Hello,
My grandpa gave me his old car and said that he doesn't want to drive anymore. After some time I discovered that it has problems which I need to solve. The car is Skoda Fabia 1st generation. It was made in 2004 with 5 speed manual gearbox. The engine is naturally aspirated 1.2 liter 3 cylinder HTP (high torque performance). It has only 60 000 kilometres but most of them from town. My grandpa only drove from home to shop and back. He also was not the greatest driver (he took off with trailer on second gear in a steep hill for example).
Problems:
1) low idle speed: When I start the car everything runs fine until the engine warms up. Then idle speed goes down to 700 or 800 rpm and the engine starts to shake and make weird noise. It is hard to describe. Something like knocking sound. When I fully press down the clutch pedal, noise goes away but rpms are still the same. My car has AC. I turn it on every ride because when I do so rpms go back to normal and knocking sound goes away. But it is even weirder. When my AC runs a long time and I turn it back off, rpms and knocking sound go back but this time the trick with clutch pedal pressed down doesn't do anything. What it could be?
2) gear shift does not return to neutral: When I start the car I press down the clutch pedal, shift the first gear and take off like in any other car. But in regular car the gear shift goes to neutral by itself when you want to shift from 2nd to 3rd gear or from 5th to 4th. However, in this car I have to push the gear shift to neutral by myself because the gear shift is stucked for example in the middle of 1st and 2nd gear and does nothing. Note that the car stayed in a garage for half a year without moving with shifted 1 gear. Do you think that it would be enough to lubricate the gear lever rods or is it something more complicated?
By the way the clutch pedal is not in the greatest shape either but it still works so I will just drive it this way until it brakes.
Thank you in advance for any answer.
Hello,
Engine noises on that generation of VW engines is usually caused by the timing chain. The HTP family of engines (2003 ~ 2016) manufactured under the "EA111" series is known for the chain getting stretched and the tensioner failing as early as 35,000km. (usually, from my experience, when the chain is starting to go out, you hear chain rattle at low rpm under load)
The rpm you've described is completely normal, but just to be sure, knowing Skoda you'd want to clean your throttle (I think your generation had a manual throttle) and also the PCV valve might need to be cleaned - although this usually happens at higher kilometrages.
Please elaborate on the gearbox issue, as it's quite unclear... I'm guessing that you're saying that the gearbox does not go into gear when shifting at speed?
Generally with these old common European models, If the shift cable, clutch fork, clutch operation checks out, and you really are sure that it does indeed have a serious internal issue, I'd just recommend putting in a used gearbox from a junkyard - as they're usually relatively inexpensive.
If a mechanic checks out your car and says that it does need both a timing chain, tensioner, and gearbox work, you might want to consider spending the money that it would cost to repair this car and get a low millage Japanese economy car instead as these old 1.2L engines, in my experience, don't last long at all...
Good luck.
7-800 rpm at idle with manual trans is normal.. I don't understand your shift problem. Why do you think the shifter would automatically go into 2nd gear without your putting it there?
I don't think that 7-800 rpm is normal. Normal in my opinion is 900 rpm. Plus how do you explain the knocking sound and engine shaking?
In case of shift problems it is hard to describe when you don't see that. If you have ever driven car with manual trans then you know that when you want to shift from one gear to another one you usually have to go to neutral first (except from 1st to 2nd). The manual trans is supposed to go to neutal by itself. However, mine is stucked between gears and I have to push it to neutral with my hand.
700-800 rpm is absolutely normal for a Fabia. usually low idle isn't 100 rpm but 300 or 400 lower then normal, when you really feel that the engine is struggling to keep it self alive.
A way (although I really advise against it) to check that's the idle for a car, is to go onto YouTube and look at POV videos of that car with the same engine AND most importantly same transmission. (Discovered it while I was trouble shooting for very high idle on another car).
Look at the sticker under the hood to see what the idle rpm is supposed to be.
Manuals are the ONLY transmissions I drive. Always have. I just don't understand your problem with shifting, if there is one. The idle rpm is normal, guaranteed.