£1500 car - priorities for maintenance

mad_rich

Last month I bought a Skoda Fabia 1.9 Tdi for £1500.

So far, I've been very happy with it. Especially the mpg, which is about triple what I was getting on the old car.

It's 10 years old with 155,000 on the clock but you wouldn't know it. It has been very well looked after, and serviced every 1 year/ 10,000 miles, with the exception of the last year (it was last serviced in Jan 2011). It even had 4 new tyres last October.

I've taken it to a local garage to get it serviced and given the once-over. The report is pretty good. A few major but not unexpected things.

- Rear brake discs corroded (but pads good) £108-£190 (for discs + pads)
- Clutch 'heavy' £600! (But Mr Clutch down the road says £250)
- Cambelt due £250-£399
- I've also noticed that it has a cheapo Halford's battery which is a bit below spec, but I'm not noticing any ill effects. £65ish

I'm just looking for some advice on what to get done first. I'm not averse to spending money on it, particularly since it's been looked after, but I can't justify the best part of £1k on a car I've only known a couple of weeks. It's still in the 'audition' phase, where I'm half expecting it to conk out without warning.

The Cambelt is due every 4 years/ 60,000 miles. So, it's due on time (just) but has only done 38,000 miles. I'm half-tempted to push this to 5 years, with the knowledge that it will almost certainly be fine, but there's a small chance of a catastrophic failure.

The clutch feels OK to me. A small amount of judder felt through the pedal. If clutch 'goes' it's just an inconvenience, right? No chance of it damaging anything else?

Brakes - I also took advantage of a free health check at ATS Euromaster, whose opinion was different. They said the discs were 9mm (Good) and the pads 4mm (OK). It seems it's normal to change the pads when you replace the discs, even if they're not worn. Either way, it would seem there's a bit of life in them yet. Again, I don't think they can damage anything else? Except perhaps contribute to extra wear on the fronts.

So what would you do first? And how long should I give the car to prove itself before I start spending money on it?

Joe_Horner

First things first, I'd find a new garage. If they've tried to sell you new disks and pads for "rusting" when even a national tyre chain has said they're fine then they're not to be trusted!

Battery isn't a problem if it's doing the job reliably. Bear in mind that batteries are generally specc'd for starting in the coldest conditions they expect the car to be used in. That means winter somewhere like Scandanavia, not spring / summer (even a cold one) in the UK. So use it till it shows signs of suffering.

A "heavy" clutch will normally be caused by the cable, not the clutch itself (assuming there's anything wrong at all). That should be a LOT less than £600, and a fair bit less than the £250 Mr Clutch quoted (did they see the car or did you just phone up to enquire?) Again, this points towards an untrustworthy garage.

That leaves the cambelt. That would probably be ok to leave for a bit, but if you're happy to spens some out then that's the one to go for without a doubt. Only, get somewhere else to do it cos it sounds like that local garage is looking to screw you, and once your car's in bits in their workshop you're really at their mercy!

mad_rich

Thanks for the detailed reply. Very helpful.

The garage was Halfords Autocentre. I've always been happy with them in the past (since they were Nationwide and Lex), as they've always given me a lot of useful advice - including some small jobs for free. But I did notice a couple of worrying omissions this time. They obviously didn't 'remove and check pollen filter' because when I removed it yesterday half a forest worth of leaves fell out. They also inflated all the tyres to 22psi rather than 32!

Battery got a good bill of health from ATS (93% charge, 83% start capacity, 'Good'), and it gives me all the right numbers when I throw my multimeter at it. I'll keep an eye on it though, and see if it struggles in winter.

The trouble with the brakes is I'm not confident to replace them myself. Or even inspect them. I wouldn't know what to look for.

Forgot to mention. I also took it to Kwik Fit, to take advantage of the free brake check. They also recommended rear discs and pads, as well as telling me that the brake fluid boiling point was low. (This is strange. I had just this changed at Halfords, so not sure what to make of this news.)

No clutch cable, I don't think. As far as I can tell it's hydraulic. It certainly doesn't feel heavy to me, but I do notice juddering and awkward at low speeds (it's quite fast in 1st even with no gas). The Mr Clutch quote was just from online. I also spoke to a local VW specialist who said '£330, but bring it in for check first, as it's a big job and no point in doing it unnecessarily'. Am I right in thinking that they only thing a clutch can hurt is itself?

So cambelt is the priority then. The VW specialist is bang in the middle of the quotes at £295, and I'll get a chance to check them out if I let them have a look at the clutch. I'm still sorely tempted to push it a bit longer though. (Rumour has it that it's only Skoda UK who recommend a time; the rest of Europe only has a 100,000km replacement schedule.)

If the car is in as good a condition as I think it is, I fully expect to do 50k miles, which will see it through the lifetime of an entire cambelt and set of discs & pads.

Thanks again. This reply has got quite long!

plane_boy2000

Personal opinion is that I'd do the cam belt and leave the rest until they fail.

Cam belt is the only one that will lead to a bigger bill, and tbh if the cars good and you plan to keep it then once its done you can forget about it for 4 years.

Are the 1.9 tdi's in those the PD engines? If so make sure they use the right oil

plane_boy2000

mad_rich wrote: »

(Rumour has it that it's only Skoda UK who recommend a time; the rest of Europe only has a 100,000km replacement schedule.)

My Mrs VW Sharan with the 130 TDi unit is on 60K / 4 year cam belt changes.

mad_rich

plane_boy2000 wrote: »

Personal opinion is that I'd do the cam belt and leave the rest until they fail.

Cam belt is the only one that will lead to a bigger bill, and tbh if the cars good and you plan to keep it then once its done you can forget about it for 4 years.

Are the 1.9 tdi's in those the PD engines? If so make sure they use the right oil

That's the annoying thing. It's almost certainly not going to fail in the next year. Or even 2 years. But there's just the nagging feeling of a written-off engine hanging over my head.

Yep, it's a PD engine. I asked them if the oil was up to the correct spec and they said yes, but I'm beginning to doubt it now:mad:. How much damage can the wrong oil do, assuming they at least used fully synthetic (which I hope they did, as I paid extra)?

forgotmyname

Push the cambelt to 5 years and you maybe pushing it to the scrapyard instead.

Oil changes should be every 6 months on an older high mileage car. Neglect that and you could be turning a good car into scrap.

Scrimp on servicing and it will cost you when you have to buy a new car.

There is no reason why the car wont do that mileage again IF serviced properly.

mgdavid

suggest find a decent local garage, not the rip-off chains like Kwikfit and Halfords.

andygb

Do not ignore the cambelt, because it does need changing and it should cost around £300 including fitting on these engines.
The clutch in these are not the lightest, but can feel a bit juddery on very low revs, and you can get around the problem by trying different clutch techniques. I find that in the cold weather on my 1.9 tdi pd engine, the clutch seems to drag a bit and then sorts itself out once the car has warmed up, and it doesn't drag in warmer weather. I wouldn't have anything done to the clutch at all.
With regard to the brakes, without seeing them it is difficult to judge - pad wear, disc wear (are they rear discs on the Fabia).

bantamfan

I have the same engine, apparently they will go on for ever, but frequently oil changes with the right oil is essential. If you are any way mechanically minded you can do changes yourself. The oil filter sits just inside the bonnet and is a gift to change. Other than that, they can go through dual mass flywheels, although i got 80k out of mine. Try the briskoda (i think) forums, lots of good advice.

maninthestreet

Get the cambelt changed, don't worry abut the rest for the time being.