Hi all,

I'd love your input on the following as my SE's just starting play up; it's just gone past 77K. I'm after help on:

1) The hesitancy on throtle lift-off. Is this that gasket thingy i read about somewhere on here, where skoda's OEM fit ensured they didn't breach emission rules? What's the proper name, part no. and is it easy for a semi-novice diy-er to fit?

2) What all this 'egr-delete' about. What is it? How's it done? Who can do it? Any special equipment like a laptop and trade software? What does it do?

3) I'm getting the police siren - only very slightly in 1st and 2nd (drove the kids n mrs nuts the other day when I ordered the stereo off and strict silence whilst i wound the window down in the cold wind to listen/observe). Is this the turbo ticking time-bomb or maybe just a loose/split hose? How do i check for turbo 'spindle-play'? Time to consider a visit to Jabba's hut?

4) The other day after blasting it down the A10 to london (late again for work), I noticed a considerable 'power drop' and slow throttle response. I used to be able to give the throttle quick 'dabs' with a near enough instant response. Now the revs climb slower and drop slower. Any ideas what this might be? Any clues given by exhaust smoke?

5) What is the/a maf (MAF?) I read another thread on here that gave the impression that similar issues to mine were 'sorted' after "...changing the maf..." Any ideads?

and lastly for now...

6) Fuel econony has dropped from over 500 miles to barely reaching 400 miles per tank. I know i can cane it sometimes, but I've tried super-eco driving, coasting downhill, had 4 brand new tyres and regularly check pressure, de-clutter the boot. Nothing sems to work.

Thank you in advance for any assistance, comments to cheer me up or advice (preferably sensible 'tho!) will be greatly appreciated.

Apologies for the essay. Hope you all have a great weekend. I'll be preparing to get my knuckles shredded

Robstaaaar

1) - Sounds like the BLT engine gasket thing, but I'm not overly familiar with it

2) - Removing the exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) system. The valve on the intake is replaced with a straight pipe.

3) - Could be a death wail sadly. Keep your eye on it.

4) - SOunds like it might be dropping into limp mode a bit - worth hooking up to VCDS for fault code scan, and possibly logging of boost whilst repeating the same scenario on the roaf

5) - Mass Air Flow (MAF) meter. Its the thing on the end of the airbox, engine side.

6) - Could be linked to some of the above. Maybe try some fuel additive? Is it high mileage car? A clogged EGR could cause economy/performance drop.

Sounds like some of the things I'm having problem with. Before: right foot down, planted you in your seat. Now: drives like an SDi. Before: 50-60mpg. Now: 40-50 mpg. Before: smooth (for a diesel). Now: rattles like a wasp in a cigar tube.

Some say its the MAF, others a boost leak, or turbo or EGR. Will let you know if I find out. Taken it to Skoda dealer, they said no faults reported and it drives fine. Well it doesn't Mr Skoda dealer.

Thanks for your swift replies. I'll take a look in the morning. As for a particular london based 'Mr Skoda dealer' - i won't bore you all, but not at all impressed; very poor service now that warranty has elapsed. I won't be taking it there again.

This seems to be happening g to a lot of our PD130's. I am starting to think these engines just wont produce the mpg and performance they should be after around only 40000 miles. Skoda had to make it cheaper than the polo right?. Cheaper components kkk turbo instead of garrant, valeo clutch instead of sacs. They had to shave a few thousand pounds of the selling price somehow. I am now starting to think buying a Skoda was a bad idea. They have no idea when it comes to mpg problems. I will not buy a car from a sub division of a company (VW) again as i don't think all the knowledge from VW is relayed to there lesser counterparts. Mine used to be super smooth, now sounds like a tractor on tick over and never pulls like it used too. Many people with this car have said the same thing. I think it just wares out way quicker than a petrol car because of the torque. I also have noticed with this car VW uprate stuff when enough parts have failed. No recall to sort it just expect you to buy an uprated part. We are guinea pigs for VW at the end of the day +sad.

.....

Edited 17 March, 201313 yr by RAPTURE

I just found that my tick over had been adapted lower by the main dealer. I have adapted and saved it to the default 32768 and the engine instantly sounded happier at idle. It is now at 903 rpm where it should be. Seems Skoda's answer to mpg problems is to lower the idle speed lol. Once again vcds has shown its worth.

