2000 Fabia 1.4 8v mpi 25,000miles

Hello all, I would be grateful for your suggestions or if its already been covered could you point me towards a previous post.

I love my little Skoda but it does let me down sometimes when I attempt to start it after its warmed up, the temp gauge has never work,t. I will drive my daughter to nursery, take her in (about 5 mins) and then when I attempt to start it and hey presto no joy. It cranks but will not fire. I then leave it between 10-15 mins after which it will splutter back to life. I have sprayed cleaned the throttle body with carb cleaner which solved the problem for a while but know its returned and cleaning with spray no longer solves the problem. A friend believes its the EGR valve sticking. One of my students is going to use it for a driving test on Tuesday morning and I am very worried its going to let them down. If I pull the car now I am going to have to stump up for the test fee so would be really grateful for any advice that you may consider relevant. I am handy with the spanners so please fire away. Thank you

If the gauge doesn't work then maybe the sensor has failed and the ECU then doesn't have the correct information with which to start the engine. Just a thought.

Put a new temperature sensor in it. Before you do, take the old one out and have a look/ feel down the hole to see if the thermostat has broken up, if it is suspect replace the thermostat housing as it will come with a temperature sensor. Part number for the thermostat (from memory) is 047121111S around the £40 mark, a sensor alone will cost between £25 to £30.

Remove the engine cover and you will see the thermostat housing on the passenger side of the cylinder head. Preferably fix it when the engine is cold and make sure that you release any pressure in the cooling system.

There is no EGR on the 8 valve.

Changed The Thermostate And Plugs This Day And It Seems To Have Rectified The Problem. I Had Go To A Vw Dealer For The Part As My Skoda Dealer Was Out Of Stock. He Said That They Cannot Offer A Garantee For The Part As Its Going In A Skoda. What A Load Of Old Bs. So If You Are Going To Get You Parts From A Vw Dealer Do Not Mention Skoda. Ps Part Number Was The Same.

Skoda parts usually have 2 year warranty on them. I am surprised that a VW dealer had that part as the Skoda 8V engine is not used on VWs. They must operate a TPS centre (trade parts only for all VW brands) where they could get one from.

We went to get a gearbox from our local VW dealer who then wanted to charge us an extra £35 for them to inspect the installation as they said that they cannot guarantee it without the inspection, they told us it was a requirement from VW themselves. A phone call to VW customer services and they didn't know anything about it. We got the gearbox from another VW dealer 20 miles down the road and we let the first dealer know why we didn't buy it from them.