CR TDI vRS down on power - strange symptoms

[Mash]

So my CR170 vRS (MY59) lately seems to be down on power. I have sent it back in to the dealership twice now but they come back saying there's nothing wrong with it.

I find it hard to describe the symptoms but it seems to have started since I noticed the power cutting out on the crest of certain hills, which now seems to happen when going all the way down very steep hills, and I'm sure I'm not getting paranoid but it seems to happen on normal flat roads just for a split second - almost as if it's not getting enough fuel. It sounds rougher than usual aswell. It only seems happy when you've got your foot flat to the floor, which obviously isn't exactly practical. I can only describe it as the car not breathing properly. It doesn't drive half as smoothly as it used to. Have done the usual dpf burn etc, but doesn't seem to have made any difference.

I know this all sounds rather vague and I'm having a real job explaining it to the dealership, and then typically they're not seeing the problem - I guess as they're not used to driving the car and don't know the difference. I know there's definitely something not right and with my warranty due to run out in September and the horrendous issues I had with my last vRS once the warranty ran out I am getting rather worried.

Anyone else had anything similar in theirs?

[Davidsr20]

It might be something simple but sounds very like fuel related problem, have u changed ur fuel filter lately?

What issues had u with ur last Vrs?

[silver1011]

If your local dealer won't at least acknowledge the problem before your warranty expires then I'd recommend taking it to a local diesel engine expert. It may cost you a few quid but once its diagnosed then you can take it back to Skoda for a warranty fix.

[Mash]

It might be something simple but sounds very like fuel related problem, have u changed ur fuel filter lately?

What issues had u with ur last Vrs?

Had a service a few weeks back (the first time I mentioned the problem to them) but don't think the filter was changed as part of that. It seems like that would be the obvious place to check first so would imagine they've checked it - maybe not

Edited 22 May, 2012 by Mash

[harrysprout]

It's something mine does. One spot in particular on the A59 out past RAF Menwith Hill. Every time I hit the decline on the hill, power 'blips 'off. Seems to do it on similar gradient hills.

Weird. Can't say it bothers me that much though.

[skodafang]

My 2010 VRS does exactly the same . Going down hills it holds back like fuel starvation.

Been to the dealers no end of times and they say nothing is wrong. But there clearly is!!!!!

[Mash]

When it was just on the crest of a hill it didnt bother me too much. Its just that it seems to be happening more on the flat that is bothering me...

[skodafang]

Mine has always done it. I had the same problem on 170 CR Superb I had on demo. I must something to do with that engine / configuration.

[Davidsr20]

There's obviously a problem, u need to be persistent with them or they will just pawn u off all the time. Dam cr,s lol pd,s don't do it

[Armegatron]

My 2010 CR does the same on the crest of some hills, or at least did when I first got it. 5000 miles into ownership and havnt noticed it for some time.

[xreyuk]

How many miles have you got on it?

I know SEAT still live by the consensus of old PD engines, which was to change the fuel filter at 40k. Personally, I wouldn't leave it that long on a CR engine. As they're more reliant on fuel pressure, they have a different fuel filter which is more likely to either collapse, or clog up a lot more quickly. I'm going to be asking for my fuel filter to be changed every 20k service (after warranty I'll service myself). They're not much, only £10. If you don't want to do every 20k, personally, I'd do it at least every 30k.

[Chrispy]

Mine does this too. Always has - only on the crest of hills or on certain descents. Mentioned it to the dealer and they'd never heard of it but that doesn't surprise me. I've seen it before on here and I think it's normal/ a characteristic of the engine.

[Guest]

Never noticed this on my old cr

[Glass Back]

Mine does it but only at one point on the same road home from work at the moment. It's dec 2009 model

[D15VRS]

MY58 CR170 on my way to work. up the hill hit the crest and start to drop down the other side, the car seems to hold back for the second, always done it, seems to me the weight of the car pushes over the brow but then held back because the revs are slower than the car wants to go.

[silver1011]

Sounds like temporary fuel starvation to me. With the amount of people on here claiming that their car also does it suggests to me that this 'issue' is designed into the CR TDi engine...

[Mash]

When it was just on the crest of a hill it didnt bother me too much. Its just that it seems to be happening more on the flat that is bothering me...

^^ this.

If it was just when going down steep hills I could live with it as its pretty flat where I live, but the fact that it is now constantly feeling like its being starved of fuel is doing my head in. Gonna book it back in tomorrow, they can keep it until they rectify it. Hopefully it will be something simple like the fuel filter as mentioned above...

Funny though, considering so many people have had the downhill issue, according to my dealership Skoda uk say they've never heard of it?!

[FUBAR]

Is your car remapped? I had this intermittently after a remap and also throttle map was tweaked was rectified after 2 days as I didn't notice it on initial test runs guy seemed to know exactly what I was on about and was able to sort it in minutes the same thing as the crest of hill but was doing it on the flat too and not at same times. There was talk in other threads on this that it "might" be something to do with traction control (on the crests anyway) being too sensitive with the momentary change of weight/traction on wheels, made some sense to me but I am not sure where the thread went after that.

[Chrispy]

Is your car remapped? I had this intermittently after a remap and also throttle map was tweaked was rectified after 2 days as I didn't notice it on initial test runs guy seemed to know exactly what I was on about and was able to sort it in minutes the same thing as the crest of hill but was doing it on the flat too and not at same times. There was talk in other threads on this that it "might" be something to do with traction control (on the crests anyway) being too sensitive with the momentary change of weight/traction on wheels, made some sense to me but I am not sure where the thread went after that.

Ben @ Shark told me this, that it's the ESP being a bit "twitchy" as I asked about it when it was in being mapped. It's done it both before and after mapping though so the map is irrelevant.

[FUBAR]

Ben @ Shark told me this, that it's the ESP being a bit "twitchy" as I asked about it when it was in being mapped. It's done it both before and after mapping though so the map is irrelevant.

As I said I had a new throttle map too this caused mine to do it all time until it was altered again. Was on a side note so to speak.

[GriffoVRS]

Mine has done the 'hill thing' since I bought it. See:

http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/150025-negative-g/page__hl__negative

However, it has not got any worse, or happened on the flat.

Perhaps the 'sensor' or whatever it is that causes the effect is starting to fail. The problem is that no-one seems to have tracked down what causes the issue in the first place.

[wardth]

Sounds like temporary fuel starvation to me. With the amount of people on here claiming that their car also does it suggests to me that this 'issue' is designed into the CR TDi engine...

Do you have numbers on this or are we just rabble-rousing (no offence intended but it does happen a fair bit on here)

To the OP: have you been brimming your tank at the garage? This could be related to a saturated filter on the breather - VRSCARL suffered something similar a while back.

[The Ships Cat]

I agree with posts that say fuel filter, cured similar fault on mine, they cost about £25 so worth a try.

[Chrispy]

Mine has just had a major service including fuel filter and it still does it just as much as before. The filter has made no difference.

[wardth]

I agree with posts that say fuel filter, cured similar fault on mine, they cost about £25 so worth a try.

I'm not talking about a fuel filter - this is a breather filter which if you regulalrly brim the tank, turns to mush and causes poor running / loss of power