Has anyone else who reported having these problems found a solution to them? now the real cold snap has gone away for now has starting improved?

My car has been in at my local garage for the last week and a half as I'm out of the country and dont need it. When I spoke to them last week they had experienced the hessitant starting, but not found a reason for it.

There were no fault codes reported. I have not spoken to them yet this week, because they were going to check a few other things but its looking like there not going to find anything.

They did have the battery go flet on them, one morning but susspected that it may have been caused by the car not being used, and just being started each morning to move in and out of the workshop, as they had tested the battery andit was showing as fine on the battery test.

Has anyone else who reported having these problems found a solution to them? now the real cold snap has gone away for now has starting improved?

My car has been in at my local garage for the last week and a half as I'm out of the country and dont need it. When I spoke to them last week they had experienced the hessitant starting, but not found a reason for it.

There were no fault codes reported. I have not spoken to them yet this week, because they were going to check a few other things but its looking like there not going to find anything.

They did have the battery go flet on them, one morning but susspected that it may have been caused by the car not being used, and just being started each morning to move in and out of the workshop, as they had tested the battery andit was showing as fine on the battery test.

Mine was having this problem, but now the weather has warmed up a bit, it starts first time every time again.

Got mine back from the garage yesterday after a cyclinder head replacement. For anyone considering this, (especially out of warranty), be aware that they had it a week and admitted at the end that full engine replacements are easier and quicker! For reference they did a lot of remote diagnostics while they had the car with Skoda UK connected remotely into their diagnostics box to look at the data being spat out live. This meant both the garage and Skoda UK experienced the problem.

Of course, it is sods law that the cold snap is over (damn snow has gone when I need it!), so I am just keeping my fingers crossed the 0 degree temps they are promising this week materialise.

It started ok this morning - a little lumpy, but that could just be me being over sensitive, but the dashboard was showing 6 degrees which I don't consider cold.

For reference I was told that Skoda do know of this problem and apparently a cyclinder head replacement will fix the problem..... We shall wait and see. If it does it again, it is straight back in there because the warrentee is out in Nov and I don't want to wait till next winter.

PSc

My car is in overnight for investigation tomorrow morning with this problem. I was slightly surprised to get a call this morning having only dropped it off a few hours earlier to say that, without actually experiencing the problem, they were going to try and do something with the engine earthing points? I politely reminded them that perhaps it would be a good idea to check the car in the morning before doing carrying out any work.

Anyone know what this earthing point stuff is and whether its likely to make the slightest difference? I'm not sure whether I should let them do this, since they'll charge me £80 for the priviledge, but I get the impression that other avenues of investigation are shut until they've tried it. Advice thoroughly welcome.

Second, there's been many reports of ice/water in intercooler pipings here in Finland.

Give the garage a hint about the ice/water in the intercooler (boost) pipings! Here's picture taken from the intercooler pipe inside:

One reason given to this problem is too big intercooler which freezes the water in the air. When this water melts and gets in to the cylinder there's for sure a cyclinder head replacement has to be done.

Edited 20 January, 201016 yr by TKU

A week in and reasonably cold temps and it has started without any problems. 3 degrees was the lowest it went, so it isn't a great test, but it looks positive at the moment.

Additionally, pulling off in 2nd from a few miles an hour is suddenly now possible. Before if you tried it, the car would most likely stall, unless you slipped the clutch something rotten. My previous 140 PD octy never had that problem, so I always just put it down to the fact that the 170 PD engine is more tuned.

PSc

:'( Bad bad bad. Anything below about 3 or 4 degrees and it is back to the old coughing and spluttering into life. I am going to start filming it to give Skoda evidence in case they don't believe me that it still does it even after a cyclinder head replacement.

Has anyone else had any luck?

PSc

:'( Bad bad bad. Anything below about 3 or 4 degrees and it is back to the old coughing and spluttering into life. I am going to start filming it to give Skoda evidence in case they don't believe me that it still does it even after a cyclinder head replacement.

Has anyone else had any luck?

PSc

Sorry to hear the cylinder head replacement didn't work but I'm also quite relieved from a personal point f view. My car continues to splutter on cold morninigs.

