Good Morning all!

I'm posting this as i'm at a bit of a loss in which direction to go in with the my 53 Plate Ocativa VRS 1.8T.

Its a completly standard car, apart from changing the "Breather" hoses for the Silicon ones from Awesome GTI.

I'm have a bit of trouble with cold starts, when cold starting the car, the car really doesn't like low rev's going up the street. its as if its running on 3 Cylinders.

Take the foot of clutch, bif of gas, and it recovers. However its a quite a pain.

A warmer start it seems to run absolutley fine.

The thing that made me post this, i've just been away on buisness driving a Mk5 Golf TSI, and it was so smooth, and whilst the car has got 7 years on the Octy, i think it should at least be comparable in smooth starting.

I drove the car last night, and it almost didnt' want to start.

I've changed, the Spark Plugs, and had a recent service etc.

The only faults found on my VAG Com are for the secondary air pump.

What things do you suggest doing to get the car running smoothly again ? I'm quite confident in doing most things on a car

Many THanks in Advance...

Coolant sensor could be reading wrong and telling the ecu it's warm when it's cold.

Easy to change, but get a genuine one as the copies are known to be useless.

You could do with a scan to if theres any fault codes really

HTH

Also change the intake air temperature sensor in the inlet manifold, and clean the throttle body.

not sure if you already know this but during the secondary intake cycle the car will feel very rough to drive as it is getting the cat heated up quicker.

this will make it feel like a bucking bronko sometimes and very jerky on the uptake, and seeing as you have a problem with the secondary air pump this would only make it worse.

If you are having problems if i was you i would get rid of the secondary pump I know some people have on here

if you have a search there is lots of similar problems like this one.. if it runs fine warm 99% sure it would be the secondary air pump http://briskoda.net/forums/topic/95487-poor-running-on-cold-start-ideas/page__p__1175786__hl__octavia%20cold%20running__fromsearch__1entry1175786

Edited 18 November, 201015 yr by Lew_VRS

"not sure if you already know this but during the secondary intake cycle the car will feel very rough to drive as it is getting the cat heated up quicker."

+1

I always try to wait until the tickover starts to drop before driving off otherwise it will run very unevenly at low revs,

(especially more so when the outside air temperature is low), plus also gives the oil time to circulate everywhere.

Good Luck

Peter

"not sure if you already know this but during the secondary intake cycle the car will feel very rough to drive as it is getting the cat heated up quicker."

+1

I always try to wait until the tickover starts to drop before driving off otherwise it will run very unevenly at low revs,

(especially more so when the outside air temperature is low), plus also gives the oil time to circulate everywhere.

Good Luck

Peter

agreed, bar reversing my car out of the entry i don't actually drive the car until its dropped below 1000 rpm, just pointless and hard to drive

not sure if you already know this but during the secondary intake cycle the car will feel very rough to drive as it is getting the cat heated up quicker.

this will make it feel like a bucking bronko sometimes and very jerky on the uptake, and seeing as you have a problem with the secondary air pump this would only make it worse.

If you are having problems if i was you i would get rid of the secondary pump I know some people have on here

if you have a search there is lots of similar problems like this one.. if it runs fine warm 99% sure it would be the secondary air pump http://briskoda.net/forums/topic/95487-poor-running-on-cold-start-ideas/page__p__1175786__hl__octavia%20cold%20running__fromsearch__1entry1175786

"not sure if you already know this but during the secondary intake cycle the car will feel very rough to drive as it is getting the cat heated up quicker."

+1

I always try to wait until the tickover starts to drop before driving off otherwise it will run very unevenly at low revs,

(especially more so when the outside air temperature is low), plus also gives the oil time to circulate everywhere.

Good Luck

Peter

agreed, bar reversing my car out of the entry i don't actually drive the car until its dropped below 1000 rpm, just pointless and hard to drive

I'm guessing you all have problems, I can not see, for a second, that VAG would sell a car that runs badly when cold! Maybe my car is broken as I just start it and drive to work without any problems!

