Breezy_Pete

Just found myself wondering if this is an electrical noise thing, rather than a marginal power/voltage thing. The dirty connection might be causing a kind of arcing situation which may be upsetting some of the circuitry in other things. Pull the fuse (#42) for the lighter socket (to prevent shorting while you work on it), and give it a clean up to improve the reliability of the contact.

Good new pics. I can't see anything suspicious at all there, unfortunately, unless during replacement of those cleaner three fuses something wasn't tightened down well. I'll have a quick look at wiring diagrams to see if the ignition switched feed to the PAS module is shared with anything else, but I think not on either of the 1.2 HTP variants in 2007. No harm in trying that spare strip fuse though, since it's right there looking neglected. 🙂

Are you certain it doesn't come on at reduced intensity as a second tail light?

Looking (more carefully) at wiring diagram, it seems like it might be a single-filament bulb that does both tail light and fog light functions, presumably at different PWM drive levels. So that makes me think it may be on the input (switch) side that the problem is, assuming that it is working normally as a tail light. EDIT: (And after even more scrutiny...) Brake light also appears to do the same, so there should be two distinct sources of tail light illumination, if I'm reading it right. Pin 4 of right rear cluster connector (white/blue wire) goes to brake/tail bulb, pin 2 (blue/white wire, confusingly) is the tail/fog bulb. So we may be back to a failed bulb filament, with it passing tail light test because brake light one is intact.

No-one has checked the bulb yet? Definitely the starting point that makes most sense to me. Looks to be powered directly off BCM, so there may not be any obvious dedicated fuse, nor direct, hard-wired link to telltale.

Also, check battery terminals are tight enough to not be rotatable with moderate force.

Good effort but not quite sharply focussed enough for good scrutiny. Can you try for a closer shot of this subset of your previous image. Looks a bit like there are three newer fuses in there, for L-R; Fan full speed 40A red/black thinner, ABS 40A red/green, and PAS, 50A red/black thicker Also looks like there's a spare 50A fuse in position 6. If the PAS wire will reach there, try moving wire onto that one. If it won't, try substituting that fuse into position 5 (with a gentle clean up of surfaces with something like a bit of wire wool).

Check all the strip fuses in the battery-top fuse holder, looking for hairline cracks in them. Post a well lit, well focused photo if unsure.

I see. I know nothing about these engines, but if it runs nicely just keep the oil changes regular and don't ignore warning lights or strange noises. Sounds like you got a good one. 👍

Manufacture date of engine, I expect. Neither good nor bad. 😀

There should be no pressure when the system is stone cold. By slightly uneven, I mean like it's easier for it to compress mixture in 3 out 4 cylinders, so a 'lumpiness in the turnover' before the engine starts, and maybe briefly afterwards.

I'd imagine this is a fire-ring headgasket leak. If you take the expansion tank cap off when the coolant is stone cold, and cap hasn't been opened since last reasonable-length drive, is there any release of pressure? Is it slightly uneven when first cranked over for a cold start?

The worry with seeking a replacement engine is to imagine how few of them have never had this oil filter 'gotcha' happen to them over the last 12-16 years or whatever. I'm in the market for one myself, though not urgently. Feels like a gamble, more so than with other engine types.

Evidence of the stuff doing anything at all. Too much history of similar 'revolutionary' shizzle to take claims at face value. By the way, I have no problem with your dismissal of higher RON benefits on mpg, not actually surprised by that one. RON isn't a measure of energy content.

I looked at your github stuff, didn't notice any links. The oilsin brochure doesn't have any references, just mentions. I won't bother any more, unless you can supply some real evidence.

So, different behaviour from the driver, as suggested. Which University? Link?

Sure does. Changing the effective energy available in the fuel that much stretches credence well beyond breaking point. Something else going on here, probably driver behaviour, since the testing wasn't blind.

I'd be tempted to grab a set of scrapyard coilpacks to try. (Or a friend with a similar engine who would let you test yours one by one in their car, as a free test?) I read some time ago that it's quite easy to kill these things by trying to see if you have a spark with the plugs not mounted in the engine. Not sure I understand the mechanism, but a quick and easy thing to try (with everything fully mounted!).

Try removing fuse 43 overnight and see if battery is happier for it. Just a hunch. If you haven't already, it's a good idea to take a photo of the cabin fusebox, to help with correctly refitting any fuses that may get pulled during fault finding. The image below shows a generic layout for (RHD) mk1 Fabia, but there are quite a few variations depending on engine type and fitted equipment, so there may well be more gaps than shown, leading to it being easy to forget where things were even if you only take one fuse out at a time.

What year is the car, please?

If you switch on the A/C with bonnet open you can probably observe directly which way they spin, can't you?

Trivial, ignore it.

That's a screened from partslink24, a subscription parts website.

It's Bosch themselves that seem to supply the wrong filter with the correct equivalent part number on the box and/or the filter, have a look through that thread in the mk2 Fabia area. You probably have done a little damage; any time the oil pressure is low enough to make the engine noisy is damage occurring, and if the pressure switch is triggering a warning that is worrying, but wait until you have a new, correct filter fitted before worrying too much.

Don't bother with Bosch filters, just look at that thread where they cause so much trouble. Buy genuine from Skoda for just a few pounds more. Much cheaper than buying a replacement engine/car