I'll have a look in a mo, had a go at rally myself a couple of years ago. Little pug 106 it was, completely stripped out and you could throw it around like a Tonka toy, if you remember them ? Quite proud to have been placed 4th out of 16 contenders! :yes:

Just had a quick peek at your blog, see you know your stuff then! Not too far away for me to see really either.

Well, I popped out to look at a Felicia for sale near me at a garage PX dumping ground. They were after £895 for a S plate GLXi with 62k on it, no SH.

Bodywork tatty, bits of rust on front and rear arches, leaky sunroof pouring water when you turned a corner, soaking wet boot, mould on the unholstery, brown rusty sludgy water in the expansion tank, airbag light stuck on, temp gauge bust, loose exhaust, bald tyres,clutch was wafer thin....

Most interesting to me was that I could hear a really bad thrashing metal noise on the drivers side, back side of the engine. I imagine that this is what a timing chain sounds like when it needs replacing !

It actually made me appreciate what I've bought ! :yes: Perhaps I am warming to my little Skoda.

Edited 7 February, 201016 yr by myjalopy

Yeah, I think the "thrashing metal noise" describes the timing chain quite well, so hopefully yours is something else. Although what?

if it still worries you how about recording either a sound clip or a video and sticking it up on youtube so we can have a listen

if it still worries you how about recording either a sound clip or a video and sticking it up on youtube so we can have a listen

Ooh, that sound like technology? Better get my kids to help

I am gonna try and take it somewhere tomorrow that tunes engines, let them have a listen and see what they say. It's probably nothing, but as i have just bought the car, I am keen to get to know it as well as i can. As i said before, it's funny that the engine SEEMED better when I let it get up to temp. so if the stat arrives tomorrow i will fit and see what happens.

My other car has rattles and twitches too, but I kind of know what they are as I have had the car for years, if someone bought it they would probably wonder what they were.

One other thing, what should the car idle at when cold as it always seems to be at about 800rpm whether cold or after a run? I would think it should idle higher on start up, so would pull better in the mornings?

idle should be around 850 so about right, i would get the stat fixed and give it a good run to get it all nice and hot and go from there

idle should be around 850 so about right, i would get the stat fixed and give it a good run to get it all nice and hot and go from there

Should it not idle at a higher rpm when cold, as in choke?

New stat, car seems a lot better to drive now. Idle seems smoother too. Nice to see the needle move for once !

I lied, it doesn't drive or idle any better. :'(

Regarding my original post the engine noise is still puzzling me.

Here is a clip, but I must admit the whole engine sounds worse on here, probably as I was right up close in a confined space. The actual noise that bothers me is the tap tap you should hear, which i tried to capture by moving the camera around the engine. I also wanted to show that the timing chain area is OK. It seems to be coming from the back of the engine, maybe an exhaust gasket?

The puff of smoke near the end of the clip is actually steam when a drip of rain fell onto the downpipe.

Edited 18 February, 201016 yr by myjalopy

err cant find anything to click on mate....

Sounds cammy to me. When you did the valve/tappet clearances, are you sure you got them right? Also, if the rocker arm is a bit worn then you can need to set the clearances on the tight side, but you wouldn't want to do that just for the sake of it.

Sounds cammy to me. When you did the valve/tappet clearances, are you sure you got them right? Also, if the rocker arm is a bit worn then you can need to set the clearances on the tight side, but you wouldn't want to do that just for the sake of it.

The camshaft is on the front side of the engine right? The sound I hear is more like from the rear.

I didn't adjust the clearances, just checked them that's all. Although they seemed tight to me, I believe that these were done at the last service, according to the log.

As i say, the engine actually sounds worse on the clip, like a diesel almost. I will try to do another clip, see if that's any better.

err cant find anything to click on mate....

Not sure why, it appears on my posts and I presume on Darrens, as he has just replied to me.

hmmm maybe my bloody interweb again then, if i could remember my password for here i would log in from firefox lol

hmmm maybe my bloody interweb again then, if i could remember my password for here i would log in from firefox lol

Heres the url

hmm ok does sound tappity and a bit if chain noise too. when we sold them new and folk complained about the tappit noise skoda uk told us to reset the clearences with the engine redhot and set them to 0.04 or something like that, i used to do them by feel after doing so many back then, red hot then tighten until there was a tiny bit of free play..

the loud ticking/knocking noise... if you disconnected the injectors one at a time while it was ticking over does the noise change at all

The camshaft is on the front side of the engine right? The sound I hear is more like from the rear.

I didn't adjust the clearances, just checked them that's all. Although they seemed tight to me, I believe that these were done at the last service, according to the log.