I wonder if the time setting for the glow plug is a problem.....On my car its set to 2 seconds (checked on a friends diagnostic thingy) I wonder if increasing this time might have a positive effect????

Sounds like we are all back to square one.

Can you adjust that with VAG.com?

Certainly my Fabia seems to take longer for the glow plugs to go out. The coughing and spluttering feels like the engine is being starved of fuel. However, as it only happens when really cold, it would imply, that the engine is not coming up to temp and therefore the engine won't start and run on it's own. (I think it needs to be up to a certain speeds before the electronics will let it start). After 3 or 4 seconds of the starter motor doing the muscle work, it coughs into life, but frequently is lumpy and juddering, implying that not all cyclinders are firing. Then 5 - 10 seconds later, the engine warms up a bit more and all 4 cyclinders start firing. This is what it "feels" like though.

I won't deny that my experience of engines is 80's and 90s fiestas, but, I am sure that even with all the modern electronics the basics of "suck fuel, and squeeze it until it goes pop", haven't changed much.

Waiting to hear back on Skoda's next move, but basically it will be a case of: "keep the car, and don't give it back until fixed"

PSc

Hi, I have been reading all your posts hoping for an answer as I don't have a warranty to fall back on. My 02 Octavia diesel has always started 1st time until we had a new cambelt. Since that day it struggles for the 1st start every morning whether it is cold or warm. We go to a very good independant garage & the car is due back tomorrow as they are stumped by this. On the odd occasion it starts but mainly it turns over & coughs and loads of smoke comes from the exhaust. It was black initially but is now white. After this first start the car is then fine for the day & starts 1 st time every time until next morning. It runs ok but has done 130k miles so is noisy & rougher than it was. We had new glow plugs as 2 were down, then the vw computer showed a starter management system problem so we had that changed but it is still the same. We can't keep spending out as the car isn't worth what we're spending but it is so infuriating after all these years when other than that it is fine. They have spoken to Skoda UK with no success.

Hi, I have been reading all your posts hoping for an answer as I don't have a warranty to fall back on. My 02 Octavia diesel has always started 1st time until we had a new cambelt. Since that day it struggles for the 1st start every morning whether it is cold or warm. We go to a very good independant garage & the car is due back tomorrow as they are stumped by this. On the odd occasion it starts but mainly it turns over & coughs and loads of smoke comes from the exhaust. It was black initially but is now white. After this first start the car is then fine for the day & starts 1 st time every time until next morning. It runs ok but has done 130k miles so is noisy & rougher than it was. We had new glow plugs as 2 were down, then the vw computer showed a starter management system problem so we had that changed but it is still the same. We can't keep spending out as the car isn't worth what we're spending but it is so infuriating after all these years when other than that it is fine. They have spoken to Skoda UK with no success.

First thing to check I guess is the cam belt timing but Im guessing they have thought of that

We have similar problems on our 52 plate & have had for about 18 months, car has done 156000 miles. In the summer starts fine, in the cold of winter always starts albeit a bit lumpy & you get a big cloud of diesel smoke for a second or two until the lumpy running settles. The cars then fine for the rest of the day. Ive tried glowplugs as they are easy & it made no difference, likewise 2 or 3 warms on the ignition before cranking makes no difference.

One chap I know hes a bit of a VAG whiz mechanic is convinced its the oil pump getting tired, The car has hydraulic tappets & if the pumps tired it takes a few seconds to get the pressure up. Ours has always been on variable servicing which means over 20K between services & a very heavy oil, all of which makes the pumps life hard.

Another thought is a drippy injector but they are rather expensive !

Thanks for that. It is back to the garage tonight to see how it starts for him in the morning. Last time it started ok (sods law) but hopefully this time it won't. I'll discuss the various bits of info that have come off here and see if that helps, but if it turns out to be anything too expensive I think we'll have to call it a day. Such a waste of a good car!! :'(

First thing to check I guess is the cam belt timing but Im guessing they have thought of that

We have similar problems on our 52 plate & have had for about 18 months, car has done 156000 miles. In the summer starts fine, in the cold of winter always starts albeit a bit lumpy & you get a big cloud of diesel smoke for a second or two until the lumpy running settles. The cars then fine for the rest of the day. Ive tried glowplugs as they are easy & it made no difference, likewise 2 or 3 warms on the ignition before cranking makes no difference.

