[yashcosmos]

I am very sorry to hear about your friend's loss.
I am myself a Fabia TDI owner and what a coincidence this is, a similar incident happened with me 1 year ago, i drove over a manhole covering near bkc, there was a loud noise. I drove the car for more than a km or so and just stopped to check if there were any oil leaks, to my disbelief there was, I immediately stopped the car and towed it to the service station. I never told the service station guys that I drove the car for 100m's also and luckily in my case only the oil sump and oil sump guard had to be replaced which the insurance did. Car is running fine till date, I assume your friend must have driven for a good 2-3km.

[shobhit.shri]

Just curious, but what impact led to such Engine damage? Engine seizure because of low oil is fine, but how can engine oil sump be damaged by hitting over a speed breaker?

Sorry to hear about this but I couldn't have imagined Bangalore's speed breakers to be this nasty .

[arnabchak]

Originally Posted by spyder_p8

A passenger car engine is designed to last the entire lifetime of the vehicle. Engine seizures are not that common. Even if thats a Honda/Toyota, it will cost you that much. One of my known got his amaze repaired after an accident. The whole repair along with engine overhaul was around a lakh less than Ex-showroom.

But I guess the insurance would have taken care of that.
Though I would be surprised that the car was not declared a total loss.

[saket77]

Both my cars are low slung vehicles, one is the old Zen and the other is the Civic. And I have crossed and hit some nasty speed breakers and potholes and heard all kind of noises inside the cabin of hitting, scraping and all. Many times, even at high speeds. Once I hit a strange curb placed on road in my Civic which I thought must have had damaged the sump, but to my surprise, I have never had signs of hit on the engine sump on either of the two vehicles. That is strange given that I have had my Zen for over 12 years now. This makes me believe that the sump is placed in a relative higher and safer position than rest of the underbody which actually takes the hit in most circumstances.

That brings me to think that is the German engineering over hyped term when it comes to regular cars? I know this may open a can of worms but what is the engineering's worth when they cannot design a car with a safe sump position? Agree with the superior build quality but is the designing part equally superior?

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by saket77

That brings me to think that is the German engineering over hyped term when it comes to regular cars?

As another members showed in the past with pics - the sump can get damaged in a Fabia, even though it comes with a guard underneath.

Thread link below -

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/techni...ml#post2742312

[alpha1]

Originally Posted by saket77

That brings me to think that is the German engineering over hyped term when it comes to regular cars? I know this may open a can of worms but what is the engineering's worth when they cannot design a car with a safe sump position? Agree with the superior build quality but is the designing part equally superior?

You may be right.
Superior engineering doesn't mean assembling cutting edge beta products or flashy gizmos.

Superior engineering means a well thought out design which results in a product that makes the buyer surprised about the foresight of the designer.

But then this would not make headlines on media - therefore german engineering = gizmos (that may fall apart later - but media doesn't care)

I have never ever understood the idiocy of placing oil sump the lowest on a car so that it is the first to get hit.
Why not have something far less critical placed FIRST (in front) and lower - so that it can be sacrificed in case the vehicle is hit in the underbelly.

[spyder_p8]

There is a very limited information on what happened to the car. I would have taken more interest if more data in the form of photos would have been available. The person who has spawned this thread hasn't responded to such queries either. I request MODS to lock down this thread until we have more information. Unless we discuss this with facts, this thread will again become a SKODA bashing one.

[danlalan]

Originally Posted by zombiedriver

The other option would be to dispose the car as is. Neither of us knows how that works. Does he sell this as scrap metal? Will anyone buy it as is and transfer ownership? If it is sold as scrap metal then how does one cancel the registration? If there is a procedure to cancel the registration of the car is there a way for him to claim a refund on the road tax paid?

Sell it as a non working car. Someone will pick it up for 1.5 to 2 lakhs.
Other option is buy a used engine from the market. 30k to 40k. Plonk it in. Continue driving.

[saket77]

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

As another members showed in the past with pics - the sump can get damaged in a Fabia, even though it comes with a guard underneath.

Thanks for the link.

So the problem is common to all Fabia(s). However, personally I do not place much confidence in sump guards, as they may not be effective. More important & effective is the sump's placement which clearly is very low on the Fabia making it vulnerable to hits. I would prefer the underbody to take the hits, if something has to, than stuff which is as delicate and important as the engine oil sump.

Originally Posted by alpha1

You may be right.
Superior engineering means a well thought out design which results in a product that makes the buyer surprised about the foresight of the designer.

