Fabia fuel indicator

[Sky8807]

Have being owning the fabia for coming to a year this thursday 15/8.

Last few day experiencing very good fuel consumption because the needle stay at full mark after 300 km of driving.

 

Unfortunately, too good to be true, the fuel reading seem haywire. should be a half tank mark but the needle shows full. Yesterday, it does indicate the correct quantity but today haywire again.

 

Look like I have to send my car down to CA b4 my warranty expire. Wonder any skoda owner experience this phenomena. Quite disappointed to experience such thing, while driving korean and jap car, don't face such problems before.

 

One of my suspicion for the euro car is the electric and electronic, they cannot match the asian make. But body and mechanical rigidity wise they are okay. If this is the start of the 'problems" for the conti car, then I will be thinking of letting it go.

[Yongwd]

hmmm, sounds bad. Do u think its a sticky float? Better get it done asap before warranty end.

[Sky8807]

I sent the car for check this morning. Initially suspected the float was sticky, it corrected itself once, but then happen again the next day.

 

Let agent do the check on float and wiring, awaiting the result of the findings.

[Skoda_Man]

talking of which, i am not facing the same problem as you but have this irriating trend in my car, the fuel level drops everytime I stop the car engine. The level shown after the car is restart is slightly lower before I kill the engine. But the level might climb back a little once car is warmed up. I hate this but got to learn to live with it

 

wonder does it have to do with the air expansion or petrol vapour or it is just the indicator.

[Sky8807]

Don't think it got anything to do with fuel, vapour or air expansion.

It's a electrical things, like calibration and resistance value. Sometimes temperature changes on the electric and resistor cause the shift in reading. I think to a certain extend can be compensated by the right adjustment and tool.

[Sky8807]

Got my car back. Will post later on findings and what happen later.

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First must highlight that the petrol in the tank is very dirty. So dirty that the float which is white in color turn to different color according to the workshop ppl in CA. There are lots of dirty sediment and stuff that affect the operation of the float and pump assy of the fuel tank. The first question they ask me is what petrol did I pump and do I go to JB to pump.

 

Answer: I pump mostly shell. And the station that I usually pump is at old Choa Chu Kang road near to Tengah Air Base. The shell and caltex stations there have been dis-continued already. It have to make way for new development - government land.

 

Lesson learnt - Always pump at reputable petrol station and avoid pumping at those station that are relatively old and located at ulu ulu places, though there are not many left.

 

The interesting part was my last refill was at Choa Chu Kang opp Teck Whye LRT station. Only after refilling there that I encountered this problem. Previous to that was at shell Tengah(b4 close down).

 

The doubt was whether the last refill is the cause or the accumulation of sediment throughout the months before. Logic, tell me the latter was the probable cause. We are at the mercy of the petrol station if they did not upkeep the station properly like ensuring the filter is clean and the water contamination check is carried out regularly.

 

The service at CA is good. Of course, in my case its free, the technician there is qualified to handle the skoda make, in my opinion, most have experience from VW before, and handling the skoda is not difficult since they have all the technical support and manual to tackle new snag if occur.

 

IMO, it is the cost and the duration of sloving the problem is the setback for the local agent. Otherwise, the support is good and improvement are there, slowly I supposed.

Edited August 14, 2002 by Sky8807

[Fabiaman]

Yes, tks Sky... looking fwd to your experience with CA.

 

As for me, my temp gauge was faulty months ago before JTA fell, got the temp sensor changed at JTA... simple job and it occured to me that they mechs were quite good at it that maybe I wasnt the only one with that problem. Heard the Golf temp gauge also problematic.

 

So Sky, how is your Fabia fuel gauge now?

[Sky8807]

They clean the float assy and re-install it back. Service Advisor, Wee Pheng, told me to monitor the situation for a week and feedback to see whether it is cured. He will treat the case as open so that if its fail, then I can claim warranty. As you know my warranty expire tomorrow.

 

Got my car back and the gauge now reads slightly above half mark. Tomorrow , will pump to full again to see whether it register correctly, a week time should drop to about 3/4 mark or so. my usage.

