Fabia 1.4 16v

[Richierich32]

Hi peeps, after a bit of advice pls.

My partner bought an 03 plate Fabia 1.4 16v Elegence 6 months ago and it has been getting progressively slower and slower at pull of and acceleration as time goes by.

To be fair I have we have never been happy with the clutch as the bite is very high which can make pulling off tricky at the best of times. We have taken it back to the dealer and they said they could find nothing wrong with the car or clutch. The service manager even commented that she has a Fabia and that hers is the same and that is just the way they are.

Sounds like a load of BS to me, and going on my recent experiences with there sales team (as I have recently ordered a vRS) I am lead to believe that this is there attitude to customers in general.

There is also a noticable stutter when ticking over and a significant loss in power when the aircon is switched on.

Has anyone had the same type of problems with there Fabia? Any advice would be really appreciated as I going to need some solid info when I book it in or they will just fobb us off again.

Cheers

[AwesomeSarah]

Hi

I would say that it would be worth getting a good diagnostic check done on the car

There are many things that can cause lack of power

The MAF would be my first choice of part , but then I would still say get it checked

It is hard to diagnose without having a good check over tinterweb

Get the MAF checked first

Sarah

[Auric Goldfinger]

I once owned a 1.4 16v 100 bhp and it stuttered also on tickover. It's somthing to do with the exaust/engine to stop fumes entering the cabin when stood. I understand it's normal......( so I've been told )

[Nick_H]

Sorry to say that it's probably normal..... We have a manual 1.4 16v Elegance Estate and it's gutless.

Don't get me wrong I really like the car but it's lack of torque is such that I worry about my wife driving our 20 month old around in it.

I consider it to be actually dangerous. It's almost impossible to pull away from an island or junction quickly. Everything has to be planned.

We live on a hill. If you have the aircon on then unless you have around 4000 revs on the car will not pull away. You have to turn the aircon off.

On the other hand when the cars moving it's fine. Give the engine plenty of revs at speed and overtaking is great. Mid range acceleration is fine.

It's just an engine that likes to be revved.

For me though the simple lack of torgue at low revs has takin its toll.

I've ordered an Octavia Elegace Diesel Estate. Cant wait for that low down grunt !!

[VRStu]

Given the issues you are having with that dealer perhaps you could take the time to post a review in the dealers section for the benefit of others.

[Skoda Girl]

I bought a 03 plate Fabia 1.4 16v Elegence (Black) brand new and had exactly the same problem. It drove me nuts and I thought I was going mad. It went back to the garage several times and each time they told me there was nothing wrong with it. In the end I traded it in for a Fabia VRS after only six months cos I couldn't take it any more. I lost quite a bit money but I was glad to see the back of it.

To rub things in the garage (Trans City A....Holes) had the cheek to ring me a few weeks after I sold it to ask whether I had experienced any clutch problems as the new owners were complaining !!!!!!!

That experience never put me off Skodas though Im happy to say.

[danielon]

Hello from Spain!

Can anyone post software version of your magneti marelli ECU?

mine is 4443 in a VW Polo, same motor 1.4 75cv, coded BBY, and it suffers from rough tickover also.

If you run vag.com in your 1.4 16v we can know if a software update can help in this issue, seat ibiza has documented problem and solution is upgrading sw version, but don't know if it works also for polo or fabia...maybe all the problem is in the ECU.

Mine has lambdas/Trotthle body, coils, etc....checked and it runs fantastic except for this.

For the ones that suffers from low power and lack of torque especially on hills, please CLEAN your throttle body with carb cleaner, and then do a TB adaptation with vag-com. The difference is incredible!

and sorry for not presenting myself....

[VRStu]

There was an update for the skoda BBY engine software from 2010 to 2011

[ap0gee1978]

Back on topic, would the infamous piston ring issue cause loss of power? I'm guessing it would, as my parents' old Volvo 240 got progressively slower and slower (yes, a Volvo 240 can get even slower!) as the miles passed 150k and the engine started to wear out...

[wonkydonkey]

Hi peeps, after a bit of advice pls.

My partner bought an 03 plate Fabia 1.4 16v Elegence 6 months ago and it has been getting progressively slower and slower at pull of and acceleration as time goes by.

