hi guys

jut a few little issues i'd like help or advice with 1.3MPi 1999 facelift model

1) my temperature guage is not displaying a reading, the thermostat appears to be working right as cooling fan kicks in as it should as i sat on the drive just with it running and fan kicks in where it should. will this be wiring issue? if so where does the wiring run, and is it a easy change?

2) at idle, i.e. in traffic the engine revs are falling too low causing it to cut out if i forget to keep a few revs on the throttle. what could this be?

3) its noisy rattly engine, i'm assuming is related to the thread by poorly_felicia about push rods.

4) general question, these engines are chain driven rather than cambelt, is that correct if so what do you do with regards to keeping the chain maintained, does it havbe to be changed at any frequency like a cam belt would?

the low idle speed could possibly be cleared by performing a throttle body alignment. you dont have to do anything to the timing chain really, but they do go a bit slack over time and get noisy. it is worth changing it.

the temp guage is not very likely to be a wiring issue tbh, more likely the sensor is bust

the temp guage is not very likely to be a wiring issue tbh, more likely the sensor is bust

Skoda Felicia 1.3Mpi/1.6 Thermostat Temperature Sensor - £8.99 : Skoda, Audi, Seat & VW Parts, Jorily - Probably the UKs largest independent skoda parts supplier i've just googled it and this seems to be a result that came up, cheaper than even on ebay, can anyone sauy whether this company/website is reliable to buy from?

cheers rich

Well they are a Briskoda site sponsor; so I guess so!!!

Yep Jorily are one of the good guys to get stuff from. They really know their stuff when it comes to Skodas.

3) its noisy rattly engine, i'm assuming is related to the thread by poorly_felicia about push rods.

When well maintained, it should be a fairly quiet engine. First (easy, cheap) thing to do is the valve clearances - with them set properly it should run better and be quiet.

4) general question, these engines are chain driven rather than cambelt, is that correct if so what do you do with regards to keeping the chain maintained, does it havbe to be changed at any frequency like a cam belt would?

Cam chain is the other source of noise on higher-mileage engines, it needs to be changed when it's noisy (not sure of any official mileage figure; I've seen some do lots of miles, others be noisy at 30k). It's not expensive to do (Jorily do a kit for about £40, I think), and about 2-3 hours' work; you need to drop the sump off and the oil pump/front cover.

those temp senders are cheaper from german and sweedish but it's only £9 anyway..

When well maintained, it should be a fairly quiet engine. First (easy, cheap) thing to do is the valve clearances - with them set properly it should run better and be quiet.

Cam chain is the other source of noise on higher-mileage engines, it needs to be changed when it's noisy (not sure of any official mileage figure; I've seen some do lots of miles, others be noisy at 30k). It's not expensive to do (Jorily do a kit for about £40, I think), and about 2-3 hours' work; you need to drop the sump off and the oil pump/front cover.

thanks she's done just over 100k, so might look into that, i've only had it about a month now, it previously belonged to an elderly lady who i believe had it from new, and had it maintained regularly at main dealer. the service book has regular stamps although not quite at close enough milage intervals, (most are 3 or 4k further apart than should be.

Think mine's done about 120-130k miles (not certain due to long-standing fault with odometer not working) and it's never had the chain changed. Quite noisy but runs ok. I found when I replaced the distributor (the shaft was broken somehow, lots of free-play in it) that it needed a bit of adjustment after lining up the timing marks to stop it misfiring at high load. Not sure if that's due to slack in the chain or not. This is not relevant to the MPI model though which has an electronic distributor. I'd say so long as it runs ok and does not misfire, it's whether you mind the noise or not

... until the chain breaks!

My current rally car was bought for £40 for the gearbox, but the rest of the car was mint; the guy sold it to me as the camchain had broken, and lunched the engine.

It had done 34,000 miles from new.

Not sure if that's due to slack in the chain or not.

I think it will have been.

After I changed the chain on mine it ran like a bag of spanners and thought I had got the chain on wrong

I fiddled with the Dizzy etc and it turned out to be the timing was out slightly... obviously down to the, now tighter, chain etc.

It did make a huge difference after that especially under load and at high RPM... I can only think that the chain was boucing around under these conditions and causing the engine to stutter.

Phil