As i say, the engine actually sounds worse on the clip, like a diesel almost. I will try to do another clip, see if that's any better.

Sorry, slang again, cammy sound is the clearances. I think they're wrong, it sounds like they're loose. Jim's probably done more than anyone else, so he'll know how to get them right, but on old crossflows and pintos if there was wear in the rocker or valve follower, etc., the clearance would show up as tighter than it actually was, as the feeler would bridge over the wear.

hmm ok does sound tappity and a bit if chain noise too. when we sold them new and folk complained about the tappit noise skoda uk told us to reset the clearences with the engine redhot and set them to 0.04 or something like that, i used to do them by feel after doing so many back then, red hot then tighten until there was a tiny bit of free play..

the loud ticking/knocking noise... if you disconnected the injectors one at a time while it was ticking over does the noise change at all

They may well have been adjusted when hot as it was always serviced at the supplying Skoda garage.

Disconnecting injectors, hmm. Ok , I'll have a look at how to do that, but if you have any tips they would be appreciated.

Sorry, slang again, cammy sound is the clearances. I think they're wrong, it sounds like they're loose. Jim's probably done more than anyone else, so he'll know how to get them right, but on old crossflows and pintos if there was wear in the rocker or valve follower, etc., the clearance would show up as tighter than it actually was, as the feeler would bridge over the wear.

Oh right, thought you meant camshaft wear. The idea of wear in the rocker makes sense and would explain the apparent feeler tightness. Would this wear be easy to see if I took the cover off again?

Who's Jim? felicia16v?

You can see the plug on top of the injector (semi-hidden under the air inlet), there are 4, and they're easily unplugged, just squeeze the metal bits on each side of the plug...

and then it'll come off

Pushes back on easily enough.

Top man DJ! With pictures too. You obviously understand my knowledge level.

lol yea i'm jim nice to meet you lol, god pics there dj disconnect one at a time and see if the tapping stops..

just because it was serviced by skoda does not mean that they will have done the clearences etc unless asked to do so and even then they may have done by the yts lad.. a lad at our college did the tappets without turning the engine over

DJ its a skoda mate they dont wear out the rockers like minis and fords did..unless the headgasket is fitted upside down so no oil can get to it..(like i might have once)

erm,, it is nice and oily in the top of the engine mate??

lol yea i'm jim nice to meet you lol, god pics there dj disconnect one at a time and see if the tapping stops..

just because it was serviced by skoda does not mean that they will have done the clearences etc unless asked to do so and even then they may have done by the yts lad.. a lad at our college did the tappets without turning the engine over

DJ its a skoda mate they dont wear out the rockers like minis and fords did..unless the headgasket is fitted upside down so no oil can get to it..(like i might have once)

erm,, it is nice and oily in the top of the engine mate??

Nice to meet you too, Jim.

The box on the service log is ticked every time for having the tappets adjusted, so I imagine they were done? Not necessarily correctly though.

Yep, plenty of oil at the top of the engine, looks quite clean too.

I have just been out and pulled off each injector one at a time, no difference to the tapping just the engine ran lumpier ( of course).

With regards to lumpy running, I disconnected the battery overnight and when I connected it back up and started, the car idled higher and the low rpm when warm seems to be better too. I drove it for about 15 miles and although it still seems gruff and underpowered, the engine seems to run a little smoother. Now I've said that, I expect it to all go wrong next time I drive :S

Edited 18 February, 201016 yr by myjalopy

Yep, as I said, spoke too soon. This should maybe be a new post but anyway.

Every time I start the car it is still lumpy and initially if i am going slow it feels like I am driving through custard, as in no real feeling of the engine pulling the car along. Then once the car is going along it is better, but still feels like it's struggling a bit. This is accompanied by a low, growling, rumble when I squeeze the go pedal. This stops as soon as I pull off the pedal. Once it's warmed up, it drives better and the sound pretty much is gone. Once warmed up, I have tried to replicate the sound by going up hill in too high a gear and pushing the pedal down, but it doesn't really happen.

I have described the engine as 'gruff' before, as it's quite vocal when you accelerate. Maybe this is what an 8v Skoda engine sounds like, but I have driven small 8v's before and don't remember this.

The fuel consumption seems to be pretty crap too, as in 25-28 MPG. This is on mainly straight roads, no stopping and starting. £10 gets me about 55 miles or so.

Could it be overfueling the engine? I have read on the forum that it is controlled by the ECU, if so how do i adjust this?

Plugs look right colour and are not dirty or oily, air filter is quite new, very clean. Any ideas chaps? :S