Just wondering if I have a problem with the car or if this is the same for all 4x4's

Basically when you are using the car hard & going nearly to the red before changing gear their is a very noticable lack of power for a second or two when you change in the higher gears, its a case of pedal to the floor, the car accelerates gently for a couple of seconds & then go. The car has always been like this & I have assumed its turbo lag but I am just wondering if its something else maybe. Their is no sign of any misfire so Im guessing its not coil related & the car is still pulling indicated speeds of 130+

Anyone got similar problems or any thoughts.

Stuart

Stuart,

wrote something else then re-read your mail; the turbo kicks in around 2k so at the revs your talking about it should be well and truly spinning.

I've had lag when pulling out of junctions but not at speed as it should be spinning well higher up the rev range. I think 80mph is roughly around the 4k mark.

As your almost in the red may be it's hitting the limiter, waiting for a couple fo seconds for the revs to die down and then off you go again(??). Not sure if the 1.8T engine has a soft limiter or not.

Cheers.

Adrian.

Stuart

I noticed this at about 4000rpm and having tried it with the aircon on/off it doesn't seem to matter.

It seems to hold back slightly on the power then the ECU 'lets' it come back in.

It reminds me very much of the 'noise emissions control' built into the Impreza Turbo ECU except that this was normally in 2nd gear - basically it only allowed you about half boost if for a couple of seconds under certain throttle parameters, then the boost would be restored to max after a certain point.

Now I can understand this on the Impreza as to beat drive by noise laws they are noisy when floored and revved in low gears, but this can't apply on the Octavia !

SO my revised theory ?

An emissions/economy control routine whose effect will not be noticed to the same extend when I've had it remapped. It's not particularly annoyed me or been a problem, but I have like you , noticed it !

I've noticed it too. Even with the Abt ECU it's still there and I have to admit it's really annoying to hold you back exactly when you need it most. So I figured it's a throttle-by-wire issue. Any ideas?

SkodiRS, I think the lag pulling out of junctions may be something to do with the traction control reducing power rather than spinning the wheels, Ive thiought of the limiter thing & tried changing slightly earlier but still the same.

Please keep the ideas coming, if its a fault I want to book the car in Easter week as I wont be using it.

Stuart

I think Fab's explanation is totally feasible and not something I thought about. I imagine that this setting would be removed with a remap. Quite possibly it would be shown on a rolling road "before" graph.

May be those who have had the car on a rolling road can post a stock graph.

As for my pulling ut of junctions, I don't think it is the traction control. The traction control operates on applying the brakes to the appropriate spinning wheel; I think. My symptons are just that there does seem to be any power. It's virtually disappeared since I started using Optimax though.

Cheers.

Adrian.

Stuart does it also do it if you hold the revs up between changes?

What I get; which I guess could actually be similar, is a pause in acceleration under some changes. This is normally when I'm pottering though and almost like the engine hiccups, I put this down to fly by wire and the fact the turbo is spooling down...maybe dunno

Originally posted by SkodiRS in this post

As for my pulling ut of junctions, I don't think it is the traction control. The traction control operates on applying the brakes to the appropriate spinning wheel; I think. My symptons are just that there does seem to be any power. It's virtually disappeared since I started using Optimax though.

Cheers.

Adrian.

EDL applies the brakes. But ASR is electrickery that reduces throttle. It'll be the ASR that comes into play if you plant your foot while pulling away.

Easy way to test... you can switch the ASR off (but not the EDL)

Cheers,

Zooty

Trust me, it's not ASR, as that does not exist as a seperate entity on the 4x4.

*if* it was interuption, then it would be ESP, and he would have to be pretty violent (in fact, with 150bhp, very violent) to get that to come into play, you'd see the ESP indicator flashing furiously too. ESP will always try and adjust the line of the car before cutting power, cutting power is a last resort and normally opposite to the braked wheel, you'd know about it!

