Hi

I have a 52 plate 1.4Mpi estate. It has a problem starting, which has only appeared during this very cold weather. The car will start perfectly when stone cold, but if you stop it and then restart it again after 5-10 minutes, it won't start. The starter motor turns, but the engine won't fire. If you leave it for 5 minutes, it will start okay, It starts perfectly happily from warm after stopping and then restarting. There's no rough idling or any other obvious faults.

Initially it was thought to be the engine temperature coolant sensor (error code 6500 and most likely culprit), but that was changed (twice - first one was faulty) and the problem still persists, but with no further error codes.

Is there anything else that's likely to be associated with the ETC sensor? I've read other posts suggesting the thermostat might also need changing, is that possible/likely?

I'm looking for the obvious candidates, so I can avoid lengthy and expensive diagnostics from the local garage.

Any suggestions, or any other posts you can point me to would be grateful received.

Thanks

David

Can you hear the relay click and pump prime when you try and start it?

Not sure what that sounds like. At what point when turning the ignition does that happen? Can you hear this from within the car, or do you need to listen under the bonnet? Problem is the fault is intermittent, so replicating and being able to listen is difficult.

When starting the car (when it won't start) you get the starter motor turning and a coughing sound from the engine, but nothing fires, if that makes sense.

Excuse the ignorance, but things mechanical aren't exactly my strength.

3rd ETC fitted today, and the local garage made clear they didn't think they could help any more. To give them credit they fitted the 3rd one for free (along with the 2nd), but they've suggested (on advice from the Skoda garage supplier) that it's likely to be a wiring fault if the ETC is changed and the fault code reappears.

Any likely obvious culprits for that wiring fault (assuming this is the case)? Would a fault in the thermostat cause that?

Rgds

When I say coughing, it's more like a constant machine gun type coughing, if that's even clearer than mud!