did any of you guys get this sorted? im considering taking into a local VW garage, but im not sure how expensive it might be.

Mines going in under warranty on Monday.

Uncle Bulgaria (Bruce) plugged his vag com in and it showed an immobiliser fault up, which may/may not be the cause.

Have to see what they say on Monday

Just read the above posts and am reminded of my brother having the same prob on his Octavia. I sent him to an car electronic bloke I happen to think is a genius and he told him to fill the car up to the brim and see if the same thing happened. If it did start ok with the fuel level up he then told him to lift the back seat and get to the fuel connection on top of the tank. Apparently it draws air or something when the engine is warm. The cure was to put araldite or some other sealant around the where it leaves the tank. Hope this helps, it cured his.

Well it went in under warranty, and surprise surprise, they cant find fault with the warm starting.

Just said to keep an eye on it and let them know if it does it again

They were also supposed to wipe the fault codes that showed up, and see what comes back on, but they couldnt as some numpty had locked the key in the car, so I had to make a 30 mile round trip to get the other key

Good old Bickertons, never fail to let me down :thumbdwn:

Anyway its back in on Friday to have them wiped off, and a new switch for the interior lock/unlock which has stopped unlocking :(

Will let you know how the warm start issue continues

i had all this with my car from start in the mornings was great first turn of the key then when warm it could take over an hour to start i got rac out and they said it was fuel related not electrical and to check fuel filter as it could still be running with original fuel filter.

okay time to update, I took it to a different dealer who are willing to do the work under the third party warranty. They took it in for a few hours and have diagnosed that it has a faulty Glowplug and Glowplug relay, I guess this could relate to the warm start problem. Will update again when I get it repaired.

took mine back in for another new headunit, which also had a fault, 3 brand new units from skoda which are all faulty? Anyway, it wouldnt start for the mechanic, so now they finally believe me. Its going in again soon, as they think it is either the earths to the starter, or the starter itself. Also the wires to the nearside headlight need replacing as one of the wires is possibly broken. Im at that dealers more than the bloody salesmen. Will post up when they have assessed the starter motor. Cheers, damian.

Quick update for those having warm start trouble. Cars been back in under warranty today for headlight wire and warm start problem investigating further. They believe it to be the starter motor, and are replacing it tomorrow. Finally, they believe me and are doing something to solve it. Will post up tomorrow, when hopefully its cured. Cheers, Damian.

Any progress? My car has had the glowplug and relay fitted and it seems to idle a little smoother, but the warm start problem is unfixed. Im fed up with this car and the hassles, so come November time I think I will be saying goodbye to it and Skoda for good.

I am having the same problem with my 2.0 140BHP.

I have replaced the starter motor twice already - granted with second hand units but the second unit I bought was from a car with only 23,000 miles. The starter turns the engine over fine.

It will start fine from cold but takes 4-6 turns when warm to fire up every time.

Does anyone have a solution to this issue yet?

First thing you need to find out is if the delay is 'intentional' or as a result of the warm engine.

With a warm engine, disconnect the temperature sensor so the ECU thinks the engine is cold. Do you still get the delay?

With the sensor connected again, try jump starting the car. Is there still a delay?

HTH

Where is the temperature sensor connection located?

The car also has a brand new battery as well BTW.

Is it me or is the 2.0TDI PD140 a real dog of an engine?

I had a PD130 and it was perfect for 123,000 miles.

I have had two PD140 engined Octavias and they both been problematic, particularly the current one with a problem spanning 18 months and 62,000 miles.

Sorry to go OT but had to get that one off my chest.

I'm still having this problem with my car. I've replaced all 4 glow plugs and it hasn't helped.

I also now have a cold starting issue - the engine turns over very slowly and just stops as if the engine has got "stuck". It does this for 3-4 attempts and then fires up with clouds of smoke but when you rev it a bit it clears and settles down. It's only like this first thing in the morning/first time you use it in the day.

I bought a brand new battery for the car a while back and a replacement starter that only had 20k on it. I really have no idea what's causing either of these problems - the starter was from a Golf though so it had a different part number than what I required so maybe not the right one?

Sounds like the engine is sufferning from a bit of hydraulic lock.

I hope the engine struggling to turn over isn't related to your coolant leak, doesn't sound electrical seeing as you have a new-ish starter motor and a new battery, sounds like mechanical resistance. A *very* long shot but you could be getting coolant leaking into one of the cylinders slowing the starting process down.

Does your engine have that 'lemony' whiff about it? :rotz:

If the head gasket was gone it would be boiling the coolant which it isn't? There's no sign of oil in the water and no sign of water in the oil. It's totally puzzling.

Oh and when it does start it runs fine and will go all day long. Warm starting takes 3-4 turns of the engine but again once it starts it's fine.

