Coinneach

Not sure where you are, UK or europe but here in Spain batteries are not the cheapest in the stores and motor part places, so opted to buy online, seemed like a good idea at the time!!

and this is video 2 Unfortunately the system will not allow me to post more than 10mb total. Is that for ever? and ever? That's annoying, video 2 was better than video 1. Can I change it?

Hi, update on the problem. I decided to go down the logical elimination route, so ordered a new battery 75ah with 640a cranking which is more than the one on it which is 61ah with 520a or thereabouts. Old battery is original Varta, so now 11 years old so needed to be replaced anyway. Ordered online, guaranteed delivery 24-72 hours, still not here a week later! Today I finally managed to get a video of the car starting when hot. The 4 starts were one after the other, but I will have to post it in two bits due to the size limit. Start 3 (video 2) is the nearest to how bad it can get, and it can get a lot worse than that. But just maybe somebody may think "I know what that is"! Which is more than my garage does. Murkey, I just hope you are right that it is the battery. I will post here after the new battery is fitted and tried. Starting problem part 1.wmv

Marcus, thanks, your description is spot on, sounds just like mine. Ok, so from your experience it must be a battery/starter issue. Interesting there are different kw of starters out there, and presumably the more powerful ought to be better for this problem - or is it? Nothing is ever as you think it ought to be these days. Will it just require more battery power and so not perform as well with the normal 61kwh fitted to octavias. If I get a choice, is Bosch the one? Micmac: And with this one being from 2008, I could easily beieve it has collapsed internally. I will get a new one first. What makes do any of you recommend these days? Xman: Just shows you what you do not know. I always thought that a battery would be fully charged by the car. Silly question, but why doesn't it?

Marcusmarcus, thank you for taking the time to reply. I have listened carefully to the video you posted. The first starting in the video is how my car was before the timing sensor was diagnosed (VCDS). So this is the order my problem happened in. Timeline: First time the engine started badly, (and failed to start, it always fails to start when it is doing this) it was so bad I thought the engine had blown up. But no, restarted it and all ok. It did it a couple of more times in the next few days and then the starting became slow, ie turning over on the starter for a several seconds before firing just like in your video, but when it fired (both mine and the video) it fired correctly, smoothly, normally. When it was like this, it was the same hot or cold. So I took it to my Skoda garage, they said it was the starter motor but I argued with him so he put it on the computer and found the timing sensor had failed. After replacing the timing sensor (€190 worth) the engine would start almost immediately again, as in start 2 in the video. But a few days later it did this horrible bad shaking noisy bangy start again. I thought that the new timing sensor had failed so returned to Skoda who checked it and all was ok according to the computer. He suggested it might be a timing issue, so checked and tweaked the timing, it was within limits but he tweaked it anyway. Made no difference. Still started (or failed to start) like a bag of old bones when hot - but NEVER at the bloody garage! So as I said, had the starter looked at yesterday. The car is 2008, only 45,000 miles and still has the original Varta battery. Surely if it was a weak battery the problem would occur when the engine was cold, not hot. I have decided that I am going to video the starting so that I can show it to Skoda to see if it suggests anything. When I first read your post, I thought you meant DPF, at least that is what I assumed as DMF would never have crossed my mind. I had another octavia with a completely knackered DMF and the car still started normally. As far as I know, this age car does not have a DPF. Marcusmarcus, as my problem does not sound like the first start in that video, could you descibe this "shaking start" you had to see if it matches mine because obviously if it is the same, then my problem is probably the starter motor as well. But given the cost of a new one, I would like to be more convinced. Thanks.