This seems to be happening g to a lot of our PD130's. I am starting to think these engines just wont produce the mpg and performance they should be after around only 40000 miles. Skoda had to make it cheaper than the polo right?. Cheaper components kkk turbo instead of garrant, valeo clutch instead of sacs. They had to shave a few thousand pounds of the selling price somehow. I am now starting to think buying a Skoda was a bad idea. They have no idea when it comes to mpg problems. I will not buy a car from a sub division of a company (VW) again as i don't think all the knowledge from VW is relayed to there lesser counterparts. Mine used to be super smooth, now sounds like a tractor on tick over and never pulls like it used too. Many people with this car have said the same thing. I think it just wares out way quicker than a petrol car because of the torque. I also have noticed with this car VW uprate stuff when enough parts have failed. No recall to sort it just expect you to buy an uprated part. We are guinea pigs for VW at the end of the day +sad.

At the risk of causing more offense than usual what absolute and total rubbish.

The PD's will do high mileage in Skoda guise if properly maintained. I've seen enough high mileage PD's in Taxi's to regard this as a statement of fact. They made minimal changes to the engine, those changes are only really noticeable when tuning the engine as the KKK tends to have less head room than a Garett. Valeo and Sachs are top quality OE manufacturers, a clutch pack from either is suitable and if you think that explains the price difference you are mistaken, just look at the retail prices on clutch kits from either supplier for the same car, the cost difference is minimal. I've run PD's for several years without serious mechanical issue, non of them have dropped mpg after 40k from any VAG brand, in my case that's less than 2 years usage and before the first belt change was due but I've never parted with one that had less than 60k on it and usually a lot more.

If you want to talk about stupid cost cutting, talk to any Seat Leon owner.

Engine cover? What engine cover? You don't get one.

Battery box? It's made out of felt.

'Sports' seats? Covered in the cheapest, nastiest fabric known to humanity.

Paint? Racing heritage dictates it's 'thin' to save weight. In non marketing terms our Spanish cousins were too lazy to paint it to the same standard as Audi/Skoda/VW.

I could go on but comparing the Leon, Octavia and Golf the former is a poor mans Golf and the latter is a sensible persons Golf with a bigger boot and better spec for less money.

Skoda had to make it cheaper than the polo right?

Wrong.

In material terms the Polo costs the same. VAG cleverly rely on people (like you) who think VW is the superior product, so they can charge more for it.

Marketing in action.

I just found that my tick over had been adapted lower by the main dealer. I have adapted and saved it to the default 32768 and the engine instantly sounded happier at idle. It is now at 903 rpm where it should be. Seems Skoda's answer to mpg problems is to lower the idle speed lol. Once again vcds has shown its worth.

I raised my idle slightly (just playing) to 882rpm, however this the highest I could get it. When I entered a higher value and click save it just reverted to the previous value. Wonder why?

Wrong.

In material terms the Polo costs the same. VAG cleverly rely on people (like you) who think VW is the superior product, so they can charge more for it.

Marketing in action.

Which is part of why owning Skoda is good for the brand. They have a wedge for the lower end of the market, to justify higher prices for the "better" marques. I.e. for badge snobs.

OK, back to (one of) the problems in hand, so anyway I unplugged my MAF and hey presto, no difference — actually felt a bit better — but that could just be mind playing tricks on me. So I guess that means that a new MAF is required?

Also, my '99 S4 was 2.7 biturbo - they used 2 KKK-K03 turbos. The RS4 used KKK K04. If they're good enough for Audi, they're not cheap.

Also, pricing and profit are massively manageable. I would have said a majority of it will be down to not having to R&D interior and mechanics as they lifted the bits straight out the VW bin. Therefore there is less overhead to sink into the cost. ALthough VW probably would have charged an IP fee for it, it wouldn't have been anything near what had been done.

MAF or Turbo is a good start I guess. Def sounds like limp mode. The actuator arm fell off the wastegate penny on the Audi meaning the boost momentarily (as in not even noticeably) spoiked and put the boost controller into 6psi max. If you can hear the turbo more it may that you've got a boost leak causing the turbo to overspool and perhaps triggering the same safety.

The MAF can be found in the section of piping that goes from your Airfilter housing that you'll see has a plug into it. Effective way to deal with it is to find another car (helpful locla member perhaps) and swap yours over, take it for a drive and see if there is a difference.

I raised my idle slightly (just playing) to 882rpm, however this the highest I could get it. When I entered a higher value and click save it just reverted to the previous value. Wonder why?

Just key it in twice, it sticks second time don't ask me why. 882 rpm should be 32748. Raising it to default reduced judder pulling away for me.

Edited 18 March, 201313 yr by RAPTURE

".... Once again vcds has shown its worth."

...Er, sorry for being a thick spanner, but wt* is a VCDS? Where can i get one and how do i use it? I guess it's not something like "Virginmedia Compact Disc System"!

...Er, sorry for being a thick spanner, but wt* is a VCDS? Where can i get one and how do i use it? I guess it's not something like "Virginmedia Compact Disc System"!

