I drive a skoda octavia 1.6 and i have been experiencing a series of problems that is draining my patience and my wallet since the guys at my workshop havent been unable to hit the cause of my problem.

So here is the thing, in the morning the car seems awfully cold, the engine does not warm up like it should and the engine keeps turning itself off. i have to start it at least 4 or 6 times for it keep a steady warmup, the revs maintain themself under 1k rpm and continuosly fluctuate ( i dont remember having this problem the car was brand new) also the car engine seems to have lost a lot of its strenght i have to accelerate it a lot for it to start moving after a stop and when i turn the air conditioning on drys the engine so much that the car doesnt even move.

I would like to hear from ppl who have experience similar problem or at least some word of advice on what to look for.

Do you know what they have done to the car so far , as that would rule out some of the possible problems.

The one thing that springs to mind is the Mass Air Flow meter as I've seen mention of other people with similar problems chaging that to fix it.

Are there any error codes being logged that you know of? That would point you in the right direction

There seems to be a problem with the Mass Air Flow sensor but we are not certain why. we have checked the temperature sensor with no luck and the gas emission sensor with no luck either. ... i would like to know if there is a specific failure with that sensor that can be solved wihtout getting a new one. It is kinda difficult not to say expensive to get one down here (i live in colombia) .

perhaps there is a cheaper one i can get ?

Ah , I see.

Didn't realise you were so far away.

so any tips ? cheaper/other models/other cars sensors tha i can use to replace mine

For some models of Octavia I've seen people mention using a Mercedes MAF , but I doubt that will be any cheaper , and I haven't got a clue what part number or even if it would work on a 1.6 sorry.

Hopefully someone with more of a clue will be along soon.

What year is your car and what is the engine code (3 letters)? It could be AEE, AEH, AKL, AVU or BFQ. The same engine range is fitted in the VW Golf and the cheapest solution might be for you to purchase a MAF from Mexico or the USA. The MAF cannot be repaired although dealers do sell exchange parts where you give them the faulty part and they provide you with a reconditioned one.

year 99 and model AKL

IBEXParts sell VW and Skoda parts worldwide by mail order. They can advise you of the correct part number and price for a MAF if you let them know your car details and chassis number. If your car's chassis number is later than 1U-W-000 001 then I think the part number you need is 06A 906 461B; the part description (name) is air volume meter. It may be worth checking to see if any are for sale on EBay - for example 06A 906 461A was advertised earlier today on eBay at USD$69.99.

i have found the number in my MAF its 06A 906 461B

I have found the following in ebay :

06A 906 461 VW OEM

is it the same parT ? does it matter when my part ends in 461B and most of the part i have seen end in 461A ?????

If it is not the identical part number then it is the wrong part. A is for the 2.0 engines, B for the 1.6 engines, G for the 2.0 and L for the 1.8T engines. So each different engine size has its own MAF. Diesels have different MAFs also. You do need to buy the same MAF fitted already. Have you tried cleaning the MAF to see if it helps?

i take my car to the workshop today, they check up the MAF again not entirely certain it is the problem , we discover a leak in the tube that inyect recycled air from the carter into the engine , we fixed the tube then for some xtrange reason now there seems that there are way to many gases going around and the whole engine is leaking oil. looks like we gonna have to openup the engine to refit the pistons since they seem to be responsible for the excess of gas.

So the engine is leaking oil since a leaking tube has been fixed? Is the crankcase breather hose blocked or has it been connected incorrectly so that the crankcase is being pressurised, causing the oil leak problem? And before the engine is stripped to get at the pistons, has a compression test been carried out to see if there is loss of compression on one or more cylinders? This all doesn't sound right, somehow.

Have they run a diagnostic check for fault codes against the car? I'm sure I read recently of someone complaining of "lack of power" on a 1.6 and it was down to the crank position sensor, but it sounds like your problem may be more than that if it's leaking oil as well! Let us know what the garage say

Chris

it seems that the crankcase is accumulating too many gases from what looks like a compression leak. we did a test compression test and didnt show any leaks. im wondering if the fact we fixed the tube that inyects recycled gas from the crankcase into the engine (the tube that is right after the MAF the one that holds the PCV valve Part No. 1J0129684 ) and the fact we xchange the car PCV valve for a mazda PCV valve might have something to do with the problem. Im wondering too if the cover that normally is used to fill the crankcase with oil is meant to be hermetic or it has some kind of ventilation because we put an extra seal to prevent leaks. ScoobyChris what is this CRANK POSITION SENSOR ?? where is it and what does it do.

If the lack of crankcase venting happened when you fitted a PCV from a different vehicle, that incorrect valve is likely to be causing the pressurisation and oil leak problems. The camshaft position sensor provides engine timing information for the ECU. According to the Haynes service manual for the VW Golf fitted with the same engine, the sensor is behind the camshaft sprocket. To replace it the camshaft sprocket has to be removed as well as the timing belt inner cover attached to the cylinder head. You really do need to have the engine checked on diagnostic equipment or with VAG-COM software before replacing parts which may or may not be faulty.

I have checked a VW parts list and the MAF (air flow meter) part number I gave you is also fitted to the Golf. The part number for an exchange part is 06A 906 461BX. Eurocarparts here have the part in stock at