Octavia 1.6 - Sluggish when setting off from idle, strong petrol odor from exhaust

[Dudurin]

Hey guys, first time poster here.

 

Recently purchased an Octavia 1.6 with a rather annoying issue. When pressing the throttle while the engine is idling, the RPM dips down for a split second before rising - Similar to what some cars with pod filters do if you stomp and release the throttle immediately. This results in the car jerking every time you set off with it. Reversing up steep hills is a nightmare because you have to keep the revs up and burn the clutch unnecessarily or it'll eventually stall. The car also emits a very strong petrol odor from the exhaust.

 

The engine runs and starts just fine. I am unsure whether or not it's down on power, since this has been an issue since i purchased the car. The engine management light is not illuminated and I've had a diagnostics test run on it which said all sensors were ok.

 

Any ideas? I'll see if I can find an engine code for you in the daylight tomorrow.

Edited 6 January, 2017 by Dudurin

[pauldazzle]

There's some engine sensors that can be failing without causing a fault code. Coolant temp sensor & MAF in particular are prone to this. The only way to really tell is to hook up to VCDS/VAGcom & look at what the ECU is seeing from the sensors.

[nige8021]

The other things to check are all the rubber vacuum pipes connected to the inlet manifold/throttle body, as if they are leaking the system will see an "Un-metered" air input and dump more fuel in to try and compensate, the other one is clean the throttle body insides with spray carb cleaner and an old toothbrush

[Dudurin]

I'll be checking out the vacuum lines later today. I unfortunately don't have access to a VCDS at the moment, but I'm going to try cleaning the throttle body and MAF later today and we'll see if it yields any results.

 

Thanks for the advice, guys.

[Dudurin]

Cleaned the throttle body and MAF sensor last night and in the process of refitting it all, I found that a pipe that leads from the hose between the MAF and throttle body to the oil filler cap is completely off. The pipe that continues from there is also snapped in two. Could this be what causes all my issues?

[georged30]

Yes fix it and it will be fine