Hi all, I've just bought an 53 Octavia Vrs , it's developed a couple of faults :thumbdwn:, no power under 2000rpm and on tick over it's very lumpy, combined with this the traction control warning light comes on. It's been back to the garage and had an oxygen sensor replaced (under warranty) but it's still happening.

Can anyone help?

One of the coil pack's haven't gone have they?

Have you had it scanned for fault codes?

If you don't want to pay a garage to scan it buy a fault code scanner for £20-30 off of ebay or get one of the members in the VAG-Com part of these forums to do a scan for a few beers.

Lumpy idle could be the coolant sensor, the throttle body or the MAF, you'd need a fault code scan to be sure. IIRC a fault with the MAF can also put the TC light on. Try unplugging the MAF and see if it runs better, if thats the case then the MAF needs cleaning or replacing.

could also be vac leaks, not just in the Y pipe but the one under it and the small one under the manifold.

when you say no power under 2000rpm, how severe? mine has slight (what i thought was) turbo lag until 2000rpm when it gets going nicely.. thought this was normal to be honest

Yes, it's under warranty and has been back to the garage twice now, the first time they managed to clear the permenant codes, and yesterday an oxygen sensor was replaced, no sooner had I picked it up was giving the same symptons. Booked in again tomorrow. Will keep you posed on what they find this time.

It varies, at worst very severe, have to drop the clutch to get the engine to rev

Throttle Body clean can't hurt - would have assumed they would have done this though as it is a really cheap fix?

Sounds like the MAF. A faulty MAF can cause the lumpy idle etc + the traction control light.

if its the maf you can unplug it and go for a spin. you will notice a difference straight away.