as posted before i bought a second hand fabia MPi Classic 2002 it had a couple of problems but the price was fair and i fixed the cv joint, changed spark plugs oil filters and the car was ok to run, but the EPC light was on...

i though that the lambda sensor was fouled (cus it was black) but i ran it @ 2000 rpms with a vacuum leak to produce a lean run and clean out the sud... now this helped a little on the running, but the EPC light was still on.

this weekend (yesterday) i removed the back light cluster cleaned the conctacts with electrical contact cleaner, and installed a new brake switch, now i have working brake lights... While i was at it i cleaned the throttle, removed and cleaned the MAP sensor, cleaned the contacts of all the sensor and removed the spark plugs and gapped them correctly, also i changed a couple of hoses that were on the way out. result, EPC light is off for good, have ran it for 2 days EPC light never came on except on start up. ( it goes off as soon as the engine kicks in)

so full service, no EPC light, but...

i have no power untill 3,000rpms (i thought it was 2000, but no, its latter than that) and a severe boggin and light acceleration. it kinda feel like my old felicia when the timing was too advance (10º instead of 2º by mistake) and the valves were to tight (.05mm { .2 thou} instead of .20mm)

i cant do anything about the timing but there is no pinging w/load so i´m thinking maybe a mechanic messed with the valves.

i inspected the valve cover and found silicon sealant there so i knew that the cover was removed. i lifted the right side tyre and removed the valve cover, and inspected all the valves. they are all tight, no clearance whatsoever and on top of that i loosen one and the valve moved up by .50mm now i reset the valve (as it was before) and thought about it, so i´m posting now to have an answer from you guy´s

so please help me out with these three questions;

1- i know the valves are not to be adjusted, but is there soposed to be any tipe of gap (be it minimal) or is it supposed tto press the valves at all times (even when fully closed).

2- could the lambda sensor be faulty (as for the plug reading they were all showing a lean mix but not so much) and produce a lean condition that would not make the car ping and not light up the EPC.

3- why do i get a warnig chime (three long beeps) when i accelerate for the first time after starting the car (and never after that).

please post, i will realy apreciated it, and any ideas you guys might have.

Edited 25 January, 201115 yr by Cepheuz

I haven't got time to respond to you properly as I am in a hurry to get to bed, but if there is silicone sealant, or sealant with a silicon content, it will have transfered itself into the oil and carried itself through the exhaust poisioning your cat at worst, fouling your o2 sensor at best.

This happened when a Garage changed the cams on my Nissan and used a silcone sealant on the cam cover.

Could also be an issue with a dirty or knackered crank sensor

Could also be an issue with a dirty or knackered crank sensor

Engine starts right away with no problem all the time, there are no rpm irregularity and idle smooth @875 rpm, no check engine light or EPC light (i thought those were side effects of crack sensor going bad)

Edited 17 January, 201115 yr by Cepheuz

I haven't got time to respond to you properly as I am in a hurry to get to bed, but if there is silicone sealant, or sealant with a silicon content, it will have transfered itself into the oil and carried itself through the exhaust poisioning your cat at worst, fouling your o2 sensor at best.

This happened when a Garage changed the cams on my Nissan and used a silcone sealant on the cam cover.

my bad, its not made of silicon, its the standart gasget sealant oxigen sensor safe (gray color) i have a tube here and checked.

Engine starts right away with no problem all the time, there are no rpm irregularity and idle smooth @875 rpm, no check engine light or EPC light (i thought those were side effects of crack sensor going bad)

Sometimes they dont cause a problem until under load as ive found out.a good clean of the component and a double check on the crank pulley will confirm if its the problem or not.

i was reading through my manual and it says that the oil and check engine light should light up when turning the ignition for a coulpe of secconds but they dont, could this be normal (For the Fabia MPi Classic)

double check on the crank pulley will confirm if its the problem or not.

I need a little more explanation here, what is it exaclty that i have to check on the pulley?

i disconected what i think is the crank sensor and the car started without it, also, oil was leaking from the sensor, so i guess is cracked, no i wonder why would the car start w/o the crank sensor and why doesnt my check engine light come on.

i just got back from a shop, i asked them to scan the system and reset all the codes, they did, and adjusted the throttle and for a great price, free

oil sensor is damaged, someone did'nt know how to fix it so he took out the led on the dash (i have to apologize for being dominican sometimes because of this) and apart from that, no sensor or error where register as permanent, (so i cleared them to check next week) the guy said that all fabias who cat´s get clogged experience this tipe of problem, so i´m about to do a swap i guess best practice would be to find a bigger aftermarket one.

i have cleaned all the sensors (lambda, cranck, MAP and oil)and plugs with electrical cleaning spray and reset the throttle and errors codes (when i did the scan) i doubt is the cat since i´ve read a little about it and it doesnt smell, and there is no loss of power above 3k, so any ideas please help.

i still dont know if there should be valve gap in the 1.4 MPi engine (found out all had no gap at all), and i need to change the timing chain but i don´t think is the chains fault.

please help

i´m kindda alone here but i´m posting to keep a log.

I removed (once again) the lambda sensor and cleaned it soaking it on white vinegar and shaking it about once in a while, the vinegar turned opaque and dirty, the sensor after fitted responde much better, now the engine´s power doesnt start @ 3000rpm but there is not a lot of torque to get me off a turn in 2nd gear and my meter shows upwars of 22l/100km on a hill and 18l/100km on acceleration.

im guessing there must be a vacuum leak, probably in the injector seals (since most rubber parts where gunky and damage) i can suck on the valve cover hose and create a vaccum in the plenum but i did sence gas and if i put my hand on the mouth of the plenum (where the throttle butterfly is) while runing the car di´nt die out.

still have my doubts about the valves, maybe the gunky oil clogged the hydraulic tappets so i´m going to do a 2nd flush and run full synthetic oil to unclog them.

checked the plugs and they all seem to light, signs of running lean or with too much advance on timing.

ran the engine tonight, nice and quite, and used a hose as as stetoscope to search for vacuums leak, none found.

i removed the map sensor and plugged the opening and ran the car,and it reacted the same, so i disconnected the lambda, result. same condition as original. also a ran the car without the sensor connected(but with the lambda connected) and it actualy drove better, much better.

So... i got to replace the MAP sensor now that the lambda sensor is working fine(but since F.E. get realy low i think its old, and will need replacing soon), funny thing is, when i disconnected the MAP sensor EPC light did not come on(the engine was alredy on)

to be on the safe side(cus i realy don´t know what to expect from previous owner) i´m going to clean the injectors, flush the engine and use synthetic and replace fuel filter(witch i did´nt do on the service) and as a present drop a K&N air filter.