More than likely it's just how it is on the standard map, I seem to recall something similar myself, but it's been a long time since those non-mapped days!

Oops crossed wires I think. Was referring to SkodiRS's pulling out of junctions rather than Stuart's red lining it

I'm assuming Skodi drives an RS with a name like that

sorry, will go back to sleep.....

Zooty,

tried the ASR off trick before; doesn't seem to make any difference. Not that I think it would as it don't really "gun-it" out of junctions.

I wonder whether it's just me not giving it enough gas or may be I have a slight flat spot. Don't know what it is but it doesn't happen all the time.

Hopefully when I get round to having it chipped everything will be sorted.

Cheers.

Adrian.

Check your dump valve. Disconnect the small vacuum pipe from the top of it and attach a small length of pipe. Suck through this pipe. If you can suck air through it, your DV diaphragm is split. This would have the effect of loss of boost under these conditions. Apparently the standard DV fails regularly even at low mileages. Thanks to Mike at Jabbasport for this diagnostic technique

Just kicking this thread off again with an update and a question for ESP-equipped owners:-

- The momentary pause in power delivery when already at say 4000rpm (ie not to stop wheelspin) seems to have gone away since the car had a Jabba remap. I'm on normal unleaded still.

- Question: I've had the car for 4000m now and leave the ESP on (as you would).

Occasionally though, it seems to rein things in when I don't expect it to - do you get this ???

Example - flooring the accelerator in 2nd just as the front wheels compressed / bottomed out in a sharp dip, it seemed to cut the power / brake (never sure which) quite forcefully - nothing subtle.

I may play around with ESP off in the dry - anyone (Ian,Colin ?) any experience of doing this already as you've had yours longer ?!

You won't recall the hairpin at bowood park, but a smal lhairpin round and down to the right....I got power loss after that on the second run because I dropped the car quite hard around it. The yaw sensor gets confused during vertical movement, thus a compression (Not had a high enough jump to test other side of theory). But the net result is that the ESP light will be on and you will have sod all power till it wakes up. Maybe its as simple as the yaw sensor mercury getting squished out and making a contact...or do I need to leave my bomb making notes behind?

You can I think induce a similar result by left foot braking, or should I say if you try it you'll get a weird result (similar perhaps but without the ESP light) due to the fly by wire systems grrr...

Ian has for some unknown reason got alot more air time and can explain maybe better than me (Cole).

I think we'll have to try and wangle a day at millbrook testing (think it's millbrook, place near Nuneaton)

Or Jon's dip...

Have you tried driving for a while with the ESP off by the way ?

I think its MIRA near Nuneaton as Milbrook is not far from me in M Keynes

Ok the power lag explained on the 4X4 - After having noticed the same problem, having a read of lit and speaking to my dealer i have found out what the lag is....

When you pull away from lights and you floor it but the power just doesn't come until a while later what is happening is the ESP (which actually includes ASR - it doesnt replace it) disingages the engine from the drive slightly until the drive and the engine are nearing similar speeds then it puts the power back on so you can accelerate.... it is programmed to do this to prevent wheel spin etc.

The simple way of counteracting this is to turn off the ESP

Glad I got that one right then - see the post above from May 03

Whatever you do, DON'T leave the ESP on without thinking on rutted ice and snow on the motorway. I've never had to opposite lock as much in my life - on any of the 4x4 cars I've owned. OK off though !

I'll bear all that in mind. What are you driving now, Rob?

Glad I got that one right then - see the post above from May 03

Yeah i noticed it.... just as everyone had wandered away from your answer thought i'd sum it up

Jabba re map also cured it for me

I'll bear all that in mind. What are you driving now, Rob?

I'm now driving my first 'off-roader' 4x4 - the kind that will cope with a foot of snow - so its bound to be a mild winter ! (I hope not)

In 6 months I get something rather more sophisticated and Germanic but you'll be glad to hear that its not a BMW. I do have principles.