Hi,

I've got a 51 plate Skoda Fabia (1.4 16v) which has started to go wrong recently. It's a bit complicated but I'll give you a quick breakdown of what's happened.

January 2010 - EPC light came on - fixed by Skoda garage, sorted. (cost around £80)

February 2010 - engine warning light appeared. Could not get to garage as very busy and not driving much.

April-May 2010 - away for 7 weeks abroad - car not driven at all. Battery completely flat on return. Booked in for service at VW garage as much closer and easier. Car started with jump leads to take to garage, but accelerator wouldn't rev the car at all, so car had to be towed to garage.

May 2010 - service and investigation of engine warning light. Battery changed (total cost including a few other bits that needed fixing a whopping £662!!). Engine light gone from dashboard on collection but reappeared after about 3 miles. Car taken back to garage, same thing happened on collection, after they had rest the settings back to factory settings, as they had changed the battery. Car now in garage for 3rd time with the engine light - this time they think it is the EGR valve that needs replacing (quoting £252 including part, labour and vat).

My questions to all you clever people are:

Is it safe to drive with this light on? The garage has said it is but they can't say for how long, or whether the car is likely to let me down.

Is it likely to really need the egr replacing? I have read lots of forum posts saying people have had this done once or twice, sometimes more, and the light is still on.

Could the tubnig just be blocked from oil deposits?

Is £252 as astronomical for this work as it seems to me or is it a good price? I have found egr valve kits from a stockist for 1.9 engines costing around £60, and am waiting to hear back how much they would charge for a 1.4 kit.

As you can probably tell, don't know much about cars at all, but having already paid nearly £750 in the last few months for a car that's only worth probably around 3k, I'm loathed to pay another £250.

I would be really grateful for any tips or advice you could give me.

I will be asking the garage for the diagnostics report when I pick up the car later today so will be able to give details of that tomorrow, if that helps?

Have you experienced any rough running, or unpredictable tick over?

My 2001 1.4 16v had two main faults whilst I owned it.

1st one.. Wouldn't easily start, very rough. Engine management light.. Once started tick over could be anywhere up to 2000rpm. or pedal would be a bit unresponsive. This was the coolant sensor.

2nd one.. Car wouldn't start at all.. it'd turn over but not actually go.. then, randomly it'd start and be fine. Also cut out whilst driving as if the key turned off and on again. Engine light present again. This was the fuel pump relay cutting the fuel supply and killing the engine or keeping it from starting.

These parts are quite cheap.. £30 for the relay, £9 for the coolant sensor?

I'd be very tempted to check the stability of the read out from the coolant sensor on a diagnostics computer like vag-com, as it won't always flag up an error code if it's intermittently mis reading. Mine had no faults but would jump from 40'c down to minus 80'c for a split second.

If it's the relay that's playing up you'll be getting faults related to the fuel system, faulty injectors and the like... but that's just because they aren't getting any fuel to inject.

Edited 2 June, 201016 yr by Rob.

My friend had similar woes to you on an Ibiza 1.4. The Seat dealer changed loads of parts, accelerator pedal( which is a common problem) , Lambda sensor and cleaned a few things but we don't know what. The bill came to £400+ and when he drove it home the lights came on again. just like yours. I told him to take it back and refit the original parts . Surprisingly they did refit the old parts,and a good rebate (got £350 back). He drove it home ok and the lights never came back on again, 3 months ago.

There is a sticky thread here http://briskoda.net/forums/topic/132727-help-my-epc-emissions-or-cel-check-engine-lamp-is-on/ about similar problems that may help.

If you know nothing about cars then the dealers have you over a barrel, I would seek advice from an independant VAG specialist, depends whre you live.

Good bet it's the fuel pump relay (£54) Usually throws out 7 fault codes when it starts to fail. Lambda, bank 1 mixture, EVAP, and a few others. Catches a lot of garages out, as symptoms don't point to the fuel pump relay. However the relay supplies a stack of circuits (40 amp relay hence the price tag)

Hi,

Katefo, give Ali at Unit 18 a call, he is very knowledable with this area and maybe able to help you out.

I have a Seat Arosa 1.4 16V Sport. I had the EGR valve and throttle body cleaned by Unit 18 for £35. This involved taking it off and removing the huge carbon deposits that have built over a number of years and subsequently blocking the inlet hole in the EGR. The car runs much better when in the high RPM's.

However, the main problem is still there, it is incredibly unresponsive from idle i.e. if I try revving it, there is say, a half second to a second delay before the engine picks up.

The coolant sender has been replaced as has the MAP sensor. The car shows no fault codes and there are no lights on the dash either.

Any one experienced this before? The car is a Y plate and has the 'Drive By Wire' throttle body.

Help and advice very much appreciated.

Nath

Slow throttle response is a fact of life with this engine. I have this problem too - makes steady exiting from junctions and the like a bit of a challenge.

Regarding warning light problems and poor running - this could be a sign of piston ring problems. Try checking the spark plugs for burnt oil and a compression test. I'd agree with replacing the coolant sensor as being a quick potential win. On my 1.4, things have been better since having a cam belt service and using dearer VW spec oil along with ensuring you've got good spark plugs/HT leads and filters. Also try using super unleaded petrol and giving the breather hose a good clean.

I really can't believe that this engine should be so unresponsive. I drove a 1.4 16V Lupo (75BHP), and this thing absolutely shifted from idle to all the way through the rev range. It had a cable operated throttle body. So i was expecting the Arosa Sport to be atleast this fast and responsive, but was quite disapointed when I drove it - even after the throttle body and EGR valve had been cleaned.

It just feels like you need to boot the car all the time to get it to do something - not exactly good for fuel economy or the engines life!

Why dont you get it on vag com and see whats causing the light, even if vag com says it is the EGR it might just be the pipe thats block, better off getting to a specialist who knows this engine and not just read of the computer code