An after market PC based computer diagnostic system that can be used on all VAG cars.

Very useful piece of kit. More here http://www.ross-tech.com/vag-com/

Virgins crack detection system lol

VagCom Diagnostic Software, so I understand.

Virgins crack detection system lol

Regrettably, I've never managed to find any of those with my copy of VCDS.

OK, back to (one of) the problems in hand, so anyway I unplugged my MAF and hey presto, no difference — actually felt a bit better — but that could just be mind playing tricks on me. So I guess that means that a new MAF is required?

Just wondering if you've sourced a new MAF yet and if so has it made a difference?!

I'm having the same MPG problems and it seems to be getting worse. I travel roughly 50 miles a day.. on the M3 and I drive at 58mph for which I used to get 75-80mpg and now I struggle to get 60+. I filled up my tank with £60 with only 10miles in the tank.. it gave me 550miles on the range.. but I only managed to travel 380 before I had to fill up again. That is in fact an average of 44mpg.. for which I should be seeing at least 60mpg considering my driving is 90% slow motorway..

Its driving me crazy filling up all the time..

Just wondering if you've sourced a new MAF yet and if so has it made a difference?!

I'm having the same MPG problems and it seems to be getting worse. I travel roughly 50 miles a day.. on the M3 and I drive at 58mph for which I used to get 75-80mpg and now I struggle to get 60+. I filled up my tank with £60 with only 10miles in the tank.. it gave me 550miles on the range.. but I only managed to travel 380 before I had to fill up again. That is in fact an average of 44mpg.. for which I should be seeing at least 60mpg considering my driving is 90% slow motorway..

Its driving me crazy filling up all the time..

First you don't measure fuel's volume in £'s. You also don't get 70-80mpg out of a Fabia, how exactly did you calculate this figure and over how many miles/tanks?

The reasons for this should be obvious, we don't have national fuel pricing so for example you may live in a rural area that charges a 6p/ltr premium, a new petrol station near me has opened and undercut market values by 6p. Taken to the extreme what costs you £60 on a brimmed fill (58ltrs ish) could cost me almost £7 less, that's over an extra gallon for the same money so obviously £60 would get me further if we drive the same.

The reason you calculate on brimmed fills and then average that figure is to reduce the impact of inconsistent fills. A abnormally high mpg due to an air lock will normally be followed by a low figure assuming you don't get an airlock the next time, the average will be accurate. Eg I do a vented fill and get 30mpg as I've put an extra 12+ ltrs of fuel in but only gone the normal tank distance I'd cover on the previous tank as it wasn't vented. If I do an un-vented fill next time I'll hit 55mpg as I've gone a lot further but the next fill is a lit less, the average is 42.5mpg which is almost exactly what my car averages, if you took either figure in isolation you could easily make an incorrect assumption about my cars mpg.

Oh and the trip computer and estimated tank range can not be trusted, it's an estimate only based on previous driving and conditions at best, your future driving won't be the same, traffic flow changes as does the temperature etc.

First you don't measure fuel's volume in £'s. You also don't get 70-80mpg out of a Fabia, how exactly did you calculate this figure and over how many miles/tanks?

The reasons for this should be obvious, we don't have national fuel pricing so for example you may live in a rural area that charges a 6p/ltr premium, a new petrol station near me has opened and undercut market values by 6p. Taken to the extreme what costs you £60 on a brimmed fill (58ltrs ish) could cost me almost £7 less, that's over an extra gallon for the same money so obviously £60 would get me further if we drive the same.

The reason you calculate on brimmed fills and then average that figure is to reduce the impact of inconsistent fills. A abnormally high mpg due to an air lock will normally be followed by a low figure assuming you don't get an airlock the next time, the average will be accurate. Eg I do a vented fill and get 30mpg as I've put an extra 12+ ltrs of fuel in but only gone the normal tank distance I'd cover on the previous tank as it wasn't vented. If I do an un-vented fill next time I'll hit 55mpg as I've gone a lot further but the next fill is a lit less, the average is 42.5mpg which is almost exactly what my car averages, if you took either figure in isolation you could easily make an incorrect assumption about my cars mpg.

Oh and the trip computer and estimated tank range can not be trusted, it's an estimate only based on previous driving and conditions at best, your future driving won't be the same, traffic flow changes as does the temperature etc.

Firstly.. the reason why I'm addressing this in terms of £'s is because the problem is to do with the extra money it costs me.. therefore giving perspective. My weekly driving would normally use up £50 worth of fuel a week and covering between 400-450 miles which should gave me an average of 55mpg minimum, however.. in the past 3-4 weeks.. this weekly driving has been getting more expensive although I use the same fuel from the same station every sunday night and I'm struggling to see 45mpg. The type of driving I do with my day is about 10 minutes maximum of 4th gear driving and the rest is 6th gear 58mph motorway driving. This usually got me a minimum of 60mpg on the computer..

