Well now I'm unhappy, my 1.9TDI PD SUperb isn't (Superb that is)

Sorry that this is a long rant, but I bought my Skoda on the basis of reliability and its been anything but, with 3 warranty jobs needing carring out, and the latest still hasn't been resolved, and I haven't had the car a year yet.

First problem occurred at the end of January during a cold snap, I was travelling home when my brakes decided that they didn't want to stop the car. It felt like there was a leak or something. Front discs and pads were replaced under warranty and problem was cured.

Second problem occurred about 6 weeks later, there was a problem with virtually all the interior lights, which following discussion on Briskoda, it turned out to be a water leak around the pollen filter housing. This was all sorted out under warranty, though the car had to go in twice, to give the carpets time to dry.

Third problem, occurred on the 10th June, I was about 5 miles into my 50 mile commute, when I set off from a roundabout to go up a slip road and join the M1, it was obvious that there was no turbo. Car went into dealers a couple of days later, and they replaced the MAF and a solenoid valve (??).

Drove the car home and all seemed fine, but when I went onto the motorway, my turbo died again, but now, every time the engine was started, I would have a turbo, but it would be switched off mid boost, also I noticed that there was a strange noise as the turbo began to spool up, or as the revs die back when changing up gear, it sounded like a leak to me, and the car certainly didn't make the noise before.

So back to the dealers, they wanted to have the car for several days, since they would need to take it out on the motorway to test it. After 3 days, I got my car back, and they had replaced the turbo, and it seemed to have cured the fault, but next day on the way to work, it happend again as I was going up a hill.

I couldn't take it back to the dealers straight away as I was going to Belgium for a few days, this was going to be fun with a dicky turbo, and it still made that odd noise. I get back from Belgium, and phone the dealers to arrange for my car to go in and they don't have any courtesy cars available for almost 3 weeks - aarrgghh.

But I had just sussed out a way to drive the car without killing the turbo, if I limit the boost to a couple of seconds, then back off, this would keep the turbo alive - until this morning that is, when it decided that I was going to have no turbo again at all, no matter what i do. There may be a slight hint of boost, but it is only a hint and doesn't help. But the odd noise has changed, it now sounds like a split diaphram vibrating as air escapes - it might not be but it sounds like it to me.

Has anyone any ideas, my personal belief is that the solenoid valve fitted on the first visit was faulty. I've still got 2 weeks to go until the day the car is booked in, but I may have to take a day off work and take it in earlier, though I don't really want to do this, since I'm running out of holidays and this car has already cost me 4 days off work.

I'm currently thinking that I'm soon to be an ex Skoda driver - I can't have an unreliable car, I do over 500 miles per week.

Vince :confused:

Do you know what fault codes are being generated on the ECU, you will generate some even if the engine light doesnt come on.

No, I don't have access to VAGCOM, unless theres a way to get them to show on the Climate Control display ?

Vince

Shame, the VAGCOM error codes tend to be easier and more readily understandable than the vag tool the dealers use and may show something totally different to the dealer.

I don't know much about turbos but it sounds like there is a leak in the system - maybe the DV is opening too soon/stuck open? Or a pipe seal not on properly?

I presume intercoolers can fail just like radiators - would that not mess it all up?

Or a pipe collapsed?

Rob.

Sounds like a call to Skoda Customer services, dealer needs a nudge in the direction of Customer service, If they dont have a loan car then someone should rent one for you

Shame, the VAGCOM error codes tend to be easier and more readily understandable than the vag tool the dealers use and may show something totally different to the dealer.

I wonder why the dealers dont use VAGCOM, if it really is better?

All this assumes the car is a UK car purchased from a UK dealer with a UK warranty?

All this assumes the car is a UK car purchased from a UK dealer with a UK warranty?

UK car - UK dealer - remains of Skoda warranty - I didn't buy it new.

Vince

I wouldnt be prepared to wait that long to get my car fixed, especially as its not the first instance of the fault.

The supply of a loan car would not be a waiting issue,they would have to give me a demo or staff car.

Call me stuffy but I didnt buy a Superb to be treated like an Estelle/Trabant.

