Car Won't Start

[philnealo]

Hello Everyone

I have an octavia vrs tdi on a 56 plate. Went to drive the car tonight and it will not start. Car has been sitting on the driveway since tuesday evening so 3 days.

The car turns over ok well until i drained the battery anyway. I have plugged the computer in and there is no faults (other than low battery ones where i have run it down trying to start the thing).

I'm not sure where to start at the moment. I guess it must not be getting any fuel. Does anyone know of any tests for this i looked to see if i could bring up the fuel pressure on the computer but could not find it.

My partner is 37 week pregnant so really need the car to be working don't fancy a home birth!

Any help or suggestions would be apprecated.

[philnealo]

Right the car is now running!

I connected it to another car with jump leads so it had a good perminent supply. Turned it over for about 1 to 2 min on and off not constant and it started. When it was turning over it was like an old diesel where you would turn it over to get the fuel pumped up to the engine and the cranking would get faster and heavier then the engine would run.

So i still think it is fuel relatted and i guess if i leave it another 3 days it will do the same as i have not changed anything.

Any help or suggestions would be apprecated.

[Anddenton]

Could try changing the fuel filter, but I think from what you say could be a heater plug issue, get it scanned with vcds faulty heater plugs should show up.

[philnealo]

Hi it's been scanned with vcds with no faults. I will try changing the fuel filter though it might help.

Thanks for your thoughts.

[glossopwhite]

Had exact same problem with my Golf 2.0 PD last month, cranked but did not fire. Started fine once jump leaded. I thought it was fuel related too.

My solution was to simply change the battery! I suspect that the starter motor was sucking all the available amperage from the battery, there was none left for the injectors to prime.

Voltmeter the battery, anything under 12.2 - 12.3V, it wouldn't fire, should be up at 12.6V for a fully charged battery. After cranking the engine about 3 times unsuccessfully, the voltage was down at 11.8V.

[silver1011]

Yep, duff batteries have been known to create some extemely strange symptoms on the Octavia!

[Davidsr20]

Had an avensis diesel with same problem and it was batterie

[glossopwhite]

Yep, duff batteries have been known to create some extemely strange symptoms on the Octavia!

Yep, some of the strange symptoms I had with the golf for the past year or so include:

- climate control fans slowing and then blowing out warm moist air until I turned econ button on, air con has been superb and efficient since battery change

- remote central locking not working unless really close to car, it is fine now...without a key battery change

- electric windows not working properly unless revs are up and moving, seems to work fine now on idle

- starts better when warm, took 3 or 4 secs to start when warm previously, now less than a second. Was actually better starting cold than warm!

- seems to run a lot more smoothly

Seems that strong batteries aren't just important for starting but the life blood of the workings of the car even when up and running.

[philnealo]

Hi Thanks For the replies.

I will change the battery but i'm not convinced as when i jump started it i still had to crank it over for 1 or 2 mins.

[countryboy]

It has been said before that down on power battery will give the symptoms you said and changing it will cure the problem. Like has been mentioned, multimeter the battery to see what sort of voltage you are getting. If that is fine then the next question would be whether you park on a slope facing uphill as that would cause the fuel to drain back to the tank. Is so try parking facing downhill.

Ian

[Anddenton]

I park facing uphill (quite steep) all the time never caused a problem even after two weeks stood.

[preston334]

Hi Thanks For the replies.

I will change the battery but i'm not convinced as when i jump started it i still had to crank it over for 1 or 2 mins.

I got an inverter fitted to the works van and if left on over the weekend , I have to start it with the booster pack. Sometimes it can take 1 or 2 mins for it to start depending how low the battery is. My old mondeo was the same. Could drive all day, stop for a cuppa and nothing. Happened several times. Even though I had the battery tested and alternator tested and everything ok I changed the battery and it was great again. No trouble at all now. Also bear in mind we had a few severe winters temperature wise so that will affect the battery as well

[philnealo]

Hi people the car won't start again with the same symptoms .

Any thoughts on it? I think i might put some more earth leads to the battery and see what happens!

[bert13]

I know this is a bit late for this problem, but I used to have a Saab 9-3 2.2TiD and a known fault with age on that engine was a slight leaking of the fuel rail. This initially manifested itself by the car taking a lot of cranking to start when the car had be left for a while as fuel had drained from the injection rail. If not fixed this would eventually mean the car could not be started at all.

In this case the intermittent nature of the fault suggest its not a steady leak. However it may be worth checking the various fuel pressures in the system when it is working and not working. I would have thought this would throw up a fault code, but it would be worth a look.