 

Was quite shock when they told me, fuel tank quite dirty. Must admit that everytime I refill at the shell outside Tengah, suspicious but didn't bother till now.

Now, don't want to anyhow refill at any station, but the modern one to minimise the possibility of bad fuel.

Edited August 14, 2002 by Sky8807

[Fabiaman]

Tks Sky... yes they were also kind enuf to leave my air con problem as an open warranty too but I really cannot find any time to drop by their workshop to get it done... maybe soon!

 

As for your fuel tank dirty, no way can we verify that right? Shine a torch through the hole?

[Sky8807]

Another point that I like to highlight is fuel additives, some additives react with the fuel when mixes and may cause excessive sediment and particles. One such example is the Mekkon F21 fuel additives(something like that) I had tried as claim by some member on its merit and how it improves fuel effeciency and power.

I remember that it mention to replace the fuel filter after application for sometimes in the instruction and so on.

 

My advise is read the instructions carefully, when it mention that the filter will get dirty, means some kind of a reaction will take place and the outcome could be bad.

[Fabiaman]

Hmm... does sound like the additives might be a issue. I remember you did add the F21 to your Fabia? And the Motor Up to the engine as well?

[Sky8807]

Fuel tank, dirty, sure a little bit one lah. But very dirty, not good man. somemore less than a year so diry alreadi. Look like I have to top up my fuel now when it reach 1/4 instead of the low fuel warning light illumination. Hope to keep those sediment at the bottom until a tank cleaning job is done in the future.

 

As for the air-con which takes three days, I think it is their practice, removing the dashboard and dis-arming the airbag is quite a delicated process.

Removing the coil of the surrounding area after the dashboard is removed is simple enough.

Putting back everything in place and testing all system work especially air bag integrity is crucial. Don't want the air bag to respond incorrectly do we.

[Sky8807]

Motorup no problem. anyway is about 10k ago. The fuel additivies which was sold to me by my friend. Actually I was hesitant to using the product when I read the instructions but chiong anyway, thinking what serious harm can it do, well, it can cause my tank to be a lot dirtier, maybe I don't know.

 

Look like I got to do fuel tank flushing. CA call me and advise me to do tank flushing. This time must pay$$, , must be expensive

Edited August 15, 2002 by Sky8807

[Sky8807]

Sent my car to Cz Auto today for fuel tank cleaning and flushing. Wasted more than half of full fuel becos the fuel also found to be dirty and color of fuel also changed. No choice

 

The job should be completed by pm tomorrow. Look like pocket got to burn a hole.

 

On the positive side, my tank will be clean and the fuel filter new.

[Sky8807]

Collected the car back today. Total costs for the job about $305.

 

Breakdown :

Labour cost - $210

Spares - $66.60

Petrol topup - $20

 

Labour :

Remove and re-install the rear undercarriage for access

Remove and reinstall the rear brakes mechanism

Remove and reinstall fuel tank plus flushing and cleaning

Remove and reinstall the fuel pump assy - replaced under warranty due to indication defect cause by corrosive sediment interfering with the sensor resistor of the fuel float assy.

 

Spares :

Fuel filter and pressure regulator assy - $45.90

Fuel pump seal - $20.70

Fuel pump and float assy - FOC

 

Total costs - $305.50 incl GST

 

My assessment -

labour cost - little high - no choice agent price

spares - pump seal was a little high, filter regulator should be around there.

workmanship, for my initial assessment - good.

 

Advice of fuel additives :

Don't use it becos some may react chemically with the additivies that comes with the fuel. The additivies I used was F2-21. Looking at the sediment, look like sludge could be also contributed by the fuel additivies as well as the dirty fuel from the petrol station.

Edited August 23, 2002 by Sky8807

[Meow]

Meow..........Yes this should be the standard agent price . But workmanship should be the most important issue here. Right!!

[Sky8807]

You are right.

Must get the right people with the technical knowhow to do a proper job with correct procedure to avoid latent failure that may develop in the future.