Cylinder 3 misfire

[painejake]

Hi all, I have an issue with my Fabia, there's been loss of power and stutter when accelerating once the engine has warned up. It also seems to be drinking large quantities of coolant since I've noticed the issue.

I took it to Johnsons Skoda (in Erdington) where they said it was an issue in the lambda sensor and it needed replacing as the cat wasn't getting up to the right temp and causing the misfires. I'm no engine expert and reluctantly had the work done after they quoted £315 as I require my car every day for work, kids etc.

I took the car for a spin after picking it up and noticed the engine light was still beeping and flashing took it back in and the tech said it was doing that due to a abs fault and him clearing the ECU cause that issue to pop up again. Told me to ignore it and get it fixed when funds allowed as it wasn't anything major.

On Friday the engine was still stuttering so after much searching I dug out my eBay vcds lead and did a scan with vcds lite and sure enough the issue is still there. (Log below)

I'm currently battling to get hold of the service manager and try get somewhere with it but feel like he's trying to avoid me currently - could anyone advise? What I can see the errors are exactly the same as the errors I was told over the phone, might resort to contacting skoda directly to try push forward on at least getting the garage to take another look.

[painejake]

Chassis Type: 6Y - Skoda Fabia I

Scan: 01,02,03,08,09,15,17,19,25,37,44,46,55,56,76

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Address 01: Engine Labels: Redir Fail!

Controller: 03D 906 032 A

Component: 1,2l/2V SIMOS3 00HS1501

Coding: 00031

Shop #: WSC 13765

VCID: 1C4B57739FB3

TMBPW46Y233758832 SKZ7Z0C1831854

1 Fault Found:

16687 - Cylinder 3: Misfire Detected

P0303 - 35-10 - - - Intermittent

Readiness: 0010 0001

[Breezy_Pete]

Write down everything they say to you, and get them to repeat stuff deliberately so it's obvious you are doing so.  Sounds like some very sketchy diagnosis going on there. The better your written records of what they've said to you, the better your chances of not getting ripped off (any further).

 

Did you ask them to investigate the coolant loss? Surely they didn't think that changing a lambda sensor would fix that?

 

Now that you've found your diagnostic lead, I would suggest swapping the coilpack from cylinder 3 with one of the others, and see if the fault stays with cyl 3 or follows the coilpack. (Unless they've tried this, did they say?).

[painejake]

Thanks Wino, yeah that sounds wise.

I did ask them to investigate however they said that they could see any cause of the loss and that it could just be regular consumption. It's only after topping up when I checked again this morning I noticed a suspicious amount missing confirming something isn't quite right.

Awesome thanks I will try that after work and see if I can specifically find out more info. The garage have now spoken to me after I requested to hold to wait for the service manager to be available. They are going to pick up the car tomorrow morning and investigate further. I'm very doubtful about getting them to carry out anymore work but will see what they say and follow what you advised.

I have a feeling I will have to just take this as a hard life lesson learnt now I have settled the bill and be more careful in the future.

Will post back my results later!

[Steve Neate]

One of the causes of the '16687' is low compression.  Together with the coolant loss, the head gasket could be in trouble.

 

A compression test should confirm.  Alternatively, a check for gases in the coolant.

 

SN

[painejake]

Ok, I removed the coilpack from cylinder 3 and swapped it with cylinder 1, it had what looked like some grit around the top of the post. After re-seating I took it around the block for a 10 minute drive.

 

Ran another test with vcds lite and got the below. No misfire although the issue is still there, not sure if I didn't give it long enough or...

 

Within then engine readiness state I noticed that along with the previous oxygen sensor and catalytic converter coming up as failed or incomplete, evaporative emissions is now showing as failed or incomplete also.

 

I did also notice a slight rumbling coming from (possibly) the exhaust after giving it a few revs however couldn't see anything obvious when I had a look under the car with a torch, though the light is quite bad now.

 

Thanks Steve I'll ask the garage tomorrow if they can check for any signs of that. I've removed the oil filler cap, couldn't see any white gunk in there at all if that's a positive at all!

VCDS-Lite Version: Release 1.2
Monday, 09 March 2015, 18:40:37.


Chassis Type: 6Y - Skoda Fabia I
Scan: 01,02,03,08,09,15,17,19,25,37,44,46,55,56,76
 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Address 01: Engine       Labels: Redir Fail!
   Controller: 03D 906 032 A
   Component: 1,2l/2V SIMOS3  00HS1501
   Coding: 00031
   Shop #: WSC 13765
   VCID: 1C4B57739FB3
   TMBPW46Y233758832     SKZ7Z0C1831854
No fault code found.
Readiness: 0010 0101

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Address 03: ABS Brakes       Labels: 6Q0-907-37x-ABS.LBL
   Controller: 6Q0 907 379 G
   Component: ABS 5.7     FRONT   V30
   Coding: 00044
   Shop #: WSC 13765
   VCID: 41F5C6075891
2 Faults Found:
00283 -  ABS Wheel Speed Sensor; Front Left (G47)
            30-00 -  Open or Short to Plus
01314 - Shareware Version. To Decode all DTCs
            79-00 - Please Register/Activate

Edited 9 March, 2015 by painejake

[ijbp2468]

This is really funny that i stumbled upon this, I've been having a very similar issue to you.

 

I am aware that my lambda sensor needs changing as it was flagged up in the MOT, but my car passed its MOT due to the car passing an emmisions test. I am getting a new lambda fitted this weekend.

 

This week I've been having performance issues, when i put the car under heavy acceleration the car judders a bit and the engine management light flashes, i dug out my OBD scanner and VCDS-Lite and found the following error codes:

 

VCDS-Lite Version: Release 1.2

Tuesday, 10 March 2015, 21:01:25.

 

Chassis Type: 6Y - Skoda Fabia I

Scan: 01,02,03,08,09,15,17,19,25,37,44,46,55,56,76

 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Address 01: Engine       Labels: Redir Fail!

   Controller: 03E 906 033 A

   Component: 1.2l/4V SIMOS3  00HS4672

   Coding: 00031

   Shop #: WSC 13765

   VCID: 1E4F5D7B89AF

   TMBJY46Y633860229     SKZ7Z0C2053545

3 Faults Found:

17526 -  Oxygen (Lambda) Sensor Heating; B1 S2: Open Circuit

            P1118 - 35-00 -   -

17511 - Shareware Version. To Decode all DTCs

            P1103 - 35-10 - Please Register/Activate - Intermittent

16685 - Shareware Version. To Decode all DTCs

            P0301 - 35-10 - Please Register/Activate - Intermittent

Readiness: 0010 0001

 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Address 03: ABS Brakes       Labels: 6Q0-907-37x-ABS.LBL

   Controller: 6Q0 907 379 G

   Component: ABS 5.7     FRONT   V30

   Coding: 00044

   Shop #: WSC 13765

   VCID: 41F5C6075891

1 Fault Found:

01314 -  Engine Control Module

            79-10 -  Please Check Fault Codes - Intermittent

 

Further internet research leads me to believe that there seems to be a misfire in cylinder 1, could this be because of an issue with the ignition coil / spark plug in cylinder 1?

 

Also like painejake, my car is using more coolant than usual, but in the MOT in the advisory notes they noted that there was a coolant leak somewhere but couldn't find it.

 

Can anyone advise?

[sepulchrave]

Coilpack is a likely culprit, try swapping them and see if the misfire follows.

 

Coolant leak is almost always the bottom of the radiator and almost invisible, look for a drip under the front with the engine hot and running.

[ijbp2468]

thanks mate, will have a look into this.