I've noticed a few times over the last year that my car gets difficult to start every now and then, like it takes over 20 seconds of cranking before the engines fires up and also often accompanied by a strong smell of gasoline throughout the cabin, I have never had a failed start just very long periods of cranking. Initially I though the battery was bad (it was pretty old) so I replaced it but the issue persists, then I suspected the starter was bad but I'm hesitant to plunge money into a new starter so I waited until the problem became more frequent.
Now during the last two months the slow starting has gotten worse and I get a P0118 code every time I cold start the car and reading the freeze frame data it states the ECT (engine coolant temperature) is -40 C which is obviously wrong, as well as a fluctuating coolant temperature gauge which reads cold randomly for minutes at a time and then pops up to normal again while on the highway. I suspected a failed thermostat initially but that seems unlikely as the cabin has full heat within minutes of driving the car from cold even though the gauge reads cold.
It seems that the coolant temperature sensor is failing and perhaps also causing slow starts every now and then as the car thinks the engine is super cold and floods it with fuel (hence the fuel smell).
I've ordered a new coolant temperature sensor (FEBI bilstein good?) and hopefully that solves the issue.
Anybody experienced something similar?
Car: Seat ibiza 6L 2004
Engine: 1,4 litre petrol code "BBY"
Mileage as of writing: 65 000 miles (105 000 km)
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Side question:
The red oil pressure lights starts to flash and beep whenever I'm cold cranking for longer than a 10 seconds or so, I usually keep cranking until it eventually fires up. There's plenty of oil in the car.
Does this cause serious harm to the engine? Should I stop cranking immideatelly and try again whenever the light comes on?
Now during the last two months the slow starting has gotten worse and I get a P0118 code every time I cold start the car and reading the freeze frame data it states the ECT (engine coolant temperature) is -40 C which is obviously wrong, as well as a fluctuating coolant temperature gauge which reads cold randomly for minutes at a time and then pops up to normal again while on the highway. I suspected a failed thermostat initially but that seems unlikely as the cabin has full heat within minutes of driving the car from cold even though the gauge reads cold.
It seems that the coolant temperature sensor is failing and perhaps also causing slow starts every now and then as the car thinks the engine is super cold and floods it with fuel (hence the fuel smell).
I've ordered a new coolant temperature sensor (FEBI bilstein good?) and hopefully that solves the issue.
Anybody experienced something similar?
Car: Seat ibiza 6L 2004
Engine: 1,4 litre petrol code "BBY"
Mileage as of writing: 65 000 miles (105 000 km)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Side question:
The red oil pressure lights starts to flash and beep whenever I'm cold cranking for longer than a 10 seconds or so, I usually keep cranking until it eventually fires up. There's plenty of oil in the car.
Does this cause serious harm to the engine? Should I stop cranking immideatelly and try again whenever the light comes on?
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