Chelle

Thanks Tigger, I've had a quick look on t'internet and no one seems to be saying anything untoward about using it in a PD engine but I've fired an email off to Lubri Moly just asking them to confirm it is safe for use in PD engines. I'll report back once I receive a reply. I also have an update on my problems starting the car. Plugged it in to Solus Pro again last night just to make sure there weren't any other faults that would cause EML to be on hiding behind the EGR delete and there was! Code 19463 Camshaft Position Sensor (G40) No Signal. I googled this and symptoms seem to include car struggling to start. I have noticed a couple of folk saying they've replaced this and the fault and code kept coming back and it eventually turned out to be the Crankshaft sensor to blame but I'll just start at the start I think and change the Camshaft sensor. At least I now know that the starting problem doesn't appear to be related to my stuttering problem (which I sincerely hope a can of diesel purge will fix but if not, a VAG-COM scan is next on the cards).

Piggoy, thanks for this. I'll get some of that ordered and give it a bash. Even if it turns out not to be the problem it certainly can't do any harm! I had never heard of this stuff before and was just going to try an in-tank additive but running this through the system neat will surely do a far better job. There are a couple of members offering VAG-COM within an hour or so drive from me so I'll need to get my finger out and contact them to arrange it. Thanks again for your help, I'll let you know how I get on!

Well, I was never a big believer that supermarket fuel was any worse than branded fuel until a few years back when I owned a Vectra SRi 150 (2.2l petrol). The difference in the car's performace depending on what brand of fuel was in it was very noticable. It HATED Tesco petrol which made it quite sluggish and gave terrible MPG (Morrisons and Asda weren't too bad though surprisingly!), Shell and Esso however made the car run really well, quite responsive and gave good MPG. I tended to avoid BP as it was a bit middle of the road performace wise in the vectra and for the extra cost involved I didn't think it was worth it. I slipped back into using supermarket diesel when I got my Fabia vRS as I didn;t notice any real difference in performance but I have now developed a bit of a stuttering problem which a lot of people on here are saying could be dirty injectors. See my post "Fabia vRS stutter (no, not that stutter, a totally different one)" if you are interested in the details. So I'm now avoiding supermaket diesel like the plague! I did ask my aunt who used to be the manageress at a Safeway petrol station if different brands of fuel were actually different and she said yes, each brand will use different additives and detergents so I'm guessing Tesco are probably scrimping a little.

Well here's hoping ur right Tigger! I'll stick some super diesel in the car again and give it a good few kickings and see what happens. I have developed a new issue tho (I know! I'm starting to think the car hates me too). About a week after doing the EGR delete, the car became quite difficult to start. I started it in the morning no probs and drove to work. When I tried to start it to go home at end of day, it took several turns to get it to fire. Normally the car will start within a second (eh eh vroom), now it takes quite a bit longer (eh eh eh eh eh eh eh eh eh eh eh eh eh eh vroom). Please excuse my childish decription but I'm struggling to find the right words to explain what I mean! What I should do is put the EGR back to the way it was to see if that's causing some kind of issue but if that's the case I'm surprised it took a week to show up. What I'm worried might be happening is whatever is causing the stutter is getting worse and is now causing other problems. I'll get my other half to plug it in again in case this new problem has flagged up a fault. EML is on constantly because of EGR delete so I won't know if there's now something else there too. My battery is fine as far as I know and the starter is cranking at normal speed (quite quick and it doesn't start to die before the car fires). I had initially thought it could be a duff glow plug but even after running the car up to temp, then switching off and straight back on, it still takes a while to fire. Car sounds and drives a treat once it fires up though. I wasn't going to bug you all with this but I just thought I should add it in case it's related to the original problem!

