Skoda Fabia 1.2 HTP 65 Classic (Old Shape)

07 Plate

37k miles.

I left home today at 0830 - 60 miles later on the M25, the Engine Management light started flashing and Safety "Limp Home" mode tripped in.

After pulling over at the M1/M25 interchange (mid roadworks - real fun!), the engine appeared to be missfiring, the oil and coolant were also low.

Still in Limp Home mode, we limped 3 miles up the M25 to Junction 22 and Sainsbury's, filling up on oil at the services. Leaving the engine to run for a bit, the oil soaked in. The Engine warning light, changed to steady; I elected to carry on and see how it fared, knowing that South Mims was the next junction.

800yds further up the M25 and Limp Home reared it ugly head again. Pulling into the BP garage, I admitted defeat and called the AA.

The technicians diagnosis was a misfire in the second cylinder. Because he didn't have a coil in stock, the technician decided to shadow us up to EuroCar in Watford. Topping up the Coolant, we set off, Limp Mode coming on again 30 seconds later.

An agonising 30mph crawl down the M25, M1 and A405 later we pulled into the shop and got a coil, fitted it and drove away. 2 mins later, Engine light flashing, limp mode.

3 new spark plugs later, we tried again: 400yds after that, Limp mode. Thats when we got towed home.

The AA have left it like that, I'm stuck with no car and no money to get it checked until the end of the month.

Any ideas as to what is wrong? Please help!

Dan

You need to get the fault codes read from the ECU, it could be something simple. However if the cooland and oil are low again it could be something major.

The misfire on the second cylinder could be due to a number of reasons. The obvious things to start with are the coil and the plugs. As those have been replaced it may not be those. The worst things it could be are head gasket, or piston liner (sorry don't mean to give bad news).

Needing to top up oil and coolant may again, sadly, point to the above problems. How much coolant and oil were needed, and when were they last checked/topped up? Also is there any signs of "mayo" in the oil filler cap?

Edited 21 August, 201015 yr by anewman

The AA do carry fault readers for most cars, I'm surprised he didn't connect it up to see what fault codes were present. Or maybe there were multiple faults read and he went with the most obvious one. Realistically the AA are not there to spend hours rebuilding your car for free, only to fix simple faults and make sure you get home.

As for the fault, at a guess I would go for the Crank position Sensor.

Edited 21 August, 201015 yr by Soot1e

Needing to top up oil and coolant may again, sadly, point to the above problems. How much coolant and oil were needed, and when were they last checked/topped up? Also is there any signs of "mayo" in the oil filler cap?

One very big misconception and false diagnosis is mayo on the oil filler cap being a head gasket failure. This mayo is usually caused from short trips, or just condensation and oil splash on the filler cap. So for those of you that see mayo, DO NOT SPEND unnecessary money!

One very big misconception and false diagnosis is mayo on the oil filler cap being a head gasket failure. This mayo is usually caused from short trips, or just condensation and oil splash on the filler cap. So for those of you that see mayo, DO NOT SPEND unnecessary money!

True, it can also be due to a broken thermostat so the engine never gets warmed up properly over shortish trips, and one of those is cheaper to replace than a HG. Coolant loss and misfire too though could point to HG failure. There are other checks to help check whether the headgasket has gone though, like a sniffer test on the coolant and compression test on the cylinders.