hzoltaan

Thank you Gents! Do you think it could shed some light on my slightly oscillating rpm (Well, I do not have a rev counter but i feel ever slight increase and drop in idle rpm with a regular (5-10 seconds?) wavelength. Also, the RPM seems to "hang" when i take my foot off the go-pedal for a gear change. It's weird. Otherwise the car goes like hell and starts well, so the issue is probably minor, but still. Would a OBD1-ubs cable and R409 shed light on such smaller problems? Sorry for the slight off, we do not need to discuss the RPM issues here, rather that what one can do with the R409. Do you guys know of a supplier of a reliable cable + CD set? Online in Poland (that's where i live) and in UK (where i can shop on ebay) I found mostly chinese cables, or cable only with no software or cable with some link promised with a download...

So, new sensor is in, and i did the same test: Right out of the box the two resistances did not equal. So the original sensor was definitely broken. let's call the gauge's resistor R1, the ECUs R2. Startup: outside is about 20Celsius, R1 = 1.5k, R2 = 3.1k 8-9 minutes idle: gauge shows 85ish, thermostate opens, top rad hose gets warm, R1 = 120ohm, R2 = 290ohm 15 minutes idle: fan cuts in, gauge shows 110-ish, R1 = 80ohm, R2 = 170ohm Engine does not sound any different, and it still osciallates a bit. I guess something else is the culprit. The exhaust on the other hand does not smell like petrol that much, so i guess injection/ignition is closer to optimum. We'll see on the road, i have not driven yet. Thanks for all the comments!

Thanks Fylaktos! The parts shop ordered me a Delphi part, so we'll see. Just for kicks i'll do the same test with the new part as i described above and we'll see the difference. I wonder what the ECU thought what temperature the engine was when the sender gave it 300ohm. (I measured 300ohm when the fan turned on on the pins that feed the ECU) Did the ECU think it was around 70degrees? And I wonder if the car will now run better with the new (and correct) sensor. I had a wee-bit rough idle or more like a barely noticeable oscillation up and down, plus i smelt a bit of petrol around the car. We'll see if that's gone.

I'd want to be able to read error codes and see what kind of data the ECU gets. I never owned a car before where i needed OBD or OBD1 (mostly ran carburetted ones from 80ies or very simple injected cars from 90ies) I have a temp sensor problem discussed in another topic but that i could measure with a simple ohmmeter. My other injected car an Opel Astra F has serious performance issues on petrol (not on LPG) and this brought me the idea that eventually it would be useful to get acquainted with OBD scanners. When i looked at the huge market online of those things, i saw zillion models available. I highly doubt that they all work, so I wanted to ask on the forum which to go for (for Felicia, I know, Opel is a different egg entirely) In short: No very specific problem yet, i just got interested in the topic. So I gather from Ricardo that the only way is a chinese OBD cable with the VAG-COM, VCDS-Lite software. Example: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/185345516041?hash=item2b27742209:g:JRUAAOSw0DpiNEu- I can't believe that it would work for 5 quid...

Eventually i was sent home from the part shop. X) The Man (a good friend of mine) said he will not sell me any sensors whatsoever if i do not have the proper number. So I did my new trick of sucking out the coolant with a small 12V pump out of the expansion tank, popped the sensor out and ordered a new one. Tomorrow I should have it and will compare resistance values just for the fun of it. My car ('97 1.3 MPI, 136M engine) had this part in it: 357919501A 99% that it's original part as the datestamp on it is 97 January.

Managed to look inside the beast a bit deeper: Engine code: 781.136M, sensor has yellow ring. Tested the whole thing: Makes me pretty sure that the temp sensor is faulty. Somewhere i saw a temp / resistance chart but i did not click enough the retrieve it now. Still, I remember they were not equal. Mine are suspiciously close to each other in value (like 310 and 290 ohm when fan turned on) Startup: outside is about 15Celsius, both resistors are at 3Kohm 8-9 minutes idle: gauge shows under 70, thermostate opens, top rad hose gets warm, both resistors are at 0.3Kohm 15 minutes idle: fan cuts in, gauge shows 85-ish, boths resistors are about 0.2Kohm So, given that at 90 (I guess thermostat opens at 85 and fan kicks in around 97?) theyshould be 125 / 250 ohms, getting higher read explains to me why my gauge shows less. And probably the ECU was feeding a bit too rich mixture too thinking it was ticking at 70ish all the time? FEBI Bilstein is a pretty decent manufacturer, right? Lovely part prices. I'm rediscovering the awesomeness of owning a simple and yet not too old but very popular car. Parts are abundant and cheap. Try the same with a Saab 900! and now the best part... For my car 68horses MPI Felbi catalogue says that i need the blue sensor: https://partsfinder.bilsteingroup.com/en/article/febi/39142?make=Škoda&model=Felicia+Combi+1995+-+2001&vehicle=1.3+MPI+-+50+kW+%2F+68+hp Everywhere on the forum i read yellow sensor. 😛 Damn!

Thanks a lot, that fixed my question. I found a few sellers online who would send me the cable and software, so I'll buy that eventually.