As for the 75-80mpg.. I do a drive to Brighton and back every 2 weeks and I manage to see between 75 and 82mpg on that journey.. although 82mpg was doing 50mph.. so these figures are not on a whole tank or weekly driving basis.. its on a journey basis. Now I did the same journey last week.. same time about 9pm so roads were empty and I was able to cruise at 56mph near-enough the entire way.. I did this journey there and back and with no changes to how I would normally do it.. yet this time I only managed to get around 58mpg from the trip computer. Thus leading me to believe that it is not a problem with the functioning of the car.. as my weekly drive is near enough always the same. I do understand that driving styles from week to week can vary as well as conditions never being the same.. but I have been driving the same amount of miles every week with the same journey to Brighton every 2-3 weeks for almost 30 weeks.. and the £50 I put in always near-enough covers that excluding any additional driving I may have had to do.. but now I;m finding that I am putting £60 to do the same traveling. I use Shell V-Power fuel and I understand that prices have been fluctuating but this would have a next to minimum affect considering its a few pennies higher than what I paid 6 months ago.

Because of the aforementioned.. this has lead me to believe that my car may have a few issues.. I have spoken to various individuals who have dealt with this same issue.. and professionals who have clarified that the two suspected culprits for this issue is the same as many people have experienced on here.. the EGR valve and/or the MAF Sensor.. Hence my interest to find out more..

I respect your reasoning with relation to my issue but I'm just not convinced that my problem is a matter of mathematics..

I respect your reasoning with relation to my issue but I'm just not convinced that my problem is a matter of mathematics..

Maybe, but mathematics are what is required get to the bottom of this!

You really need to do brim to brim calculations......basing your economy calculations on the cost of the fuel you use just adds too many variables to produce an accurate and consistent fuel economy figure.

You say you get 400-450 miles from £60 of fuel......so is it mostly near 450 miles or nearer 400?....or somewhere in the middle? Each figure gives completely different mpg figures by a large margin.....this is why you need to do brim to brim calculations.

I use an app on my phone to monitor my MPG using brim to brim figures.....it also records the fuel price I paid at each fill up......since December the cost of Shell fuel save diesel has gone up by 6p/litre. So V-power will have gone up by at least this much.....maybe more. This, combined with the below average temperatures we have been having for the last 3 months could completely account for your increased fuel bill.

To get instant savings, stop using V-power diesel. I experimented with V-power last year in my 2.0 TDI Octavia for 2000 miles. My average fuel economy dropped slightly on V-power......it has less energy/litre than standard diesel....the only advantage with it was cleaner, less smoky exhaust when flooring the throttle, but my experiment proved to me that it is absolutely not worth the extra cost.

You're making this unduly difficult by not doing the basic mathematics and making any meaningful comparison much harder if not impossible. Considering the temperatures of late and the thermal efficency of the PD you can expect mpg's to drop 10% but until you bother to log it properly you can't calculate mpg or cost per mile accurately let alone compare those figures to previous tanks or anyone else's figures. I don't know what fabia you have but 75-80mpg is 38-48% better than last years average for all vRS's logged last year, Fuely is based on actual fuel and distance and a reasonable sample size and distance so again exactly how did you calculate your figure as it's massively above other owners figures.

You could ignore me and just blindly replace parts in the hope of getting lucky and you might be, but it could just as easily be the weather getting warmer that fixes it. A bit of maths and logic is a lot cheaper

Oh and like Booke23 I didn't get anything extra from vpower diesel either, vpower petrol helped on some of the bikes and car's I've had (no backfire on startup in the cold being the first I noticed after a full race system was fitted to the Hornet and the GSXR loved it) but the diesel did nothing for any car i've tried it in for me apart from increase cost per mile which isn't what I wanted.

i've been trying different brands of fuel and i'm getting more mpg from shell v-power than tesco fuel say about + 50 mpg per tank fill, where i'm living shell city diesel is cheaper than tesco diesel, £1.449 tesco to shell city diesel £1.429, i haven't tried asda diesel yet, that is even cheaper again. i use the brim to brim and have managed to get 535 miles on a recent trip to teeside and halfway back but had 70 miles left according to trip computer, car is standard,blt engine. happy motoring.

New MAF bought and fitted, definitely better, but still not like when I first got the car. While I was messing around engine bay noticed pipework to inter cooler was all loose at joins. Gonna try tightening that all up.

New MAF has had positive results though : )