Hi,

I hope someone can help me.
I bought my Skoda Fabia (Hatchback 1198CC MK1, reg 2003) about a month ago and I noticed that it is loosing coolant somewhere. I bought it a full service (oil, waterpump, belts, spark plugs, filters etc, even changed the expansion tank) but the coolant still leaking somewhere. I check it now pretty much before every run and the "funny" thing is, that sometimes it stays longer between the min and max lines (by this I mean, that sometimes there is no change for days, and than suddenly it's under the min line).
Also I noticed that the engine loses power occasionally (it only happened 2-3 times till now). It feels like I took my foot off the gas pedal, while I even push it more... change the gear back and still struggling. Than after a stop at the traffic light, everything is back to normal.

Any idea what could be the problem, how to find out, and how much it would cost to fix it?
Sorry if it's not clear the way I try to explain, but 1) Im no car expert and 2) English is not my first language.

Thanks for the help!

Edited 1 February, 201610 yr by Szityu

Did you inspect the radiator?

Radiator thermoswitch seems to be a common leak point; item 17 on this page. You may see pinkish stains around that area if it is leaking. 

Gentle tightening can fix this.

Did you inspect the radiator?

 

 

Radiator thermoswitch seems to be a common leak point; item 17 on this page. You may see pinkish stains around that area if it is leaking. 

Gentle tightening can fix this.

They both seems to be OK as far as I can tell.

Any idea about the power loss? Can that be linked to the coolant problem or that's possibly unrelated?

 

Btw, the expansion tank got changed because it was visibly leaking before (when I shook it I saw drops falling off from the bottom) and I thought changing it would solve the problem. Ofc the coolant liquid was changed along with it. Can it be that it only needed time to settle down and reach even the farest points of the system? And that's why it kept dropping below the min line? I'm asking this because I just had an approx 100 mile trip and it stay where it supposed to be...

How much coolant are you losing and in what matter of time ? Mine was losing about 300ml/week, give or take. I've ran it like this for about 2 years. I've found by mistake that the interior heater matrix was clogged .. so no or little heat was getting in the car. Due to the pressurized system (cold engine, closed thermostat, the water pump was doing it's job but the water had to go somewhere), the hose joints were leaking. I've disconnected the heater matrix hoses and I've pumped high pressure water on the return pipe. A lot of dirt came out...totally worth it. It's been about 3 weeks now...I didn't have to fill in with coolant and there is a lot of heat coming out the dashboard lol.

I don't have a 1.2, mine is a 1.4, but I do get power loss when the engine is cold and I take off without allowing it to run for a minute or so. It doesn't do it when the engine is warm though. I'd suspect a faulty sensor, maybe the G62 one (ECT), but you should get your car scanned with a fault code reader. 

Edited 1 February, 201610 yr by Alexandru

How much coolant are you losing and in what matter of time ? Mine was losing about 300ml/week, give or take. I've ran it like this for about 2 years. I've found by mistake that the interior heater matrix was clogged .. so no or little heat was getting in the car. Due to the pressurized system (cold engine, closed thermostat, the water pump was doing it's job but the water had to go somewhere), the hose joints were leaking. I've disconnected the heater matrix hoses and I've pumped high pressure water on the return pipe. A lot of dirt came out...totally worth it. It's been about 3 weeks now...I didn't have to fill in with coolant and there is a lot of heat coming out the dashboard lol.

I don't have a 1.2, mine is a 1.4, but I do get power loss when the engine is cold and I take off without allowing it to run for a minute or so. It doesn't do it when the engine is warm though. I'd suspect a faulty sensor, maybe the G62 one (ECT), but you should get your car scanned with a fault code reader. 

I had to refill it 2 times so far with about 3dl like you. The confusing part is that it is not constant. 10 miles after the first time I topped it up I checked and I had to add some again (so basically circa 6dl in one hour). But this weekend after I had a 100 miles trip it stayed between the two lines, although it went down just a tiny little.

About the power loss... The strange is that I experienced this shortly after I came down the motorway and entered the city (queues etc), so the engine was as warm as it should be (hopefully not warmer but the gauge was on the middle). I had to slow down to 25mph and it was struggling to speed up again (no matter which gear), but than a traffic light made me stop and it was fine after. Never experienced such thing in any car in my life...