One chap I know hes a bit of a VAG whiz mechanic is convinced its the oil pump getting tired, The car has hydraulic tappets & if the pumps tired it takes a few seconds to get the pressure up. Ours has always been on variable servicing which means over 20K between services & a very heavy oil, all of which makes the pumps life hard.

Another thought is a drippy injector but they are rather expensive !

Hi again. Well our garage haven't completely solved the problem, but had a bit of a brainwave & put in a much thinner synthetic oil, after flushing out. Since we've had it back it's started first time every day, even in the snow. It still doesn't fire like it used to & turns over a couple of times but it isn't making the horrible banging noise & doesn't feel like it won't start and the huge amount of smoke has gone. It also feels better and quiter in gereral, so if it keeps it plodding along for a bit longer, all well and good

First thing to check I guess is the cam belt timing but Im guessing they have thought of that

We have similar problems on our 52 plate & have had for about 18 months, car has done 156000 miles. In the summer starts fine, in the cold of winter always starts albeit a bit lumpy & you get a big cloud of diesel smoke for a second or two until the lumpy running settles. The cars then fine for the rest of the day. Ive tried glowplugs as they are easy & it made no difference, likewise 2 or 3 warms on the ignition before cranking makes no difference.

One chap I know hes a bit of a VAG whiz mechanic is convinced its the oil pump getting tired, The car has hydraulic tappets & if the pumps tired it takes a few seconds to get the pressure up. Ours has always been on variable servicing which means over 20K between services & a very heavy oil, all of which makes the pumps life hard.

Another thought is a drippy injector but they are rather expensive !

Might be worth getting the injectors sonically cleaned or re-nozzled as they do tend to have a tendancy to start lose the spray pattern at around 80k. At that point you cna end up with the fuel going on the bores or in a not very fine mist. This will result in the combustion being quelled due to too much fuel, hence you'll get a lumpy engine and dirty (black) exhaust for a few seconds.

Certainly that used to happen with a couple of XUD engines I saw after about 150k and was fixed as above.

Cleaning them isn't too expensive IIRC.

Hi again. Well our garage haven't completely solved the problem, but had a bit of a brainwave & put in a much thinner synthetic oil, after flushing out. Since we've had it back it's started first time every day, even in the snow. It still doesn't fire like it used to & turns over a couple of times but it isn't making the horrible banging noise & doesn't feel like it won't start and the huge amount of smoke has gone. It also feels better and quiter in gereral, so if it keeps it plodding along for a bit longer, all well and good

What oil have you put in?

For a 110TDI you can use 5w30 Longlife III oil (VW507) or even better for this a 0w-30 (VW506.1) oil such as Quantum Longlife.

Edited 12 February, 201016 yr by cheezemonkhai

Hi

Just wanted to say having the same problem

Gets cold and the car does not like starting. The dealer has tried the following

• Injector Cleaner
  
• Injector Seals (not sure exactly what they did here sorry?)
  
• New Battery
  
• Regenerate DPF filter
  

To be fair they haven't given up yet and they are waiting to hear back from Skoda technical, but I will point them towards the cyclinder head replacement, althought I am sure they are aware of this...

Has any actually had the issue resolved fully by the cyclinder head replacement?

Thanks

Oh I have 170 VRs with 80k on the clock, 2007 model.

Mine is going back in.

Cyclinder head replacement has not been successful and it is doing it every morning now (though in fairness it is chuffin cold every morning). All the other things you list have also been done.

Wonderfully it did it with a Skoda Diag unit attachted to it and no fault codes were shown.

The garage have been good about it, but they are stumped. It seems to be getting worse also which is concerning. I don't know if this is for a technical reason or that the car is just very cold for much for the day and night, rather than just at night.

