Missus has been saying to me for a couple of days her car doesn't sound right. Sounds rattly. I said it always has has a slight rattle to my ears.

Seems to do it more when warmed up. Again, I thought not much of it. Today I started it when I got home, after she'd driven it home and I see what she means. Nothing obviously loose under the bonnet, but it sounds like there's a marble in a tin can somewhere!

Seems to be coming from around the D/S of the engine - almost the pump on the front (aircon?) or one of those pulleys.

Aircon engages and disengages fine, engine revs rise and fall as expected. Rev increase doesn't seem to make a massive difference to the noise, engine is a bit "shuddery" at idle, but usually is (we've had this car a month). No lights on the dash, nothing obviously wrong.

This started after she drove it the couple of minute trip to her work a few days back, and reported hearing a clunk, as if something had just dropped off - she couldn't see anything. We assumed it was just some road debris.

We also appear to have some form of fluid leak, feels like oil, but I won't know until I can get my wheelramps/axle stands/trolley jack at the weekend..

I've got a video of the noise that I'm going to upload and link to, if it helps..but any suggestions at all?

Engine is a 1.4MPi 8valve, W reg, 102k on the clocks.

Engine timing chain needs changing more than likely... The chains are supposedly good for ~120k but if driven hard previously the chains will obviously wear faster.

Note that if you're doing it yourself the replacement part sprocket _may_ have the timing dot out slightly - resulting in it running like a dog until timed up using the slot in the sprocket as a reference.

Mm, I read about that! It wasn't rattling anything like as badly last week - literally all of a suddent this has come on...really does sound like a bag of bolts, although it seems happy enough at the moment. Just waiting for my Flipcam to dumo the vid to my PC..sigh..

Oil leak that's unmasked timing chain rattle as oil level has dropped? Obviously topped up the noise is less...

Right! Finally managed to regain access to my site FTP and get the MP4 shrunk into a manageable WMV file, so heres a link to the footage of the racket..well, 2 clips of it.

http://sirbendy.co.uk/fabia/VID00078.wmv

Possibly the clearer sounding one:

http://sirbendy.co.uk/fabia/VID00079.wmv

There's an awful lot of..erm, for want of a better description..rubber swarf I think? Around the area of that aux belt...looks like it sticks to pipes etc. Or it may be mostly dirt. I'm guessing that belt's probably due renewal really - god knows what it drives..but it looks like a swine to change!

Can't listen to video at moment but from the description it definitely sounds like the timing chain.

It probably isn't an impending failure though as they are a very simple design chain with no tenstioner so they eventually slacken off and start to rattle.

They will rattle on and on usually without going but I changed the one in ny felicia as it was doing my head in. The car was about 70k miles when I changed it.

I did it DIY too as it was a doddle.

As said though make sure you get the right kit that has the proper markings on. I think jorily does them and has guaranteed they are the right ones.

Phil

Would you expect it to go from a slight rattle that's barely noticeable, to a "bag of bolts being dropped in a can" effect in a couple of days though? Missus reported a couple of clunks on the run before it started doing this, and apparently it's "not as happy as it was driving - keeps trying to stall and juddery on takeoff".

I wonder if it's suddenly started to let go and jumped a tooth or 2...

Or, could the noise be from something driven off that Aux belt - aircon compressor/alternator/idler pulley(?)..how would I go about removing the belt temporarily to find that out? It needs replacing anyway really for peice of mind, and I have a Haynes on order (Good old Amazon Prime)..

As I say, give me a Vauxhall 8 valver, I'm fine. I have the dealer repair DVD's etc, and I know my way round them. The VAG unit is something of an unknown quantity at the moment..heh.

Still liking the car though...almost tempted to look at a Fabia when the time comes to replace the Astra, as the new GMs just don't sit right with me..Quite liking the Fabia 1..

You will need to lever the tensioner to release the belt.

If there was a bang then running rubbish then it might suggest it has maybe jumped a tooth!

It might be worth a check of the aux belt, tensioners and all the pulleys to see how they are first. If they're ok then you need to check the chain.

To remove the cover though for the chain from memory the sump has to be dropped first.

Phil

I've had a quote from a garage 5 minutes from my house (after they went away to look it up having never done one) - £148 all in. Very tempted regardless. Haynes is on the way today, so I want to try popping that aux belt off first and see if it makes a difference.

2 other garages I called were mystified..one couldn't find the 1.4mpi 8v on their system, only the 1.3. Then they said "we can see the parts, but it doesn't give a time for repair.."

The other was hell-bent on telling me the 1.4 had a belt..and that it applied to both the 16 and 8 valvers, and "It's an easy mistake to make if you're not a mechanic."

Quite, quite amused.

Haha. Good old garages thinking they know best!

Your 1.4 mpi is based on the 1.3 so he was nearly right.

And the other garage was thinking of the newer 1.4 engine that is belt driven so again... nearly right! lol

Like I said I DIY'd it on my Felicia and it really wasn't too bad at all. The most annoying jobs were removing the sump and cleaning off the old gasket and also I had to drop the engine down slightly to get enough clearance to remove the crankshaft pulley.

Phil

Just to highlight the mpi is based on old Skoda engine designs pre VAG involvement. Always makes a good impression when a garage has a clue what they're talking about

Right, the Haynes book of lies has arrived. First, I went about trying to get the aux belt off..darned if I can see how to do it! It looks like it must surely need a roller removing to get it off! This one has aircon, so I can see all the various rollers, plus one on a sort of D bracket on the back of the aircon pump...and another below it, looks to be bolted to the engine - one I'm guessing is the idler, one the tensioner.

