THE FABIA CLUB

jbarai

Folks,

Have been facing a peculiar problem with the car since a few days.

The idling RPM (which typically is at 800 steady and 900 with AC on) keeps fluctuating between 500-1000 in my petrol Fabia.
It is almost like a pendulum motion. It suddenly drops and the engine shrudders and kicks it back up. To drop again in 2 seconds.

Whenever it goes below 650 or so, it almost feels like its going to stall. Switching the AC on when not in motion, would almost stop the engine.

Once in motion, all is well. But it becomes a big problem to drive in stop/go traffic. I would assume this is not healthy for the engine or the AC comp as well.

Any ideas on what could be the problem here? Taking it to the doctors in a day or two.

Jignesh

Edit :

Bad fuel does not seem to be the problem since I had topped up at one of the best bunks in town.

Also, I've tried to high - rev it on an open road to see if there was something getting blocked and gets cleared away. Not helpful.
_________________
~ Jig

Drive On!

admin

fanfabia · Posted: Thu Aug 12, 2010 6:47 pm Post subject: Throttle Valve

I had a similar problem in my 1.6 Fiat Siena and it turned out to be dirty throttle valve assembly. Moreover refrain from using premium fuels with additives as they seem to do the menace.

Time to see SKODA A.S.S.
_________________
Saket Kapur
New Delhi
Owned & Driven Fiat 1100D,Premier Padmini,Amb MarkII,III,IV,800, Esteem, Zen, Omni,Estate,Sumo, Sieana,Innova etc. Had the opportunity to Drive in Thailand, Mauritius, Australia, New Zealand and Greek Islands.Cars are my passion .

jbarai · Posted: Fri Aug 13, 2010 8:46 am Post subject:

Thanks guys. Atleast it gives a start.
Will vist the A.S.S. in a day or two and update what they have to say.

I wonder if the humid climate is to blame here since it has cropped up in this season.
The car hasnt been thru water logged roads at all, however the humidity has been high these days with lots of rain.

I am thinking of leaving the car bonnet open for a while (in the open) if the Sun comes out rather strongly one of these days.
_________________
~ Jig

Drive On!

jbarai · Posted: Mon Aug 16, 2010 1:28 pm Post subject: update ..

Paid a visit to JMD on Saturday.

Explained them about the problem.

They first hooked the car up to the VAG COM and ran tests. No issues observed.

As usual without thinking much they blamed it on the fuel pump and said, your fuel pump is old which might be giving the problem, and you should get it changed to the newer fuel pump according to 'company campaign'. It seemed they were more focussed on getting the pump replaced than understanding the complaint.

I got miffed a bit and told them that the problem is with the throttle response and it may not have anything to do with the fuel pump. Upon insistance they put down a line on 'engine mis-firing' on the form and said they'll do a throttle body clean up.

30 min is what it took them to replace fuel pump. Plug and play task I suppose.
Took them another hour to do throttle body cleanup. Not sure what was done here. For sure they wouldnt have checked the throttle sensor I guess.

Anyways, I got the car back in a couple of hrs.
Bill = 0 (all under warranty so far).

The problem did not seem to arise on that day. It was all fine and smooth for a longish 20 km drive I took (even in stop/go traffic). No issues noted, even with AC on/off.

Next day on a relatively small ride I observed the rpm needle dance again Sad

Couldn't do much since it was a Sunday.

Got the car to office today - its been all 'normal' so far. Weird, in a good way ofcourse.

So the problem seems intermittant. Comes and goes at will.

I'll observe for a few more days and hope (pray, if you will) the the problem fixes by itself.
I was anyways not quite convinced about the way the A.S.S. approached the problem that was reported.

More later ..
_________________
~ Jig

Drive On!

Samir Mullaji · Newbie Joined: 09 Jun 2010 Posts: 15 Location: Mumbai

Dear Jbarai,

I suggest for a change why don't you visit Autobahn Enterprises, my exprerience with them till now makes me feel they are doing a good job.

Regards

Samir Mullaji

rm · Posted: Mon Aug 16, 2010 9:06 pm Post subject: Re: update ..

jbarai · Posted: Tue Sep 07, 2010 11:44 am Post subject:

Update:

Well, the problem persisted for a few days, although the frequency of occurance did go down noticably. I observed during these times that the needle was more likely to fluctuate esp. with AC on.

Over last week or so, touchwood, things have been quite normal !
Prayers answered Smile

Did a trip to Matheran last weekend. No surprises, it did the steep ghat turns while going up, quite comfortably - but did require careful driving and being in the right gears (at many places sticking to 1st gear).

Coming down was a piece of cake, in 2nd gear.

Off topic - one should see those taxi drivers take the fully loaded Omni Vans in those turns.

FE still hovers around 11 kmpl or so in City, even with the new fuel pump.
_________________
~ Jig

Drive On!

rm · Posted: Mon Sep 27, 2010 12:33 pm Post subject:

Have noticed something since last nite. I was driving out and noticed a very slight blip in the lights both exterior and interior and the Blower speed. It continued to happen when i was on idle or on low revs.

Today morning too the Blower speed would decrease / increase in very 'minute' though perceptible decrements and increments. Did not see blips on the Tacho though. Everything seemed normal there. Maybe i need to watch it more intently!

Also the FE has gone up dramatically. When i say dramatically, i am getting a near 9 kmpl from the measly 6 that i was being subjected to. Thats a 50% hike. No change in driving style or road and traffic conditions. Filling up from the same station too. Only change being that the thermostat for the AC has been moved to a slightly less cooler setting from what it was earlier. With Hyderabad experiencing good rain, its cooled down a little. Can that make such a difference?

Your views and suggestions.

-rm
_________________
Experience is something you don't get until just after you need it

jbarai · Posted: Mon Sep 27, 2010 1:04 pm Post subject:

jbarai · Posted: Tue Oct 19, 2010 9:02 am Post subject:

@rm - any update on your issue buddy ?

With regards to my problem, I havent seen the rpm fluctuate at idle anymore since a while now - touchwood ! seems it has taken care of itself or if it was the humidity at play during the rains, the ongoing mumbai heat would have taken care of it.

I do see the rpms dipping slightly (again very infrequently) when i move the car from 1st gear (just when the clutch is about at half). No issues thereafter. The car has never stalled because of this, hence i am just letting it be.
_________________
~ Jig

Drive On!

admin · Posted: Tue Oct 19, 2010 9:43 am Post subject:

admin · Posted: Tue Oct 19, 2010 9:50 am Post subject: