Hi All,

New to the forum since i thought i might be able to tap into some excellent minds .

My in laws Fabia has been playing up and so i thought i would have a bash and try and fix it as i have been dabbling with cars for 20 years or so and they cant really afford to throw money at it.

Symptom: The car on light throttle kangaroos quite badly and has no power under hard acceleration. Very sluggish to pull away and sometimes revs can drop at idle

I brought a iCar Pro and used one of the better Apps via my Android phone.

The car has had various codes pop up P0106, P0170, P0172.

The car has had the following fitted/changed;

New cambelt/water pump (all correct and needed doing as was in a bad state)

EGR Valve

Plugs

Genuine fuel filter

MAP Sensor

Air filter

Coolant temp sensor

Thermostat

All breather pipes cleaned/checked.

new servo pipe as the 1 way valve had stopped working.

Throttle body is clean as a whistle

I brought a new o2 sensor but it ran like an absolute pig throwing out black smoke so put the original one back in and ran fine (apart from the issue above obviously)

Compression tested all cylinders and all read 200PSI.

The above parts were relatively cheap so thought start with those over buying more expensive parts. The car sounds as sweet as a nut on tick over but there is clearly something not right. I get the following errors from the App but no idea what they relate to;

 

Manufacturer defined - Monitor ID (MID) $06 - Component ID $46

Rich to Lean sensor Switch time - Monitor ID (MID) $06 - Component ID $14

Lean to Rich sensor threshold voltage (constant) - Monitor ID (MID) $06 - Component ID $7F

Manufacturer defined - Monitor ID (MID) $02 - Component ID $46

Manufacturer defined - Monitor ID (MID) $06 - Component ID $46

Rich to Lean sensor threshold voltage (constant) - Monitor ID (MID) $02 - Component ID $3E

Rich to Lean sensor threshold voltage (constant) - Monitor ID (MID) $02 - Component ID $3D

 

The car does not currently throw up any DTCs.

 

Have given it a good old italian tune also (as they only potter about in it) with some super unleaded and some Hydra injector additive.

 

Any thoughts would be greatly received before i decide to suggest they get rid or scrap it.

 

Regards

Chris

 

Ooh also ran some carb cleaner through the injectors

Coil packs?

I did wonder but it's never thrown a code up? 

What did the old plugs look like?

Not to bad to be honest, one plug wasn't fully home so there was a slight pool of oil at the bottom of the plug hole but certainly not bad by any means 

Not having any ideas just now. Will ponder.

Seconded re coil packs and it doesn;t always throw up a code.

 

It can be individual coil packs per cylinder or one module containing two coils (also calld wasted spark) and ignition leads then going to each sparks plug. Either way they are a common fail. The latter sort makes the car drop from four cylinders onto two when anything is asked of the engine (sometimes not throwing up a code) but can fail fully making it run on two cylinders all the time (generally does throw a code then). Cheap fix - do it anyway!

 

 

 

Edited 30 March, 20197 yr by bigjohn

5 minutes ago, bigjohn said:

Seconded re coil packs and it doesn;t always throw up a code.

 

 

 

 

Indeed.

Er just spotted previous comment re plugs - does that mean the plug lead wasn;t fully home and you didn;t remove plugs?

 

Actually if it has plug leads and the wasted spark module - JUST CHANGE IT. I've been through two on my Octavia 1.4 16v (similar engine).

 

Attached a picture of a (broken) wasted spark coil pack - some versions have seperate ones per cylinder!

 

Edited 31 March, 20197 yr by bigjohn

I think he means the actual plug wasn't fully home.

1 minute ago, TMB said:

I think he means the actual plug wasn't fully home.

 

Now that is an issue. I remember launching a loose plug on a Ford V6 3.0  in a Zodiac - made a good dent in the bonnet!

 

 

Edited 30 March, 20197 yr by bigjohn

Yeah but I take it that he's since fitted new plugs. That's how it looks to me anyway. It says new plugs on his list.

Edited 30 March, 20197 yr by TMB

4 minutes ago, bigjohn said:

 

I remember launching a loose plug on a Ford V6 3.0  in a Zodiac - made a good dent in the bonnet!

 

 

 

Hi all thanks for the responses. 

Regards the spark plug, it wasn't exactly loose but it would turn about half a turn to tighten it (tried as spotted the oil). These haven't been changed for many years so has been like this for a while. 

The coils are the per-plug version as opposed to 1 single unit or a 4-in-1 unit type. 

While I remember, I noticed that the 2 plugs under the 02 sensor connection (where it locates into a bracket on the gearbox) looked very worse for wear and brittle from either age or exhaust heat, what do these 2 connections drive? Could be causing my issues maybe? 

Thanks in advance 

Other oxygen sensor and alternator signal wires. Also A/C control valve if featured.

Actually maybe not the other oxygen sensor. Think that's connected further back.

Ooh right ok thanks for that, I might put some new waterproof connectors on the there just incase it's causing any issues. 

If the A/C works and the battery light comes on with ignition they're both still OK; but common area for broken wires, yes.

Edited 31 March, 20197 yr by Wino

Could do with watching the live readings from both oxygen sensors really. Have a look at the VCDS owners map and see if there's anyone nearby. 

Also, see if the blend flap in the airbox is stuck in the 'hot air only' position. Seems to be a common failure when the wax thermostat inside gives up, and doesn't help with engine running.  Might even explain the MAP sensor code.

The app I have shows live readings. The AFR seems to hover pretty much around the 14.7 magic number but does fluctuate during acceleration/lift off. Is there any way particular numbers I need to look for, i.e an acceptable range for both front/rear sensors? The flap in the air box was stuck in the closed position when I looked so that's a bonus. Attached some screen shots from app. 

I think I'd expect the precat sensor to show a much more stable reading, if it were controlling things in a timely manner.

Are you sure the replacement you tried was definitely the correct type? What part number was it?

The code on the original O2 sensor was 036906262G and that is now back on the car and from which the readings above are based. The new one had this part number as a OEM equivalent but ran really bad when fitted, chuntering on idle and bellowing unburnt fuel when it hot with a AFR stuck at 17.63% :-(

I possibly have a good genuine (used) spare you could try in my shed. PM me around 8am if you want me to have a look.