Hi All,

This is my first post so please be gentle :-)

I have just purchased a Fabia 1.4 16v petrol (2002) and when accelerating from about 40 to 60mph there is quite a wobble/judder felt by both myself driving and my passenger through the seats, pedals and steering wheel.

If I induce the wobble at about 55mph (in any gear) by accelerating, then lift off and depress the clutch the wobble/judder goes away completely, which lends itself to the engine and not the wheels/tyres.

I have though had all the wheels re-balanced. I have also replaced the plugs and on spotting a cracked HT lead end I also renewed the leads. Inspecting the old lead terminals at the coil end i noticed that leads 1 and 4 were much cleaner in appearance that leads 2 and 3.

Could it be a slowly packing up coil pack misfiring under load?

Could it be flywheel or clutch (the pedal is quite high at 59000 miles)? (is the flywheel one of these dual mass ones?)

Any thoughts would be much appreciated, am hoping its a common fault and easily fixed.

Thanks

Dave.

Check the gearbox dogbone mount, and the nearside engine mounting.

Check the gearbox dogbone mount, and the nearside engine mounting.

Thanks for that.

On opening the bonnet and reving the engine I have noticed that there seems to be more engine rock that what you would expect, perhaps this is causing the fault as you said.

Also theres quite some "mayo" in the crankcase breather pipe where it meets the airbox, is this linked in some way too?

Regards Dave.

The Mayo is quite common with that engine, especially if a lot of short runs are done. As long as there is no sign of oil in the coolant, and the dipstick oil is normal, nothing to worry about.

Ok, so I am still having no luck with this and it's starting to do my head in. I have replaced the console bushes as they were torn with Cupra ones, but the wobble/judder is still there at any load in any appropriate gear between 45-60mph. When I lift off, all is smooth again. Has anyone had a similar problem with their Fabia (1.4 16v). I was thinking that perhaps it could be the longer drive shaft being out of balance and oscillating when under load at the aforementioned speeds. The dog bone mount seems solid enough.