This is my second attempt to find an answer to my starting problem on this forum. I am at a loss as to the cause of the problem and It is very difficult to describe the problem, but here goes. Car: Skoda Octavia 2008 1.9 tdi Elegance, 45,000 miles. Car runs perfectly normally, this is just a starting problem. The problem only occurs when the engine is hot and the first start attempt after a run. After the engine has cooled and when cold, it starts perfectly normally. The problem: When the engine is hot, and at the end of a run, if the engine is stopped and then restarted, it fails to fire smoothly and regularly. It just sounds like a jumble of cylinders firing, completely irregularly and ends by not starting. It is not that the engine does not fire, and you have to keep turning it over on the starter. Not at all, the engine does fire up but irregularly as if it was firing in the wrong order. It is just a jumble of sound. As a rule, on the second attempt, it will then start normally, today though it did it twice in a row. I have had the car into the Skoda garage here in Spain 3 times. Unfortunately, it has never done this bad starting while at the garage, so they have to rely on my description. The first time, it was diagnosed with a timing sensor failure and this was replaced. This did not cure it. The second time, they thought that the timing might be out, which it was marginally, so they corrected that. That made no difference. Today, I had it in again to have the starter motor checked and cleaned as they thought that perhaps the engine was not getting turned over fast enough. (I never had any faith in that diagnoses) That has made no difference, it started badly the first time I tried it after coming off the motorway on my way home. Having started (or not started) badly, why can it then start normally? To me that would rule out failed or faulty heat sensor, (was suggested in the past) because if that was causing it to start badly the first time, it would surely do it the second time. If the ecu thinks the car is cold (when it is actually hot) due to a faulty heat sensor, and puts in too much fuel for a hot engine, would that cause it? And if so, why would it be ok the second time. It is a complete mystery to me, and to my Skoda garage it would seem, so if anyone has any ideas, Please Help!

Not many people will remember the old "Mobil Economy Run" where drivers were challenged to get the maximum mpg using whatever tricks they wanted including obviously free-wheeling whenever possible. It was a long time ago before cars had ecu's, or any electrics except a spark plug! They achieved remarkable results. In those days it was true that free-wheeling did save on fuel as the minimum amount of fuel that could be delivered was that set for tickover. So the less revolutions the engine was doing while free-wheeling, the less fuel used. King85 is quite correct, nowadays (with diesels anyway) when you take your foot off the throttle in gear, NO fuel is delivered to the engine. So that becomes the most economical way to coast - in gear with the foot off. As soon as you knock it out of gear, enough fuel has to be delivered to the engine to allow it to tickover. Thus marginally less efficient. Back to vibration - no, not a wobble, just vibration, I am coming to the conclusion that it is the disks and, as it is liveable with and I do not think it is causing any other problem or accelerated wear, I will wait and see if it is going to get worse or not - and of course keep the car in gear at all times!

Thanks for all your replies and advice. As regards the knocking it out of gear going downhill, I wondered if it might have anything to do with the driveshaft(s), ie the constant velocity joints. When out of gear, the wheels are driving the transmission train back to the clutch, instead of the usual way round. So everything is loaded backwards. Light load, true, but backwards. Surely if it was the disks, the vibration ought to be there all the time, in or out of gear. Which it is not. Until I start to brake, at 70mph. What I cannot understand is why there is zero vibration when braking at, say, 50mph. Tech1e, can you tell me what you mean by contamination? I always hold the car on the footbrake, seldom use the handbrake. Disks have probably been replaced, too good for 45,000 miles, only a very slight lip on the edge. Might be cheap chinese replacements, though. Changed before I bought it. Bit annoying if it is the disks, I had hoped to get another 20,000 out of them. As you say, Jevpls, the only way to find out is to change them. Should I just change the front to see if that cured it?

Hi All Octavia 2008 1.9tdi Elegance, 45,000 miles When I bought the car, there was a small vibration through the steering wheel from 60mph upwards. I had all the 4 pretty new tyres (Pirelli P3) that were on the car balanced, turned out they had never ever been balanced after fitting. This cured the vibration. However, I discovered that if I knock the car out of gear going down hill at 60mph, or above, the vibration instantly returns. Put it back in gear and it goes away. This vibration feels just the same as needing to have the tyres balanced. Any ideas as to why or what may cause this? I also discovered, after having the tyres balanced and thus able to drive a bit faster, that braking from about 70mph also caused quite a vibration on the steering wheel which disappears when the speed comes down to 60 and below. There is no vibration while breaking at lower speeds, so it seems unlikely to be buckled disks. The disks seem to be fairly new, with little wear. Again, any ideas? This problem to me is a bit more worrying. The two things may be related, or not, I really do not know. Thanks in advance for any and all help.

