Occasionally, maybe once a month, the engine seems to get a mind of its own, revving by itself. But not constantly, it's almost as if someone is pumping the accelerator a couple of times per second. When it does this the pedal feels as though the tension has gone slack. If I pull over and wait (engine on or off) for a few minutes then it goes away... until the next time.

This sort of sounds similar to another recent problem, the answers to this involved changing the throttle body or the thrust sensor (I tried disconnecting the battery for 30 mins this didn't work). A thrust sensor seems to be £150 on eurocarparts, while a throttle body is £342. Eeek! Is there anything else I could try? Or which should I try first? And can anyone recommend a good website where I could find these parts second hand?

throttle surging on it's own is most likely to be the v60 stepper motor inside the throttle body playing sillys, it's very common on the vdo throttles...

it's unlikely to be the map sensor (thrust sensor you called it), but it's worth cleaning it anyway.. maybe jimbo might have a spare throttle body knocking about in his secret stash

Mine had started doing this occasionally when it was cold and wet, but a poor man's throttle body reset (disconnected battery for ~24 hours) cleared it up completely. I don't think half an hour is long enough to do it that way, though - I'm not sure how long you really need to leave it for, but probably at least overnight.

throttle surging on it's own is most likely to be the v60 stepper motor inside the throttle body playing sillys, it's very common on the vdo throttles...

it's unlikely to be the map sensor (thrust sensor you called it), but it's worth cleaning it anyway.. maybe jimbo might have a spare throttle body knocking about in his secret stash

Hi sorry to resurrect this but my problem continues, only it's now happening on most journeys after maybe 20 minutes driving. It lasts for a couple of minutes then the engine runs fine until it starts again maybe 20 minutes later. I took it to the garage and the guy checked the ecu and cleaned out the throttle body (said it was quite dirty). Seemed ok for a day but then the problem is back.

I have no idea what a "v60 stepper motor" is! I have googled it, checked on jorily and eurocarparts without success, and there's no mention of it in my Haynes manual. Can you (or anyone else) help? I've got the MOT coming up very soon..

The v60 is an integral part of the throttle body, it is basically a single ended stepper motor which precisely controls the angle of the throttle plate when the engine is idling, sadly it cannot be replaced separately on these so you will need to find a replacement throttle body, I'd suggest trying a breakers yard because a new one from skoda is over £350.

There are certain things you can do if you have access to vagcom/vcds to diagnose if it is actually the throttle body playing up, there are certain blocks you can look in to check it's operation.

The v60 is an integral part of the throttle body, it is basically a single ended stepper motor which precisely controls the angle of the throttle plate when the engine is idling, sadly it cannot be replaced separately on these so you will need to find a replacement throttle body, I'd suggest trying a breakers yard because a new one from skoda is over £350.

There are certain things you can do if you have access to vagcom/vcds to diagnose if it is actually the throttle body playing up, there are certain blocks you can look in to check it's operation.

Thanks for the help TeflonTom. One last question (promise!): you say the v60 controls the angle of the throttle plate when idling - my problem occurs when travelling as well as when idling, so could this still be the problem?