Over the last three years I've had an intermittment engine fault whilst driving.

The engine will suddenly cut-out and then re-start whilst the car is in motion. It sort of misses a beat or several. This usually lasts for no more than a second and is accompanied by the rev counter indicator moving back to the zero stop and then recovering when the engine re-starts.

I have no problem starting the engine when at rest.

Sometimes the loss of power is so sudden that the whole vehicle judders and I'm thrown foward and only the seat belt saves me from hitting the windscreen. If it were an old non emu controlled car, I'd diagnose it as one or two badly stuck valves.

Whilst this was an occasional event three years ago ((Once every couple of months) its now increasing in frequency and seems to be conicident with the appearance of the engine management light - light comes on for no good reason and stays on until reset by dealer - VAG Com won't reset it !

Whatever the fault is it does not throw up a fault code as VAG Com shows only unrelated errors (Relay fault).

The car is main dealer serviced. My Fabia 100hp 16v twin cam.

As the problem is increasing in frequency, I'd like to get to the bottom of it as it somewhat detracts from the driving experience (Understatement).

Any ideas.

Also, how many camshaft/crankshaft sensors does Fabia have ? I understand that some cars e.g. mercs and BMWs have individual sensors for inlet and exhaust for each cam (Sounds like c*bblers to me) ?

Cars going in Friday for what I'm told is replacement of a Aircon sensor (Hmmm ?).

Nick

Edited 12 May, 201016 yr by Clunkclick

this is exactly the same problem i have with my skoda fabia comfort 16v and it seems like a never ending problem for me,i took mines to the dealer ,they did the diagnostics nd told me it was the EGR valve nd i got it replaced for a mammoth £300 nd still the car has the same actions aswell as the engine management light cumin on at times nd then goin off.Just last week i called the AA down to do a diagnostics nd it sed code P0322 which was sumit to do with the ignition distributor so i changed the crank sensor aswell as the coil pack nd guess what it still does the same old things! it realli is annoyin me ,but if i can get it sorted i will defo let u kno

Edited 12 May, 201016 yr by scholes

I get this problem occasionally, along with the surging tickover - they just seem to be design flaws with this crappy engine. Mine has been ok of late touch wood. Things I would recommend - clean the breather hose that runs along the rear of the air box, especially the oil trap thingy at the coolant expansion tank end - one can use carb cleaner. Get a throttle body clean and alignment, along with possibly an EGR clean and reset. Use Shell V power or other super unleaded petrol (I believe that the engine prefers this and the 100 bhp rating is only achievable with this compared to normal unleaded). Use some Redex. Get the engine temperature sender replaced - only about £10 and a quick win.

The problem gets worse if you drive conservatively, it needs to be revved hard occasionally to clear stuff out. Finally, perhaps check the state of the spark plugs for oil and do a compression check to make sure the piston rings are ok (another design flaw/problem with this engine). Good luck!

Edited 14 May, 201016 yr by tag1_uk

Increasing frequency of this fault suggests a failing component. The symptom is almost like a backfire, except the power goes off momentarily.

Had the compression and EGR and beatther pathways checked some time ago when this first occured. I was told they were perfectly OK.

Have always run it on Optimax/V-power/BP equivalent (97 RON) - can be run on 95 RON but sounds like a bucket of bolts.

Frankly its a safety hazard. Insurance companies might take a dim view if you were involved in an accident precipitated by this. As usual no need for concern with the Department of Transport.

The sudden power loss syndrome is not restricted to Skoda but is present in other VAG cars, BMWs and Mercedes to note just a few. The common cause is documented as mostly either the cam shaft or the crankshaft Hall effect sensor and very occasionally a faulty EGR also plays a part.

Sensors are about £40 part cost and 40 minutes of labour to replace whereas EGR valve is £80 + 1.25 hours labour. Guess which fault gets diagnosed the most ?

What sort of car manufacturer would allow this fault to persist and suppress information about the remedy ?

Perhaps its time for a little You-tube action

Nick

Edited 12 May, 201016 yr by Clunkclick

When the car went in for the replacement aircon sensor the dealer cleaned the EGR valve. I was told that it may need to be replaced.

The EM light's stayed out and the sudden power losses have almost gone - now very occasional muted stutter at low RPM.

I've read somewhere that 50% of the problems with the EGR valve are caused by using the wrong oil is this correct ? Using straight refined 10-40w produces more gunk than using a semi-synthetic e.g. Magnatec which meets the same VW standard.

Can anyone tell me how the EGR operates ? Is it a simple solenoid i.e. full closed or full open or does it operate proportionally, like a butterfly valve ?

