Morning all,
Have used this site for researching issues with my wife's Octavia and my son's Fabia in the past but this is my first post so please be gentle!
My son bought a 2008 Fabia 2 1.2 in Jan 2014 as his first car. It was one owner with FSH and had done 49k. We've had some of the usual Fabia issues ( fan blower resistor, dodgy drivers window, central locking problems) but we now have an unresolved "engine" issue.
When we first got the car it would very, very occasionally run roughly for a couple of seconds (like a misfire) but would then be fine. As it was running ok for 99% of the time we thought this may be due to underuse. We used fuel additives in case it was an injector issue and would fill up with 99 octane fuel every other tank. The problem didn't go away but didn't get any worse. We also had a full service done in December 2014 with new plugs etc. and were informed by the local garage that we use that no fault codes had been logged. Then, in early 2015, my son reported that the car had started to stall on him when he was coming to a stop. Car was sent to the garage and they diagnosed a faulty cam position sensor. This was changed and the car was back to its old self (i.e. still ok for 99% of the time).
Then, in December last year, at approx. 54k, it began to run terribly. There was a significant loss of power and the car was virtually un-driveable. Car went in to local garage again and to our dismay was diagnosed with an exhaust valve fault on cylinder three. Engine was stripped, head skimmed, new valves done, full service including new plugs again, and after a circa £1k bill we got the car back. Problem is, it's not right. When the engine gets warm it will feel like it is occasionally misfiring. It seems to happen at speeds above 40mph in fourth or fifth gear and if going up any incline no matter how shallow the gradient. Car has been back to the garage, had diagnostics done, been road tested by the mechanic (he couldn't replicate the problem) and we've been told that everything is fine. Only it's not. I'm no mechanic and my abilities only run to changing bulbs, batteries and putting the spare wheel on, but I've been driving for 31 years, had a variety of different cars (including a few bangers!) and, in my opinion, it's not running right.
It's going back in to the garage next week but has anybody got any ideas or suggestions as to what the problem may be??