Hi guys,

hoping someone can help me here,

I have a 2000 1.4 MPI Fabia as the title may suggest, I am having problems when I start the car up when the engine is still warm. When the engine is warm, starting it takes longer before it actually fires up. When its fired up most of the time it will stall out. If I have the air con on while starting up the revs will go down to 500 and then recover. Sometimes though even if I have the air con on it still stalls.

I still have a month left of the 3 month warranty with the garage I bought the car from. So I took it to them to sort out the back washer and the engine issues but the mechanic claimed that theres nothing wrong with the engine. He claimed that probably the computer is not feeding enough gas because the computer hasn't booted up in time. That has to be a load of BS because if that was the cause surely it'll affect the engine when cold? Doesn't help that these people seem only to want to fix the easy and cheap stuff to save them money and increase the profit margins on each car they sell!

I’ve got into the habit of putting some gas on to prevent the stall, but I just want to get this sorted now.

Any ideas that I can throw at these 'mechanics'

Cheers!

Possibly a coolant temperature sensor fault on your 1.4, could be a few things but i personally would go for that first judging from my experiences.

If the temp sensor is not working on start up the ecu could be thinking it is a cold start and dump too much fuel in, causing stallage!

What dealer was it that cecked it out? You got a printout of any faults from it?

Hope this helps.

As VRS 203 just said, the Coolant Temp Sensor will most probably be the problem. I had exactly what you describe happen to me when I bought mine almost 2 years ago, once the sensor was replaced it's not missed a beat since.

Im having the exact same problem with my 1.4 16v petrol when its warm it just turns over and does not start. then after a few attempts ie 5 it finally starts from 0rpm and goes up really really slowly even with my foot right down on the accelerator! starting to happen more and more often, such a joke :( I have posted a thread about this if mine helps you im not sure but if you find an answer please let me know and i will do the same

Cheers for the advice, finally got round to changing the Coolant Sensor and that seems to have worked! Funny how one small sensor can cause a problem like that!

Thanks guys!