To be fair I have we have never been happy with the clutch as the bite is very high which can make pulling off tricky at the best of times. We have taken it back to the dealer and they said they could find nothing wrong with the car or clutch. The service manager even commented that she has a Fabia and that hers is the same and that is just the way they are.

Sounds like a load of BS to me, and going on my recent experiences with there sales team (as I have recently ordered a vRS) I am lead to believe that this is there attitude to customers in general.

There is also a noticable stutter when ticking over and a significant loss in power when the aircon is switched on.

Has anyone had the same type of problems with there Fabia? Any advice would be really appreciated as I going to need some solid info when I book it in or they will just fobb us off again.

Cheers

If you want to see if you're clutch is on its way out drive along in third at about 2000 rpm and floor the throttle, just after that, still with accelerator on the floor depress the clutch and then release (dump) it. If the clutch is good the revs will fall immediately to where they were, if it's worn the revs will take a long time to fall as the clutch is slipping.

[danielon]

The clutch is somewhat tricky but it is know to be the same in polo and ibiza.

I have the same feeling when I bought my polo. Cleaned trothle body and do a trothle body alignement with vag-com, now it is nearly PERFECT, power is excelent and 5th gear wich used to be useless for its low power, is now OK. You can go up hills and the car revs a lot faster than before. I really have the sensation of having 75bhp, when at first times it seemed to be only 45bhp. It's damn fast for being 75bhp, I'm quite impressed by this little engine! Anyway, my mileage is something like 9 liters at 100 km, don't know to how to convert this to MPG, would be happy if someone can convert this to compare.

My only problem left is when you try to get it fast from a junction from stopped as you said. The car "bumps", revs go down fast, like if the car has been braked, then you put second gear, accelerate and everything is normal. You get used to,and is possible to avoid this effect being gently with the accelerator, but I'm confident to solve this somehow, cause is my wife who drives it and i'm not happy with her not being confident with this car.

Any mates trying to solve the same problem can get in touch with me at [email protected], I'll show the progress in the forum if we discover anything, I have vag-com, and i already have some logs (everything seems ok, but I can log other channels if someone want to compare)

Definitely, I'm going to solve it and I ask for people with same problems to be in touch with me to cooperate with experiences trying to solve this.

These cars are not bad at all, is like computers, you just have to understand them!

EDITION: Sorry for my english...I do my best!

[skodayouth]

Sorry to say that it's probably normal..... We have a manual 1.4 16v Elegance Estate and it's gutless.

Don't get me wrong I really like the car but it's lack of torque is such that I worry about my wife driving our 20 month old around in it.

I consider it to be actually dangerous. It's almost impossible to pull away from an island or junction quickly. Everything has to be planned.

We live on a hill. If you have the aircon on then unless you have around 4000 revs on the car will not pull away. You have to turn the aircon off.

On the other hand when the cars moving it's fine. Give the engine plenty of revs at speed and overtaking is great. Mid range acceleration is fine.

It's just an engine that likes to be revved.

For me though the simple lack of torgue at low revs has takin its toll.

I've ordered an Octavia Elegace Diesel Estate. Cant wait for that low down grunt !!

I have driven the 1.4 100BHP and I can agree with everything you say, The Official specs even state that peak torque is at 4400RPM. I used to think that was the price that had to be paid to get 100BHP out of such a small engine, but my 1.4 Getz has 95BHP and gives the same amount of torque at 3200RPM.

The fact that Skoda used the 75BHP 1.4 in the Fabia Auto and Octavia is because the 100BHP would have been almost undrivable in those cars:thumbdwn:

[Tech1e]

100bhp isnt much for a 1.4 16v really. Its just they are ladened with so much emission gubbins it really struggles.

[danielon]

Hello All!

My problem was finally solved, these are the steps taken:

1. Clean throtle body with carb cleaner. Extensively! Use all the can content!

2. Disconnect battery for 15 minutes (to reset bad-learned injection parameters)

3. Connect battery

4. Do a Throtle body adaptation with vag-com.

5. Test the car, if it still doesn't run as well as expected, disconnect EGR electrovalve power cable and test the car again (5-10km)

6. Reconnect EGR and clean the bliking lamp from the dash with vag-com

7. Enjoy!

In my case, the car is running smoothly and perfect since these steps were taken. The order is important. The car finally worked great when reconnected EGR.

