Hi Everyone

I have a 2011 mkII Fabia tdi, which has developed an issue when driving.

 

i first noticed this when climbing a hill on the motorway and the car dropped to around 45mph.

 

When I start the car up, there is an intermittent low coolant (blue) warning that sometimes does (and does not) appear - soon disappears once the engine has run for a while.

 

Despite this, each time the car is driven, a rev limiter seems to come into play, particularly in 3rd, 4th and 5th gear.

 

It has all the hallmarks of an engine protection mode (‘clean mode’, ‘limp

home mode’…?), yet no warning lights are appearing on the dashboard.

 

Ive recently replaced the old battery - and have reconnected this a couple of times with no avail.  I’ve also added the relevant diesel ‘cleaners’ to the fuel tank and taken the vehicle for several drives.

 

I’m going to do a flush out of the coolant and refill today. Will also try to access the dpf filter itself.
 

Just wondered if there were any other things o should be checking before booking a diagnostics in on it?

First issue are you losing any amount of coolanant from the level? had an isssue with a friends car changed pump hoses etc still lost coolant ,it turned out to be a slightly porus head and he replaced the head with a used one and the issue was solved, second the so called limiter issue, I had something like this on my MK2 1.9 TDI would not pull in high gear very well and seemed to miss fire at higher revs, had a few trips to get system checked but never found any faults, then a friend succested that the turbo actuator was faulty but not fully gone, bought a new actuator £75 and once fitted the rev limiter type fault went away and car went back to full power on hills etc, this fault never showed upm at all in many checkes on the system and dealers told me the turbo was gone but knew enough to know it wasn't that oh one thing i did notice that when the type of miss fire happened i noticed a few puffs of black smoke in the rear mirror but thought that was normal at high revs but now realise that it was not running right

Ah interesting

Engine coolant levels haven’t changed - bang on where it needs to be (and doesn’t fluctuate).

 

The turbo insight could be the one (although maybe many other things also).

 

I definitely get to a rev point of 2500-2600 and then see a needle and power drop. In the motorway, dropping to 4th doesn’t help (much worse actually).

 

I’ll do a bit more digging on this but welcome anyone else’s guidance that’s had a similar issue

 

@Notnefmail

Welcome.

How long and how many miles have you had the car for? 

 

What is it, a 1.2 or 1.6 TDI?

Edited 20 June, 20241 yr by Ootohere

I thought the blue coolant symbol simply means the engine is cold and not to spank it until that light goes out.

I’ve only recently acquired it - maybe 300 miles.  Drove fine to start with of course, a good 200 miles before the issues come out of the woodworks!

 

yes the engine coolant does signal it being too cool - but it was 23 degrees today and the car had a good run out in the morning, yet it came on in the af - which makes me think a faulty sensor.

 

i just didn’t know if that sensor would then trigger a limp home mode on the car (?).

No, the limp mode is caused by something else, does your check engine light come on with the ignition and then go out when you start it?

Hmm no but a battery light did just now.

 

However I put a new battery on just a week or so ago (which I initially thought could have caused all of this)

@Notnefmail If the ambient temperature was 23*oC then the coolant was no hotter than that until it did get heated, so if the Blue light goes out at 50*oC then that is when it goes out.

?

Is it a 1.6 TDI CR?

Yes precisely that model (se version to be exact)

1 hour ago, Notnefmail said:

Hmm no but a battery light did just now.

 

However I put a new battery on just a week or so ago (which I initially thought could have caused all of this)

 

Ok, the battery light coming on is normal, there should also be a yellow engine light that comes on then goes off. Since you have a 1.6 TDI which is notorious for injector problems I suspect the engine light has been disabled.

Interesting - just started the engine up and don’t see a yellow engine light - which, as you suggest, indicates that it has been disabled.

 

Is there an inevitable trip to the dealership on the cards?

49 minutes ago, Notnefmail said:

Is there an inevitable trip to the dealership on the cards?

 

If that's where you bought it...

Interesting development…

 

So the fabia went in to out local garage (not dealership) today for a diagnostics.  

The kit they have used has flagged no issues with drive or engine performance…?!

 

Would a Skoda dealership diagnostics produce a different result?

 

I do recall seeing a post on one of  the Skoda forums where somebody was having the same rev limiting issues and the diagnostics came back clear, but cant find the post for the life of me.

 

Any guidance would be hugely appreciated

QQ - does a vag com Dx kit need to be Skoda specific or will any Vw group kit work?

6 hours ago, Notnefmail said:

QQ - does a vag com Dx kit need to be Skoda specific or will any Vw group kit work?

 

Any VAG kit will work.