Nicely put in words.
May be that low sump will not be a cause of concern in Europe conditions, but for a car meant to be driven in India, it has to be of utmost importance given the average to poor infrastructure and roads.

Regards.

[a4anurag]

Originally Posted by saket77

So the problem is common to all Fabia(s). However, personally I do not place much confidence in sump guards, as they may not be effective.

Does this mean that the GC quoted by Skoda is 'unreal' as the real life GC is much lower than what is shown.

May be all manufacturers should give the correct figure hereon.

Originally Posted by saket77

May be that low sump will not be a cause of concern in Europe conditions, but for a car meant to be driven in India, it has to be of utmost importance given the average to poor infrastructure and roads.

Eggactly, any manufacturer should throughly test the car in all adverse conditions before launching keeping in mind all our crater filled pot hole roads plus gigantic speed beakers.

Why couldn't Skoda do a check before releasing it in the market!

Let's wait for the update from the OP and his friend on this issue along with the final decision taken regarding this case!

[zombiedriver]

Originally Posted by spyder_p8

There is a very limited information on what happened to the car. I would have taken more interest if more data in the form of photos would have been available. The person who has spawned this thread hasn't responded to such queries either. I request MODS to lock down this thread until we have more information. Unless we discuss this with facts, this thread will again become a SKODA bashing one.

I had no intention of starting a thread bashing Skoda. infact I have even mentioned in one of my posts that I've never had a problem with the car while I owned it. I did a reasonable 38000kms in about 2 years before I sold it to my friend and I was always satisfied with the car and the service provided.

The car is in the service station in bangalore and me or my friend didn't click any pictures of it when we went there. Both of us are out of town for the festival. I have asked him to click pictures when he gets a chance and I will make it a point to post them here on the forum.

Neither of us has any experience regarding this and wanted suggestions and opinions. I am a very avid follower of team-bhp and would not post something that's either bogus or insulting to the many people who are on the forum and also to the people who are not but yet look here for information. I think the only anti Skoda post of mine on this thread is that after this incident I've changed my mind about buying the new octavia.

The sole reason I have not responded to Posts is because I wanted to gather more information before I did. I have explained this to the MODS in a private message.

[saket77]

Originally Posted by a4anurag

Does this mean that the GC quoted by Skoda is 'unreal' as the real life GC is much lower than what is shown.

May be all manufacturers should give the correct figure hereon.

No Anurag, not saying that the figures put forward for the ground clearance for the Fabia is manipulated. Technically, GC is the distance of the lowest point of the car to the road. The problems come to picture only when that lowest point is something delicate and critical to the car's functioning.
Also, many times the lowest points may be near the axles or in line to the axles, which means that they are less likely to be hit or scraped as they move along the wheels tackling the breaker or the pothole.

Regards.

[jeeva]

Well, A friend's 32k run Fabia broke its gearbox main shaft, and the SKODA A.S.C wanted the moon for a new main shaft and everything else as labour charges. The car was out of warranty period, and they started giving insane reasons for the failure. And if given a chance, they would have loved to replace the engine as well!
For less than 1/3rd of the price quoted by the SKODA rippers, got a full gearbox (used) from Bombay.

[skdking]

Originally Posted by zombiedriver

.....

The other option would be to dispose the car as is. Neither of us knows how that works. Does he sell this as scrap metal? Will anyone buy it as is and transfer ownership? If it is sold as scrap metal then how does one cancel the registration? If there is a procedure to cancel the registration of the car is there a way for him to claim a refund on the road tax paid?

Folks,

Very interesting thread.

I feel for the friend.

Another example of rapacious skoda dealers.

My query is that, as said above, how does one dispose of a very old or totally written of(f?) car?

Any experienced member can share his story please?

[prateek99]

There is something amiss, I guess.

You don't expect dealer to order completely knocked down engine & then assemble for you. Engine assembly from scratch cannot be left to dealer mechanic's technical prowess.

OEMs have float for all the major aggregates. Let us say an engine fails during warranty – dealer doesn't order crack shaft, crank case & other parts separately – he simply orders engine assembly and replaces it with the failed one.

Dealer will pocket the amount for parts that don’t need replacement but makes you pay for – this has happened with me before.

You may want to order engine assembly & other additional parts that need replacement. (My friend’s Scorpio has a completely new engine, replaced by Mahindra, free of cost under warranty.)

This post also shows us the kind of margins OEM & dealers enjoy on spares: engine repair / replacement cost = cost of new vehicle.