[booke23]

Hopefully he's got to the bottom of it by now, but it is a 56 plate vRS....so it's a PD engine. There is no high pressure fuel rail.

An update from the OP would be interesting. Once the Battery and fuel filter have been ruled out, crankshaft sensor would be where I would look next, then the starter motor.

[nickguzzi]

I suspect that as the battery begins its decline into failure, is is incapable of holding up the voltage which some vital electronic gizmo needs and it just doesn't start, despite cranking over, apparently satisfactorily.

I think Odessey batteries are marvelous. Cost more of course, but there are deals on line. And you could choose one on spec rather than physical size, so may ameliorate the cost difference.

Will deliver more amps, for longer, at start. Will hold their charge for months. Will last for years - up to eight years warranty. Will survive deeper discharges. Will not spill or fume. Will perform over a wider temperature range. Will survive higher levels of vibration.

[philnealo]

Hi

The car is still playing up, sorry i've not been updating. went out christmas eve to a friends 15 miles away and got back at midnight. Car stood until 11am boxing day and would not start. I've worked out how to get it started foot to the floor on the accelorator and turn the key will take 5 to 10 seconds to start then hold at 2500 rpmfor 5 seconds lift and it will run ok if you lift straight away it will cut out again and won't start.

I've been running supermarket fuel so am going to try a better quality fuel as i think it is fuel related.

[dstev2000]

IIRC the PD tandem pump has a check valve in it to keep fuel in the rails that supply the unit injectors to assist in a quick fire up. If the valve is messing about the delay in starting could be down to re-pressurising the rail to the injectors before firing up.

I also recall something where the ECU will not allow the injectors to fire if the cranking RPM is below a certain amount, the exact figure escapes me but you could be cranking just on or below that value.

Is the car using any coolant? I had a similar problem with my PD140 which suffered a cracked cylinder head. If you aren't loosing coolant this can of course be dismissed.

Also, check any fuel hoses for signs of any leaks. Check the fuel filter casing for leaks, check all of the low pressure fuel pipes from the filter to the tandem pump. If fuel can leak out, air can leak back in.

[bert and ernie]

Hi.

We have an Octavia 1.9 tdi, 07 plate. If it's parked facing uphill over night and the weather's cold, it has to be turned over for a while (20 seconds or so? haven't timed it) before it starts gradually with a few thumps as the fuel pumps up. Occasionally the oil light comes on while cranking, so stop and wait for a bit before carrying on. So, mostly we remember to park it facing downhill and never have this problem. There's never been a problem with the battery. The first time it happened we got the yellow emergency man out, he said "it's a common problem with these'" mind don't they all say that. We've never bothered to investigate the exact cause. Also the fuel gauge flicks on and off when it feels like it, so we rely on the milage trip.

Maybe this will be helpful.

[philnealo]

Hi people

Thank you for the ideas and thoughts.

The car is now fixed hopefully.

It was the parrot hands free kit wired incorrectly and draining the battery when i thought it was turned off.

[JBHaldex]

Same thing happened to me on a 2002 Octavia 4x4 SW.

When parking facing uphill or even on level ground, if parked for some time.
It was worse if low on fuel.

The only way to prevent it was if I parked facing downhill.

Air was getting into the system - witch, judging from the behaviour of the engine when attempting to start afterwards, was always the most probable cause - the question was where in the system this was happening.
I tried everything!
It got fixed when the guys changed the metallic seal between the vacuum/fuel pump and the engine block.

Simple and inexpensive.

[mydadscar]

On 06/09/2017 at 10:15, JBHaldex said:

Same thing happened to me on a 2002 Octavia 4x4 SW.

When parking facing uphill or even on level ground, if parked for some time.
It was worse if low on fuel.

The only way to prevent it was if I parked facing downhill.

Air was getting into the system - witch, judging from the behaviour of the engine when attempting to start afterwards, was always the most probable cause - the question was where in the system this was happening.
I tried everything!
It got fixed when the guys changed the metallic seal between the vacuum/fuel pump and the engine block.

Simple and inexpensive.

Is/was your car a diesel or petrol? I'm trying to figure out where your fuel pump is situated, either in the engine compartment or actually in the fuel tank under the back seat like my diesel 1.6tdi?

I have ongoing start up problems even after fitting a new Bosch battery and several visits to the (non Skoda) garage. If it is possible for me to get this metallic seal replaced, I'll do it if I know where it is! Thanks.