Hi,

  I've owned my 2007 Fabia  1.2 70HP for 12 years, and it's done just over 90000 miles.  Up until last week it has been 100% reliable.   It broke down  on the way home from work  and the AA were unable  to get it started again, so it was towed to my mechanic  .   The car was away for a few days and the coil pack was replaced. 

 Since I've had the car back it's been very low on power.

The engine used to start immediately  , but now  takes a couple of seconds to fire up.

The engine sounds noisier and the exhaust  sounds odd, almost as if I've had it modified. 

On a test drive , it struggled on hills and required changing down to 2nd to reach 30mph.

On the a quick motorway test of about 8 miles   the car took ages  to reach 70 mph and there was a lot  of heat coming  into the car from the engine

Most alarmingly,  I drove just under a mile through town yesterday  afternoon,  and afterwards  decided to lift the bonnet to see how hot the engine was.   I found it too hot to touch , and as you can see parts of the engine were glowing red.

 No warning lights were illuminated  on any of these journeys  and the oil and coolant  levels are both correct.

 It's  now back with the mechanic,  who is 100% reliable  and I'm now considering  replacing  it as the repairs  have already  cost around  £500. I know this isn't  a huge bill but I need a reliable  car  for getting  to work and we're  starting  to lose  confidence  in the Fabia.

Can anyone  advise on what's  cause these problems ?. The car was last serviced  in September. 

   Thanks.

   Will

I'm afraid it looks like the timing may have slipped and some valves have been damaged, ask your mechanic to test compression and leak down to confirm.

Ignition timing is retarded or possibly a very weak mixture if the exhaust manifold is glowing red, and its the only part of the engine that could be.

 

I'm at a loss as to how it could be retarded as the ECU times the ignition from the crankshaft position sensor, maybe it is the cam timing that has slipped and the exhaust valves are opening earlier than the usual overlap for scavenging.

A thread here where the OP eventually told us that some injector cleaner fixed his red-hotness:

 

I'm not worried about the red hot manifold, it's the poor starting and low power after the breakdown that concerns me.

Hi,

  The Fabia is now repaired.  and has been back on the road for about 10 days. As well as the work the mechanic did on the coil pack, a sensor at the rear of the engine needed replacing. 

I'm sorry I can't give you anymore technical  information  on the exact cause  of the problems I was having, but I'm most grateful  to everyone who offered advice.

    Will