We had our car serviced this week. The mechanic noticed that when the car is started, a green airbag light comes on for a while. The garage phoned Claire (I was at work) and offered to see why for the reasonable sum of £49.
This is the light that shows that the passenger airbag is switched on and working properly. It stays on for a minute and then goes off. It's completely normal and nothing at all to worry about. Might be time to find a new garage...
If its a diesel it could be the EGR valve is sooted up. YOu can change them easily and get cheap reconditioned ones from Ebay. I had to do it 4 times on my Alfa (yes its was an Alfa and yes the electronics were dodgy). The best buy for me was the ECU cable and some free software to help diagnose without going to the garage first.
My missus's old Fabia had that. Started intermittently and got worse. Garage checked it and said that the engine temperature sensor had failed. Not a big or expensive job to replace it apparently.
IME, that's usually a lambda sensor fault, which would also fit in with most of the other issues you've described. A fault code check would confirm, it's an easy fix but usually needs a specialist tool
Never had to do a lambda sensor, but presumably a crows foot would also be fine? Or do you need the extra vertical grip length of a socket for those buggers?
From: 99% of gargoyles look like (MR_BASTARD)14 Dec 2014 22:16
I had the engine light come on in a rental on the 3rd day of a 1-week rental (it was a newish, low-Km car). I phoned the rental company, and they told me to ignore it.