Skoda Fabia - engine stutter and high oil use

Honest John Back Room » Technical matters
View Threaded
Wed 5 Jan 2011 01:52
Skoda Fabia - engine stutter and high oil use - Clunkclick

2003 plate 1.4 16v 100BHP saloon, BBZ engine with 50,000 on the clock, which over the last three years has developed an engine stutter. Engine runs sweet in all other respects. This can occur at any time but usually when the engine is in 4th gear at or near 2000 RPM on a slight incline. Basically, there is a sudden power loss, which can be sufficiently severe and sudden to throw me foward in the seat (despite being belted), Tacho needle dives to zero and then engine recovers within 1-2 seconds without further incident.

Cleaning of the EGR valve at the last service (Feb '10) seemed to remove the problem for a while, but it soon returned, though less severe than originally. Service engineers say I may need a new EGR valve this time round. Do you think that this is correct. The severity of the original stutter made me think that the car was silently backfiring or that there had been metal to metal contact inside the engine. That said I have toyed with various theories including, sticky valves, faulty ECU, bad electrical joint, radio frequency interference from passing mini-cabs/public service vehicles blitzing the ECUs working values. prompting a reset etc. Any ideas ? Nothing appears to show on VAG COM diagnosis.

Also, the engine started consuming oil from 30,000 miles onwards. Now its at the manufacturers limit of 1 litre per 600 miles - but no warning lights are showing on the instrument binacle and no smoke from the exhaust. Are they prone to crankcase leaks ?

Car does seem to have lost some power on hills, suggesting worn cylinders/ rings/valves, but otherwise acceleration still good on flat.

I'm currently topping up in between services with Castrol Magnatec 10W -40 with complies with VW standard 501.01 / 505 in-line with the handbook.

Nick

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sat 8 Jan 2011 20:55
Skoda Fabia - engine stutter and high oil use - bjat89

I don't know if this helps, but I had a similar problem with my year 2000 SDI Caddy van; several times it stalled (nearly) on idling when cold for no apparent reason, only to suddenly restart with a jolt. It did this more and more often, until it started to do it when driving along (giving a very sharp deceleration as you've said, followed by service as normal). The engine also shuddered when releasing the accelerator in gear.

Oil consumption incresed a little too, though this may have been coincidental due to the mileage (150K plus at the time).

It turned out that the "relay 109" was failing (which supplies electricity to the ECU etc.), causing the ECU to shut down momentarily, effectively stalling the engine. In the end, the van was stopping almost every time it was used, sometimes not resatarting. I then replaced the relay 109, which cured the problem instantly. 3000 miles later and I have not had a further problem. I presume there's an equivalent relay for the Skoda Fabia? Sadly I now have one of these (another SDI), and the relays are located behind the driver's side facia, which has to be removed (apparently) to access the relays. I believe these relay failures are quite common, though I've never heard of this happening with petrol engines.

Hope this helps,

Ben.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Sat 8 Jan 2011 23:45
Skoda Fabia - engine stutter and high oil use - Avant

Moved to Technical, where you should get some more help.

Reply | Report as offensive | Link

Looking for a garage you can trust? Honest John's Good Garage Guide has thousands of reader recommended garages, plus how-to guides and tips on servicing.

The Good Garage Guide

From which small car to buy at which price point to the best UK-built cars, our Top 10s have the lot. Click now for your shortlist.

Unsure of what to buy? Our Top 10s are here to help you....