K200CSR Posted December 3, 2010 Share Posted December 3, 2010 Please can I pick the brains of the assembled collective? Over the last week I have been using my wife's 2005 Skoda Fabia 1.4 100PS to get around rather than my usual tank (front wheel drive and snow tyres in the boot if needed). After about 100 miles of 75-80ish on the motorway the engine appears to kick and the engine management light came on flashing and the engine appears to go into limp home mode. Pulled into the next motorway services switch off and left it for a while (10-15 mins). Started the engine and got a solid engine management light and power restored. Continued the journey with the intention of calling into the local Skoda dealer near journey’s end. Travelled another 80 miles and then the same kick and this time the engine appeared to be running on 3 or 2 cylinders and the engine management light back flashing. (Oh bum I thought) The next 8 miles took over 4 hours (A13/M25 junction to Hotel @ Bluewater; late Tuesday when the snow fell) with the engine running on 3/2 cylinders or switched off, where possible, and with the engine management light toggling from flashing to solid. Got to the hotel and decided to deal with in the morning. Next morning started the car and all running fine just with a solid engine management light. Quick trip to ASDA to collect lunch on the way to the Skoda garage. When I started the engine to leave ASDA no engine management light! Called in at the Skoda garage and they claim that there is no evidence of any issues in the engine management unit (the computer says) and they haven't got a clue. Ushered out of the service department without a bill!! Got home last night and reported to the wife that I had broken her car to be told that it has happened twice before and the AA man and the dealership in the North East both couldn't find the reason they just reset the engine management light. The difference between the drip down and the trip back was that the drip back was on the snow tyres at 55-60. Thoughts please (except for the obvious ones about what speed to drive and what tyres to keep on the car from on onwards). Cheers Charles K200CSR East and North Yorkshire Area Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peterg Posted December 3, 2010 Share Posted December 3, 2010 Charles, you might find a better source of advice over on the Briskoda.com forum - it's free to register and post over there, not members only I've just had a quick look and suggestions for this tend to point towards the EGR valve failing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
St Eve Posted December 3, 2010 Share Posted December 3, 2010 Charles Had exactly the same problem (and same reaction from Skoda) with my wife's 2004 Fabia 1.2. I cannot offer a clever solution other than I took a photo of the dash, showing the engine management light on - and gave the photo and the car to Skoda and told them I didn't want it back until they fixed it. They had it about a week. No idea what they did (cost was modest, I recall) but we remarked the other day how well the car has been running for the last year or so. Sometimes it pays to play stupid and leave them with the problem. All of which is a pity because I am on my second Octavia 2.0 L&K Estate, and have been very happy with Skoda. But I can't wait for this snow to disappear so I can get back to my Seven (had it only a month/116 miles). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy_h Posted December 3, 2010 Share Posted December 3, 2010 I use to have an Octivia Vrs and once had the light come on just as I drove into my office car park. I phoned Skoda (as it was still under warranty) and a man in a van came out, plugged in his computer under my dash, and report was a faulty spark plug/coil (plugs had individual coil on each). Taking it out showed it had snapped but made contact now and again. Could be what you're experiencing. He changed the faulty one and suggested I changing the remaining three incase, which I did few days after. Try this as I don't remember the plugs being too expensive to buy. White road legal 2.0 HPC VX race car - Now all shiney and new 😬 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James_Russell Posted December 3, 2010 Share Posted December 3, 2010 Is it petrol or diesel? If diesel then EGR valve is a good idea- they can fail or get clogged up with soot, and limp-home mode usually kicks in. If petrol then, as andy says, possibly coil pack. No fresh ideas, sorry! Q41 ACF Classic #98 My Race Videos Here! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
K200CSR Posted December 3, 2010 Author Share Posted December 3, 2010 Cheers all for the feedback. Are petrols fitted with EGR? Charles K200CSR East and North Yorkshire Area Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pooh_R Posted December 3, 2010 Share Posted December 3, 2010 Yes, petrols have egrs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MADMALC Posted December 3, 2010 Share Posted December 3, 2010 Hi C, we can put my 'scangauge' on and see what it says. ps welcome home S7MAD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Area Representative Crudders Posted December 3, 2010 Area Representative Share Posted December 3, 2010 Charles, my experience of these symptoms was similar to Andy's (and my Leon Cupra had the same 1.8 20VT engine as the old model Octavia VRS) - coil packs. But . . . Try this as I don't remember the plugs being too expensive to buy. . . . either your memory is worse than my time keeping Andy or I was well and truly robbed when I parted with over £200 for a set of plugs and coil packs! Admittedly I did go for Audi spec coil packs made by Hitachi on the recommendation of the cupranet forum but I don't think there was much in it price wise. If it's not a coil pack, the engine could have overfuelled due to a problem with the ECU temp sender (had that on the Cupra too), mass airflow sensor or similar electronic management widget and the plugs were fouled up temporarily. You'd expect sensor/widget problems to show a fault code though Hopefully Malc’s scangauge will show up a fault but if not, you could try your own diagnosis when the symptoms reappear with one of these from Gendan. I have an earlier version that I no longer use but it won't work on your model year unfortunately. The Gendan code reader saved me a lot of money on my old Cupra, so I wouldn't hesitate to recommend. Cruds P.S. No smartarsery intended and it sounds like you didn't have much choice but it's best to avoid running on less than a full complement of cylinders as the exhausted unburnt fuel can knacker your cat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
K200CSR Posted December 6, 2010 Author Share Posted December 6, 2010 Borrowed a ScanGuage from a friend and P0302 code so misfire on cylinder 2. Managed to extract some more info from the wife and it appears the coil-pack on cylinder 2 was changes last time it happened. I plan to check the condition of the spark plugs and swap the coil packs around and see if the fault moved. If any obvious reason for the misfire when I remove cylinder-2 then I’ll replace the plugs and/or coil-pack again. How can I tell if the cat has been damaged because of the extended running on 2/3 cylinders? Cheers for the help. Charles K200CSR East and North Yorkshire Area Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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