Quick update for everyone who's interested.....

EGR done 3 weeks ago and it made a difference to the smoothness of the power delivery. It improved MPG by 2.5MPG over the last fill up. I then had the rocker cover done with TIPs taken off and cleaned and reseated. That has made a big difference. The twit a wooing has gone that I had and it sounds more like it should do!

I will let it settle a bit more this week (done 300 miles since it was done) but will replace the fuel filter soon as I think it might be a little gunked

Quick update for everyone who's interested.....

EGR done 3 weeks ago and it made a difference to the smoothness of the power delivery. It improved MPG by 2.5MPG over the last fill up. I then had the rocker cover done with TIPs taken off and cleaned and reseated. That has made a big difference. The twit a wooing has gone that I had and it sounds more like it should do!

I will let it settle a bit more this week (done 300 miles since it was done) but will replace the fuel filter soon as I think it might be a little gunked

Glad to see you've managed to improve things

New job is going well and I hope things have improved for yourself and the others back down there

You might also try "resetting your throttle" (push throttle to floor, turn on ignition, hold for about 30secs,turn off ignition, take foot off throttle)

Not heard this before as I'm a newbie, what's the theory behind this? What does it reset it to / with?

'Throttle position sensor re-calibration' is related to ECU adaptation. So effectively you're resetting the car's brain.

The reason for doing this is that some people have reported power loss or hesitation on acceleration, particularly after longer periods of unspirited driving, as if the ECU were adapting to the driving style. Presumably the ECU just looses its knowledge of the sensor values under WoT (wide open throttle).

Thanks for that explanation. I'll give it a try.

'Throttle position sensor re-calibration' is related to ECU adaptation. So effectively you're resetting the car's brain.

The reason for doing this is that some people have reported power loss or hesitation on acceleration, particularly after longer periods of unspirited driving, as if the ECU were adapting to the driving style. Presumably the ECU just looses its knowledge of the sensor values under WoT (wide open throttle).

Not something I'll have to worry about then

Hi Guys,

I know it has been almost 2 months since my last update but I am still struggling with something.

Instead of consistently poor MPG now I am suffering from extremely varaiable economy. To give you a recent example of how much difference I can see:

I drove to Hull for a family doo in September and did the same route on the way and on the way back. I had the same sort of weight there and back (possibly a small variance to lower weight on the return.), average speed over the journey within 2mph of each other, similar number of stops, same brand of fuel, traffic about the same (again slightly less on the way back) and the journeys were within a day of each other.

Over 280miles (brim tank method of calculating economy) I averaged 50.6MPG there but only 45.7MPG on the return leg. I am stumped to how this can be so different over the same journey! The only difference was that I left earlyish on the Friday morning and the ambient was ~14.0°c climbing to 26.5°c by the time we arrived in the afternoon. Conversly the return leg was the other way round; left in the heat of the day ~ 25-27°c dropping to ~17°c by the time we got home.

I have had most of the 'big' stuff replaced (turbo, EGR valve, rocker cover, fuel temp sensor, fuel filter) over the past 7 mths and have only really the MAF and coolant temperature sensor left to replace. These two seem to be the next two likely culprits to poor economy. Since I did all the other stuff my economy has gradually been on the upward curve going from a 44MPG ave to 46MPG.

I believe the MAF sensor is the same in the wifes Fabia vRS as my BKD so was going to try swapping them over to see if this will make a difference.

Can anyone else here give me some suggestions to try?

Thanks

Nathan

Edited 2 November, 201114 yr by Nathanio

Very odd. I would certainly swap the MAF and see if that helps.

I did a 180 mile round trip last week where fuel consumption was noticeably different for the outbound and return legs. The difference was down to a strong tailwind one way and a strong headwind the other.

+1, you'll be amazed how much of a difference the wind direction and strength can make, it can easily account for a 5mpg difference.

Even a wet road increases rolling resistance and therefore increases fuel consumption.

A change in temperature by a couple of degree's means the A/C is working less/more hard.

The list is endless. I'd stop analysing your consumption so closely if I were you, the years it's taking off your life aren't worth the extra cost of fuel and replacement parts

I travel the same route once a week (Bromyard to Worcester) and back on the same day. Same load, same average speed, same weather, etc. but massive difference in MPG (c. 10 mpg).

The reason?

It's mostly downhill from Bromyard to Worcester, and uphill on the way back!

there are many, many things that will make a difference to the fuel consumption and, personally, I don't think that a 5 mpg difference is anything to worry about especially given the known inaccuracy of the Skoda fuel consumption gauges (mine was around 20% over reading until I corrected it with VCDS).

Hi Guys,

I know it has been almost 2 months since my last update but I am still struggling with something.

Instead of consistently poor MPG now I am suffering from extremely varaiable economy. To give you a recent example of how much difference I can see:

I drove to Hull for a family doo in September and did the same route on the way and on the way back. I had the same sort of weight there and back (possibly a small variance to lower weight on the return.), average speed over the journey within 2mph of each other, similar number of stops, same brand of fuel, traffic about the same (again slightly less on the way back) and the journeys were within a day of each other.

