I have a 56 plate Octavia VRS TDI (first registered October 2006) with around 36K on the clock, it had the DPF sensor replaced around three years ago when it failed.

 

The problem I'm having is the car can be very sluggish and hesitant to accelerate, it doesn't really accelerate unless you bury your foot on the accelerator and the turbo spins up but even then it is slow.  It is consistently like this until the engine is switched off and when restarted it may behave better or it may not.  There's no errors on the dashboard and there's nothing I can see through VCDS for the engine, it's only showing a fault for the steering wheel electronics (which I think is the cruise control) and a couple of others not related to the engine.  I thought this might be the DPF regenerating but it's not revving higher at idle and I don't remember this behaviour happening until the time approaching the DPF sensor failure.

 

When it's not very hesitant, I don't think it's quite right either - it doesn't 'feel' that fast although that is subjective, it's never very efficient though as even on a gentle journey averaging 60mph it's not managing more than 40mpg.  I almost never use the car for short journeys and when I do drive it I usually make sure I give it a good push through the revs as well as letting it warm up/cool down before pushing it.

 

When it wasn't running well before (and before the DPF sensor showed as failed), the mechanic had a good look at the engine and could only suggest changing the EGR valve but what puzzles me is why the car is completely inconsistent, I assume if the EGR valve was clogged the car's performance would generally be poor.

 

I'm planning to put the car into the garage to have it looked at but would appreciate any recommendations or advice regarding possible causes, it sounds minor but it makes driving the car unpleasant and I've about had enough of it.

 

John

Ah, welcome to the PD170.

 

DPF would be the No.1 culprit. 36,000 miles in 7 years is only 5,000 miles a year. Is the car running only short journeys?

 

Same goes for the EGR.

 

My vRS was very similar and the issue was never resolved. Good luck!

I knew about the DPF before I bought the car so I've been extremely careful with it, I almost never use it on short journeys as I took up cycling and use the bikes for all my day to day needs so I've never had to do an active regen with it.

 

I've read yours and several other people's posts about the PD170 which have concerned me, I have looked into changing the VRS a couple of times - once for a Seat Exeo diesel and more recently a petrol Mazda6 2.5 Sport but while the Seat has the better CR based diesel it still likely isn't a good choice for occasional use and the Mazda6 felt a bit pricey and I didn't like the stereo.  To get a car the size of the Octavia estate in a petrol seems pretty rare these days, I've kept an eye out for petrol VRS's but not seen anything that caught my eye.

 

John

Most of my issues were as a result of a poor dealership rather than the car.

 

If you have a good local indy I'd say all isn't lost. Get them to take a quick look, they'll probably know what it is without lifting the bonnet!

I know it isnt same engine or car, but i recently (2 days ago) had this on my a4 1.9 pd tdi and it was as result of a accelerator pedal module failure, the symptoms started before christmas where throttle response wasnt as good and occasional hesitation, gradually got worse to the point it went into limp mode. Whilst sourcing my replacement pedal assembly i seen alot advertised for the 2.0 pd also so it could be a possibility, hope you get it sorted

Edited 26 February, 201412 yr by Dan Welburn

My local garage is pretty good particularly since they managed to get the main Skoda guy when Arnold Clark took over the local Skoda garage and booted out all the Skoda mechanics but aside from suggesting the EGR valve and cleaning out some of the engine they've never got to the bottom of it.

 

John

Ever replaced the air filter?

Have you had the injectors replaced under the recall ??

Have you had the injectors replaced under the recall ??

 

No, due to the number of problems the replacement injectors caused that seem to be unfixable I decided I'd only replace the injectors if they actually failed.

 

John

FWIW - MAF sensor?

 

Just a thought as my 1.9PD seemed hesitant and underpowered when the wire from the sensor to the MAF developed a fault.

 

Dave

I agree with drefaldwyn. 

 

I had same symptoms on my05 2.0 pd. Now no turbo and wont rev past 3300rpm.

vagcom showing little movement of inlet manifold pressure regardless of throttle position or engine load.

Will be ordering new sensor soon.

It will always rev through the full range, I have to use the higher revs when it's in a more hesitant mood.  It was running smoothly yesterday and today again so I think it is just the DPF regenerating.  I'm thinking although I don't do many short journeys, I don't do many long journeys either so I've decided go for a petrol car instead which is more suitable for the lower miles.  It's frustrating the government have ruled cars need to have the DPF's fitted if there originally otherwise I was strongly considering going down the route of getting it removed, I realise at the moment it's unlikely MOT testers will be able to tell the DPF is gone from a visual check but it's too much time and money to risk.

 

John

You'll know if it's the DPF regenerating if the tick-over rises to 1,000rpm when stationary.