Hi there

looking for some advice regarding my car. I have an 0 51 Octavia vRS. It is high mileage (100K) and has a full skoda service history. I've owned the car for around a month now and have noticed a problem over the last few days which appears to be getting worse.

When I start the car first thing in the morning it runs rough (as though running on 3) for a few seconds, if I try and drive off straight away it is very jerky. After a few seconds it seems to clear itself and all is then well. This morning however it was noticeably worse. I started the car and it ran very rough, the rev counter did not register any revs at all and it would not rev up at all. I switched it off and restarted it after a few seconds and it ran perfectly. The only other thing i have noticed which I'm not sure is related is that the headlights and dash lights appear to dim when I pull up at a junction or come to a stop. The battery seems OK so I wondered if maybe the alternator is not charging properly. Other than this the car drives very well and has no other apparent problems. It pulls strongly in all gears up to the red line and drives at least as well as a mate of mines 03 vRS with half the mileage.

The local skoda dealer wants

It could be that one or more of the coil packs is faulty and a diagnostic check with VAG-COM would highlight that quickly. Whereabouts do you live? £75 is extremely steep for reading fault codes!

One option is to buy a spare coil pack and try substituting it for each one in turn to check if the problem disappears.

I live in Mansfield (Rainworth I think, is the local dealer). A mate of mine knows someone who can read fault codes but he isn't sure if he can talk to a Skoda - I will find out tomorrow and if not will visit the dealer.

Would a faulty coil pack show up if the problem is intermittent or only occurs first thing in the morning (?? cold). The reason I ask is that we used to own a Vauxhall a few years ago iand t was constantly running badly and flashing up the engine management light, however each time the garage read the codes no fault was stored, despite their clearly being a problem.