I suspect I might know the answer here but as I am new to Skoda's (this one belongs to my wife) I would like some opinions and or advise before I dive in.

My wife was complaining that her Felicia was sometimes stalling and then refusing to start. When it did start there was a strong smell of petrol. On normal starts in the morning and evening it always starts first time.

I took it for a run and noticed that the Temp Gauge was not moving. Stopped the car and tried to restart. The engine turned over fine, spluttered and coughed but it was struggling to start, made me think of flooded engine or in the dark old days before ECU's stuck choke.

Checked under the bonnet, water was hot (bottle was full to corect level).

Eventualy got it started but as the wife said "strong smell of Petrol".

I suspect the temp sensor but know nothing about what it does other than sense the water temp (logical).

Would I be right in assuming that it might tell the ECU when the engine is warm and thereby switch on or off the automatic choke?

Is it possible that the choke is being kept on as the ECU thinks the engine is still cold?

If my thinking is correct (big if) I'm assuming that If I change the temp sensor this should correct things. Any thoughts from someone who knows more about Skoda's than me.

Can someone confirm that the temp sensor is removed by first removing the plug with four wires then pulling out the plastic clip I can see? Looks easy but looks have been know to deceive. I'm also assuming I will have to partly drain the system. Any issues here?

Any advice on cost of a new sensor and best place to buy would be appreciated.

Many thanks.

Michael.

Hi which model do you have? There's 1.3 spi, 1.3 mpi, 1.6 and 1.9d.

As for new temp sensor cost I would guess about £20 but it depends on the model. Try cleaning the connector first with electrical contact cleaner though, and checking along the wire for any obvious damage.

Sorry, I should have given the model type, it's a 1.3 MPI and it's S registered. Thanks for the tip on cleaning the connecter, I already did it and it made no difference. I just don't want to go out and buy a sensor if my theory makes no sense.

Michael.

Your thinking is right about the function of one half of the temp sensor (hence 4 wires). It could also be the thermostat and for that you have to change the whole plastic housing complete with new sensor - it's a couple of quid more than the sensor on its own!

The housing is notorious for collapsing with similar symptoms to the sensor failing.

wire loose or faulty thermo!!

Hi Michael,

I have a W reg 1.3MPI and had the same issues - no temp reading on the gauge, stalling and also poor warm starting with smell of petrol...

I actually had a couple of issues. First I did need to replace the temp sensor, and you are correct about how to replace it but when I did it there was no need to drain the fluid, I only lost a few spoon fulls!

Something worth noting is that the new temp sensor might look different from the old one. I was really caught out by this at the shop. My old one had a kind of rectangle sensor end but the new one was round. It cost me about £10 i think.

Having done that I got a little response from the temp gauge but not much - therefore I had to replace the thermostat - seems to be common on these cars. This was also a quite easy job.

I hope that's all you need to do. Hope it goes well, Matt