Evening all

Joined the forums this evening as I have some issues with my Skoda Octavia, 4x4 FSI Estate (06 plate), and I was hoping that someone could give me a heads up or a nudge in the right direction please?

Google lead me here - seems like a rather good place to get some sound advice

So, the probles are many:

Loss of braking

Miss-firing

Loss of power (BHP wise)

Engine "juddering"

Idle has a mind of it's own - as in the car seems to rev itself

ESP light on, and won't go off / work

I've had a nose around the forums, and found lots of different suggestions from the MAF, to split pipes, air intake - i guess the list is almost endless!

Attempting to look for some info, I have discovered that the air filter is very clean (looks new, but I have not had the car long, so not entirely sure on the service history at the mo), the MAF (i think) is also clean. Immediatly around that area, on the top of the main part of the engine there are 4 caps - which I think has the ignition coils in? These come out, but one particular one was very tough to pull out.

The thing that stikes me as very odd, is how these space age looking spark plugs are connected to a cable system just behind where they sit in the engine. Three of them are attached by hard plastic connectors, but the one on my car is connected by dodgy looking cabling. I've taken a photo, which is hopefully attached.

There looks to be electrical tape around the black pipe at the back, and the plastic has been cut or broken off.

Would someone be able to confirm if this is correct at all please? If it's as I suspect, could this be causing the issues that I have described? And, the big question is - what do I do now?

Thanks, and sorry for the long first post.

Cheers

Speaking from a electrician view, someone has carried out a bodged repair on that cable. Those are thru crimps and they are notorious for bad connections if you don't get them right. I would look at changing it and probably have a scan done on it to see if that is the cause of the misfiring. No doubt some would be along to other further advice. Did you buy it off a garage or private sale?

as above + check the brake vac line and one way valve check with engine off pump brakes you should get approx 3-4 cycles before loosing assistance then push the pedal and start up-- you should feel the pedal sink a bit