Hey there.

I'm a bit of a noob when it comes to cars, ive got a problem with my skoda fabia 1.4 2001. Its performing the same as it used to.

It's leaking a fair bit of water on long journeys and a little bit of oil as well. There is a "mayo" ressidue on the oil cap but not on the dipstick.

It tends to not idle that well either.

Was wondering if its a head gasket problem.

If it is anyone have any idea how much do you reckon itll cost to fix, mot likely going to have to take it to a garage but i dont want to get screwed over.

Any suggestions would be much appreciated!

Thanks.

P.S does anyone know where I could get a Skoda Fabia Haynes manual on the cheap? or a free pdf??

QWelcome to Briskoda. Try eBay if you don't want to pay full price for a Haynes manual. If a 'free' pdf document of the same existed, it would be in breach of Haynes' copyright.

Welcome to the forums. Your problem could be blocked up breather hoses buddy, I had a similar problem with my old 2001 Bora - creamy shizzle on the oil cap, poor idle, using oil - engine flush and oil change made a massive difference. Maybe drain, flush and refill the coolant also. However, if it's losing water also then this is a bit of a worry as the system is sealed so it (the water) has to be going somewhere. If it's leaking into your oil then you could be right, it could be the head gasket. Is there lots of white smoke when you accelerate? I'd book it in to a trusted independent garage and get the above things done, maybe a compression test too to check the head is OK.

You can get a test done where coolant vapour is drawn through a blue dye, if the dye changes colour to green or yellow, there are combustion gasses in the coolant. This could mean a head gasket or cracked head/block.

The thermostat could be broken, which would lead to cool running and condensation not getting 'burnt' off, coolant loss could be due to a leaking fan switch and poor running could be due to a dirty throttle body. All these are quite basic to sort out.

Hello,

I'm also new to this forum and would really appreciate any help, just picked up on this thread through google.

I've been having a problem with the water level dropping within the space of 2 or 3 days. I've now noticed that although the level is no longer dropping I've noticed that it looks like a bit of oil may have got into the water (it has that texture to it). I've also noticed that on the disptick it seems to be a mayo residue I've heard about in other posts. This suggests water may have gotten into the oil also.

I'm really worried about this so any advice, suggestions about what this could be would be much appreciated.

Thanks

Man! .. No worries .. the head gasket is 30 pound and you can do the job by yourself

P.S. the head gasket is blown for sure

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SKODA-FABIA-OCTAVIA-1-4-8V-2000-03-HEAD-GASKET-SET-/120615404497?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&fits=Model%3AFabia&hash=item1c153d03d1#ht_500wt_1180

http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/139552-changing-a-head-gasket-what-i-did-with-pics/

Good luck

Thats abit of an optimistic reply....

Alot of work is involved with changing a head gasket, although not alot of skill is required as really its only taking it apart and putting it back together, alot of tools are needed and verious other parts will need to be replaced along the way, not just a head gasket eg cylinder head bolts.

ISTR reading the bolts do not necessarily need replacing, and Skoda refused some claims to dealers for some things on the basis they were waiting for head bolts to be ordered in. The usual issue causing head gasket failure seems to be the original bolts were not tightened enough. I admit it's always nice to replace everything for new bits while you're in there though.

Idling. Poor idle with the engine shaking, as if it is going to stall, is quite normal for the 1.4mpi.The idle is set low in order to meet EU IV emissions legislation. It was replaced by the 1.2htp as it could no longer be made to meet the newer requirements. Although as fordfan says, cleaning the throttle body and performing a throttle body adaptation with VCDS may help.

Only once you have checked the thermostat is ok, that you are doing sufficiently long journeys, and that coolant is being lost, would I consider changing the head gasket. The head gasket is relatively easy to replace on this engine, due to being overhead valve design. The main headache is the exhaust downpipe bolts and all the wiring etc.

I've had coolant loss for a long time, which has increased as of late - which I suspect is due to starting to use the car for work. This means I go to work, pressure builds up in the coolant, and the pressure leaks into the engine while I work, with the process being repeated when I come home. I have had a sniffer test done on the coolant which revealed nothing (they said coolant loss is quite normal, which surprised me, as my Favorit never used a drop), and another garage I asked during MOT said they thought the head gasket was fine. I reason that garages only get to see cars when white smoke pours out of the exhaust, lol. The other thing I have found is the engine takes a bit longer to start when warm - not sure if its related to the coolant loss. Have tried replacing the temp sensor, and interestingly it starts fine if I disconnect the temp sender.

As a stop gap measure I am currently trying Holts Radweld +, which is currently £1.99 in Tesco if you can find any (£7.99 in Halfords). It's in a gold coloured bottle. Note the cooling system is around 6 litres, so as the instructions say use half the bottle. (Probably going to get flamed for this lol). Still waiting to see if the mayo clears up and whether the coolant keeps disappearing.

Edited 28 October, 201213 yr by anewman

Thats abit of an optimistic reply....

Alot of work is involved with changing a head gasket, although not alot of skill is required as really its only taking it apart and putting it back together, alot of tools are needed and verious other parts will need to be replaced along the way, not just a head gasket eg cylinder head bolts.

According to what I read, it is a job you can do in 4-5 hours if you have all the tools in previous and you did not stop for anything. The head bolts are not stretch bolts which means you can use them as long as they look good. Moreover, you need oil, oil filter, torque ranch, and you can reuse the coolant. It is a demanding job to say the truth but it isn't more than an exciting morning.

Hello everybody I am new in this forum I looked around and found it I have a 2002 fabia 1.4L, the car is running rough between 1 to 2500 RPM I have changed the electrical peace that comes on the plugs because this car have one part for the 4 plugs but still doing the same after putting it on scanner it says that there is something wrong with the tank ventilation and no enough gas going to the injectors any way I was advised to check the head gasket so I took it to a mechanic which checked it out for me and he said that the water have changed to green so this means there is a problem with the headgasket or the head on the water side so is it possible especially that my car does not over heat and I don't add water for it at all and would that rough running be from the head gasket or any body have any ideas your help is appreciated because I can't afford changing headgasket

Solve the problems with the vent valve and fuel supply first, then see if you still have a problem.  Do you have the fault code numbers that the scanner produced?

Green means the head gasket is fine, red means it's not, if you're not losing any water then the head and the gasket are fine.

 

If you've changed the coilpack have you changed the leads as well?

 

EVAP purge valve is a common fault code and it doesn't affect fuel injection or how the car runs, it's part of the emissions control regime.

 

I'm starting to smell bull**** from your mechanic!

Where is the vent valve located and what is its job and what are the fuel supply please ?? Thanks

The EVAP purge valve is a solenoid valve which allows manifold vacuum to purge the fuel tank of fumes via a charcoal canister, it operates when the car is started. I believe it's attached to the bulkhead somewhere. if there's a connection issue or the valve fails the ECU will flag this fault.

 

The fuel supply is an electric fuel pump, which pressurises the fuel supply to the fuel injectors, if this malfunctioned the car would not run at all or would run progressively worse as the engine speed/load increased.

 

These two functions are not related in any way, there is a NRV which allows air into the fuel tank as it empties, it is this air which becomes pressurised with fumes and the purge valve relieves that pressure.

 

The symptoms you describe are typical of an ignition fault on the HT circuit.