advise how to fix the problem?

My email: ilhangumus@hotmail.com

Thanks in advance.

Hi.

I own a Skoda Fabia, 1.4, 16v, petrol, model 2004. The mileage now is 40000 mile. I wonder if it is time to change the timing belt or not. Does anyone have a trusty information about this matter?

Hi,

I own a Fabia 1.4 16v ('03 plate) with 54,000 on the clock. It has just gone in for the piston rings to be replaced. I'm interested to hear from anyone else who has suffered this problem. It seems pretty poor on a car with such a low mileage (despite being nearly 5 years old, I'd expect a decent modern engine to be up above 120K mileage before suffering this fault).

Looking at other sites, it appears that the problem is not uncommon, and has been around some time. I'm particularly interested to hear from anyone who encountered this type of trouble before December 2005, and what, if any recompense they got from the manufacturer.

Thanks!

Hi: I bought reg 51 Skoda Fabia 1.4 8v with 45000 miles recently, and straight away noticed that it was slightly misfiring, so I took it to my local garage where it's been diagnosed as having lambda sensor fault ,amongst some other things which mechanic advised me to disregard.

I had a second hand lambda sensor fitted, but it didn't solve the problem, so I tried another, again a second hand one, and it seemed to have worked, but it's doing it again.

The car had another problem as well, which seems to be a common problem that these cars suffer from; flickering of head lamps. I had the alternator tested by 2 different electricians & they both advised it was OK. I tried another alternator as well, but it didn't work, so I had the battery tested & it was low, so it was replaced. The lights were OK for couple of days, so I thought the problem was solved, but they started flickering again. I had the battery tested again & it's fine.

Can anyone suggest any solutions to this problem? Do you think it could be a faulty steering angle sensor switch, & if it turned out to be that, will the local garage be able to fit new one on, or does it have to be a dealer, & does it need reprogramming etc?

By the way, the engine was a bit noisy, so I had to have new timing chain fitted, which solved the problem.

Also the rear passenger side door leaks as well.

Please let me know if you can help. Much appreciated.

Hi All, my problem is with my Skoda Fabia 1.2. For months the Engine Management Light has been on and I've been told by various mechanics that I needed a a new catalytic convertor, running a systems check returns a reading that the error is with a bank 1 sensor. Last week a mechanic told me all I needed was to get a Lambda sensor changed. I had this done and two days later the Engine Management Light has come back on! It is getting increasingly frustrating as a I've been told a new catalytic convertor will set me back about 800€ before labour charges. Does anyone reading this have any idea if there is anything else that could be causing this problem that would be remedied in a less expensive way? All suggestions welcomed. Thanks you.

SKODA; can anybody advise me about my second hand Skoda Fabia 1400 diesel 54 plate, purchased from the main dealers? The car is wearing tyres on the inside of the front wheels. New Michelin tyres fitted 2000 miles ago are already badly worn. Car has been taken back to the dealers, re-tracked, balanced re-aligned etc, on 3 occasions since I purchased the car. They keep telling me that there is nothing wrong, and cannot find any problem. I do not drive at speed or aggressively so I cannot put it down to my driving style.

I bought a Skoda Fabia Elegance in 2001 silver, manual gearbox, and it was fine for the 45,000 miles I did, no problems at all, so did not have to use my 3 year warranty.

I now have a storm grey Fabia 1.4 16v auto gearbox, purchased May 2005 which has just finished its 3 year warranty. Once again no problems at all. My mileage is currently 38000. I have decided to do my own oil/filter change this time and save a bit of money. I thoroughly recommend getting an auto box as this makes for such stress free motoring, on todays busier roads.

I will be buying a Fabia Estate (new shape) with auto (naturally) in the within the next year.

I've got a skoda fabia 1.4 comfort on Y reg, I bought it in February this year with a warranty and currently very disappointed and feel like I'm a bit jinxed with cars! I'm a really careful driver and need to do quite a few commuting miles to work and back so I gave up my little Suzuki alto for something which had a bit more 'oomph' on motorways.

When I first got the skoda I was really happy with how comfortable it was to drive and thought I'd picked up a good'un. It had low mileage and I got a good deal... apparently!

After a week of having it it was back at the garage with flickering headlight problems due to water being in the lights, then 2 sensors needed replacing after it beeped at me for the power steering and another thing they never fully explained to me. Then last month the suspension coil snapped and a bearing went. I was told this could have been due to speed bumps but I'm really careful when it comes to any bumps and don't recall any problems with them as it appeared to happen spontaneously.

Now I've clocked up a bit of mileage and it flashed to say I needed 'service OIL' so I phoned the garage again and booked it in for a service, 'it needs the full works because of its age' they said, so I thought OK then do what needs doing, knowing it was going to cost a bit when asked if I wanted the brake fluid sorting too I said go ahead so I knew everything was done. Got a phone call shortly after to tell me a tyre had punctured and another needed replacing as it was worn down so that's more expense even though I've got a warranty, my bush had gone (luckily the warranty will cover the £100 for this).

Am I just unlucky or are fabia's more unreliable than review sites like whatcar make out???