Howdy folks.

Im new here so please go easy on me!

Im currently in talks with my work about buying a 56 plate Fabia VRS thats just been traded in.

However there is a couple of problems....

The car itself has done 65K miles, has some fancy grey/blue leather seats front and rear which are quite cool (no idea what theyre from), but has nasty coilovers on it.

The coilovers i can sort, but there is a bigger issue needing some help - thats where you lot come in!

When the car is cold, it takes ages to fire up. It will crank and crank for ages, and eventually fire up. Also it can be quite smokey at times (not sure if thats normal for these)

Weve replaced the glow plugs and coolant temp sensor but to no avail.

Any suggestions as to what the problem could be?

I currently have an Audi A3 1.8T which has given lots of grief with misfires etc and i do not want to fall into the same hole!

Many thanks, Stan.

Edited 21 June, 201115 yr by Stanley87

A code scan will probably reveal the Camshaft sensor is faulty (G20) Do a full scan with VCDS/VAGCOM

Thanks for the reply.

Is this a known problem or symptom of cam sensor?

Thanks for the reply.

Is this a known problem or symptom of cam sensor?

Not that common but does happen.

Update - The car will not fire up on its own. We have drained two batteries in trying to start it.

The ONLY way we can get it going is by the lovely method of easystart. Not a nice route at all, but it got the car firing up and now running perfectly.

Any ideas?

Has it been scanned for fault codes yet? If not it's all guesswork.

No fault codes at all.

I would check fuel pressure when running (use VCDS) and or replace the fuel filter.

Which group do I use to log that? What sort of readings am I looking for?

Also is there any relation to the rotation speed of the starter and fuel pressure? I.E. If the starter is a bit lazy, will it fire any fuel in?

Thanks again.

Had same problem with 04 vrs when I first bought it. Local garage tried everything they could think of to solve problem but to no avail .They strongly advised me to take it to a diesel specialist in East Kilbride. Did so, they hooked it up to a mass of testing gear and turned out to be injector seals needed replacing. Everything perfect since 2 years ago!