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Guys:
I just gave my car for the first service. The Shell synthetic engine oil costs Rs 3.5K. Is it a must? Cant she run on the ordinary engine oil?

If your manufacturer specifies synthetic oil for your car, it is better you stick to it.

k_ajay

your seat covers look great.

How much did the seat covers cost you?.i visited the autoshow in chennai 2 days back and stanley had their stall there.they quoted 12-14 for art leather and 28-34k for full leather.and half leather like yours cost 24k.

Madrash

Synthetic Oil is the primary reason for longer service intervals.

Wiki Says:
The technical advantages of synthetic motor oils include:

* Measurably better low and high temperature viscosity performance
* Better chemical & shear stability
* Decreased evaporative loss
* Resistance to oxidation, thermal breakdown and oil sludge problems
* Extended drain intervals with the environmental benefit of less oil waste.
* Improved fuel economy in certain engine configurations.
* Better lubrication on cold starts

Thanks Shykrish. I too looked at the wiki site. :)

What does the owner's manual say exactly? Does it say the oil specifications (spec.) are "recommended" or does it say something like the oil "must conform to EXACT specifications."

If synthetic oil is merely "recommended", and not "required," then you can use a cheaper non-synthetic oil. But if synthetic oil is absolutely required and also has to be "VW xxx.xx approved," then Fabia owners have no choice but to use the costly synthetic VW xxx.xx approved oil. The xxx.xx stand for numbers that represent the VW approved oil spec. for your particular engine. The "VW xxx.xx approved" must be printed on the oil bottle.

One or more of the T-bhp Fabia owners should get a list of current VW approved oils from Skoda India (or the Skoda dealer's technical manual) for Fabia petrol and diesel engines being used in Indian conditions, scan it and post it here for all of us to see and discuss.

Check out this Passat thread regarding the correct VW oil:

What Oil Should You Use? A Reference Guide. - Passat World Forums

MadRash: Sir, I didn't know we coud rate our favourite Fabiosi haunt. Thanks for flagging it: guys- we enjoy being here and speaking our minds about our dazzling, demure, devastating Czech beauty. I exhort you to click the simple tab and vote. Please do it NOW!!


MadRash: I recall Skoda's precise stipulation that it be 'Shell' synthetic lubes, but can't remember whether I saw it in the Manual or as a sticker somewhere on the car. A post very early on in our Fabiosi saga spoke of a car being lubed with some other Brand of synth lube, and there was a brief discussion as to why and how Dealers in different cities could be interpreting things their way.

Hi Josh,

Thanks for the compliments on the seat covers. The job I got done is a mix of half leather [all black portions] and real 'classic' leather [all off-white portions]. I paid a total [rounded off] amount of Rs.20,000/-.

If you are planning to get Stanley leather job done, I fully recommend them for their fit and finish.

Hello members and Fabiosis,

How are you all doing? I hope you are having a great time with your dear ones, both iniside the house and the one in the car porch.. I'm having a waltz with my white beauty..

The 1.4 litre engine is a dream... Smooth and very refined under speeds of 2500 rpm [that's how much I've taken the revolutions upto, so I wouldn't know how the engine sounds beyond 2500rpm].. The car seems to glide [at speeds lower than 35-40kmph] rather than run on the road. And I am not exaggerating anything here..

But on Tuesday, I got annoyed. Nay, beyond annoyed. I was severely displeased. This is one of the last things I expect of a car costing close to 8 lakhs on road, and with build quality that rivals several other cars through different classes. I thought I was imagining it in my head, but no.. I HEARD IT!!! Not once or twice, but on several occasions. What I was pissed off with, in my head, if I at I was to heard it from this car, how can it happen so soon? So quick, that I haven't even completed the run-in of a 1000kms.

Something, somewhere RATTLED. A mild noise and it surfaced whenever the car went over bad roads and rough patches. When I heard it the second time, my immediate reflex was to see the front left door window glass. I thought the rattling came from the window glass. Since I was driving solo, I stopped the car, came over to the left side, winded the glass down and then rolled them up properly, closed the door with the confirming 'thud' sound. I hoped then, that I won't hear the rattle again.

