Hi guys,

Was out last night in the car, did a few short journeys, under a mile, stop start stop start, then was in a car park and moved about 20 feet, realised I left something in the back so had my foot on the clutch and brake in 1st slowing down to a stop into a space, revs were at about 2.5k which I thought was odd, switched it off, sorted out the back, got back in and couldn't start.

I turned the heater to cold, fans to 0, all lights off to try and get as much power to the engine as possible, and it spluttered into life and ran fine for a 20 mile drive through country roads. Got back to the car after that and it wouldn't start, set the heater to cold again as I had it hot to demist and it again spluttered into life, it did this once more as well, put it to bed and hoped it would be okay, woke up this morning, started fine, power seemed down a little bit but thought that might be my mind playing games.

Half way to where I was going, engine management light, pulled over, switched off, checked the handbook and decided to abandon the trip and take it home.

Just put a new Bosch Battery in it like 2 weeks ago, took it up to where I bought it, they tested it said it was fine.

Ideas?

Matt

Code scan is the place to start if a light is on.

Thought as much, will be getting a neighbour to take it to his garage where he works when they open after the new year.

Had your car been parked up mate? Or it's in everday use? Thermostat or temp sender faulty?

Has been in every day use running like a song since I got the new battery.

With the old battery the PAS light would come on when it started when it was very cold out (like 0 degrees), if that makes any difference?

Thermostat seemed fine (assuming you're on about the one connected to the temp sensor gauge on the dash), that's been behaving normally. Although actually it went very low today when the engine management light came on today.

It may have fluctuated quite a lot yesterday too, it might just be my mind playing games though...

PAS is electro-hydraulic, so with a flat battery it could struggle to work. Is the temp gauge fluctuating on your dash? It should stick to 90 C, when everything ok. When it fluctuates or you have problems getting hot air out of the vents, your thermostat, which is a valve in your cooling system, might be faulty, could cause a hard start up when the engine is warm. Are you sure, the new battery up to scratch?

PAS is electro-hydraulic, so with a flat battery it could struggle to work. Is the temp gauge fluctuating on your dash? It should stick to 90 C, when everything ok. When it fluctuates or you have problems getting hot air out of the vents, your thermostat, which is a valve in your cooling system, might be faulty, could cause a hard start up when the engine is warm. Are you sure, the new battery up to scratch?

Well, I took it to where I bought it, they tested it and said it was fine.

It's also been brilliant since I got it until yesterday!

As I said it may have fluctuated it may be my mind playing games, I don't particularly want to drive it with the light on though so can't really check.

2 more things I can think of: disconnect the battery and leave it overnight and reconnect again in the morning and see what comes up. Common fault on the 1.2 is the pencil coil pack, if one of them not working, only have 2 cylinders firing out of 3.

Just fired her up on the drive with the bonnet up, it does sound like crap. Coil pack sounds like the most likely option thus far anyway. Either way, in the new year it's going into the garage.

Deffo coil pack then! If you are a techie-type, it's an easy fix. If not at least you have some clue about you hassle.

Not really got the skill / knowledge / tools to do it. Any idea how much I'm looking at then?

Aftermarket coil pack should be around 20-40 quid plus labour. I don't know much about the english rates as I'm a hungarian. I'd say not more than 80 quid(rough estimate) should get you sorted but probably it'll be cheaper.