Tigger, I think South Wales is pushing it slightly lol. There does seem to be a west scotland run to arbroath on 27th May that I am seriously considering, would be nice to meet some of you. Jonny, my boyfriend did something similar with the solus pro machine. There were no fault codes but we took the car a drive while it was hooked up and he checked actual readings against the expected readings. I'll need to ask him what components he was looking at though! I'm not aware of any large amounts of smoke from the exhaust but to be fair, my back window is usually manky (skoosher not working, one of a list of small things I haven't gotten round to yet!). I do have a further development to report though. My other half took a sudden and enexpected interest in the fabia over the weekend and decided to clean out the EGR valve. I've now got 90k on the clock so as you can imagine, it was thick with black mingingness. After bringing it back to near new, he decided to attempt a home made EGR delete by making a blanking plate and bunging the vacuum hoses (engine management light is now on but I can always have that mapped out in future). This has made the car quite a bit quicker and almost removed the stutter altogether. I was about to congratulate him on solving the problem when i remembered that running the car on 'super diesel' also made the stutter less noticeable. So it seems that when the car is running 'normal', the stutter is quite serious i.e. stops the car revving any higher, but give the car a little more oomph and it seems to be able to pull through the problem. And that's about as far as my brain wave has gone to be honest! I seem to be treating the symptoms rather than the actual cause. I'll need to get a vag com scan arranged and see if there's anything odd on that as I'm coming round to the idea that it could be a loom fault. Who knows though? These modern diesels are a bit above my head

Ah you're a great bunch I'll have a look and see where/when the next localish meet is, don't want to put someone out unless I have to!

Thanks very much, I'll head over there for a look right now!

Hi fellow Ayrshire fabia driver! I'm just up the road from you in Ochiltree with a little yellow vRS. I'm pretty new to the site myself but everyone seems very helpful.

Hi all, I really am quite rubbish at this forum thing, I keep forgetting to come on and check for replies - sorry! Chris, no probs with the gatecrash lol. the problem isn't fixed yet unfortunately, went back to standard shell fuel and the problem is just the same as before :-( my next try was going to be a fuel additive. tigger, I wish I'd checked this before last weekend as I'm just back an 800 mile round trip and a few heavy blasts on the motorway might have been useful! Rally snapper, did ur loom problem flash up any fault codes? If not, I might have to look into getting that done. I had noticed there seemed to be a common problem with the loom but I assumed it would flag up a fault code (wrongly pointing to something else). Thanks again for the help everyone, I promise to try to check back again soon and keep on top of this!

I had a few knocks coming from the front of my fabia including the knock when moving the steering wheel from side to side a little bit when stationary. If memory serves me correctly we changed the steering arms (along with drop links and track rod ends) but I'm sure there was play on the arms. Not sure how helpful this is but I didn't want to leave u there with no replies :-)

Not sure how relevant this will be but when my battery was on the way out, my power steering light would come on when I started the car and I would have no power steering. If I let the car tick over for 5 min or so then switched it off and straight back on the light would go out and my steering would work. I had no other lights on the dash and no probs starting the car, the first I knew the battery was failing was when it suddenly refused to crank the starter one day! Anyway, just wondered if ur problem could be as simple as a dying battery. If not, hope u find what ur looking for :-)

Well as promised I'm reporting back after trying some good diesel in the car. Unfortunately there are no shell stations that stock V Power diesel within 30 miles of where I live (please correct me if I'm wrong!) So I've had to go for BP ultimate. I've run it for a tank now and while the stutter is still there, it doesn't seem as bad. Before, it would hit the stutter and go no further but now it gives a little cough and keeps pulling. I'm not sure how far it will pull tho as I haven't been able to push it due to road conditions/people in my way lol. I'm going to assume it's been a build up of crud which is getting sorted out by the decent fuel but if anyone has any further suggestions I'm all ears. Thanks again for the help :-)

Aww, if only I'd known! I cheated and sealed mine up with sikaflex lol. I knew it was a risk but it was all I had to hand and I was so sick of the inside of my windows being frozen every morning that winter because the inside of the car was so damp. here's hoping I don't need to get them off any time soon!

The stutter is only under acceleration but also only at very specific revs in each gear (see original post). The car will cleanly accelerate to these revs then just stutter quite severely and not rev any higher. It is very easy to replicate and it will do it 99% of the time. I've not had a vagcom scan, do u think it would show up something the Solus Pro wouldn't? There's a Skoda dealership near me, might be worth popping in and asking them to do a scan. Is it likely to be expensive?

Yeah I had a feeling this might be unique to my car (as usual lol) :-)