I've got a problem with my 1.3 Mpi which sounds like temp sensor / thermostat, going by other threads on here, but is there a way to be sure before I start replacing parts?

The symptoms are:

I start the car after a few days of it standing, and the engine sounds really rough until I take it for a drive. It smells very strongly of fuel for the first few minutes after starting, and the idle revs feel really low.

It's very easy to stall it at this point, and I regularly stall it trying to get in and out between parked cars at the side of my road. If I do stall it and try and restart it it either refuses to start outright or it starts but then peters out within a few seconds. If I leave it for a bit I can usually get it to start but then have to give it some gas and keep the revs up until I can pull away.

If I've been driving it for an hour or so it's usually fine to stop it, start it, whatever, but if it's been parked up for days I get the problems.

I bought it in March from another member on the forum and it had a total engine rebuild last winter by him and a local Skoda mechanic and they replaced the thermostat, housing and temp sensor with new OEM parts, so I can't believe the temp sensor has broken already and am a bit reluctant to buy another one until I can be sure.

Can the Felicia be hooked up to diagnostics? I had a VAG-Com cable and fault code reader for my old Octy VRS but no idea for a Felicia...?

A few things - does it have a rev counter? "Idle revs feel really low" seems a bit vague.

What is the situation as far as servicing on this is concerned? Are the valve clearances correct?

I'd be surprised if the problem was caused by the temp sensor; I've had 2 Fels with them gone, and both started fine from cold (as you would expect from a sensor telling the ECU that it is cold), they were crap on fuel though, and not too great when warmed up.

Diagnostics - yes. Socket is under the dash on the rear edge (well, towards the front of the car, you get the idea), between steering column and where the driver's door is. If you had your head on the floor where your right foot is when you're driving and looked up, you'd see it.

Yep it's got a rev counter, when it's running badly I'd say the revs are maybe 200 less than what they are when it's idling right. Unless you give it a little gas the revs drop so low it ends up stalling. It seems to be ok once you get it out on the open road though and after a good drive you'd never know there was anything wrong with it.

Since I've had it I've given it an oil change and a throttle body clean but thats all the work I've done to it. There's no service book, it was bought by another member on here in early 2010 as a non runner and him and one of the mechanics from our local Skoda garage fixed everything on it so his neice could use it as a learner car.

It doesn't seem to be that bad on fuel, I measured it the other week and it was getting about 37mpg which was about what I'd expect from an old 1.3 petrol.

I'll give it a go with a fault code reader and see what I can find...

Did you reset the throttle body calibration after you cleaned it? (I guess not if you didn't know about using the code reader). I think this can give idle issues, although it may adapt without it. TeflonTom is your man on the VAG-COM front.

If the engine was fully rebuilt, I think the valve clearances are worth a look - certainly I've found they've needed re-doing after a while on all the engines I've built.

I didn't do a reset but will give that a go. My old Octy was DBW rather than cable throttle so as long as I didn't unplug the throttle body it wouldn't need resetting.

I've no idea about the valve clearances but will ask them if they adjusted them. The bottom end was certainly in bits from the photos I've seen but not sure if they had the head apart messing around with the valves.

:yes: Definately do the valve clearances a few hundred miles after a rebuild...things "settle in" after a while...the engine is from an era when headbolts needed retorquing and valve clearances setting after 1,000 miles from new.

Tight clearances will cause your symptoms.

I'll give them a go, just had a look in my Haynes manual and it looks like a nice easy job

I've got a problem with my 1.3 Mpi which sounds like temp sensor / thermostat, going by other threads on here, but is there a way to be sure before I start replacing parts?

The symptoms are:

I start the car after a few days of it standing, and the engine sounds really rough until I take it for a drive. It smells very strongly of fuel for the first few minutes after starting, and the idle revs feel really low.

It's very easy to stall it at this point, and I regularly stall it trying to get in and out between parked cars at the side of my road. If I do stall it and try and restart it it either refuses to start outright or it starts but then peters out within a few seconds. If I leave it for a bit I can usually get it to start but then have to give it some gas and keep the revs up until I can pull away.

If I've been driving it for an hour or so it's usually fine to stop it, start it, whatever, but if it's been parked up for days I get the problems.

I bought it in March from another member on the forum and it had a total engine rebuild last winter by him and a local Skoda mechanic and they replaced the thermostat, housing and temp sensor with new OEM parts, so I can't believe the temp sensor has broken already and am a bit reluctant to buy another one until I can be sure.

Can the Felicia be hooked up to diagnostics? I had a VAG-Com cable and fault code reader for my old Octy VRS but no idea for a Felicia...?

So you forgot that we had it on diagnostics twice then? :yes:

I didn't do a reset but will give that a go. My old Octy was DBW rather than cable throttle so as long as I didn't unplug the throttle body it wouldn't need resetting.

I've no idea about the valve clearances but will ask them if they adjusted them. The bottom end was certainly in bits from the photos I've seen but not sure if they had the head apart messing around with the valves.

And that I repaired the corroded head, replaced the head gasket & adjusted the valve tolerances?

Honestly, some people never listen.... or read their texts!........ :rofl:

If the head was replaced, then I'd think it will need the clearances re-doing. I've swapped heads a lot on my Fel, and every time they have needed re-adjusting after a short while.

What form did the repair of the corroded head take, Beryl?

As Simon posted above, valve clearances were adjusted after the rebuild which was only 4k miles/10 months ago I think. I'm leaning towards CTS and we're going to swap in another one soon and see if that helps. Another thing I noticed when driving it this evening was I could plant the accelerator and it wouldn't pick up for a second or two then it suddenly had bags of torque all at once. This only lasted for ten minutes or so until the engine was warmed up a bit and then the throttle response was nice and smooth