Talk about minimal access room in that bay..heh. I guess I need to get the inner wing panel bit off!

Anyway, I thought "I'll give the damn thing a blat with some WD40 and see if it's anything that will shut up with that."

Started it up - very slight rattle... same one it's always had. That's the timing chain. However, it's quiet. Attacked the belt with some WD40, and the idler rollers...noise level drops again, all I can hear apart from a really quite quiet rattling is the "whirrrrr" of the belt and pulleys. It seems the seriously loud rattling on that clip (and trust me it's loud) only happens after a run when things have warmed up a bit.

Surely that can't then, be the chain? I revved it several times, it settled to a fast idle with the chain being almost lost with the bonnet shut. Nothing like the racket it makes when warm. I'd expect the chain noise to be reasonably constant across the engine temperatures..or am I being Naive here?

Now wondering if there's one of the idler rollers, or something driven by one of the pulleys that's close to giving out, only letting it be known when it's warmed up.

Any thoughts? I can see no real reference to the rollers in the Haynes...

Further feedback from the Missus after the car was used yesterday - "quiet as you like, no issues at all..".

The plot thickens. Chain is dropping off the suspect list..heh.

Seems like it must be one of the things you sprayed with WD40, a roller/tensioner or something. Unfortunately the Haynes seems largely based on the earlier models on which the engine is based, the 1.3mpi in the Felicia. Many of the pictures are even copied. I'm sure there's a pic of a Felicia engine cover saying 1.3mpi in there somewhere.

Edited 6 March, 201214 yr by anewman

It's been a while, but we're still getting the rattle, and associated gutless power when it's there. From my e-mail this morning:

"Fabia behaved lovely last night .. so much so that when I went to reverse out of the parking space at work I nearly shot half way across the car park because I wasn't expecting full power (which just goes to show there must be a significant difference between when it's fine and when it's not, because I'd definitely adjusted to sluggish fabia)

Was fine again this morning til I had to stop quickly behind one of the school coaches - as soon as I went to pull off again it was gurgly and cr..."

Now, how does a chain give a toss about a rapid stop? And why would a chain start and then stop rattling..no, something isn't sitting right here..the kit is still on order from Jorily, but..I have a feeling it may not solve much. I should clarify - "gurgly"..having been a passenger in it, it's the rattle, muted by the bulkhead..heh.

Edited 28 March, 201214 yr by Sirbendy

I'd still be tempted to say that the lack of power you're experiencing could be the chain jumping leaving it off time... Which would also tie in with it feeling even more sluggish on a rapid stop etc.

I can see how that'd work, but then why would it recover again? Trip home last night it was once again back to normal...ruddy odd engine, that one...

Ok then - the gutless power issue could be the camshaft position sensor I guess... Retarding the timing of the engine?

The timing chain can be pretty loud anyways though...

You had a vagcom on it to check the codes? Sensor fault would show up I would have thought on a fault code scan...

I have the same model 1.4mpi 8valve 'W' reg,

if you look at my other post from today (my only other post) you will see that i did a small job on the car.

Now while i was running it to check how it ran with the new parts, with the plastic engine cover off, it began to RATTLE after a couple of mins, a rattle similar to the sound of a helicopter in the distance.

Theres a large aluminium casting containing the ign coils and plug caps. This is held onto the cylinder head by two 13mm (AF) nuts, they were very loose, after a bit of awkward turning with a ring spanner they were again tight and the rattle had stopped.

The car still has a hesitant, lumpy, irritating tickover though.

Hope this helps, before everyone gets bogged down in worst case scenarios.

Regards mintgreen

(edited due to poor grammar)

Edited 31 March, 201214 yr by mintgreen

Have you had it scanned with vag com/fault code scanner?

Might bring up any dodgy sensors etc.

Does sound like a dodgy sensor somewhere. How about cleaning/resetting the throttle body?

Phil

I have the same model 1.4mpi 8valve 'W' reg,

if you look at my other post from today (my only other post) you will see that i did a small job on the car.

Now while i was running it to check how it ran with the new parts, with the plastic engine cover off, it began to RATTLE after a couple of mins, a rattle similar to the sound of a helicopter in the distance.

Theres a large aluminium casting containing the ign coils and plug caps. This is held onto the cylinder head by two 13mm (AF) nuts, they were very loose, after a bit of awkward turning with a ring spanner they were again tight and the rattle had stopped.

The car still has a hesitant, lumpy, irritating tickover though.

Hope this helps, before everyone gets bogged down in worst case scenarios.

Regards mintgreen

(edited due to poor grammar)

The nuts in question also hold on a metal backing plate from memory, this would probably be what you heard rattling. As for the lumpy idle the mip is known for it or at least it's very regularly commented on.

The nuts in question also hold on a metal backing plate from memory, this would probably be what you heard rattling. As for the lumpy idle the mip is known for it or at least it's very regularly commented on.

Yes they are a hard engine to get running smoothly just like the 1.3 they are based on. But it can be done.

Do these engines require the valve clearances to be set? I remember on my felicia that they were once very badly set and the engine was very down on power.

Do these engines require the valve clearances to be set?

Supposedly hydraulic and need no adjustment unless skimming the head when replacing headgasket.