Rev's build up and lack of boost!

[trickett_james]

NEW OWNER AND FIRST POST SO PLEASE BARE WITH ME!

I am writing this as a new owner (just over a week) of a 2001 Octavia vRS. The car has plenty of power, runs well, and pulls extremely well when you want it to....until today. For the last couple of days the revs have occasionally sat at 1500 when I take it out of gear, but if I lift the pedal up with my foot it will drop.

Today it has done it a few times, but the revs have also started to build up and up until I lift the pedal. There was also a big drop in performance. I could hear the turbo (but not as loud) an the car just didn't pull half aswell (lack of boost maybe?) anyway then driving down a dual carriage way I put my foot down, big woosh and the car was performing as it should again! any ideas?

The car has 3 months warranty and the garage have said I can take it in (after being a bit awkward) but I want to go in with an idea of what it could be so they don't try and pull the wool over my eyes

ANY HELP WOULD BE GREAT! THANKS IN ADVANCE...........JAMES

[David 8]

NEW OWNER AND FIRST POST SO PLEASE BARE WITH ME!

I am writing this as a new owner (just over a week) of a 2001 Octavia vRS. The car has plenty of power, runs well, and pulls extremely well when you want it to....until today. For the last couple of days the revs have occasionally sat at 1500 when I take it out of gear, but if I lift the pedal up with my foot it will drop.

Today it has done it a few times, but the revs have also started to build up and up until I lift the pedal. There was also a big drop in performance. I could hear the turbo (but not as loud) an the car just didn't pull half aswell (lack of boost maybe?) anyway then driving down a dual carriage way I put my foot down, big woosh and the car was performing as it should again! any ideas?

The car has 3 months warranty and the garage have said I can take it in (after being a bit awkward) but I want to go in with an idea of what it could be so they don't try and pull the wool over my eyes

ANY HELP WOULD BE GREAT! THANKS IN ADVANCE...........JAMES

Any lights on the dash ???

It's sounds like when my brake pedal switch was goosed. Which in turn meant that the ecu was thinking I was braking when I wasn't.

Check your brake lights for starters.

Welcome too the site

HTH

[jvaleiron]

You say that when you let your car idle it goes to 1500 and if you lift the pedal they'll drop. ill check the throttle body. check if the butterfly valve closes and opens freely and if the spring that closes it has enough tension.,

[trickett_james]

Thanks for the quick replies!

No lights on the dash, and the brake lights are working fine. If it is something to do with the brake pedal and ECU would I still be able to drop the revs by lifting the pedal up slightly? same goes for the butterfly valve on the throttle body. I was under the impression that pedal doesn't use a cable

any ideas on the Turbo boost / power ? could these be related....the car just seems a little hit and miss

Thanks again!

[David 8]

I'd check the throttle body.

It's all electronic on these cars, the TB is controlled by the ecu, but it does get dirty which in turn messes with the ecu's 5hit........

Have you got a torch ??? If so get your coat on go out and undo the the clip holding your boost pipe on to the inlet manifold have a look and if it's stinking, that could be your problem.

[trickett_james]

ok, definately up for putting my coat on, and I have a torch! What do you mean by stinking....smell? if it is what do i need / can I do to solve the problem?

[David 8]

See here

Thats the pipe disconnected if you look in the throttle body it should be clean

[trickett_james]

lovely....cheers mate just finishing my pizza then off for a look. I presume that if I find the throttle body is dirty I may aswell get it clean at a garage locally(i know a good, cheap, reliable one) before even bothering with the garage I bought it from.....could this potentially solve the problem of revs and power?

[trickett_james]

ok, just been out to the car and removed the boost pipe to have a look at the throttle body.......bad news unfortunately it looks extremely clean...I guess this means it could be something more serious now, any more ideas?

Not happpy, owned the car for a week, booked in for a remap this saturday morning, and now this ruins all my dreams.......just a set back hopefully!

[David 8]

ok, just been out to the car and removed the boost pipe to have a look at the throttle body.......bad news unfortunately it looks extremely clean...I guess this means it could be something more serious now, any more ideas?

Not happpy, owned the car for a week, booked in for a remap this saturday morning, and now this ruins all my dreams.......just a set back hopefully!

You really need it scanned for fault codes, have a look at the vag com list and see if anyone local can help for the price of a few beers like .http://briskoda.net/diagnostics-vag-com/vag-com-owners-map/80992/

[trickett_james]

Cheers for that, Beezasport is the closest in leeds, but cant find him on the members list unfortunately....SIMBO 99 i have just read your comment about the throttle body sticking, this seems to make a lot of sense! When I removed the pipe and tried to move the throttle body I couldn't, should I be able to do this easily? If so this could definately be the problem....Thanks again to everyone helping so far

[trickett_james]

any ideas if I should be able to move the throttle body easily by hand?

[David 8]

any ideas if I should be able to move the throttle body easily by hand?

You can move the flap but be careful as it's quite sharp, open it quickly and have a look the other side of the butterfly thingy.

[trickett_james]

cheers for that......been back out and had a look at the other side of the throttle body...it looks filthy on the other side so will definately have a go at cleaning it tommorrow...excellent guide below if anyone else is looking how to do this

http://briskoda.net/general-technical-guides/cleaning-throttle-body-1-8t-engine/145866/

Does anyone know if there is a possibility that a dirty Throttle body could cause the throttle to stick and occasional lack of power?

[David 8]

cheers for that......been back out and had a look at the other side of the throttle body...it looks filthy on the other side so will definately have a go at cleaning it tommorrow...excellent guide below if anyone else is looking how to do this

http://briskoda.net/general-technical-guides/cleaning-throttle-body-1-8t-engine/145866/

Does anyone know if there is a possibility that a dirty Throttle body could cause the throttle to stick and occasional lack of power?

Yes it can and does. Seems like your on to something there. Don't forget your gasket for when you do the clean.

[trickett_james]

thanks for that, I'll let you know how I get on! Is the new gasket absolutely vital, or just a good idea as I might not get to the garage before the parts dept closes!? if so I will hold on

[Jonny 0101]

I had a similar persistant problem for some time with my Octavia vRS. Boost was fine until the engine was switched off, then non-existent after restart. Turned out to be a new throttle pedal that sorted it. I still get a CEL, but no problems with performance or economy. Could be worth a try if all else fails?:confused:

[trickett_james]

cheers for that jonny. Whats a CEL? I have cleaned out my throttle body and it still happens!?

Just to let everyone know, I have been over to Scarborough today to vist James at CHIPBOOST ChipBoost - Car and Tractor Tuning

I must say that is service was absolutely superb... Me and a mate went over to get the cars remapped (my vRS and his Leon tdi 130) James did us a bit of discount for doing both cars together which was nice. After doing my mates Leon first James spent over an hour on my car to discover that it had already been done by the previous owner (wasn't sure whether to be happy or not!?) James Didn't charge me a bean and still checked that the map was good... and did my mates at the discounted rate, which I thought was superb. I high recommend this guy, very friendly, very cheap, and lots of knowledge.