Some do it some don't. Mine used too bit doesn't anymore

Mine is very very slightly hesitant on driving off when cold. Cleaning the throttle body normally helps smooth it out low end.

MIne used to do it before I changed a few things. Hasn't done it for a couple of years now.

They obviously never did it when new, and it's not normal, so something does need fixing. You can "drive around it" like everyone says, but you can also fix it if you want. Just depends how much it bothers you..........

, but you can also fix it if you want. Just depends how much it bothers you..........

Whats the fix then ??? lol

Did anyone ever get to the bottom of it ???

Whats the fix then ??? lol

Did anyone ever get to the bottom of it ???

Ha! Yeah that's the problem, I've changed so much I can't be sure what it was!

I've never touched the SAP, or MAF, N75, N112, Combi Valve or MAP.....

But I changed the IAT sensor, CTS, N249, plugs, air filter, DV, breather hoses, vac hoses, boost hoses and cleaned the TB. I have a suspicion that it was the IAT sensor that did it though, as the timing matches up from my memory.

When I first bought it, it would kangaroo down the road and splutter like hell when driving from cold start. But it doesn't now.....

I've been thinking about this as well. I get a very slight flat spot when I first move but by the time I'm in second gear (not long when cold lol) it's gone, and it's only first thing in the morning.

And I can't remember anything electrical being canged on mine that made a difference, in fact I've only ever changed the CTS (under warranty when I first had it) I had new coilpacks recently but it stopped a few years back before that episode.

I've done a few TB cleans now and then so maybe they did the trick, and the two breather (under the mani and the Y pipe) were changed as well but I think it stopped by then.

Edit.... the plugs were done at some point as well

The search continues ............................

I still have the same problem runs like a pig/kangaroo for the first couple of hundred yards then fine. Been ok all summer mainly when its cold. Garage haven't a clue

I resolve my problem by changing the fuel filter, during the spring or summer I had no problem but when temperature started to drop first 10-20sec where horrible. Revs were going up and down, there were little or no throttle response.

I was suspecting that something was wrong with the fuel delivery so I turned ignition key to ON then waited so the fuel pump can do her thing then switched to OFF the again to ON. Tried that a couple of times and everytime I had no problem.

+1 to all this - I always without fail let my vrs warm up for 5 mins before I drive it, and it seems to appreciate it!

+1 to all this - I always without fail let my vrs warm up for 5 mins before I drive it, and it seems to appreciate it!

The manual says that the radiator doesnt get enough airflow if you do this. Maybe its not true but if my car was a dog for the first couple of miles it would suggest something was wrong. I just try to keep it under 2000 rpm till the engine is warm.

The manual says that the radiator doesnt get enough airflow if you do this. Maybe its not true but if my car was a dog for the first couple of miles it would suggest something was wrong. I just try to keep it under 2000 rpm till the engine is warm.

I'm probably going to make myself sound thick here, but i thought the radiator was used for cooling, and we're talking about warming the car up, so wouldn't have thought the rad and air flow to it would come into the equasion?

I'm probably going to make myself sound thick here, but i thought the radiator was used for cooling, and we're talking about warming the car up, so wouldn't have thought the rad and air flow to it would come into the equasion?

I thought running the engine while scraping off the ice was a good idea in winter. Maybe it only applies if you live in a desert. I thought it was weird thats why I remembered it!

One minute approx to let the secondry air pump do its thing then drive off.

That should cure most problems with jerking/stuttering etc. And doesn't upset the hippies about the enviroment lol

it does say in the owners manual that not driving off straight away isnt ideal for the car and it should be driven off at once ? .....

it does say in the owners manual that not driving off straight away isnt ideal for the car and it should be driven off at once ? .....

Hmm depends how you drive, I always haven't drove straight away to let oil circulate the engine and components, I'm a little paranoid like that

Most turbo wear happens due to hard driving in the first few minutes due to poor circulation/starvation of oil or coolant

Obviously you know not to floor it stone cold dead from the off but I prefer to leave it sitting idle for a minute or so.

Edited 7 December, 201015 yr by Lew_VRS