[recshenoy]

I was talking to my good friend yesterday about cars. He has a Honda Civic and Skoda Fabia (Elegance 1.4 TDI previous model). I remember him mentioning many times “I can maintain Civic but surely not Skoda. They always make me wait for parts, parts are not reliable and costly etc”. Last week he said “I need to buy a hatch back now since I have only Civic for travel” I asked “what happened to Skoda, I haven’t seen for many days” and there he starts the Skoda HORROR story. I am yet to get complete picture of what exactly is the problem with his car. But I am sure Skoda is trying to take him for ride. So I am writing a high level story here so that I can get some opinion from experts if such problem can happen in the car. At this point all I know is Skoda Fabia is unusable and lying in his garage. His son has more details but due to exams he is not reachable currently. I will try to get more information from him once his exams are over. So here goes the story. . .

It all started at 70K kms his timer belt of Fabia went kaput and had to be replaced. It was just 2.9 year old vehicle by then. After making him wait for 3 months they finally get it replaced and made him pay 56,530 rupees. They said car is out of 2 year warranty period and made him pay for the car. Even before that, he had problems while getting small parts like rear viper etc replaced. Just to get that small part repaired they said “sir parts not yet arrived, please come tomorrow” despite follow up with them multiple time. And since he had to come all the way 130 kms up and down to get that part replaced. So he had kept car at our house couple of times and took bus instead. First when I saw, I was so happy to see top end Skoda with sun roof parked in our house till I heard him telling “despite so many reminders they haven’t yet got this small part for car. I am really tired of these guys”.

This was couple of years back and then timer belt went kaput , he fixed it paying 56K. After that Skoda Fabia was running happily.

Fast Forward 2012 → Skoda Fabia is lying idle in his garage. Reason given by Skoda “ Timer belt is gone. Also engine chain is broken and some more parts are gone” So you need to replace the engine now. It will cost you between 4-5 Lakhs. Your car will be like new once you replace the engine. Sir why don’t you replace engine. This is horrible! I can’t imagine replacing engine of a car which has run for 3-4 years with 1 to 1.25 lakhs on ODO (I haven’t got exact odometer reading). Except engine the car is in very good condition and very neatly maintained. Used to give very good FE of 18 to 20kmpl for a liter of diesel. So my friend wrote letter to Skoda company with details. But no response from them. The dealership (TAFE ACCESS – Mangalore/Bangalore) talks only about “Engine replacement” and nothing else. So now my friend kind of thinking to get engine replaced since the car is in good condition.

I requested him to hold on and told about publishing this story online in auto-forum and get some expert opinion before replacing the engine. And obviously after hearing many Skoda horror stories though I don’t have complete picture of problem, I have strong feeling that Skoda is taking him for ride.






Now since the details are not very clear let me ask experts here.

1. Under what conditions generally engine is replaced in the car? I mean what state of engine like crack in engine chamber , scratches in chamber etc etc
2. Any one has faced this problem before in Skoda Fabia? How much was cost of Timer belt replacement cost? Is it 56,000?
3. What is the life of timer belt of Skoda or any other timer belt in general?
4. What is the life of Engine chain? What makes it break? Wear and tear or poor quality
5. What is the cost of Engine replacement in general for small diesel cars

[ajmat]

Originally Posted by recshenoy

I
1. Under what conditions generally engine is replaced in the car? I mean what state of engine like crack in engine chamber , scratches in chamber etc etc
2. Any one has faced this problem before in Skoda Fabia? How much was cost of Timer belt replacement cost? Is it 56,000?
3. What is the life of timer belt of Skoda or any other timer belt in general?
4. What is the life of Engine chain? What makes it break? Wear and tear or poor quality
5. What is the cost of Engine replacement in general for small diesel cars

1: I would say from around 140,000km but it depends on type of use. Being diesel, the fuel itself is a lubricant so it can go on for longer

2: It would cost a max of Rs 30k in an octavia if the waterpump and pullys are also replaced

3: Skoda will say around 70K, I would advise changing it before 50k or 3 years
If skoda advise longer change intervals, they should stand by the part that snapped

4: What chain? Nothing is chain driven in the Fabia, if it was, you would not have been in situation for a long time assuming car was serviced regularly

5: No idea - you might be better off finding an accident damaged Fabia with a serviable engine

[gauravdgr8]

Post deleted by the Team-BHP Support : Please do NOT post one-liners that add little or no informational value to the thread. We need your co-operation to maintain the overall quality of this forum.

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[speedmiester]

Skoda has interference engines. When the timing belts snaps in an interference engine, the pistons will hit the open valves and cause severe damage.
The 60k repair bill is on par for such damage. Just the timing belt will not cost that much.

Since there are a lot of things left out, it is not possible to make a correct judgement. I believe since your friends had already had an episode of timing belt getting cut, he should have been more careful and got it replaced before it reached 100K-110K kms.

Please post more details.

[mayankjha1806]

I am not sure if the engines are similar (his is a 1.2 Petrol) but fellow bhpian @androdev also went through an engine replacement/rebuild on his Fabia. Might be worthwhile posting a query for him. Here is the link to that thread.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/techni...d-14000km.html

Hope this helps, all the best.

[GTO]

If your friend didn't change the timing belt on time, he is to blame. Please provide full details on what the exact odometer reading was at the time.