I tentatively see two types of stuff... A Polish company advertises OBD-USB interface with a CD software or same company sells a handheld device for more than you can drink in beer when you're out on a bender. (Well, that's an exaggeration, i'd not be out cold after 10 beers...) Are those any good? though both are OBD2, and somewhere i red that Felicia is OBD only. Screenshots are pretty similar to those pictured in the forums here and there. https://viaken.pl/pl/vag-usb-kkl-line-2-linie-k-we-wtyku-obd2.html FT232R chipset though i can't be bothered to check what that is. sorry. https://viaken.pl/pl/skaner-vscan-vag-mini-z-obsluga-can-j-polski.html . . . that's my problem, you see, they all claim they work, they all are better than all the other competitors, while people get nada after connecting them. So how should a dude like me decide, one who is increasingly allergic to marketing nonsense?

aaand i just found a lot of information about the same here on the forum. though it basically tell me, that there is not much i can do to read my Felicia... Or is there?

This is a rather "green" question as i never in my entire hobby-mechanic history used any kind of OBD diagnostic tool. I'm not exactly dumb when it comes to computers, (had a job as IT helpdesk for GM mechanics and retailers in the UK but I managed to avoid to own vehicles with such a level of sophistication. So, I see sometimes photos and reference in this forum to some VAG diagnostic system, that looks like something running on a laptop, probably under windows. then i see OBD2 scanners sold online for dirt cheap to expensive, then i saw black magic boxes that turn OBD2 data into 5G and you show it on your smartphone. (just being sarcastic about 5G...) so, not having any experience in digital troubleshooting of any vehicle, what can you tell me about the tools that are out there? my car is a 1997 Felicia 1.3MPI, and alternatively there's an Opel (I mean vauxhall ) Astra F in the family that i'd love to read. Once again, sorry for the very noob question, I spent my decades with carburetted petrol engines / swirl chamber mechanical pump diesels but even i have to move on with the times. x) Z

Allow me to reuse this topic... I read around the forum a bit and figured that quite a few topics are out there about the same thing: Temp gauge reading 70 or thereabouts. So , this is my case as well. Noticed that as i bought the car on Friday. - this is pretty low mileage car 60000km, so i expect most things original factory item. also owner was not a tuning enthusiast, rather a Grandpa... - it was used very little over the last few years, so i'd not be surprised if thermostat could be stuck - that said, i did not notice warm radiator hose after firing it up and i did notice getting heating out of the heater fairly quickly. So my fist impression is that thermostat is OK. (I'll check that again probably with coolant temp sensor resistances) - that engine temps are OK is further supported by that cooling fan switched on after we turned to a petrol station off the highway and it switched off soon. Does not look like a stuck thermostat, but again, i'll check further. So, my main question is pure curiosity: If temp sensors are different for the selection of dashboards, what is the difference between them? Like what's the difference between blue / yellow / etc sensors? Only the thermoresistance inside? and if someone managed to pop in the wrong sensor, how would that alter the ECU's operation? Would the car still go pretty well, or would it cause too hot / very low temp modes and ECU would send ignition, injection commands all over the place? That is my question basically. Otherwise i'll stick to what i read so far, measuring the resistance between the sensor pins, checking warmup / fan-on times. Ah! I do remember seeing in one of the posts some reference to a felicia workshop manual. Today is pretty hard getting the like off the internet without much suffering / subscription, marketing, etc... anyone has a working link to a pdf?? It's actually a huge fan driving such a car. So outdated (my version is the bottom edition from 1997), you'd expect Hasselhoff to pop put of the dashboard singing Ughachaka or something! It looks as old fashioned inside as my 1988 Saab... Having said that, it has an engine that's comparable in modernity with my Mother's 2007 suzuki swift. It's quite cool.

Hi All, Just became a happy owner of a Felicia 1.3MPI Combi (I think this is what you'd call estate) I must say, i've alwyas been for all things Czech. My First "normal" bike: Jawa 350... My Favorite beer: Svijany, first car ever (without licence of course): Skoda S100... (sad story,Mother sold it to metal collecting Gypsies for peanuts... not like it was not a rusty wreck but still...) Anyway, here i go now with a Felicia. 1997, absolute basic model (for some unfathomable reason this is what most appeals to me) 1.3 MPI engine, 63000km on the clock (that is genuine) from first owner who bought it in a Bydgoszcz dealership. I bought the car in Bydgoszcz. That said... even though this is a proper grandpa car (and did no more than a few hundred kms between MOTs over the last few years) and probably spent most of it's time in a garage, it has some rust, but hey... I wanted an original, low-mileage preferably first owner, garaged, cheap Felicia. I got that. with some rust. The first ride home (more than the car did over the last two years in total) was uneventful. It feels stronger than my other grandpa car (Opel Astra F 1.4) but engine sounds harsher, slight oscillating in revs (it got better after 400km) a bit of vibrating steering wheel over 100km/h, but in general, better than what expected. The idea? I wanted a Felicia as I always liked them, though never got around owning one, and i wanted an estate to help with the upcoming refurbishment project. It also had to be cheap (refurbishing an old farmhouse) so no Jeep XJ 1990-1994 with manual windows and the 2.5 petrol engine. The Felicia will have to do now. Oh, I wanted reliability and low running costs. And since i usually end up liking my cars and bikes too much to sell them... Probably it will be welded out and kept for a long time. So far it delivers perfectly. Happy to have found this forum, seems to be full of interesting stuff, and i hope we can have a ball digging in old Skodas! Z