I am hoping that I can get some advice regarding the following:-

I purchased my new Octavia on December 6th last year and I have currently done around 800 miles. Since taking delivery starting the car has been a very hit and miss affair, it rarely starts on the first turn of the key, normally two or three turns and it will fire.

The problem, I think, is that the cold start/choke does not seem to work. The idling speed of the car is around 650/700 rpm at normal engine temperature. When the car eventually starts it always returns to 650 rpm immediately, if the cold start was working would it not run at about 800/900 rpm until the engine was running correctly ? The bad starting happens whether the engine is hot or cold.

The car was taken to my dealer last Friday and the conclusion was:-

“I’ve stuck it on the diagnostics Sir and there’s nothing wrong with it, and there’s nothing on the VW database saying there are starting problems “. My reply was to the effect that if it doesn’t start first time then there is something wrong with it. The final comment from the service manger was “ What you have to remember Sir is that you have a brand new car with a brand new VW engine, you have got to expect a few teething problems, keep an eye on it thoughâ€

I will obviously be pursuing the matter but I would be grateful for any advice of the cold starting issue (if I am right that is). It seems that you have to tell SKODA service engineers what to do rather than seek their advice.

Many thanks

By the way smashing car in spite of all that!!

It's the same with all new engines, sometimes they don't know what to look for because there aren't many/any other reported issues of the same nature.

Had my 1.4 TSi for 8 months - starts first time every time, hot or cold.

Had my 1.4 TSi for 8 months - starts first time every time, hot or cold.

3 months and +1. I think Holts still do a spark checker which causes the spark to jump a variable gap to test its strength. If there's anything down on the coil(pack) it could show up there. Don't know if the diagnostics has a measure of the actual voltage to the plugs.

It sounds to me that the ECU thinks it is at normal temp when cold.

I would take it to another dealer TBH...

I have had my 1.4 TSI for 6 months now. The engine starts at the first try every morning, regardless of the outside temperature (14 degrees C below zero these days).

I would take the car to another garage for a second opinion.

+1 on try another dealer

I think Holts still do a spark checker which causes the spark to jump a variable gap to test its strength.

Unfortunately doesn't seem to be available any more, presumably because electronic ignitions are so reliable now, they either work or they don't, so knowing how strong a spark is being produce is more for 'classic' and pre-electronic ignition cars.

Seems you've come across the usual "no code no fault" attiude. You'd be better off (from experiance) going to where ever you purchased the car from. The supplying dealer will have more incentive to fix it as you have more rights under Sale of Goods Act.

Did you use any finance such as 0% offer? If so, get in touch with them and its down to them to sort it out for you, Otherwise take it back and leave it with them until its sorted and starting first time everytime otherwise you want another car. I found you need to get tough with the dealers or you get fobbed off.

Have you tried parking it on a hill?

Or a member with VCDS?

I took delivery of an Octavia 1.4 tsi with DSG gearbox on the 15th March 2010.

Because I have been on holiday I have only done about 80 miles; however, apart from the first two days, when the car started O K, it has been reluctant to start.

It's as if the engine is only running on 2 or 3 cylinders until I feather the throttle to get it going properly. Sometimes it runs at idleing speed and then dies.

As yet I have not had chance to get back to the dealers but I would be interested to hear of any other owners who are experiencing this problem

You may be interested to know that since I started this topic I have been returning to the Skoda dealer twice a month only to be told that the diagnostics are returning "no fault". I have been to another Skoda dealer and an Independent diagnostics firm. All report "no fault". I have had friends and neighbours try to start the car all to no avail. I am still experiencing the same problem, the car will not start unless I depress the throttle, it does fire but by depressing the throttle it will fire up to 3 o4 thousand revs, not my idea of looking after the engine. It looks as if I will going back to SEAT fairly shortly.

sadly this is what happens when they remove the real mechanics from garages and bring in stupid logs in cars ecus.

im sure most of the people who plug in the computer dont even know where the throttle body is

Best bet is next time it won't start, have the Skods Assistance come out to you to witness it. Otherwise, leave it with a Skoda dealer until they find/fix the fault, its not down to you to prove the fault is'nt there. HAve that kept the car over night to test it?

Have booked it in on Saturday morning for a diagnostic.

Will let you all know the result.

I'm rather alarmed by this. I've just ordered a 1.4 DSG...

dill

You may be interested to know that since I started this topic I have been returning to the Skoda dealer twice a month only to be told that the diagnostics are returning "no fault". I have been to another Skoda dealer and an Independent diagnostics firm. All report "no fault". I have had friends and neighbours try to start the car all to no avail. I am still experiencing the same problem, the car will not start unless I depress the throttle, it does fire but by depressing the throttle it will fire up to 3 o4 thousand revs, not my idea of looking after the engine. It looks as if I will going back to SEAT fairly shortly.

Well I've had the diagnostic done and , you've guessed it, nothing showing on the computer; howevr, the mechanic decided to check the battery in case there was not enough voltage at startup. He carried out a discharge test and found that the battery is duff. This has been replaced under warranty but I will not know whether it has cured the starting problem until tomorrow morning. Will let you know the result.

If Ahab sees this could you please let me know what your fuel consumption is, either by computer or checking between fillups.

Thanks

lets hope this resolves your issue. nice to see the tech thought about thinking for once

Well I've had the diagnostic done and , you've guessed it, nothing showing on the computer; howevr, the mechanic decided to check the battery in case there was not enough voltage at startup. He carried out a discharge test and found that the battery is duff. This has been replaced under warranty but I will not know whether it has cured the starting problem until tomorrow morning. Will let you know the result.

If Ahab sees this could you please let me know what your fuel consumption is, either by computer or checking between fillups.

Thanks

Many thanks for posting your results yet another idea to submit to my garage. As far as fuel consumption is concerned, I have completed around 1200 miles now and keeping records from fill ups I am getting 39.7 mpg, not up to Skoda's figure but I think that is my driving more than the car

Edited 3 April, 201016 yr by Ahab

Many thanks for posting your results yet another idea to submit to my garage. As far as fuel consumption is concerned, I have completed around 1200 miles now and keeping records from fill ups I am getting 39.7 mpg, not up to Skoda's figure but I think that is my driving more than the car

Well I tried it this morning, after the battery replacement, and there is no difference. So the next step is for the garage to have the vehicle overnight and start it with it hooked up to the computer.

Will let you know the results.

Well I tried it this morning, after the battery replacement, and there is no difference. So the next step is for the garage to have the vehicle overnight and start it with it hooked up to the computer.

Will let you know the results.

Thanks for the update, mine is due to go in next friday.

Edited 4 April, 201016 yr by Ahab

You probably need a softwareupdate of your engine control unit.

Here's a video of my car before the update, maybe it looks familiar to you.

Since the update the engine starts without problems. My Skoda dealer updated the ECU to Version 5118 last year, but afaik there's a newer version available.

Thanks for the information. Mine is not quite as bad as the one in the video but has the same symptoms.

This proves how useful this type of site is.

If anyone knows the current version number of the ECU software please post a reply.

Thanks in anticipation.

After 4 days of starting normally the problem returned this morning. The garage is keeping it overnight and checking the starting in the morning.

Fingers crossed!