Not long had my superb estate and have started to experience some issues. I had a quick look through the forum but nothing seems to have come up. Maybe some of you have seen similar problems and may be able to help, in which case, thanks in advance.

Every now and then (and only ever from cold), the car will fail to start. Ignition comes on fine, no warning lights or messages, the car will turn over the starter but won't fire, like the engine isn't getting any fuel. I thought this might be related to an immobiliser issue. Tried all three keys with the same result. If I then leave the car for a few minutes, it will fire up like nothing has happened. I am yet to speak to Skoda about this, but will approaching them after the Christmas period.

I am also concerned about the amount of lag I experience with the accelerator pedal. It seems to improve as the engine warms up but is completely off putting when trying to negotiate motorways or junctions.

Again, thanks for any insight any of you can give.

I've had this non start issue once with mine - tried for a good few minutes to start the car with no joy and ended up calling Skoda Assist. Sure enough, after I had called them, the car started fine. I popped across to the dealers to get them to have a look at it on the diagnostics but nothing came up. Haven't had the issue since. I too thought it might have been fuel starvation or immobiliser issues. 

Was it very cold for both your times? If so could it have been that the glow plugs were not working for those occasions.

Was it very cold for both your times? If so could it have been that the glow plugs were not working for those occasions.

Not for me - happened back in July/August sometime

Check the Octavia III forums.

Not as rare an occurrence as you might think.

Not sure anyone has got to the bottom of it.

Sry - dbl post

Edited 19 December, 20169 yr by Sheldon.Cooper

I think ours once failed to start, remember my wife calling me....seemed to resolve itself and hasn't done it again since.

I also find the throttle response very poor on ours (150 TDI manual 4x4). I guess if I drove it regularly I might gradually adapt to it, but I only drive it at weekends and it's very noticeable, really have to move the pedal a long way before much happens!

The accelerator lag is a 'feature'. It can be reduced by telling the engine management the engine is in an Audi using VCDS or by installing an after market pedal tuning box, which sits between the pedal position sensor and the ECU and makes the engine think the pedal is pressed more than it is. On a friend's Leon Cupra it made a noticeable difference, even when it was already in sport mode.

The accelerator lag is a 'feature'. It can be reduced by telling the engine management the engine is in an Audi using VCDS or by installing an after market pedal tuning box, which sits between the pedal position sensor and the ECU and makes the engine think the pedal is pressed more than it is. On a friend's Leon Cupra it made a noticeable difference, even when it was already in sport mode.

Tried the "Audi" setting, made no difference as far as I can tell....

My 190DSG has done this once, and once only. 

 

It was back in August or thereabouts. Got in, pressed the start button (KESSY) and the car just sat there cranking the engine but wouldn't fire. I pressed the start button after about 5 or 6 seconds to kill it. Tried starting it again and it fired literally on the button. 

 

It's nowt to do with glow plugs as the car inhibits the starter motor until the engine is happy to start. 

 

No faults on VCDS and hasn't done it since. I also recall there being around half a tank of fuel and the car was on the level. I filed it in the 'Gremlin' folder.....

Tried the "Audi" setting, made no difference as far as I can tell....

I've never heard of it working on Superb II models, which you have based on your signature, but it's supposed to work on the Superb III.

From comments over the past year, the Audi option seems to become more effective in direct proportion to greater horse power. That said, the improvement can best be described as "some" rather than "significant", even on a 280.

Any refinement over the default "VW" throttle mapping is worth considering and the Audi setting is a cheap and cheerful method to get "some" improvement if you have access to VCDS.

Having fitted a plug-in throttle response remap it has virtually eliminated that awful throttle lag and immensely improved the overall driving experience. No more stuttering at junctions waiting for the engine to respond to the throttle.

On one occasion I inadvertently pressed the "Off" button and my first thought was that the car had gone into Safe Mode as response was so poor, but in fact it had merely reverted to the default throttle setting, requiring ⅔ throttle instead of the remapped ¼ throttle to get a decent smooth pull away.

Thanks for all the replies.

It seems the starting issue is fairly common and "just one of those things". It doesn't happen very often and is yet to become a nuisance so I am not too worried, after what has been said here.

could any of you recommend a throttle "plug-in" remap box for the car? I'm inclined to go for this option as it is a company car and I'm guessing the box can be removed/refitted fairly easily when needed.

Thanks again.

I'm sure there are others but the most popular are RaceChip's Response Control and DTE System's Pedal Box.

I have the RaceChip version as at the time it offered the more flexible solution but that appears to now be matched by DTE's 3S updated version.

Neither is cheap but worth every penny.

It's a 5 minute job to fit first time (deciding where to position the controller taking the most time!) and a 30 second job to remove.

I've never heard of it working on Superb II models, which you have based on your signature, but it's supposed to work on the Superb III.

Ours is a Superb III, and my sig looks correct to me ?

Slightly off the topic, but the "Audi mod" works very well on the 1.4 TSI ACT 150.