Hi all,

Had a real scary time of it today when my 2001 (Y) 1.9 Tdi (110 Bhp) Elegance cut out in the road works between J26 & 27 of the northbound M1 & refused to start again

At first I thought I might have just stalled it, as I'd been having to creep along in second, stopping & starting, due to a jam & the police who towed me out of there thought I might have run out of fuel (even though the guage was showing the best part of half a tank).

I've been looking through the threads &; although the recovery fellah thought it might be a failed fuel pump, it also sounds as if it could be the well known Relay 109 issue (not had chance to check out the relay as yet, due to having got home after dark), but I'm a bit confused over the latter.

The actual symptoms I'm getting are that all the usual dashboard lights come one when I try to start the engine; including the glow plug light, & the starter motor turns the engine over, but it just doesn't start. With the bonnet up I can actually see the fuel inlet pipe, from the filter, & the fuel in it just doesn't seem to be moving.

On various threads regarding the Relay 109 issue, I've read that the glow plug light does.doesn't come on if this is the problem. Can anyone clarify which state it should be in when attempting to start the engine?

If anyone with greater knowledge of these things than me can offer any other suggestions it'd be most appreciated, as I'm due to go away on holiday for two weeks, on Wednesday, & have to get the car working again before returning to work a week on Monday.

Thanks in advance for any information/suggestions.

is the ignition sending the voltaje to the sparplugs?

is the ignition sending the voltaje to the sparplugs?

Not on a diesel :D

In my experienece a failing X relay (relay 109) does not leave any fault codes behind when the ECU is scanned for faults. For what it costs, it may be worth replacing it as a matter of course, before you start incurring costs for diagnostic time from a garage.

It's just a case of removing the cover around the pedals, identifying the relay (it has 109 printed on it) and replacing it. The relay should cost less than £20.

Not on a diesel :D

jajajaja, i just missed that little piece of information. my bad:rofl:

My brother had the fuel pump on my old 306HDi fail somewhere near to Birmingham on the motorway. He got lorried back to Somerset (best way to beat fuel prices these days!). On the HDi you could hear the fuel pump running when the ignition was on if, if you listened carefully. I can't say I have tried listening for it on the Octavia. iirc the fuel pump is accessed from under the rear seats, so lifting them might help. Could also check there is power being supplied to the fuel pump (ie. 109 relay failure)

Thanks for the ideas so far; have just finished working on it.

I've replaced the fuel filter & have tried obtaining a replacement relay 109; though the one fitted is the newer silver one, but it'll have to wait until Monday morning as all the VAG parts suppliers either didn't have one or didn't open on a Saturday.

The local Skoda garage suggested a fuel pump mounted on the tank, but the Haynes manual says there is only a vacuum pump on the Octavia Tdi, which has left me even more confused.

Looks like a case of trying to plod on with it whilst fitting in everything else I have to do over the next few days.

Thanks again, & please keep any other suggestions coming.

If you have replaced your fuel filter, it is well worth pouring a bit of diesel into it, as otherwise it will take a lot of cranking the engine to get the fuel back into the system.

My HDi was self priming, but such features don't exist on the Octavia (not even a manually operated pump in the fuel hose :-(

Looking at my Octavia service manuals, it would appear the fuel tank does not have a pump in it. See attached

tdi_fuel_tank.pdf

If you have replaced your fuel filter, it is well worth pouring a bit of diesel into it, as otherwise it will take a lot of cranking the engine to get the fuel back into the system.

My HDi was self priming, but such features don't exist on the Octavia (not even a manually operated pump in the fuel hose :-(

I have actually poured the best part of 1;2 litre of diesel into the new filter but, naturally, it would appear that this has created rather large air bubbles in both the delivery & supply pipes.

I nearly flattened the battery cranking it over, but it still won't kick into life.

Oh, & I did think it odd that the Skoda dealer should talk about a possible fault in a puel pump in the tank, when, as you say, the manual states that there is only the vacuum pump unit in the engine compartment. Thanks for confirming my suspicions about this slightly misguided piece of information.

I'll have to give changing relay 109 a go on Monday & possibly look at bleeding the fuel system. Oddly, the Haynes manual states that you can find info on how to clear air from the system in chapter 4B of the manual, but there's nothing to do with bleeding it in there.

Does the relay click when you turn the ignition?, sometimes when holding the relay and simultaneously turning on the ignition, you can 'feel' the relay operate.

You could try slightly loosenening one of the fuel pipes at one of the injectors, that would confirm as to whether fuel is getting to the injector. Be a bit carefull as (hopefully) fuel will leak out.

Have you checked to see if the anti-shudder valve is open? It's located in the EGR housing on the drivers side of the engine, pull off the rubber air intake pipe and have a look. This closes the air intake when the ignition is switched off.