Nevertheless, I don't understand why Skoda dealers are pushing new engines, when the existing one can easily be overhauled (if required). Here is a thread where the member was quoted 6 lakhs for a new Fabia engine

Or going by the number of dealers pushing engine replacements, perhaps there is some dead stock lying around (as the cars aren't selling anyways).

[naikpranav]

I own a Skoda Fabia (Elegance), 2008. Mileage - 105,000 km

On August 14, 2015, while I was driving at byculla, all the hydraulics of the car stopped, and the engine seized, no attempt was made to restart the engine or drive it any further than the distance (20m) it rolled to a safe parking spot. I immediately spoke with Ravi at the Autobahn workshop and arranged for the car to be towed. On August 18 we visited the workshop to understand the diagnosis, we were told the engine chain is broken and the oil pump bracket is broken too. These are parts inside the engine and have never been touched. This was most unexpected as we expected the engine to last much more than it did.

This car has been regularly maintained at Autobahn’s workshop at Sewree and Kurla since we have owned the car. It was sent to the workshop for its scheduled service and oil change in June itself.

Ravi did not know exactly what needed to be done and referred this engine to Rajesh at Autobahn’s workshop. They have provided an estimate of 346,560/- + 106,000/- for a turbocharger. When we inquired about other options considering this is neither driver error nor poor maintenance, Rajesh suggested an engine replacement from a totalled car. Now even this figure is at 250,000/- without either a guarantee of longevity nor assurance of support in the future.

I understand that the warranty of the car has expired, but the car itself has been impeccably maintained, and this damage could not occur if the parts in the engine itself weren’t faulty to begin with and this is a manufacturing defect.

I don’t know what we should do next, as we like the car very much, but can’t pay almost the value of a new Fabia just for an engine rebuild.

[ajmat]

Originally Posted by naikpranav

On August 18 we visited the workshop to understand the diagnosis, we were told the engine chain is broken and the oil pump bracket is broken too. .

I think they meant the camshaft belt. Ideally, it should be changed every 4 years or 75000 KM not the internal that Skoda say considering our demanding environment.

Your options are:

1: Find another engine from a damaged Fabia
2:Sell the car as scrap

None of them are likable decisions . if the car has been maintained at a Skoda dealership, try and explore good will contirbutions

[alpha1]

Originally Posted by naikpranav

I own a Skoda Fabia (Elegance), 2008. Mileage - 105,000 km

They have provided an estimate of 346,560/- + 106,000/- for a turbocharger. When we inquired about other options considering this is neither driver error nor poor maintenance, Rajesh suggested an engine replacement from a totalled car. Now even this figure is at 250,000/- without either a guarantee of longevity nor assurance of support in the future.

Woops, yours is a very bad situation to be in.
There is no point doing an engine rebuild at the 3.5+1=4.5 lakhs.

Get a thoroughly used vehicle at less than Rs 1.5 lakhs and then transplant this engine to your vehicle.

Please forget about longevity or assurance of support.
What did the assurance of support do in your case? (Rack up a bill of 4.5 lakhs, which you are not willing to foot)

[sourav9385]

Originally Posted by naikpranav

I own a Skoda Fabia (Elegance), 2008. Mileage - 105,000 km...This car has been regularly maintained at Autobahn’s workshop at Sewree and Kurla since we have owned the car...I don’t know what we should do next, as we like the car very much, but can’t pay almost the value of a new Fabia just for an engine rebuild.

Hey there, fellow Bhp-ian,

I too have been through this kind of a situation before with my Chevrolet Optra, and I totally understand your frustration and pain.

Sadly, even though I feel your love for your car, I would not recommend paying all that money just to get a 7 year old out of production model back on its feet. It just isn't worth it, my friend.Please consider selling the car, however you can, and use the funds you receive for getting a new car. Trying to get the car back in shape is going to be an expensive, time consuming, tedious affair, with 0 guarantee of it all working well in the near future.

Please understand that the damage caused to the engine, however it may have happened, is substantial. You cannot fix the damage cheaply, neither will it yield any tangible and usable results in the near future.These things happen to new cars as well, and people have crawled over broken glass to get their issues fixed. Please take comfort in knowing that this happened to a 7 year old car, and not a new one. S#i7 happens, so just move on.

Apologies in advance if you feel my post doesn't bring you any comfort.

[fiestarry]

@naikpranav,
Do let us know what happened after that . Did you change the engine or the car itself ?

[bhargav2015]

I bought the last lot of the Fabia's to be sold in India because I thought Skoda was passionate about the cars it makes. This is my story:

The first week that it came, the car started pulling towards the left. No amount of alignment and balancing helped. When I called the workshop they offered to fix the problem. Which they did, albeit the second time over. The ride was good but after a while, being obsessed with the car, I started noticing small niggling sound often. When I tool it to the Workshop, they diagnosed it to be a play on the Engine Mounts. So Tafe replaced the Engine mounts and bedding under warranty. A few months later, another niggling sound emerged, which was traced to the Gearbox mounts. Which was also replaced under warranty.

Repeat of the above and this time it was the steering rack and ditto with the replacement. Now, I have a 2.5yr old car which runs about 2000km a month, out of warranty, which has developed a play in the steering rack. Again. PS: The guys at Tafe Access Workshop, Mangalore have been extremely helpful and gone out of their way to help me. But now I don't know what to do. The car is top notch otherwise.

On a separate note, they say that the present play in steering rack is because I up sized to 15" VW Polo alloys with 195/60. Is it possible that the steering rack falters because of my tyres? Kindly advise.