I started off, and for a few meters, the rattle noise wasn't evident. I was glad. But a few kms off from there and the rattling resurfaced. This time, I was miffed. THIS CAR SHOULD NOT RATTLE... I wanted to shout out loud, but restrained myself.

Ok.. I won't drag this any longer and will kill the suspense. But I request you also restrain from showering me with the flowery words your minds will cook up for me, once you know the source of the rattling noise..

It finally was... my small sunglasses. Yes. The sunglass was jumping around in the sunglass holder compartment, just next to the front roof lighting switches. Since the sunglass was smaller than the compartment, it caused the rattle. stupid:

No.. No.. Keep that brick down.. I know I shouldn't have dragged, but what the hell? Let's get a little dramatic ;)

No rattles from the car yet. It is SOLID, my friends... I'm enjoying every drive I go on, even if it is a short one.
----------------------------------------------------------

Fabiosi and members,

I have a question to ask. Yesterday, I was driving up on a mainroad [bangaloreans will know Richmond Road, a few meters after the LifeStyle AdarshOpus signal] and had to halt my car on a upward facing slope. Normally, if the traffic takes more than 30 seconds to clear, I stall the car and rest with handbrake on.

While trying to move forward, I started the car and thinking that I had engaged the first gear, I took off the hand break and started depressing the throttle. In a second, the vehicle started moving backwards [since I was on the up slope] and there were 2 cars right behind me. In a panic mode, I continued with the throttle, instead of depressing the brake pedal.

I noticed that the rpm needle nearly touched 5000rpm by which time, I regained sense, and depressed the brake, immediately engaged gear and took off slowly. Fortunately, I didn't front end the car behind me.

Do you folks think there will be any consequent damage to the engine [pistons, cylinders, et al] since I revved up to 5000rpm? This happened with 675+ kms on the odo, and I am yet in my running in period.

Sreenivas, my colleague and tbhp member confirmed this one off case won't hurt, but I wanted to seek your opinions too..

I pray it is nothing to worry about. Please let me know.. Thanks much!

aK

I agree that it's nothing to worry about.

IMHO, if you had completed 10 km during the trip before revving up the engine, almost no damage would have been caused because the engine oil would have already warmed up. If 10 km was not completed, then some insignificant damage occurred. And since the car was in neutral, no load was on the engine, so the damage was still less. It does not matter to me whether you car has done 700 or 70,000 km because I do not believe in long break-in/running-in periods anymore after reading the following article and many debates on the web discussing this article:

Break In Secrets--How To Break In New Motorcycle and Car Engines For More Power

My current belief is that whether an engine is brand new or very old, you cannot significantly damage it as long as you warm the engine up to normal operating oil temperature (NOT the coolant temperature gauge), before revving it above the midpoint of the rpm range (if redline is 6000 rpm, do not rev it above 3000 until oil is warm.)

Few modern cars have oil temperature gauges so we have to make an educated guess based on some hints given in various owner's manuals from different manufacturers. From what I have gleaned, any trip below 6 miles (10 km), in above freezing temperatures, is not enough to warm up the engine and is classified as severe conditions requiring more oil changes. Any trip below 10 miles (16 Km), in freezing temperatures, is classified as severe conditions. If the trips are above the minimum distance required, then the conditions are classified as normal conditions.

Keep in mind that whether you drive the car or not, the engine is getting damaged. By letting it sit, parts in the engine will get damaged due to inactivity. By driving it, parts get damaged due to activity. Like it or not, cars, like humans, begin aging/dying from the date of birth. It is normal.

There are many ways to damage an engine. I have read that the process of starting the engine each time causes significant damage or wear and tear to the engine and there is nothing we can do about it for all practical purposes. Another way that causes significant damage is revving the engine beyond the rpm midpoint when the oil is not at operating temperature, a situation where we can do something about it. Some cars have an electronic cold rev limiter that prevents the engine from being revved beyond a certain rpm while the engine is cold. As soon as the engine is warm, the limiter disappears. I am curious if the Fabia has a cold rev limiter. If it does not have a cold limiter, I would drive it 10 km before I start revving it beyond the midpoint.

