Hello,

I've just bought Skoda Fabia 3, 2017 with 1.0 MPI 75hp engine, mileage about 60k kilometers on odometer, not used much in last 3 years according to car history.

The way I bought it gives me chance to drive around in car, inspect it how I want and after two weeks, if I don't exceed 300 km distance, I can return it no questions asked.

After I received my car I checked oil and it was a little over the max on the dipstick, didn't notice anything else as it was done on windy day.

I took it straight to skoda dealer for check up, 20km drive. It drove fine, no rattling, no weird noises, no unexpected behavior, drives like a solid car.

At the dealer they noticed that there was an oil leak, oil pan was covered in fresh oil, drip of fresh oil on the sump, around oil filter, also above it. They couldn't determine where it was leaking from and didn't want to take intake apart immediately. Top of the engine in clean, it isn't an oil spillage or something like that. Water pump, gearbox are clean, no leakages of any kind. They cleaned engine from below and told me to go back after making next 150-200km.

Everything else in car works fine, no mechanical, no engine, no electronic issues were found, no body damage, except this oil leak.

 

I drove it for like 30km city + highway and returned to garage. No immediate oil leaks were visible, this morning still nothing under the car, sump and filter are clean.

When checking oil level in the garage I accidentally got dipstick closer to my face. It smells like gasoline, the same under oil cap, they smell and it's not a light one, it smells very strong. There was a card that said oil was replaced in April 2022, and car drove 3kkm from that point.

 

My question is how to decide if car should be kept within given distance limit and not taking engine apart or making any serious investments in a car that might be returned in the end?

Going for a longer road trip to see if spell disappears when oil is properly heated is one option, but mileage limit is an issue. Changing oil, filter,spark plugs, investigating injectors, fuel pump and driving it around to see if oil level raises or smell returns again is another option, but not suitable for my situation, I guess.

 

Will be grateful for any ideas, your experience with oil leaks and oil smells. And it would be very helpful if some with the same engine, known to be trouble-free, checked how their oil smells :)

 

BR,

Gregory

 

5 minutes ago, zubergu said:

My question is how to decide if car should be kept within given distance limit and not taking engine apart or making any serious investments in a car that might be returned in the end?

Throw it back; anything else I was going to say was about diagnosing a fuel leak into the oil system. Given the stated history, "don't buy trouble!!"

Welcome,

 

To see if there is petrol in the oil from bore wash or an injection issue, use the dip stick, take it away from the car and with a match / lighter held near to the oil on the dipstick see if  you get a flame.

Simple test, but a normal one to get an idea if gasoline in the oil. 

Edited 19 January, 20233 yr by toot

Would leaking fuel injector, bore wash or faulty piston rings give any diagnostic codes?

There was no single error/warning when dealer checked with their tools, there are no abnormal lights on the dash.

Can you confirm/debunk what I found about oil dilution with gasoline caused by short trips? The car has a confirmed history and it was making ~5kkm per year for last 3 years. I don't expect it had single long trip in years, it's still on original winter tires in great condition and have original summer tires looking great for 5 years as well.

Car runs well, starts fine when cold and warm, there's no weird smell or smoke from the exhaust as I'd expect from worn piston rings. Engine works very smoothly on idle both cold and warm, not shaking, not making weird noises. It accelerates well, I didn't notice any problem gaining speed, as I would suspect when it was losing compression.

If I didn't almost remove my eye with a dipstick I'd say its a great working machine. Mechanic performing inspection at the dealers didn't smell the oil, at least I didn't see him doing it, nor gave me any warning in the matter of oil condition. He called this oil leak minor and easy to fix and he was very pleased with overall car's condition.

I'm really scared that this might be some serious issue, will try to convince selling party to make further diagnosis.

If it wasn't so well driving, if dealer inspection went bad and they told me to stay away I'd return it immediately. I already liked the car and this is so much more difficult to just give it back.

 

 

Sorry, i am confused, was the source of the oil leak found?

 

It being overfilled with oil is the first issue.

If it was, was it checked at Normal Operating Temperature so once at an Indicated 90*oC and stopped on the flat after a few minutes?

 

Do you not get a warranty / consumer protection in Poland buying a car from a car trader, like 28 or 90 days?