Sounds like car is going into limp home mode. Possibly ECU shutting down turbo when boost parameters looks seriously wrong. Could be turbo waste gate, solenoid, wiring, any one of several sensors, ECU, piping even a blocked cat. IIRC limp home mode is reset when ignition is turned off and on though the ECU should retain the fault in its memory. Best to limp to the dealer, without turning off and demand he reads the fault memory with the VAG diagnostic tool.

If you call the AA out and it can't be fixed by the side of the road, you get a hire car for 48 hours. Customer services should also be able to helpn out with a hire / loan car.

Sounds like a problem with the actuator or boost connections....

sounds like limp mode to me..

your customer service sucks!!!

even here in greece, where we are 10-15 years behind on many things,

we get better service than what you mentioned..

the best thing to do in my opinion, since you got some time left before going back to the dealer,

is try to arrange to meet with an experianced vagcom user from this forum,

so that he takes a look at your errors, without deleting them...

you will have a good idea what is the problem by doing this..

Alternatively, if it's a Skoda warranty, why not try another dealer - there are plenty recommended in the reviews section

Chris

Alternatively' date=' if it's a Skoda warranty, why not try another dealer - there are plenty recommended in the reviews section

Chris[/quote']

I agree. If you have no luck with one dealer, try another. Thats what I done with my missing bolt from an engine mount issue.

Just thought I'd bump this back up with the latest news - well I would but there isn't any news, dealer has now had my car for 4 weeks - yep FOUR WEEKS :eek: and it still ain't fixed - so thats a couple of thousand miles I've put on one of their brand new Octavia estates .... so far, well the estate has proved useful at least.

They seem to be changing parts one at a time, and some parts take a day or so to be delivered, basically, the ECU is trying to kill overboost from about 1800 - 2000 rpm and this is the noise I was hearing, I'm not an expert, but I'd expect this to happen at the top of the revs :confused:.

I'm staring to lose my patience, and wondering what to replace this car with, another VAG car I think not, pity because I did like the look of those new Octavias, and the wife was thinking of a furby.

Vince

Hey VINCE?

Was it smoking and trying to die on you when these symptoms occured? Because if so, its the same as my problem... Only solution was to refit the un-chipped ECU and its now running fine... Still working to get to the bottom of why the chipped ECU went all weird though. :(

Hey VINCE?

Was it smoking and trying to die on you when these symptoms occured? Because if so' date=' its the same as my problem... Only solution was to refit the un-chipped ECU and its now running fine... Still working to get to the bottom of why the chipped ECU went all weird though. :([/quote'] No, it wasn't smoking, just makes the noise (ie dump the boost), then if you don't back off after a few seconds, ecu decides theres a problem and 'switches off' the turbo, leaving you with a heavy car and a 1.9 SDI :thumbdwn:

I did learn how to drive it without killing the turbo, but it wasn't too pleasant - foor on the gas, foot off, foot on, foot off - but you could still outdrag many cars on the road even like this.

Mine wasn't chipped, and they've already tried a new ECU 2 weeks ago.

:(

Vince

Edited due to a spelling mistake, I put turno instead of turbo - but maybe it wasn't a typo, my cars got a turno - ie NO TURBO

Well, I thought I'd bump this back to the top, since I've just replied to this thread with some of the gory details.

Well, I got my car back last week, after 7 weeks at the dealers (this time round), having spent a total of 12 out of the last 20 weeks at the dealers, thats right 20 weeks since it first went in.

Basically, after replacing about half of the turbo system, they then thought it had something to do with the breather pipe system, which was all replaced, and still didn't fix it.

Then Skoda had a look at it, and they said to replace the rest of the turbo pipework, even though no leak could be detected.

In the end they had to pass the car to their VW dealership for their Master Technician to look at, and he fixed it in a couple of days.

So they've replaced the entire turbo system basically, turbo, pipes, MAF, ECU, the lot, some twice probably.

A free service and some cash as compensation has helped, but I'm not happy with my experience really.

At the moment, I'm enjoying driving the car, (its like having a new car, its been so long), so I'm not getting rid just yet, I've got 20,000 miles of warranty left or another year whichever comes first, so we'll see if I keep it that long :confused:

Vince

(Still a Skoda owner - surprisingly)

Did they say what the actual fault was? seems like they were clutching at straws in their endeavour to fix it,replacing the most expensive parts first. :confused:

No, but when I picked the car up, they did mentioned several items that had been replaced, including intercolloer, which hadn't been mentioned before. :confused: