Since I got my Octy vRS, I've had problems with the dreaded hesitation. I have a warranty from the dealership I brought the car from, however, their not a Skoda dealership, just a big multi brand Midlands based company so their techs, although very friendly and prepared to change anything, don't tend to know the solution to problems without me telling them first. I had the DV replaced since I'd noticed it would randomly drop boost whilst under full load and you could hear the thing venting. This is thankfully now fixed, but it still has the hesitation which occurs most when the thing is cold, and when lifting off to change gear.

This, IMO, is the odd bit. I've noticed that, every morning, the left hand corner I take 100m from the garage causes the engine to completely die (not stall, just lose all power) for about a second. This is the only time it does this. The next left hander, only another 100m doesn't cause anything. It's also the same when leaving from work.

I have no warning lights, VAG COM doesn't highlight any problems (well, apart from the dodgy drivers side window mech and air con diverted flap) so I'm at a bit of a loss.

Just wait about a minute until the revs drop back below 1000rpm and then try it.

It sounds the same as a lot of peoples on here tbh.

Yeah you're right, when it's warm it's fine. It feels like the throttle closing, but the speed at which it happens under normal driving, IMO, means it can't possibly be that. If I sidestep the throttle under load, it doesn't cut as abruptly. My guess would be MAF, but it's a rather costly thing to get them to replace and I don't just want to go round in circles. I need to get my cambelt and pump done soon and am going to take it up to Awesome GTI I think, so I was hoping they might be able to give me a definitive answer.

Secondary air pump possibly.

Does it have any other symptoms and would it affect the running when the engine's warm? It seems that the jolting is better when there's less load on the alternator, ie the aircon is off.

aircon is always a big drain on the car.

Secondary air pump starts up when the engine is cold, its designed to warm the cat up and reduce emmisions, it clicks off after a minute or two. Running is usually fine after that.

Do a search its well covered.

Yeah, I've had a look at the various topics on the hesitation before. There is clearly no 'one stop fix'. It seems bizarre that the secondary air pump would cause the power to drop off. All it does is pump warmish air into the inlet manifold, so, as far as I understand my engines, excess or lack of warm air upon start-up shouldn't cause the engine to loose power, although I don't know how quick the lambda sensor warms up so if it's still on the start-up map I guess it might be running blind for a while causing it to assume values which are in fact wrong due to lower density air.

How easy is it to clean out the MAF sensor since I feel this would be the easiest thing to try first.

I wouldn't worry about it tbh, it's trait of the car which you may never get too the bottom of.

as I said just leave it idle for a minute or so then drive off.

HTH

Sorry to just ur thread but I've got same problem. Mines exactly the same except mine idles funny. I've changed that dodgy turbo pipe and having the temp sensour done tommorow. Fingers crossed it will help. Must be a comon problem with these cars???

Yeah, I've had a look at the various topics on the hesitation before. There is clearly no 'one stop fix'. It seems bizarre that the secondary air pump would cause the power to drop off. All it does is pump warmish air into the inlet manifold, so, as far as I understand my engines, excess or lack of warm air upon start-up shouldn't cause the engine to loose power, although I don't know how quick the lambda sensor warms up so if it's still on the start-up map I guess it might be running blind for a while causing it to assume values which are in fact wrong due to lower density air.

How easy is it to clean out the MAF sensor since I feel this would be the easiest thing to try first.

The secondary air pump actually pumps ambient air down the exhaust pipe, via a port in the exhaust side of the head. Which initiates a post-combustion in the cat, warming it up more rapidly.

The other thing to note is that the VVT system will be active under cold start conditions, along with the secondary air pump. When cold, the VVT system puts the valves into a massive overlap mode. When warmed, both VVT and SA shut down (this is the only time that VVT is used).

So the general effect of both these systems running seems to cause a lot of cars to run like a bag of balls for the first 90 seconds!

Maybe have a look at the pump, to see if the rivets holding the casing together are still there. Sometimes these rivets rust away, leaving a big gap in the compressor housing.

Also, as said, check for vacuum leaks. It's almost always a vac leak if nothing else. You've gotta get touchy feely under the inlet manifold when the engine is running, to see if you can get any strange sucking noises when you poke a hose. Cam cover breather hoses perish aswell....

Let us know how you get on mate, good luck with it.

So the general effect of both these systems running seems to cause a lot of cars to run like a bag of balls for the first 90 seconds!

I think that just about sums up the 1.8t.

And for the 947375689th time,just let the revs drop back to normal speeds when cold and then drive off...........trust me, in "most" cases it works.

No need too go changing loads of parts imo. Although as bodge says have a check on the vacum pipes just to be sure that a split isn't messing with your 5hit.

HTH

I suppose i must be one of the lucky ones that just jumps in and drives off with no problems.

I did fix the air pump a few weeks back, it used to stutter then.

Mine used too do it, then stopped for no apparent reason.

I've had both the crank breather and the pipe under manifold split and it still didn't do it with those split.

It's a bit of wierd one for sure, but then theres no real hardship in waiting one minute until the revs drop.

theres no real hardship in waiting one minute until the revs drop.

:eek: That means getting outta bed one minute early:finger: