Bouicca21

Update. I had the spark plugs changed but diagnostics also told me that I needed a new ignition coil and ignition lead. Cross fingers, all ok now, though I won’t know for sure until I have a chance to do a longish journey.

Many thanks. Yes, I’m talking about a juddering, loss of acceleration for a few minutes (maybe just seconds but feels longer) before it picks up again. Not the sort of thing you want to cope with on the M25 when it’s busy. So the collective wisdom is that it’s unlikely to be the petrol, just get new spark plugs fitted and hope that sorts it out? I have no memory of ever paying for new spark plugs, but I’d have to check my paperwork (if I can find it). The car is old but has very low mileage - I used it quite a bit when I first had it, but I don’t really need a car any more, hence very little use.

Also jumping in on this. My 2014 fabia doesn’t get a lot of use, mostly just very short journeys. But on occasional longer journeys the engine has been snatching when accelerating. Garage couldn’t find a fault when they did the service last year. Had it serviced (full service) and MoT done last month. It needed new brake fluid but sailed through MoT. Today did a longish trip - 70 miles this morning, 40 this evening. The snatching on the second trip was worse, then just before I got home, the EPC light came on. I got home, turned the engine off and gave it a few minutes before turning it back on - no EPC light. Surely if the spark plugs were dodgy the garage would have picked this up during the service? Will the code reader thingummy identify a fault that is no longer showing? There is another thread on here that suggests 95 fuel could cause the problem and that 98 is better. Is the car safe to drive if the EPC light does not recur? Should I take it into the garage anyway? I know nowt about engines so have no idea what to do.