I have just swapped my last 1.6 Octavia hatch for another one - a 1.6 02 reg estate. Already I have had the engine light on once (now gone off) :thumbdwn: and it smells of burning oil when stationary :thumbdwn:. Is the 1.6 a bad engine or am I just unlucky? This seems like a nice car - the interior and exterior are immaculate and its only done 50K, with full service history. I drive briskly - but I have never taken any of my cars near the red line - the highest I have been on this one is 5000rpm - 1500rpm off the red line .

I would be grateful if anyone has any advice re the 1.6 - currently still in warranty luckily

i've not had much experience with the 1.6sr unit, but essentially it is the same as the 2.0 8v crossflow lump but with smaller capacity and it has plastic intake manifolds instead.. if you are burning oil at idle it may have just been overfilled with oil, but these do suffer from piston ring wear/failiure so keep an eye on it

I'd agree. The first thing to check is the oil level.

Also, is there any sign of blue smoke from the exhaust?

i'm running a 1.6sr 2000 from new i,ve never had any problems execpt the old octy grind on the starting motor which was a simple fix i just took it off and cleaned it with a bit of wd40.its got 85000 miles of mostly short trips and i often red line it to keep the mayonaisse at bay. i've never had to buy a new part its still on original clutch and exaust and all the toys still work."if only everything in life was so..........

Thanks guys. I popped over to the garage today and sorted most of the problems. The oil leak issue was a split in the breather hose, which hopefully solves the smell of burning oil in the car! The engine light I had - I have just searched the codes - which the garage thought was relating to the oil breather hose - they are

17811 - EGR system - Regulation deviation

16555 - Fuel trim; Bank 1; system too lean (code appeared twice)

17925 - Main relay circ Electrical malfunction

16891 - Idle control system RPM - higher than expected.

Whilst I was there got the rear screenwash sorted, central locking key fixed, and the grills for the front bumper (one missing & one needed sorting).

Do you reckon those codes relate to the oil breather hose? Cheers Rich

Those codes would be produced with the breather hose problem.

Those codes would be produced with the breather hose problem.

Cheers for that - I am glad they are related to the same issue .

Em Paddy, you'd be better to give the engine a run of at least 30 minutes after the temperature gauge reads normal once a month or so than to buzz the engine, to get rid of the condensation that causes mayo.

Evidence - Both my uncles used to run Hillman Avengers back in the day. The one haly ever did a trip over a mile and had bad mayo; the other's commute was 2 miles of town, 15 of dual carriageway and 2 of town/site each way, and he never had mayo on his.

i've given up on the mayo i dont even check it anymore.its always there, i drop the oil twice a year and forget about it.