Hi All,

Troubles with the wife's Fabia, 2004 1.4 16v 100bhp, BBZ engine 90k miles.

Oil consumption has been reasonably high for a while - about 1 litre per 3000 miles (ok, not as high as some others here). Checked the oil on Saturday and it was a few cm's below the min on the stick. Topped it back up.

Today, got a call from the wife to say that the Engine Management light was flashing, that there was no power and that it was juddering a lot below 2000rpm. Got home and checked it with a fault code reader - showed 16685 - Misfire on Cylinder 1. So that explains the juddering, and the lack of power is that + limp mode on the ECU.

So, what's it likely to be. From the research I've just done it sounds like it could be anything from a valve head, to a spark plug. Anyone had the same thing? Also sounds like the BBZ doesn't get to play the piston rings game, so the oil consumption could be a red herring.

Thanks

BBZ can still glaze up or get stuck rings, however you don't say what fuel you use, I'm hoping it's superplus unleaded and not the cheap stuff!

Misfire on cylinder 1 is likely to be caused by the spark plugs/coilpack especially if you've been running standard unleaded, plug erosion happens quickly when the engine is pinking continually, this plug erosion can also cause weak coilpacks to fail.

There was also a recent post on here where the person tried everything else and it turned out to be a faulty/worn fuel injector!!!......

Thanks for the replies - the garage diagnosed it as a coil pack.

It runs on regular unleaded (Esso) - the question is whether the extra £3 per tank is worth it? I'm sure it's been discussed aplenty in other threads. I'll do some reading later.

Thanks again.