The Fabia that my partner has recently bought has been acting a little strangely. Initially it had a problem with the water level dropping on start up, to the point it put the warning light on the dash and then recovering. I put this down to the fact it may have developed some bizarre airlock when it was stood on the forecourt. It then put the engine management light, which the garage traced to old knackered spark plugs causing a missfire and occasionly running on 2 cylinders. Great for a car supposedly serviced, just when we bought it. :no:

This morning fired it up, load of white smoke out the exhaust, water light on dash, level dropped well below minimum. The intial tick over was very lumpy too. Topped up the water and set off. Stopped for petrol on route and checked the levels. It was midway, but when i released the pressure it it shot up comfortably above the maximum and some ran out from the overflow. Ran it for the rest of the journey, everything fine.

Left it too cool down over a couple of hours and rechecked. The level was midway, no pressure in bottle. Started up fine, no smoke. Tick over fine. As it ticking over i removed the oil filler cap to check for mayo, all fine, but putting the cap back on, not even screwed down it stalled the engine. Restarted fine, but as soon as you put the cap back on it stalls. The engine runs fine with the cap on or off, just not as you replace it...... :S

So any thoughts? it s going back to the garage next week as its still in its month warranty period. Is the headgasket screwed?

Its a Fabia 1.2 53plate with 48000miles.

Cheers

Update. Started fine this morning, no smoke. Drove about 20miles and it's been parked for about 6hrs. Started up to come home, very lumpy tick over and engine management light flashing. It did settle and drove fine. Any thoughts?

If they can't even check/change worn out spark plugs as part of a pre-sale service then I'd take the car back and ask for a proper service or a discount to that effect. It would make me generally suspicious about the car and dealer.

It's going back. I was just hoping to go back and say that it looks like xyz needs doing. Real shame as it's her 1st car and it's tidy and ideal when it's working properly

Blocked crankcase breather? It's the only thing I can think of that might be affected by you replacing the oil filler cap...

Cheers apogee, how do you check where is it located?

Can't speak for the 1.2, but look for a hose running between the air inlet somewhere and the top of the engine. On the MPi, it's the hose running between the oil filler and the black thing on top of the throttle (ignore the yellow oval...)

According to what's on various threads here the 1.2htp is prone to Lumpy tickover at low speeds which is not noticeable at higher speeds, dodgy water level and temperature sensor. I just got rid of the wife's 53 plate 1.2htp in May, it had all these problems. I changed sparks/coil packs/temperature sensor, cleaned throttle body and crankcase made no difference. Took it into local garage, he told me the engine is prone to the problems described on here and that I should get rid of it, which I duly did.

Can you not reject it? You might have bought a load of trouble.