Has anyone tried changing their fuel filter?

If there was a lot of water in it, then that could potentially freeze and would make flowing the fuel required to start the car a little harder.

Might be nothing, but it's a cheap one to try.

Thanks for the suggestion. However,the fuel filter was changed as part of the service I carried out. Unless the seal is knackered (I'm pretty confident it isn't) then I don't think its that.

My car has had this issue in previous years. It has just had a big service from Skoda and it is still slow to start in cold temperatures.

mine has just come back from the dealership, getting 4 new injectors next week

this is now a recall so if your having problems starting in the morning take to skoda dealership and they will change them for you

Ema, he's already had the injectors changed.

suboilbib, there is another more recent thread on this, it seems to be a common problem on older PD vRS's.

I had my injectors replaced in October and it made no difference to the cold starting issues I have.

The annoying thing is the wife drives a 140PD Scout which starts instantly.

There is another more recent thread on this, it seems to be a common problem on older PD vRS's.

Here it is...

http://briskoda.net/forums/topic/189502-cold-start-problems-with-a-pd-tdi-170/

Interesting to see this thread being resurrected and while I share the pain of others, I take comfort in the fact that it appears to be a VRS TDI problem and not that I just had a Friday car. I swapped mine for a 1.9 TDI estate which got me through the deep snow last year and this year has started on the nose every time in the zero to four degrees we have had so far. OK, so it isn't as much fun, but at least starts and the 16" wheels are so much better in snow!

Top tips from Skoda that don't appear to work:

Multiple Cycling the glow plugs: Waste of time

Starting with Foot on Accelerator: Waste of time

Replacing injectors: Waste of time

Fuel Additives: Waste of time

Replace top block: Waste of time

Engine rebuild: Waste of time

Start car with VW diag box attached: Reports nothing

Moving to hot country: Should help!

I think the bit that annoys me is that there doesn't seem to be any joined up thinking between the dealers as they are all trying the same thing and it is not working. My garage talked about sending the car back to Skoda, but never did it before I got rid of it (perhaps one of you bought it???). This would be a suggestion for someone to demand if you have the time and energy to do so

PSc

There was talk at the beginning of this thread (2009) of a Skoda service bulletin, was this ever proven and if so does anyone have anymore information?

There must be a fix for this!

I too considered glow plugs or the battery as a logical place to start but posts in this thread suggest not.

Just counting back through the number of PD170 vRS owners who have this same issue together with those who have posted more recently in the other similar thread shows that there are at least 10 of us. That isn't coincidence, this is the same fault - whatever it actually is!

That was me who mentioned the technical report and having now been through the experience, I believe now it was someone on the phone at Skoda head office (not the garage) telling me some bullsh*t so that I would leave them alone and stop hassling in the blissful hope that a solution was available quickly.

From reading this thread I get the impression that any service details on it go along the lines of:

Try these things in succession. They won't work, but it will delay the customer enough for the weather to warm up and for them to think the problem has been solved. When the problem comes back next year, try them again. Repeat for three years until the warranty runs out and the customer gets rid of the car to avoid the cost of repairs.

(am I being cynical??)

PSc

Edited 15 December, 201114 yr by Paul_Sc

There is also a small ring seal on the "screw" at the top of the fuel filter housing.

That might well be leaking a little air into the filter housing.

If you're still not getting anywhere, then perhaps looking at clearing out the built up dirt in the intake manifold and having that all cleaned out.

I can imagine that a manifold full of crud and perhaps more fuel that the air allows will make for a poor start.

Bio-derv won't help cold weather starts either as it tends to thicken more than the plain mineral stuff.

While you've got the manifold off, you could perhaps check that area for any signs of damage too.

Temperature sensors and MAF might also be worth checking.

Basically for a derv to start you need to get the cylinder warm and not have too much fuel or that will stop ignition in the cold conditions.

The old Vaseline over the fuel filter lines trick might help too, if there is a small air leak at the connection points of this.

Tut, my PD vRS has been sat on the drive all weekend, covered in frost as it's in the shade.

Got it in this afternoon expecting the usual prolonged / reluctant starting. I wasn't disappointed.

This was the worst it's been, I was expecting it to struggle so I kept the key turned. After what must have been a good 5 seconds, the first three of those with the engine half running it finally caught, coughed and spluttered and then it was fine, as smooth as ever for the rest of the day.

My instinct tells me that I should start with the glow plugs in the hope of curing this?

Right it's booked in.

Dropping it off the day before so that it can be left overnight for them to start in the morning.

Just my luck the temperatures are due to increase substantially this week so it'll probably start like a dream!