Life is short. Warm the car up correctly, rev it as much as you want, cool it down, park it, maintain it well, enjoy yourself.
Own the car not vice-versa.

A single high rev is not going to do anything to it Ajay. Engines of today are tough customers and require significant abuse to do any real damage. Rest easy and drive on :)

WOW! we just crossed the 1000 post mark.. that's one hell of a great info about this car to come up in less than a year's time. I guess no one would have expected it to cross 1000 post as one would say skoda fabia barely sells in no's compared to other cars. One who thinks that would really to come down to this thread all thanks to Netchef, the one who started this thread and contributed by other family member's of Fabia. It's been a great experience in owning one and to be part of this Fabia family.
ENJOY FRIENDS!!! cheers:

I'm back after a break dear fabiosis. I was in Mumbai/ Vashi for last couple of days on official trip and counted quite a few gleaming fabias on the road. Over 1000 posts and a 5 star rating..what more could our fabia thread ask for?Let's give 3 cheers for Netchef and not forget the contributions made by all esteemed fabiosis & members.clap:

Going through the posts in last 1 week, I guess I've brought in some unwanted fights/egos into this thread. I want to apologize to all for the negative feelings created and promise that I would be more careful with my words in future. To be honest, I just wanted to share my general observations and never meant to demean anyone or any brands.As I've often repeated, each one buys a car on his own decision and values it most. I might have felt a bit worked up when I saw the unnecessary comments regarding the Overdrive COTY. I'm no one to decide the class of people and I may not be having even half the salary of what some other members get. I stretched my budget to own something which my heart desired and fabia was the only car which i could afford (still, I feel it's way over my means), giving me all the qualities I was looking for. May be the root cause to own fabia more than a swift came up from my habit to view driving/riding a car/ bike as a form of relaxation. Its just like the kind of easiness you get while sitting in a rocking chair listening to music, I love journeys. It stems from my experience with the RX 100.:OT


@ Ajay, you car is so beautiful and after sprucing up with Stanley, it looks so delicious. If my memory is right, Netchef had once mentioned that he plans to drape his baby with Stanley on its 1st anniversary. Rattles..that too on left side sure does make fabiosis sit and think. It has been a commonly heard irritation and my car had a rattle snake residing in it for few days. In the end, the culprit was a loose seat nut. But I've heard from other owners about the rattles in left side coming from the dashboard/door pad/ windows while going through rough patches.

@ Netchef, Hats off to you for starting this wonderful thread Sir and if I'm right, the recommendation for using "Shell" is sticked under the bonnet itself or somewhere by the side

@ shykrish, nice to see a fellow 'thiruanthoram' fabiosi. We've a company, Rakesh, but he went underground in August and if you spot a black fabia in Technopark, you can drag him back.

Enjoy your drives fabiosis!!!

Hey It's truly been a long to come by and not to forget still going strong. My guesses 2000 shouldn't be that far.
Hey great too know you were in Mumbai, next time you drop in we can surely catchup.
It's remarkable to come this far, after all how many threads have reached far, it's achievement.

Cheers!

Fabiosis:

It was a surprize. The total amount was just Rs. 3683.

Shell helix ultra (3.8l @ 680) : 2907
Oil Filter : 435
Windscreenwasher : 60
pickup & drop service : 281

Total Rs. 3683

I asked them to interchange the tyres diagonally.
But they did wheel balancing and alignment without my knowledge. After that work, the service advisor called me and tried to include that in the bill saying that "at Skoda we do this as part of the service". I asked him to prove it by showing the chkecklist. Finally that wasn't included in the bill.

After the service the car has become super smooth. I love the gear shift than anything else in Fabia.

I heard a very mild distinct sound from the engine after the service. I will investigate it tomorrow.

Six months are over. I’m planning to wax polish my car. 3M is a good option?
They quoted Rs 1400 for that.