 

 

Edited 19 January, 20233 yr by toot

Source of oil leak wasn't pointed exactly, but it was brushed off by car diagnostic as nothing serious, clean it up, drive it for 100+km and check again. I specifically asked if this is a reason to give it back, and response was no, given the overall car condition, rather reason to negotiate price a little.

 

I checked oil on level surface, engine cold, as I was taught 20 years ago and it was 5mm above max. At the dealer engine was warm and it looked like at the max or 1mm above, but there was this oil leak.

I'm not sure if during cleaning they tightened oil filter or sump or did anything else, but yesterday after first 20km trip to the dealer it looked awful, wet and dirty, then I got it for a ride for 30km and I don't see anything around the oil pan, sump and filter are clean.

 

BUT, when looking for oil leaks after that ride I also smelled oil and went from happy to scared again.

 

And that's what brings me here for advice on what can I check, if somebody else noticed smelly oil and other tips, like could serious issues be completely invisible, engine running smooth, without any diagnostic fault codes and still be damaged badly.

 

The car I'm checking is sold with 1-year warranty for most of the components, including engine, but with limit on singe and total price. If something like total engine failure in magnitude like greasing engine with fuel happened during this year, they wouldn't cover complete engine rebuild for sure. And I would also be stuck who knows how long with a broken car, which isn't great if you own single car.

1 hour ago, zubergu said:

BUT, when looking for oil leaks after that ride I also smelled petrol and went from happy to scared again.

And that's why I said to return it; it's blowing enough extra petrol into the lubricating oil to make the oil level rise.

I just returned from a 1 hour ride, checked oil on cold engine and it was at maximum or 1mm above on dip. Then I drove for about 40km city congestion and high speed highway, high revs, low revs, keeping oil temperature ~80deg. Celsius, hottest I could get it while being reasonable.

Returned home, left if to cool down a little bit, returned when temperature was ~60 C. Checked level, pretty much the same situation on the dipstick, smell didn't change, maybe was a little less noticeable. Don't know if any change should be visible after that not so long trip, but I can't tell that it gets worse or something. Car is running great except that smelly oil. 70km after cleaning bottom of the engine I still can't see any oil leaks, drips, sweating. Guess they tightened filter and plug and it stopped those.

I'll get it to the dealer next week before making my decision, guy who checked my car said he works on these engines almost every day.

@KenONeill, @toot thank you for your advice, I'll keep posting when I find out if they did something  special to the leaks and what's with this smell.

If anyone owning 1.0 mpi could go on and smell their oil in the meanwhile I'd be grateful.

 

Best regards,

Gregory

 

You were supposed to check at Normal Operating temp.  It is the Hot level you want, not the error VW / Skoda make when some manuals say WARM.

 

This is how techs and fitters and others get the actual oil quantity wrong.

 

Park on the flat and check after 'a few minutes'  they have never said, 4 minutes or 5 minutes but 10 minutes is not a few in any language.

 

PS.

When you know the Stone Cold engine not started level.

Then the at the normal operating temperature level,  

you can then dip the oil before going places with a cold engine and know it is the correct quantity of oil. 

Edited 19 January, 20233 yr by toot

Please note - I am not a mechanic or expert in anything.

 

With some other engine it has been found that using a lower weight of oil has helped reduce oil dilution but as the VW engineers only specify their VW oil code specification (probably for the additive package to help with compromises in the engines?) there could be a range of oil weights.  In the UK it might be 5w40, 5w30, 0w30 but you would know better which weight is better for use where you live.

 

ETA: I am not suggesting a different weight of oil will overcome a fault with the engine in this car.

 

I am with the others that suggest you reject this car as I cannot remember seeing anything about oil dilution on here - and - it has an oil oil leak - and - not much use in three years is generally not that good for a car, I would prefer higher mileage and or regular use over reasonable distance journeys.  The absent of error codes does not mean there are not problems, do not over rely on error codes or the car's warning lights and messages as all can show too late to be of the best use.  As you have already found human senses, including the mind can be in advanced of the car's error codes and warning lights and messages.

 

If it was me I would walk away from the car and the Dealer.

 

Edited 21 January, 20233 yr by nta16
ETA:

Plenty on Oil dilution with Mk2 Fabia vRS Twinchargers / petrols and funnily in the Roomster section with diesels but not with diesels in Fabias.

 

Not seen any mention of it with MPI's.

Please note - I am not a mechanic or expert in anything.