Now I have the feeling I have even MORE than 75bhp. Is easy to spin wheels in a start, and it works as a champ!

Please try these steps, it is very, very easy, and worth to try.

Hope it helps everyone with this problems!!!!!

[PToledo]

Hi Danielon, I would like to know if you cleaned the EGR valve, my fabia 1.4 16v is now 90000 km and I'm thinking about doing it.

Any experiences out there about this in a petrol fabia?

Thanks in advance.

[Armegatron]

Sorry to say that it's probably normal..... We have a manual 1.4 16v Elegance Estate and it's gutless.

Don't get me wrong I really like the car but it's lack of torque is such that I worry about my wife driving our 20 month old around in it.

I consider it to be actually dangerous. It's almost impossible to pull away from an island or junction quickly. Everything has to be planned.

We live on a hill. If you have the aircon on then unless you have around 4000 revs on the car will not pull away. You have to turn the aircon off.

On the other hand when the cars moving it's fine. Give the engine plenty of revs at speed and overtaking is great. Mid range acceleration is fine.

It's just an engine that likes to be revved.

For me though the simple lack of torgue at low revs has takin its toll.

I've ordered an Octavia Elegace Diesel Estate. Cant wait for that low down grunt !!

I think you must have a dodgy one, because mine is no where near that bad. Yes, its a bit slow at pulling away unless you give it some revs, but I would definatly not consider it as dangerous.

Also, I dont get any power issues when aircon etc is on.

To the original question of the clutch, the bite is very high on mine too, and this is apparantly normal for VAG cars.

[danielon]

Hi Danielon, I would like to know if you cleaned the EGR valve, my fabia 1.4 16v is now 90000 km and I'm thinking about doing it.

Any experiences out there about this in a petrol fabia?

Thanks in advance.

No, I did'nt clean it, it's only 50000km and I supposed is not in need for a cleaning yet. In your case, with 90000km, it depends, if the km's are all done in city and traffic jams, definitely clean it, but if you do most of your mileage in highways/fast roads and you usually rev it hard sometimes (+4.500rpm), you can wait a bit longer.

The EGR is a very delicate component and it's better not touching it unless there is a real problem that points to it as the cause of the problem.

Regards!

[cjb]

The clutch is somewhat tricky but it is know to be the same in polo and ibiza.

I have the same feeling when I bought my polo. Cleaned trothle body and do a trothle body alignement with vag-com, now it is nearly PERFECT, power is excelent and 5th gear wich used to be useless for its low power, is now OK. You can go up hills and the car revs a lot faster than before.

That's my experience with the 100bhp 16v in the Lupo. It shouldn't need 4k to pull away! I know the Lupo is a bit lighter, but ours will pull away easily from 1500rpm if you take care: the gearing is quite short to compensate for the low torque. It got a lot easier to cope with aftera throttle body alignment- it also cured a hunting idle problem when cold.

[cjb]

and you usually rev it hard sometimes (+4.500rpm)

If you don't use >4500rpm with the 16v, you're missing most of it's performance.

[cjb]

To the original question of the clutch, the bite is very high on mine too, and this is apparantly normal for VAG cars.

Is the Fabia a cable clutch? The Lupo is, and it was transformed by a new cable.

[bobport]

sorry danielon, i have sent you an e mail instead of a message on the forum, i have the same problem with my fabia classic , how do i clean the throttle body, and what is a throttle body adaption vag-com. thank you. bob.

[PToledo]

Is the Fabia a cable clutch? The Lupo is, and it was transformed by a new cable.

I believe all the fabias have an hydraulic cluch.

Thank you very much for your experiences Danielon, I bought my fabia second-hand so I don't really know how EGR may be.

I cleaned the throttle body and the butterfly of my fabia some time ago, but I am trying to find some information about cleaning the EGR on petrol engines and if it's worth the time and the efford.

PD: Are you from Spain?