Hi

I am considering purchasing a used 2010 Superb Ambition (Australian) 118TSI sedan from a Skoda dealer that was a corporate lease car. They let me look at the books and the purchase order from the corporate customer had a note on it saying "Misfiring. Engine light on". I questioned them about this and they (later) told me that the cause was a faulty battery that had been replaced and the issue was resolved. I presume a dodgy battery could affect timing, but please let me know if I'm wrong! If it is possible how common would this be? Should I avoid this car because of this previous problem?

Thanks

Rusty

If the battery is faulty then it is very unlikely to cause a miss fire it is more likely not to turn over or the engine die but not miss fire as that is going to be and electrical connection with the ECU/control/coils (when hot) or HT leads.

Other will be along with better info later.

Edited 24 March, 201313 yr by Danny 57

There is absolutly no way a dodgy battery can cause a misfire, it could cause the ecu to go into "limp mode" which gives serverely reduced power.

to get a misfire it can only be HT problem to the spark plug, fuel problem (ie Injector problem) or worst case senario lack of compression on the cylinder

Thanks for your replies guys. Much appreciated. I won't purchase the car now. Cheers.

The ECU would shut down if the battery was dodgy. No way would a misfire be down to the battery.

At best the car had a simple fault, something like a blown coil-pack (very common problem on all VAG products), at worst the dealer had the audacity to tell you a bare=faced lie.

Thanks for your replies guys. Much appreciated. I won't purchase the car now. Cheers.

If it's from a main dealer then you would get at least 1-year warranty. So if it's been fixed, and you like the car, why not buy it?

Was it a salesman by any chance that told you that swapping the battery fixed the problem?

I know it's not the same engine but I've read several posts about other VW engines (90TSI and 118TSI with 1.4 rather than 1.8) misfiring and/or losing compression and ending up requiring an engine rebuild. If the car has had engine problems in the past I think the risk of it having the same or other problems in the future is increased. I have no sound basis for this other than the maxim "if it's happened before it will probably happen again". I'm sure others won't agree with me and am welcome to hear their opinions.

Yes it was the salesman who said that swapping the battery fixed the problem.

There is absolutly no way a dodgy battery can cause a misfire, it could cause the ecu to go into "limp mode" which gives serverely reduced power.

to get a misfire it can only be HT problem to the spark plug, fuel problem (ie Injector problem) or worst case senario lack of compression on the cylinder

Firstly, you can't take the misfire description at face value as people will call several symptoms a 'misfire'. Limp mode feels like as misfire to most people as an example.

Secondly, ECU's do not like low voltage conditions, and in the majority of cases this causes spurious errors and false sensor readings. These conditions can easily trigger engine light on and other errors, often the dash lights up like a Christmas tree when you have a poor battery.

So it is quite possible and plausible to have a poor/faulty battery cause the OP's stated condition and that a new battery resolved it.

Cheers

Steve

If a battery connector is loose, you could get misfires.