Over 280miles (brim tank method of calculating economy) I averaged 50.6MPG there but only 45.7MPG on the return leg. I am stumped to how this can be so different over the same journey! The only difference was that I left earlyish on the Friday morning and the ambient was ~14.0°c climbing to 26.5°c by the time we arrived in the afternoon. Conversly the return leg was the other way round; left in the heat of the day ~ 25-27°c dropping to ~17°c by the time we got home.

I have had most of the 'big' stuff replaced (turbo, EGR valve, rocker cover, fuel temp sensor, fuel filter) over the past 7 mths and have only really the MAF and coolant temperature sensor left to replace. These two seem to be the next two likely culprits to poor economy. Since I did all the other stuff my economy has gradually been on the upward curve going from a 44MPG ave to 46MPG.

I believe the MAF sensor is the same in the wifes Fabia vRS as my BKD so was going to try swapping them over to see if this will make a difference.

Can anyone else here give me some suggestions to try?

Thanks

Nathan

I've had similar issues and have had turbo, fuel filter; coolant temp sender and MAF replaced. My economy is similar. Sometimes up sometimes down. On my short 3.4 mile trip to work in the mornings mostly uphill I get anywhere from 24 to 30mpg with the same traffic, driving style. Sometimes driving hard gets better results!

Overall on a long trip, averaging around 65 mph (satnav) I get from 45-55.

What speeds do you do. Crusie control or foot? What rev range/gear/speed etc?

Nick

I know some people will disagree but I find the aircon makes a massive difference to fuel consumption in my Octavia. I can routinely get mid 50s MPG with the aircon off, but switch it back on and the consumption goes to high 40s.

The MAF does seem like a good place to go next IMHO.

Daft suggesting perhaps, but if your battery isn't the newest, then give the battery a charge so it's up to voltage if you can.

Lots of sensors start to go a bit nuts as the voltages start to drop.

I've had similar issues and have had turbo, fuel filter; coolant temp sender and MAF replaced. My economy is similar. Sometimes up sometimes down. On my short 3.4 mile trip to work in the mornings mostly uphill I get anywhere from 24 to 30mpg with the same traffic, driving style. Sometimes driving hard gets better results!

Overall on a long trip, averaging around 65 mph (satnav) I get from 45-55.

What speeds do you do. Crusie control or foot? What rev range/gear/speed etc?

Nick

Cruise control both trips; quite happy to accept the small difference in economy and it means that I don't speed creep. Interestingly enough since the cold weather has come about my economy is on the up when everyone elses is on the way down! I wonder if this means the coolant sensor is mis-reading and over fuelling? My driving hasn't changed and I used to regularly get 50MPG genuine from my old Toledo 110 on the same route (and 60MPG when miss daisy driving.).

I know some people will disagree but I find the aircon makes a massive difference to fuel consumption in my Octavia. I can routinely get mid 50s MPG with the aircon off, but switch it back on and the consumption goes to high 40s.

I have been driving with it on econ most of the time and on the particular trip in question I used air con more on the way up than on the way down.

The MAF does seem like a good place to go next IMHO.

Daft suggesting perhaps, but if your battery isn't the newest, then give the battery a charge so it's up to voltage if you can.

Lots of sensors start to go a bit nuts as the voltages start to drop.

Battery was replaced last year when it died in the cold snap. I have a big old Bosch 77Ah Silver battery in that could crank the world I think!

I think the MAF us worthy of being swapped out

Does anyone know how to change the coolant temp sensor on a BKD?

I think the MAF is worthy of being swapped out

Does anyone know how to change the coolant temp sensor on a BKD?

Yes, quite simple. Easiest to swap this when you change the MAF as you have to remove the MAF to get at the sender. It is either a Grey or Green topped sender (2 pin or 4 pin). It's hard to tell what it is unless you remove the MAF to get a clear look, of get a dealer to verify with your VIN

Best to work on a cold engine on this one.

1/ Disconnect Battery - I didn't but it can be advisable. You might need radio code after so I didn't

2/ Remove air intake trunking/MAF etc

3/ Release coolant pressure by removing top and replacing tightly.

4/ Disconnect sender wire connector - most difficult part of the job.

5/ Prise off little horseshoe clip that holds sender in place.

6 Remove sender ensuring you dont leave original rubber O ring in situ

8/ Quickly insert new sender with new O ring and new horseshoe clip. In theory if you do this quick enough you wont loose too much coolant. In practice you do. A 4 pint plastic milk bottle cut into a suitable shape can catch most of it though.

9/ Connect up wire

10/ Top up coolant with collected coolant or new

11/ Replace air trunking anlogn with new MAF

12/ reconnect battery

13/ start her up and go for a drive to get up to temp. Check for coolant leaks and top up if necessary when cooler.

14/ Jobs done.

I did this in about 30mins before work. It actually took me 45 mins but I'm kinda anal about cleaning bits of the engine whilst I've got bits off so I can get to parts I dont usually get to. Also it was pi$$ing down as soon as I started. :( grrrr