hi guys,

I'm wondering whether someone has come accross this problem before... It's octavia VRS TDI early 2007 manual.

i'm unable to start the engine, it's cranking but does not start. I was getting a red oil warning message on my MDF: "STOP Oil Pressure Engine Off". I checked the oil level (can only blame myself for not checking it since I got the car in NOV09) and it was hardly noticable on the dipstick. I got 507.00 compliant top up from Halfords, toped up but it hasn't change anything apart from that i'm not getting the STOP error - just the red icon on the MFD.

I haven't noticed any leaks where the problem started. I haven't seen any leakage today - a night after topping up the oil.

I've called a mobile car mechanic just to plug a computer and read the faults on the ECU, he's coming in a couple of hours but as i've never used the guy before i've got a couple of questions:

a) what could be a possible problem here (before I accept any pricey quotes from him)?

is there any "auto-shutdown" mechanism in the latest TDI engines that would not allow the engine to start in case of the critical low oil level?

c) is it necessary to 'reset' the ECU afterwards the quoted STOP error message comes up on the MDF so that the engine can start as normal??

any thoughts/ideas would be much appreciated.

woocash

Edited 26 January, 201016 yr by woocash

iirc I think that you have to keep cranking and it will start - mate had a similar problem on his a3 tdi.

iirc I think that you have to keep cranking and it will start - mate had a similar problem on his a3 tdi.

Thanks JRW,

From the other hand I've been advised not to crank it in case the issue is more serious than just low oil level? i may try it anyway with the computer plugged in later today though..

I should've added that over the last few weeks I've experienced the famous "cold starting" issue as well as per the below post:

http://briskoda.net/forums/topic/147233-cold-starting-issues-octavia-vrs-pd/page__st__40

the ECU diagnostics didn't report any faults but the mobile mechanic wasn't able to check the basics (glow plugs etc) so I'm not sure whether this could contribute to the problem (cracked cylinder head??? - please nooooooo :( )

thanks again

woocash

Right.... just got my car checked and no good news I'm afraid... no errors recorded on the ECU related to the fault. the guy said possible cambelt out of sync/broken or the acutal engine lost compression. due to lack of time we had to arrange another booking to get the car checked over thoroughly...

woocash

Prolonged cranking without the engine starting can throw the low oil pressure warning, especially if the oil level is low anyway.

Did the warning come on only after a few seconds of continuous cranking? If so, I would suspect an air lock in the fuel system. Has it been parked facing uphill? If so, is it possible to get it turned around so it's facing down, leave it for a bit and try again? Give it a few cycles of key position 2, back to 0. If it is that and it does fire, give it a bit of revs to get it firing on all cylinders before letting it idle.

thanks Wega,

forgot to add that the mechanic undid the band holding a pipe near the air filter (I think) and sprayed something into the inlet while I was cranking the engine (not sure whether I use the right terminology), he said if it didn't do the trick, it's an indication of a more serious problem.

answering your question - yes the warning did come on after a few seconds of cranking. now after a few attempts the behaviour has changed - first of all the batery seems to get weaker and weaker and after a few seconds of cranking, the engine does 'puff' sort of noise, which sounds a bit worying..

the car is parked on a level driveway and unfortunately I won't be able to get it facing down at this point of time. I will try the trick with 2-0 key position.

thanks for your help.

Right, a late update, but possibly could help others..

skoda decided to fire up after I left it for a couple of days. I had a feeling that the behaviour had been weather related (usually where there was a lot of rain/moisture/high humidity) Took the car to one of the audi dealers when a faulty fuel pump had been diagnosed and replaced.

Unfortunately the proble hasn't gone away. A couple of weeks later during some bad london weather the problem manifested itself, had it 4 times in a row within a week.

Took it back to the dealer, under investigation...

as i've just posted on another thread, my Audi had a similar fault, would turn over but not fire up, was water ingression in the wiring loom between car and ECU.

To reset the ECU: disconnect the battery for more than five minutes.

The one touch windows wont work properly until you have wound them all down and back up again.

Hello:

What happened with your problem?

Four days ago I had the exact same problem with a VRS TDI: the engine refused to start, and if I keep on cranking for a few seconds it appeared a message "Oil Pressure Error".

The second time I kept on cranking beyond the "red error" message and the engine started and the problem vanished. Since then I have not been able to reproduce the problem again.

I dont know if I should go to the garage for such an unspecific problem.

corp

The oil pressure error is a result of the engine not starting, don't worry about that if it's only when cranking.

The oil pressure error is a result of the engine not starting, don't worry about that if it's only when cranking.

Ok, more information: A few days later, the same problem happened when starting the engine.

The only thing in common in both situations was the car been parked for several days outside when in high heat (+35 celsius degrees).

Anyway, again the engine started after some seconds of cranking.

Finally, I've been using also the car, and when I've started the engine in my parking, there was no problem, the problem was only when parked outside and when it was high temperature.

corp

On 13/07/2010 at 08:19, corpcd said:

Hello:

What happened with your problem?

Four days ago I had the exact same problem with a VRS TDI: the engine refused to start, and if I keep on cranking for a few seconds it appeared a message "Oil Pressure Error".

The second time I kept on cranking beyond the "red error" message and the engine started and the problem vanished. Since then I have not been able to reproduce the problem again.

I dont know if I should go to the garage for such an unspecific problem.

corp

Hi I'm new here.  I have exactly the same problem with my Octavia Tdi.  I was worried to continue cranking after the beep and oil light coming on. I'm not sure I want to try that but I have to do something.  Has that solved your problem now?