Some advice please... think there may be a serious problem with my engine

[JohnGimber]

Hi,

 

I'm wondering if anyone can provide some advice about my skoda fabia 2 (2007/2008), 1.4 16v petrol engine.  It has 66k miles on the clock.

 

Here's the history:

 

Over the last year or so, once or twice the engine overheat light has come on.  On each occasion I have stopped as soon as possible, and checked under the bonnet.  On each occasion, the problem has been caused by the coolant being below the minimum level.  I have left the car cool down, and topped up either with water or proper engine coolant.

 

Yesterday, the car started juddering (when idling), and losing power, and lurching somewhat when accelerating.  I took it to Halfords, and they diagnosed a faulty ignition pack on the last cylinder.  This was replaced, and they showed me the spark plug from that cylinder - black.  New plugs etc.

 

OK, so I drove off, and the problem came back bigger and better than before.  Straight back to Halfords, and they found that the problem had re-occurred.  No failure messages (initially) on the diagnostics, but something definitely not firing.  The new spark plug in the 4th cylinder (with the new ignition coil) was black again.  They left the engine running, and took each coil off in turn.  They were all clicking - so firing correctly.  With the 4th cylinder, they took the plug out, plugged it in to the ignition coil, and started the engine.  The spark plug was sparking nicely.  They tried swapping the coils over, but definitely a problem with the 4th cylinder.

 

I didn't opt for a full diagnostic at the time, despite the garage starting to warn me about compression readings on the cylinders.  So I drove home.  On the way, the engine management warning light came on.  (Only a mile away from my house, thankfully).

 

So now I'm home again, the car is worse than before, but I have no idea what is causing this problem.

 

I haven't seen any white or blue smoke coming out of the exhaust, but the garage warned me that the unburnt fuel from cylinder 4 would be dumping into the catalytic converter, and would damage it if not sorted soon.

 

Has anyone else had these symptoms, and if so...

1. What is it?

2. How can it be fixed?

3. What kind of price am I looking at?

 

All help gratefully received!

 

Thanks

 

John.

 

[TeebsVRS]

Get it to a decent independent garage, Halfords will fleece you.

[Ootohere]

Welcome to the forum.

 

It is a shame you never got the coolant leak sorted over the past year and saved your self much more expense.

Leaking Fill Bottle, or radiator, hose or what ever, all basic stuff.

That still needs doing now,

then the garage will need to diagnose the problem you have with the car.

 

As said by Teebs,

you need to go to a good independent garage with Mechanics working in it.

 

george

[mrgf]

could be piston/rings? hope not but could be as sounds like it.

[JohnGimber]

Yeah, think I'll get it to the skoda garage and get a proper diagnosis, then decide what to do from there.

 

Never really thought the coolant leak was much of an issue - have always had cars that require a topup once or twice a year.

 

Thanks for the suggestions though.

 

John.

[PDIBK]

The coolant thing might be a red herring - when the engine has run, the coolant doesn't return to the expansion tank until it's cooled.  So checking immediately after all the alarms go off might be premature - it could just be in the system!

 

However, I then followed this advice with my PD 105 TDI engine, when the water pump failed twice - not the same engine and I never got the same symptoms as you're describing, but the auxiallary belts were corroded by the coolant leak, so maybe you do have a leak andit is corroding something, or causing a problem. 

 

Or if you are losing coolant and it's not obviously leaking (park it and use a drip tray underneath if possible), then could it be ingesting it via dodgy head gasket - a la Rover K-series?  I'd have thought even Halfords (I have no experience of their garages), would check for something like that if something is not right in a cylinder and coolant is being lost.

[Guest]

Some 1.4 16v engines suffered from valve/cylinder head/gasket problems at number 4 cylinder. this results in some coolant loss usually. Symptoms could be pointing that way. Your Skoda dealer will be able to tell you. Good luck and post back with more info as you get it if you can.

Edited 14 October, 2013 by Estate Man

[philhoward]

Sadly a case of "computer says x, replace y".  When mine went, it reported "multiple miss-fires" from the coil pack on the one cylinder so the recovery garage wanted to replace the coil pack.

 

Root cause was a burnt valve in my case - which there isn't a fault code.

 

With the info from Estate man, (head gasket weakness on cylinder 4), then it does fit.  Some Halfords centres have proper mechanics, but sadly most don't.  Find a local VAG independent with a good reputation - it might be bread and butter to them if its a known problem with the 1.4 16v lump.  A compression test will give a good indication; at least that the head may have to come off at least.  If a head gasket, then they should be able to give you a rough estimate - I'd guess at a few hundred £££s.

 

Unburnt fuel will damage the cat so will need looking at now.

 

Investigation work costs time = money.  They were right to suggest a compression test being the next step though.  I can, however, understand your trepidation.