Hi guys,

I'm new to this forum and I've seen that this forum has lots of people with expert knowledge on mechanics so I though I'd put my problem forward here:

I have a 2000 Fabia 16V manual which when I was on holiday in France had to go in for repairs as the engine was making a rattling noise. It had the water pump and two belts replaced (the cambelt and another one which I'm not sure of as it was in French). Driving it back from France to Holland (where I live) I was doing 85 mph when all of a sudden the revs went down from 4000 or so to 1500 rpms. it lasted only a second or so and then the revs went back to normal. It felt as if the car breaked a bit. After that I drove 500 miles without any problems.

That was in Februari, since then I've had it happen twice again, both times round 80 mph where the revs fell down to 1500 rpms. I've called two Skoda dealers here in Holland but they don't know what it could be. It's also very hard te reproduce so I'm not sure what they would do if I took it in.

When it was in the garage for the repairs the mechanic said they'd retentioned the belts that were replaced. Could the belts be slipping? I know the timing belt is teethed so that shouldn't be able to slip so easily should it? If it were the timing belt it would also wreck the engine wouldn't it?

If anyone recognizes this problem I'd be very grateful for some advice as this is pretty worrying stuff.

Thanks, Jonathan

I had something similar on my VW Lupo Sport (same 16v engine as in Fabia). . . I would be driving along (any speed) and all of a sudden it was as if I had stamped on my brakes for a split second as I would loose speed/revs and lurch foward in my seat.

It would do it very infreqently and there was no pattern - it would happen when cold or hot, at 10mph or even 70mph - it eventually dissapeared after 4 months or so (I could never find out what was causing it) . . . some suggestions I had were an electrical problem or a fuel problem (starvation?) but I don't know.

Maybe try some fuel additive to clean the fuel system out? better ask on here if it's safe first as I don't know . . . .

Both cam belts are toothed and both have tensioners, to change the belts the tension must be set on both as a matter of course, and should have been changed with the belts. If they slipped you would know about it.

its either a sticking brake switch as this closes the throttle to idle for engine braking and fuel economy,

or a weak crankshaft pick up, they generally do not store any faults,

only when they completly fail,

I had this and eventually, after dozens of visits and gettign Skoda UK involved, the fault was tracked down to the wiring loom, part of which was replaced under warranty.

By then I'd had enough and a month later I swapped for a vRS. The last I heard the new owner has not reported any such problems.

its either a sticking brake switch as this closes the throttle to idle for engine braking and fuel economy' date='

or a weak crankshaft pick up, they generally do not store any faults,

only when they completly fail,[/quote']

How bad would that kind of failure be?