I also now have a cold starting issue - the engine turns over very slowly and just stops as if the engine has got "stuck". It does this for 3-4 attempts and then fires up with clouds of smoke but when you rev it a bit it clears and settles down. It's only like this first thing in the morning/first time you use it in the day.

I bought a brand new battery for the car a while back and a replacement starter that only had 20k on it. I really have no idea what's causing either of these problems - the starter was from a Golf though so it had a different part number than what I required so maybe not the right one?

A couple of suggestions for you to try :

Have you checked the battery voltage to make sure the alternator is charging properly ? If the battery is low the starter will crank too slow and the engine won't start. Check voltage with (a) engine switched off , ( with it running, and © with the starter cranking. From memory look for voltages around (a)12.8, (b)13.9, ©10.8.

Another cause could be electrical connections to the battery or starter motor may be suffering from voltage drop somewhere (check voltage on the starter terminal to detect earthing issues as well).

If you aren't confident doing this properly yourself any (competent) auto electrician (including some at Skoda dealers) should be able to do these tests fairly easily (and therefore without charging you an arm and a leg). Sometimes it is worth paying a little to get a fresh set of eyes (and mind) to look at things.

Many perfectly fine batteries and starters are replaced when the real cause is the alternator/voltage regulator or corrosion in wiring (especially on the earth side).

Please let us know what the problem is when you find it. That adds value to the info on this forum.

The main reason for the problem is the condition of the alternator, battery, wires and starter.

The background of the problem is the fuel map, where are present zero values for the fuel.

More precisely, the higher the temperature, the higher minimum revs are needed to start the fuel injection.

With the time, the above mentioned components are wearing, and the engine do not reach the minimum revs needed to the injection.

There are three main solutions:

1) reconditioning of all four components (the best solution at all );

2) coding the ECU for auto box /there is much favorable fuel map for the autos/, but the engine will run on higher idle revs;

3) substituting the temperature sensor with fixed resistor while starting, just lying the ECU there is much cold engine. This solution is not easy for different engines, because the ECU could render the sensor as "broken".

I'll check the voltages later on and report back - just replaced the fuel filter as well as the old one was pretty black.

EDIT: Just tried jump starting the car and it does seem to make a heck of a difference when warm starting. I suspect the battery may be a dud.

Edited 5 October, 200916 yr by rushhour

Voltages I get are as follows:

Engine off: 12.6V

Running: 13.92V

Cranking: Drops to as low as 10.43V

Between Starter terminal and starter earth: 12.65V

It seems the voltages are correct but how come jump starting it made it start quicker? Maybe it was my imagination. Must try jump starting it when it's dead cold.

Your voltage readings seem reasonable. What voltage do you get at the starter motor terminals (not the battery) when actually cranking (preferably when the engine is warm and being difficult to start) ? Should be around 10.0v, maybe slightly higher. If it is lower than 9.5v then a possible cause is a wiring issue in the starter circuit, but a faulty starter motor that is using too much current could also cause it (as would an engine that is too hard to turn over, but that is very rare indeed)

If that voltage is OK then as Chavdarlk suggests the starter motor might not be cranking fast enough for the ECU to start injecting fuel. You would need to find out what the revs should be and what your starter motor is actually turning over to go further down this road.

If starting improves with an extra battery helping supply current, then it is possible that your problem is on the margin (ie sometimes it is bad enough to cause problems, but other times it isn't). I wouldn't expect the problem to get better of its own accord, so it is probably worth investigating and getting it fixed properly.

I decided again to check the voltages this morning as I hadn't uesd the car since Thursday (I have several work vans). So I popped on the multimeter this morning and the battery was reading 12.26V.

Upon trying to start the car the voltage dropped as low as 6V and somethings 5.something. I think the battery could definately be a dud - I'll have to swap it over with one from one of my vans and see if that does help.

If it is as simple as the battery I'll kick myself - I bought the batter brand new in March/April time and the car hasn't really been used except for the past few weeks. I'll have to search for the receipt now!

If it is as simple as the battery I'll kick myself - I bought the batter brand new in March/April time and the car hasn't really been used except for the past few weeks. I'll have to search for the receipt now!

Are you sure it's not something as simple as not driving it enough ? What's the current drain when the car is stationary ?

TTFN

D

May I humbly suggest to apply the cage protocol to all connectors inside the engine bay? It's cheap and cheaper than any other component swap. I'm suggesting this as the mod on my PD170 did shorten start time either when cold or when warm.

When I do drive it I do at least 100 miles in it - last week was just a very quiet week for work as I work on a call out basis and there weren't any on Friday or Saturday. I haven't driven my 4x4 Nissan pickup since July but I know that if I went out there right now and started it it would fire up straight away.