Hi there,

I'm currently searching for a Fabia Estate 1.4 16v and would like some advice about the two most common engine codes.

I've done my research and want to make sure i buy a BBZ rather than an AUB

My question is this; were AUB engines completely stopped by the time of the facelift (05 plate?) or can you still find some AUBs of this age?

I know how to check while viewing the car, but a lot of the cars for sale are quite far away from me, so wouldn't want to travel only to find that the engine is the one i didn't want!

Hope that all makes sense!

Thanks for any help

 

Think AUB was replaced by BBZ in late 2002.

I believe AUB was phased out fairly quickly, it was only available for a couple of years before the revised BBZ replaced it, the problem you have is that reg. year is not helpful, far safer to simply ask the vendor to supply the code from the sticker under the boot carpet, any idiot can do that.

Thanks guys very helpful responses that will make my search easier

I agree that it should be easy to check, but i can imagine there are trade sellers out there who wouldn't be interested in putting that much effort in for a cheap car!

Thanks again

Ok bonus question time! I am planning to go and view a 1.4 16v Bohemia

Looking on parkers website, these are listed as either 75 or 80 bhp, so i'm guessing they will be different engine codes.

Does anyone know if these engines still suffer from early piston ring failure and if so, which engine codes i should watch out for?

Thanks

I think the 80 bhp may be code BUD. 

No idea on piston rings, but they probably sorted out that kind of stuff when they were still Axx rather than Bxx?

Thanks Wino, that was my thought as well but just thought i'd better get a second opinion!

Piston rings were a red herring, oil consumption was caused by bore glazing from being driven far too gently by the elderly first owners, mainly affected low-mileage 100 horse variants rather than 75's due to cammy nature of the 100 needing a proper thrashing above 4000 rpm. Mine had it at first but I cured it by brutalising it at every opportunity, keeping the revs bouncing between 4 and 6.5 on up and downshifts. The engine loves it.

My Mum has a low mileage BBZ engined 1.4 16v Fabia. I think it she is probably its second elderly owner and it drinks oil like its going out of fashion.

It now also blows out blue smoke on start up if its been stood for a while. Normally I would assume valve stem oil seals would cause this, but because its only done 39,000 miles I'm also wondering if the oil separator on the back of the block needs cleaning out/replacing.

Almost certainly, they clog up with yoghurt, try blowing down the breather into the crankcase, I also suspect the valve stem seals are no longer sealing due to age rather than mileage.

Easy, BBZ has individual coil packs on each spark plug...AUB has the coil pack on the end of the engine "old style"...but that's only if they lift the air filter cover off the engine first..

 

I never had any problems with oil consumption with mine.....mind you Mobil1, Shell vpower, proper flushes & "using" the engine when warm ......helps...

 

My old one with it's big twin exit Remus exhaust sounded very nice...brrrrrrrp...brrrrrrppp....rally style down the back roads.....& I saw it the other day & still being looked after by current owner as nice & shiney!!