Hi,

Been browsing through here for a while, even though i did a fair bit of research before buying my Fabia, I have since found stuff that worries me. It's a 1.4 8v estate 2001 and i bought it for £1600. Done 55k miles and the main worry is when idling the engine seems to give random little variations in revs. feels like it is wobbling a bit - this worsens as it runs longer. But I might be making a fuss over nothing here... it's not that severe.

The other thing is the coolant tank on left of engine - i can't tell whether it is between max or min as there are old brown stains on the inside (even if there weren't i don't see how you would know...) However there is no oil on surface of coolant.

Any reassuring responses or otherwise appreciated - I was going to take it for a full service at local Skoda place but couldn't stomach spending the cash on such a cheap car with no obvious, serious (i hope) problems....

Jack

Most 1.4 mpi's run a little 'lumpy' on idle, so I wouldn't worry too much. However coolant problems were a problem on the earlier models, faulty temperature sensors can also cause idle problems and coolant leaks.

I had this problem on the 1.4 16v. It was improved a lot by taking it to a independent VW specialist for a throttle body clean and throttle realignment. Cost an hour's labour or so and that is it. By putting it on the computer they can tell from the sensor readings if anything is a bit out of specification. It is also worth putting in some fuel treatment like Redex/Wynns/Forte to clean the injectors and then going and thrashing it for a bit.

Hello Jhobhouse,

I have the Fabia 1.4 16V and have similar problems relating to the Rev's. Sometimes whilst idleing the Revs fluctuate and the engine starts to vibrate which is a bit of a pain as you well know, I also encoutered a problem with a leak under the engine.

So I took it to my local Skoda Dealer whilst it was under warranty for them to service the car. I advised them about the problem with the rev's and they said that they would cure the problem whilst my car was in for a 20,000 mile service.

When I dropped the car off, I was advised that they would phone me to advise when it would be ready. After waiting almost all day without a phone call I contacted them and was shocked when they told me it would cost £740.00. :eek: I was also told I could not pick the car up until the following day either!:confused:

They performed the service, and said the rev's was caused by a faulty throttle sensor and the leak from a faulty radiator. They said that they had to replace a tyre because the sidewalls showed signs of cracking. They automatically replaced the rear brake discs and pads saying they were worn (When I took the brake parts to an independant garage they were shocked and said they did not need to be repalced as there was still pleanty of wear left in them!), Skoda also said one of my indicator bulbs was too bright and it needed to be replaced (they charged me another £25.00 labour to repalce the bulb!).

After checking the two page invoice when I got home I found out that the £200.00 for the 20,000 mile service did not include the cost of the oil, spark plugs, air filter etc.. the cost of these parts and additional labour were added on top of the £200.00 service fee. So I would advise you NOT to go to Skoda for a full service (unless you have recently won the lottery!)

If you want to have it serviced take it to a local independant garage.

At a later date the rev's were totally off the mark and the engine management light came on so I took it to an indipendant garage and had the EGR valve cleaned, the fault re-occured and eventually I had a replacment EGR valve repalced, the fault with the rev's dissapeared for a while but have since returned. A while a go I placed a similar query on this forum and received the following informative response:

On top of the EGR valve there is a variable resistor, the position of the resistor tells the ECU how far open the EGR valve is. If the EGR valve is open, exhaust gasses will be directed into the inlet manifold under the throttle body. As the ECU is expecting a certain amount of exhaust gasses it will alter the fuelling to compensate. As the pipe under the throttle body is restricted the exhaust gasses are not getting through, so the ECU requests the EGR valve to open a bit more, this continues until the the EGR valve is fully open - hence the excessive flow code.

If a garage is not aware that this pipe gets blocked the first thing that they will do is fit a new EGR valve. What is required is to remove the throttle body, disconnect the EGR pipe at the EGR valve and clean the pipe and blow it through with compressed air, from the inlet manifold side. Whilst the throttle body is off, it can be cleaned as well.

Armed with this information your independant garage should be able to sort it for a cost of around an hours labour and no parts.

I have not yet taken it back to an idependant garage to have the mechanic follow these instructions, but will do when I get time.

Just thought you might like to know you're not the only one with the symptoms! Oh and it lets me have a moan about Skoda Dealers The car is wonderful and I would not change it for another make.

Hi

As discussed in previous threads, they all do it and it isn't a problem. Just a characteristic of the engine.

Thanks everyone! good reassurances....

The lumpiness is - as has already been said - a characteristic of the engine (something to do with emissions controls.) It can sometimes be cured by a new coolant temperature sensor (see here) if it gets to be too much of a problem for you. As for the dirty expansion tank, if you can see coolant in the middle section when you take the lid off, then the levels probably OK. There is also a sensor that will tell you if it gets too low.

HTH