 

Yeah I was thinking of Fabias (but not the factory souped up jobs).  But it's not just oil dilution problems on this car.

 

Hi,

Since I found that gasoline smell I took two 1-hour trips to let oil heat up properly. Gasoline smell is gone. Oil level on the dipstick is stable. I check it both cold before I start the engine, and then after I return home and let it cool off for 3 minutes. Oil level is consistent now, it's not increasing nor decreasing, both on cold and hot engine.

I took my car to Skoda authorized service center for one more checkup before making any decisions. They looked and they found there are no leaks after they cleaned oil pan and surroundings the first time I was there, 110km earlier. We looked everywhere, not a drop of oil, its completely dry now. One theory that they gave is that someone just before handing me car tried to top up oil but overdid it and when I started it for the first time, that excess went through oil separator, making the whole mess.

As for the smell of oil, they said that not one of hundreds of cars with this engine got any problems of this kind, and if this engine had real problem diluting oil with gasoline, it would mean that engine is totaled, and it's impossible for this engine to be so damaged and not give even single sign that it's internally malfunctioning. Their theory again was that car was not making any long trips since its last oil change and car seller moved car around his place for pictures, car wash, cleaning interior and similar stuff, making a lot of engine starts and immediate stops. These conditions could lead excess gasoline finding its way through piston rings and when I drove it for the first and second time it started to evaporate, making dipstick, cap stink like hell.

I was reassured that even that it might be scary as hell, and I was right to contact them, but there is nothing wrong, just put fresh oil in it and start using it.

I'll be posting updates as, at this moment, this thread is one and only place in the whole internet where there's 1.0 MPI and oil dilution even slightly mentioned. I hope that these will be just reports how many problem-free trips I'm doing, but if anything bad happens, I'll also leave it as warning.

At this point car has 62130km on odometer and works perfectly.

 

Wish me luck,

BR

Gregory

 

Please note - I am not a mechanic or expert in anything.

 

All that is possible but 110km isn't much for testing, hopefully it was a number of issues combined to present so badly but they will not be repeated.

 

Given the explanation by the Skoda authorized service center I hope they also checked and reported to you the battery for state of charge and health, if not get them to do so as even if the car starts and the lights seem bright enough the battery could still be too low for the computers and this could cause all sorts of unexpected issues with or without warning lights and messages (and error codes) which could cause you concern and perhaps issues.

 

 

 

A small note, I know you have the year as 2017 but as there was a previous Fabia 3 (Mk2) can I suggest you consider to perhaps save confusion in future threads you use Fabia Mk 3 instead of Fabia 3.

 

Yes, they ckecked the battery state, it wasn't fully charged, but they said it kind of fits to the theory that it was started and stopped a lot lately, without any driving. I'll check once again after a longer trip. It's the original battery but they said that it should last for another year without issues. I turn off start-stop every time so I hope it will charge itself.

Please note - I am not a mechanic or expert in anything.

 

1 hour ago, zubergu said:

Yes, they ckecked the battery state, it wasn't fully charged, but they said it kind of fits to the theory that it was started and stopped a lot lately, without any driving. I'll check once again after a longer trip.

The Skoda authorized service center should have advised you to fully recharge the battery and just driving the car will not do this and might even depleted the battery further.

 

1 hour ago, zubergu said:

It's the original battery but they said that it should last for another year without issues.

Yes it might get another year out of it but if you fully recharge it with an appropriate battery charger as soon as possible and then keep a check on the battery state of charge when required and when required fully recharge the battery it could last a lot longer than another year.

 

The number cause of breakdown callouts in the UK - "Flat or faulty battery - Battery faults are the most common cause of breakdowns – especially in the winter."  It is extremely rare for the battery to be faulty in itself more usually caused by user's use, abuse and neglect of the battery by the vehicle owner/user. - https://www.theaa.com/breakdown-cover/advice/top-ten-breakdown-causes

 

Particularly as your battery had a long low slow drain of the battery that is how you should recharge it and not with a higher fast charge.  Personally I would use a 4-amp, or lower, charger and maintainer but no more than a 6-amp or 7-amp charger and maintainer depending on your battery's Ah rating, see below from Owner's Manual. -

 

 

I noted your Mk3 change, thanks.

 

Edited 24 January, 20233 yr by nta16
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