Hi All,

I have bought a 2011 octavia 2.0 TSI as a non runner (after looking at the forum this may have been a big mistake)

I was told before the auction verbally that it was driven into the yard but since wont start as battery was flat and dispite having a booster pack on it would not turn over.

I got the car back today, charged the battery and turned the engine   over, it span over very fast, as if it had no compression, but iv never had a modern pertol engine, more used to diesels. with the oil filler cap off turning the engine over the cam shaft spins and letting foot off clutch in moves forward a little with no bad sounds from the engine.

there seems to be a square plastic fuel filter to the left hand side of over the wing, i removed the top push on cap and the filter was completle empty of fuel.

I am fairly practical, but not now worried after reading about all the stories of timing chain / belt jumping.

any pointers where to go from here. fuel guage is showing 1/2 full, ill check fuel in tank,

is there any way to check the timing is correct and the fuel pump is working?

any help or advice for simple checks would be much appreciated.

Best regards, John case.

That's a carbon filter used to vent breather gases from the fuel tank. The fuel filter is under the rear driver side.

Get the faults read as a starting point.

Edited 12 October, 20169 yr by James@RRGRochdale

thanks for the advice,

i know that is the sensable thing to do, my local garages have 'snap on' diagnostics gear and they generally have 3 to 4 days until you can get a slot, will  there diagnostic tool this pick up the codes? or should be it skoda, there 40mile away i think.
i was just oping there is a way to tell about the cam chain problem with i cna just see myself to save time, and im being impatiten / worried now after reading these tensioner fauliers :peek:

thanks for the advice,

i know that is the sensable thing to do, my local garages have 'snap on' diagnostics gear and they generally have 3 to 4 days until you can get a slot, will  there diagnostic tool this pick up the codes? or should be it skoda, there 40mile away i think.

i was just oping there is a way to tell about the cam chain problem with i cna just see myself to save time, and im being impatiten / worried now after reading these tensioner fauliers :peek:

It's quite a big risk with today's cars buying a non runner or even one you can't inspect or have inspected and driven properly. Lecture over, I hope it works out.

 

Best diagnostics for VAG cars are dealer or VCDS. But Snap On would be fine to start with. It will read codes but the customisation, data logging and functions may be a bit more limited than VCDS.

 

You could search on this forum if there is a member near you with VCDS, they may be willing to do a scan for you. There is a thread showing members and location.

 

Another place to start, given your concerns is to source a compression test gauge, they are not that expensive. Only issue is continuing to turn over could cause more damage but if it is a non runner now, and you suspect compression may be an issue, it is hard to see making it much worse.

 

Edit: More specifically in VCDS in addition to any diagnostic codes, there are data measuring blocks for camshaft phase and there are published tolerances that given an indication of a problem. You would need to research to determine in spec tolerances. Compression would also tell you quite a bit on the extent of damage, if any.

Edited 13 October, 20169 yr by TheClient

I may be wrong but i suspect the car has had the cam chain tensioner fail hence the spinning over quickly.There are 2 octavia's currently for sale on autotrader selling as non runners due to "multiple miss-fires" listed & non start problems which i suspect both have the tensioner problem.