I am really grateful for your replies, these intermittant faults are really difficult. You have convinced me that the belt is not going to be the problem, I had no faith that it would be. Seemed illogical. So I will tke your advice and disconnect the sensor. Is it easy to disconnect the sensor? Where can I find the VAG 1.9 PD engine self study guide. Never heard of it but it sounds as if I should read it! Tried googling it, couldn't see an obvious download. Do you have a link? Thanks

Update: I have just been to the Skoda garage to see what they say about this. They looked a bit perplexed and suggested that it might be the toothed belt, that is the timing of the camshaft to the crankshaft might be a tooth out. The belt was changed 10,000 miles and 1 year ago. He suggested that it might have been improperly done or that it could have jumped a tooth. I have never heard of such a thing happening. And as the car started, and ran perfectly well for the past 10,000 miles, the car is not sluggish and the fuel consumption is normal, I do not feel confident in their diagnosis. Also, if this were the case, why would the problem be so intermittant? They are suggesting that they check the timing, thats 2 hours work and about €90. Any thoughts?

Hi JR Thank you very much for replying and confirming my fears. I take it that the camshaft sensor is the same as I was told it was called, ie timing sensor. I am in Spain, lots gets lost in translation! At just shy of €200 to replace, it seems expensive to only be "a fast start feature". After it was replaced, I felt that the car ran better, and pulled better but these things can just be in the imagination. It certainly started better. I see you call this car the best and cheapest car ever - I couldn't agree more. I stupidly moved on to the Octavia FL with the 1.6tdi engine, what a disappointment it was. And what a joy to go back to this older but infinitely better1.9. Thanks again.

Skoda Octavia 2, 1.9 tdi 2008 45,000miles When starting the car while hot, the engine sounds as if the engine fires in the wrong cylinder order, and the engine does not start. After about 2 seconds of this dicordant sound, it sounds as if one cylinder fires before TDC and thus the engine stops turning abrubtly. The engine will then start and run normally. This has happened 3 times. After the second time, the engine would not start instantly as it would normally do, but had to be run on the starter for a few seconds. After it started, it seemed to run ok. I took it to my local Skoda garage who tested it with VCDS and said the timing sensor had failed. They replaced it and the car worked well for 3 weeks. Then today, the engine started again as in paragraph 1, ie sounds like it has fired in the wrong order. Can anybody help me with the diagnosis? I have not yet taken it back to Skoda to see if the new timing sensor has failed.

Skoda Octavia, 1.9 tdi 2008 45,000miles When starting the car while hot, the engine sounds as if the engine fires in the wrong cylinder order, and the engine does not start. After about 2 seconds of this dicordant sound, it sounds as if one cylinder fires before TDC and thus the engine stops turning abrubtly. The engine will then start and run normally. This has happened 3 times. After the second time, the engine would not start instantly as it would normally do, but had to be run on the starter for a few seconds. After it started, it seemed to run ok. I took it to my local Skoda garage who tested it and said the timing sensor had failed. They replaced it and the car worked well for 3 weeks. Then today, the engine started again as in paragraph 1, ie sounds like it has fired in the wrong order. Can anybody help me with the diagnosis? I have not yet taken it back to Skoda to see if the new timing sensor has failed.

I had both rear fog lights switched on today at my local Skoda garage in Velez Malaga in southern Spain, definitely not a main dealer. He had to ask Skoda for the info for doing it on Vag-Com, for which Skoda charged him €15 + vat. Skoda told him to charge me €50! It took him about 5-10 minutes, not bad as he is Spanish and everything was in English, and appeared to be a tick box exercise as far as I could see. He only charged me the €15 for doing it. Now that is service!