PSc

Hi, new member here, found the forum in an attempt to find out if anyone else had the same problems as me. Mine is a 2008 vRS 170 PD, and am having what sounds like similar starting problems. Cold weather and it's very slow to start and turnover, in fact, couple of times now it has completely failed to start at all. Symptoms are exaclty like a flat battery, and took jump leads to get it started. Obvious answer would seem to be a new battery and/or alternator. However

a ) once it's running, everything is fine, all electrics work fine, and starting after it's been started once is no problem

b ) been to the garage yesterday, and they say they can find no faults or problems

advice or similar experiences appreciated

oh, p.s. that engine management light is on all the time, has been for months now, goes in to dealer, goes off, and then a couple of days later comes back on. dunno if it has any relvance, seems to have no effect on engine running or performance (?)

Edited 23 February, 201016 yr by slider107

Might be worth getting the injectors sonically cleaned or re-nozzled as they do tend to have a tendancy to start lose the spray pattern at around 80k. At that point you cna end up with the fuel going on the bores or in a not very fine mist. This will result in the combustion being quelled due to too much fuel, hence you'll get a lumpy engine and dirty (black) exhaust for a few seconds.

Certainly that used to happen with a couple of XUD engines I saw after about 150k and was fixed as above.

Cleaning them isn't too expensive IIRC.

What oil have you put in?

For a 110TDI you can use 5w30 Longlife III oil (VW507) or even better for this a 0w-30 (VW506.1) oil such as Quantum Longlife.

As far as I remember he put in the 5w30, as that rings a bell. The car is still starting better and will do, but having read all of these posts, if our car was younger I'd be taking more action on this as it is obvious they have a big problem here & aren't sorting it. Our car is old and they aren't interested in it or us any more, so once it gives up completely that'll be it. I won't be buying another until this goes away sadly as I vote with my feet not my heart. Until the Fabia does something wrong though, that can stay.....

Quick update and the news is sad.

Despite best attempts, a solution has not been forthcoming and we have had enough and finally decided to trade the car in for a different one.

I will say that Progress Skoda have been very good and I would like to thank them for their work, but at the end of the day I don't think Skoda UK actually know what the problem is and as much fun as the VRS is, I do not have the time in my life to have to deal with waiting for a solution (even under warranty).

Hope others are more lucky

PSc

Edited 24 March, 201016 yr by Paul_Sc

similarly getting pee'd off with no solutions as yet. got to a UK skoda dealer week before last, diagnosed an under-performing alternator, which was replaced. over the following week the car got slower and slower to start, and on sunday, after 180 miles of motorway driving, no lights wipers etc on, stopped brefily and it failed to start again!. then this morning it started fine, did 4 short journeys, started fine each time, then 5th stop, failed to even turnover. connected jump leads and still failed to start. swapped to a spare battery and it started fine. later today stalled it pulling a trailer and it failed to start, failed to even turn over, connected a battery starter pack and it started. drove 3 miles into town, parked on a hill and had battery pack in the boot, went back to it and it started fine!! going back in to garage tomorrow again (assuming i can get it there!) will update when i know more

I'm having the same problems too ( 55 plate 140PD only covered 35,000 miles.

After doing a long journey or even a short journey, next morning the car struggles to start. It often takes 3 or 4 attempts to start. I can hear the starter motor turning, but the car just won't start.

Had it into the garage twice, even left it in for 2 days so that the garage could start it from cold and check for faults etc. But nothing, no faults at all. Replaced battery, this has made no difference, and infact this went flat in 4 days! So possibly a battery problem too. GRRR I'm fed up....

latest is that the entire loom and ecu are now going to get replaced. not sure they actually know what's wrong or have found a fault, just are throwing everything out and starting again!! Very grateful it's still under warranty though. nonetheless a major pain as there is no loonger a skoda dealer in the isle of man, so means a £200 boat journey and a day travelling every time major warrnaty work required :(

Hi.

Sorry to resurrect an old thread like this.

I was just wondering if anyone actually found a solution to this problem?

I gave my 57 plate Octy a major service at the same time as it had the injectors replaced by Skoda CS. Ever since then it has had the same symptoms as those reported earlier in this thread when the weather is cold.

I am not sure if it may have anything to do with it but when my car was having the injectors changed the dealer reported that they had had some difficulty in bleeding the fuel system.