Admittedly i know that most people on here deal with the vRS so might not know as much about these but theres gotta be a few people that know more than me?

My dads of no use because he doesnt particularly care and just keeps telling me "itl be fine" so that he has a reason to have a go at me when it blows up, and i dont have the cash to be keeping it in a garage for them to turn around and say it needs ££££££ spending on it.

Heres the problems i have at the moment:

My engine has a horriffic rattle when the engines running, as far as im aware it doesnt go away when driving either, il get a video at some point so that you can hear it.

It also feels like its misfiring at idle, it isnt a regular misfire it just judders every now and again at idle and shakes the car slightly, you feel it more than you hear it, you can see the rev counter jigging as well.

The last problem i have is the Coolant warning light, i had a new radiator fitted recently and since then the coolant light has been coming on every time with a cold start, i simply drive for around a mile, turn the car off and on and it doesnt bother me again, is this a faulty sensor or is it something else i need to look for? the coolant level is fine.

Any help at all would be greatly appreciated as i want my car running smoothly again, if i can do the work easliy myself then tell me, im up for getting my hands dirty, if its a garage job then tell me and il just have to swallow my pride and fork out the bill once the end of the month comes round.

Thanks in advance!

Jack M

Hi jack, I can't really help with the first questions but I've got the 1.4mpi on a 51 plate and I have AA cover (can't think of the name) which if anything breaks on my car I pay the first £35 and they pay the rest upto £500 and 5 claims per year, for the full cover breakdown, recover, relay and a few others I'm paying around £22 a month. It might be worth looking at that. So far I've not had any problems in the 3 years of owning it but its 12 year old so it's worth having just incase.

Coolant light could be the sensor in the expansion tank. Quite common.

A new tank is ~£15 from a dealers.

Also, have you scanned the car to see if any fault codes are logged?

Hi jack, I can't really help with the first questions but I've got the 1.4mpi on a 51 plate and I have AA cover (can't think of the name) which if anything breaks on my car I pay the first £35 and they pay the rest upto £500 and 5 claims per year, for the full cover breakdown, recover, relay and a few others I'm paying around £22 a month. It might be worth looking at that. So far I've not had any problems in the 3 years of owning it but its 12 year old so it's worth having just incase.

cheers il have to have a look into it, i dont know what i get with my breakdown cover at the moment but its something il have to look up.

Coolant light could be the sensor in the expansion tank. Quite common.

A new tank is ~£15 from a dealers.

Also, have you scanned the car to see if any fault codes are logged?

okay thats something i can get done fairly easily, and no i havnt is it just a case of getting VAGCOM on it? i heard once that i cant do that with mine because its older than 2002? it may have just been something i overheard wrong though

I would suspect the rattling might be the Timing Chain.

How many miles has the car done? and says the car is 2001.

Yes you can scan it with VCDS. All Fabia have an OBD port and can be scanned.

Idle wobble is very normal, but can be made worse by a loose timing chain.

I would suspect the rattling might be the Timing Chain.

How many miles has the car done? and says the car is 2001.

Someone else has told me it might be that but the car only has 71k, it clocked over yesterday, how much is it going to be to sort a timing chain? i cant see it being cheap?

Idle wobble is very normal, but can be made worse by a loose timing chain.

This would make sense as the car had idle wobble when i bought it but over the year ive owned it it has got a lot worse

Not too sure on Timing Chain costs myself. I used to have a 1.4 mpi, and knew they were on chains.

Not too sure on Timing Chain costs myself. I used to have a 1.4 mpi, and knew they were on chains.

Yeah i know that much myself, i dont think its a job i could do myself or even trust myself to do!