kip130

SIL has a 22 plate Fabia with the 1.0 engine. Today she reports it felt like it lacked power after a cold start and a short drive. She turned it off and then it refused to start after extended cranking. I went about an hour later and it started up after a second or two cranking. At idle the car has a distinct chug noise that sounds a bit like a bit tractorish / vac leak and seems to be coming from the free end (belt side) of the engine. The odd thing is that it periodically stops as if a sensor or something is turning it off before it starts again. Ive never driven a 3 pot car (I have always had diesels) and know they have certain rhythm but I query if this one is missfiring. At a stand and in neutral it will only rev to just under 3k, is this a normal limited standing unloaded normal max? There is only an airbag light on (she reports this has been on a while) I only have a basic blue tooth OBD reader and torque app (my better reader is elsewhere) but it shows no faults. YT short of the noise Any ideas what is doing on?