Hi guys!

 

I'm completely out of luck with the car that I bought just a month ago.

It's a 2003 Fabia Combi Comfort with the 16 valve "BBY" engine inside.

 

The jurney so far...

 

First off, the temperature sensor died. I replaced that one. Then I had misfire on a cylinder. Changed all spark plugs. Nothing. I found that it was one of the spark coils that wouldn't fly anymore. I changed it. Then it was all good for a couple of weeks. Then I started hearing a ticking noise. At first it was mostly just as engine was started, and at low RPM's. Then it was more frequent, yet it disappeared at just a bit below 2000 rpm; above that the engine was running smooth.

 

Now, today, things got worse. As I cruised in the city I can usually Eco-drive at 3:rd gear at low speed (20~30 km/h), but now the car was shaking like it had issues getting fuel, cylinder problems, or something. Anyways, as I got above 30 km/h the car ran smooth again. It felt weird though, as 3:rd gear at that speed is usually fine. I started driving around some just to "feel" if anything more was out of the ordinary.

 

Things quickly turned worse. Now, the engine is shaking like one cylinder is down, even though I've changed all four spark plugs AND a couple of days ago I also changed all four spark coils, just to make sure it was nothing with the ignition.

 

I noticed that it's a slight leak in the vacuum around the oil cap, I show you somewhere in the middle of the video that I include with this post. This couldn't produce this severe issues, could it? Anyways, I tried unscrewing the oil cap completely at idle, and then the engine started shaking even more heavy, like it's really 1 second from giving up, also, the EPC light on the dashboard turned on. I guess the light is normal though, but the engine behavior as well?

 

Have you guys got any ideas? The orange engine light turns on very frequently, and it's also blinking now and then. I've connected my laptop and it gives me misfire and ignition circuit open fault codes. I've cleared them several times, since I don't know what to do.

 

Our local VAG garage will charge me 1800 SEK (~175 £) just for a diagnosis of the problem, and it feels like tons of cash right now. I don't think I should drive the car anymore, though. I also called a generic garage. Guy there told me that the ticking on RPM's below 2k was a common issue that he had seems tons of times with Fabia cars. It was the cylinders being worn, and I just had to learn to live with this, or I could change to a really thick oil so the problems would be less audible to my ears. Is he true about Fabia cylinders being known for a quick worn, or was he just blabbing?

 

I think it's a bit strange, this machine has only done somewhat less than 15000 km (9 320 miles). Engines should last longer, don't you think?

 

Have you guys got any idea what I should do next, since I'm just sitting here — on low cash flow — figuring out what the most economic/thrifty approach on this would be.

 

Would this be something I could handle myself as a complete novice not even being able to change the camshaft timing belt myself, or will I need to hire some  professional guys? I'm leaning towards the second choice; since I bet this operation will include lifting the cylinder head, removing timing belt, and (at the least) clean the valves / lifters, which seems to be a common issue.

 

Oh, oil level is just between min/max, so it should be fine. I haven't had any warnings about oil pressure either.

 

Furthermore, a couple of days ago I bought a compression tester. I tested all four cylinders and had 17~18 on all four of them. I'm not really sure if this i a good or bad sign, but at least the values was pretty near-distant, which I've heard is the most important thing.

 

 

Oh, by the way, in my point of view, you guys own the best expertise one could get, since you come united as one.

 

The first clip in the video (when it's dark) is from yesterday evening, when the issues was limited to a slight ticking sound on low RPM's. The rest of the video (in broad daylight) is from today, when I have very serious issues.

 

Thank you in advance for any input.

 

Cheers!

Edited 29 September, 201312 yr by gewstarr

This misfire is definitely ignition related, I strongly suspect that your problem is with the wiring loom to the ignition coils rather than the coils themselves, the fault code should tell you which cylinder is misfiring so that'll help you narrow it down. You may also have a blocked engine breather, which is why the engine changed speed when you took the oil cap off.

 

Fix the faulty wiring, reset the codes, reset the ECU and all should be well again.