And which of these is the preferable replacment for the EGR valve on the BBZ engine ?

http://www.eurocarparts.com/ecp/k/EGR%20valve/p/Car-Parts

Nick

My car is better for having better oil in it. I now have it serviced at a VW independent which uses expensive VW spec oil. I've got an old 1 litre bottle of oil which I get them to top up with what they use. I think it was 5W40 spec. I wouldn't advise using the regular after market oils like Magnatec.

EGR opening depends on engine load, and is controlled by the vacuum valve block (black box on drivers side inner wing). EGR flow varies with load, so the butterfly flap can be set to any position by the ECU. The oil in the EGR and pipework is from the crankcase breather, elephant hose mod is a must on these engines. Once you remove the PCV gas from the EGR, it simply soots up with the exhaust gas, but stays dry and doesn't clog up.

I have a fabia 1.2 http - and for the last 6 months have had engine problems.. a coil pack blows, over fuelling, mis firing engine management light on and off every day.

The car is 2 yrs old and is looked after well with regular services.

Finally after being towed off the motorway twice with the car towed back to my dealer it was still a mystery! UNTIL another car came in with the self same problem and no diagnosis!

Dealer sent a report to Skoda and lo and behold after 10 days Skoda admitted there was a batch of faulty cam shaft sensors that affect an awful lot of cars - but they wont be doing a recall!

New sensors in and car is driving like a dream... I must admit I feel vindicated and feel that my continual calls to skoda saying the damn light is on again and being told - dont worry its all ok - and it wasnt!

Am also getting a lot more miles now that I am not over fueling!

Hope this helps.....

I have a fabia 1.2 http - and for the last 6 months have had engine problems.. a coil pack blows, over fuelling, mis firing engine management light on and off every day.

The car is 2 yrs old and is looked after well with regular services.

Finally after being towed off the motorway twice with the car towed back to my dealer it was still a mystery! UNTIL another car came in with the self same problem and no diagnosis!

Dealer sent a report to Skoda and lo and behold after 10 days Skoda admitted there was a batch of faulty cam shaft sensors that affect an awful lot of cars - but they wont be doing a recall!

New sensors in and car is driving like a dream... I must admit I feel vindicated and feel that my continual calls to skoda saying the damn light is on again and being told - dont worry its all ok - and it wasnt!

Am also getting a lot more miles now that I am not over fueling!

Hope this helps.....

Hoorah ! Vindication of beliefs expressed in my earlier post. Incidentally, whilst on my hols this year (September), I had time to take the engine cover off my Fab saloon and inspect the air cleaner and the rubber hoses that feed from the EGR valve , clean as a whistle. So I suspect that a sticky EGR valve is not the major cause of a fault with my car - it might cause a little misfire as the mixture de-optimised when the valve got stuck, but it wouldn't cause a monumental engine stutter, with the rev counter bouncing off the stops. However, this would be the symptom if a faulty engine rotational sensor was sending the wrong value to the ecu causing spark plug to fire at the wrong time. First you'd get a massive backfire, then when the sensor resumed normal operations the ECU would get confused, finding that its electronic model in memory had become de-synchronised with readings obatined from engine sensors. The ECU would attempt to resynchronise itself with the engine readings from sensors and would only be able to do this by re-booting its electronic model - i.e. equivalent to a warm computer re-boot. During this time the engine would die temporarily. All this would transpire in a couple of seconds. Exactly, the problem I'm getting.

You've gotta love Skoda Customer Services with an attitude like that - the worst kind of CS dept - run my non-technical, commercially aware idiots under marketing guidance - lets not help the customer, lets ignore or bury the problem or, better still, blame a subby. They ought to be in government service.

Nick

Edited 2 November, 201015 yr by Clunkclick

Hi Nick!

Have you since replaced your camshaft sensor? Is your engine cut-out restart problem solved?

Thx

Hi Nick!

Have you since replaced your camshaft sensor? Is your engine cut-out restart problem solved?

Thx

Hi Nick!

Have you since replaced your camshaft sensor? Is your engine cut-out restart problem solved?

Thx

No, not yet. It will be going in for service shortly and I will mention it then - along with a shed load of other stuff - squeaky bushes since replacing the tyres last year, oil consumption at 1 litre per 600 miles, failed temperature flap in air dist system.

I've seen in other posts/forums the engine stutter attributed to a variety of causes - blocked injectors, sticky EGR, wrong sized EGR gasket, sticky valves, faulty ECU/fuel pump relay, debris from the tank in the fuel line, faulty hall-effect sensors etc

Nick

Edited 13 January, 201115 yr by Clunkclick