Mrs Rondo Not happy - just had to be towed home by AA

Last time she started the car it would not start first time but after waiting about 20 secs she tried again and it started. Drove for about 1hr then stopped to do some shopping. Went to start car, glow plug light came on, turned over but wouldn't start - waited 20 secs, glow plug light wouldn't light, wouldn't start.

AA think it is the high pressure pump as he can pump fuel through manually but its not coming through when engine is turned over. As the fuel system is reporting a fault the whole engne management system has shut down.

Due to bank holiday weekend it can't get to dealer til Tuesday. Mrs R not at all happy as this is just another in a long list of niggles since she got the car 6 months ago.

They should provide you with a replacement car though if it the 3yrs inclusive AA cover you are using. It might only be a Smart though.

Yeah, she was offered one for 48 hrs but that won't even take her up to the dealer opening on Tuesday so there was no point as she can use mine over the weekend. She will be demanding a courtesy car from the dealer though.

It might only be a Smart though.

:eek: :(

I imagine with the PD injection system being so high pressured that any problems will lead to major breakdown. :(

Although the glow plug light not coming on.... :confused: Could it just be the ignition not working right as I thought that was what the glow plugs did.

Is this the first time its done this or is this a common problem

Glow plugs just heat up the fuel so it will combust properly (why they will start in winter), diesel engines only need to compress the fuel mixture to get combustion.

Not seen this on here before, so I would guess that it's not a common problem.

I had noticed a couple of times before that the car would not start first time but after waiting 20-30 secs it started OK on second attempt.

Yesterday Mrs R had the same problem. Wouldn't start first time so she waited 20 secs and it started fine but about an hour later when she stopped for 20 mins the car just wouldn't start.

AA said that in VAG cars if there is a fuel system problem the the EMS shuts the whole fuel system down and thats why glow plug indicator won't come on

As I say just another in a long list of niggles - on both our Fabia RS and Octy RS - two customers Skoda won't be seeing again. Mrs R already tempted to trade in for something "more solid and reliable" after just 5k miles. In a combined 30 years of motoring that's the first time either of us has been left stranded and had to be towed

As I say just another in a long list of niggles - on both our Fabia RS and Octy RS -

Interested to know whats been so bad on your Octavia RS to make you want to move back to a different make ? is it the car? or bad dealership service?, not come accross anyone before who thinks they are that bad in the reliability stakes.

Octy has not been as bad as the furby. This is my second Octy RS and both this and the furby were bought because my first Octy was such a good car with absolutely no problems at all. Sold it at 3 years old with 30k and in that time it had one service and one set of tyres. Only problem was the engine warning light which came on a couple of times. This second one though has had a few niggles. Only serious one is the brakes which seem to keep rusting up and whilst most of the crap comes off after a few hard brakes in the first few miles it seems to have been building up steadily over the last few months such that they now make quite a loud grinding noise and are not as effective as I think they should be. Will be speaking to the dealer about it very soon.

The furby, however, has just been an endless list of niggles with rattles, squeaks & groans inside and out. It's not rattling squeaking or groaning at the moment though!!!

Edited to say, the AA chap did say it was unusual to be called out on a Skoda (especially a diesel) as they are normally very reliable

Thanks, for the response.

Re the disks are I have noticed that a few different make hire cars I have been driving over the winter months have been rusting badly over a short period of time - however I think the reason has been the salt that has been over the roads in the last few months, not any problem with the disks.

I dont get any real problems on my cars disks rusting unless I wash them and then leave - they then get surface rust badly - whatevers in autoglym car wash sems to accelarate the rusting. What I now do is after washing run teh car a few hundred yards lightly touching the brakes and handbrake.

I have completed about 40 K in my Octavia RS with not problems at all other than a roof water leak sorted out under warranty.

Hope things start to get better with the wifes car - whatever the make problems when they are so new do put you off and spoil the experience.

John

I've done 1300 miles now (2 weeks into owning the new car).

Mrs has a tendency to really slam the door shut hard - training her off that now - the little plastic cover on her door next to the door handle inside has come off. Nothing else as of yet

Well how bizarre is this. AA turned up this morning, towed car to dealer, dealer put key in, turned key, car started first time. The car has started first time each and every time they have tried it. They plugged in the computer diagnostics and absolutley no fault code reported.

If it wasn't for the fact that the AA couldn't get it started I'd think I was going mad!

TYPICAL

Machinery plays up, the minute you have an engineer call to check it out, it works :eek:

Steve

Just a thought

If the immobiliser kicked in, would the engine turnover but not start or does the immobiliser kill everything. Just a thought that Mrs R had that maybe somehow the immobiliser got set off. The car has been fine since the little episode above and starts first time every time. Very odd!

Well how bizarre is this. AA turned up this morning' date=' towed car to dealer, dealer put key in, turned key, car started first time. The car has started first time each and every time they have tried it. They plugged in the computer diagnostics and absolutley no fault code reported.

If it wasn't for the fact that the AA couldn't get it started I'd think I was going mad![/quote']

Had a similar thing a couple of years back. In the end the conclusion was that that there was some sort of fuel contamination (water?).