Fabia Classic 1.4 8v Petrol 51 - Cambelt or chain please? Easy to DIY?

Honest John Back Room » Technical matters
View Threaded
Sun 18 Sep 2011 22:11
Fabia Classic 1.4 8v Petrol 51 - Cambelt or chain please? Easy to DIY? - Fantasy Green Machine

Hi I have just passed my driving test so my husband bought me a lovely little Fabia. The car got through its Mot without any issues and we collected it only recently. When we were looking under the bonnet it appears to have a cam belt situated to the left of the engine block. Looking through the full service history it does not appear to have ever been changed (it has now done approx 74k) I called the previous owner to ask her if she ever had it replaced and she advised that it did not have a cam belt and that isone of the reasons why she bought it. Can any one one of you much more experienced Skoda owners confirm this please. If it does have a cam belt, will it be easy to diy? would anyone also be able to recommend a service manual worth buying for this car as it did not come with one. Many thanks.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Mon 19 Sep 2011 10:58
Fabia Classic 1.4 8v Petrol 51 - Cambelt or chain please? Easy to DIY? - madf

Cambelt.

Change it now. Plus tensioner pulleys and water pump.

DIY? Yes if competent and have tools to lock bits in place..

Haynes manuals..

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Mon 19 Sep 2011 11:24
Fabia Classic 1.4 8v Petrol 51 - Cambelt or chain please? Easy to DIY? - Peter D

The 8V is chain driven and the 16 valve is belt driven. Belt driven cams have a plastic cover, chain driven do not. Regards Peter

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Wed 21 Sep 2011 00:01
Fabia Classic 1.4 8v Petrol 51 - Cambelt or chain please? Easy to DIY? - Big John

In 2001 the Skoda Fabia 1.4 8v engine was a version of the original engine to earlier Skodas (pre VW) attached to VW running gear. It is a pushrod engine (cam in engine) with a short cam chain.

The 2001 1.4 16v was very different. It has a cambelt and plastic rollers that need changing every 4 years or 40k. Fairly obvious if you have this engine. Plugs and leads recessed in the top centre of cylinder head with a plastic cover with "16V" on it.

It does sound as as though you have you have the "cam chain" version so no problems here. Make sure that the coolant/antifreeze has been changed every few years(if not get it done now!) as cylinder head gasket problems are common on the old 8v Skoda engine.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link

Looking for a garage you can trust? Honest John's Good Garage Guide has thousands of reader recommended garages, plus how-to guides and tips on servicing.

The Good Garage Guide