Octavia 1.6 (AVU) low on power, sluggish and emits strong petrol/oil odor

[Dudurin]

Hey guys,

 

I recently created another thread concerning the same car, but since I have quite a lot more information now, I'm going to start this from scratch.

 

The car in question is a 2001 Skoda Octavia (1U), 1.6 (AVU) with 143.000 miles on the clock.

 

The problem with the car is that it's low on power, sluggish to operate and, during idle, emits an oily/petrol odor from somewhere into the cabin. I've driven another Octavia 1.6 with the AKL engine, meaning that it's one hp down on mine, yet it feels like a race car comparatively.

 

The check engine light has been on once and after a VCDS readout, the faults were P0171, P1403 and P1423. After deleting the codes, they never returned, but the car still runs poorly. Despite the codes not returning, I chose to clean the throttle body and MAF sensor, but to no avail. After going over the engine, I noticed that two breather hoses were cracked, which, in my opinion, would case unmetered air to enter the throttle body. I used heat shrink tubing to repair these, but it didn't change anything, unfortunately. I've also tried disconnecting the MAF sensor, but the car drives almost exactly the same.

 

One thing I found that worries me, is that the air filter and ducting was completely covered in oil, hence the cleaning of the MAF. Could my engine be severly damaged? The car doesn't run rough and sounds completely fine. Could it be due to the breather tube being snapped off?

 

I really hope the car is fixable. I'm struggling a bit financially at the moment, so expensive repairs are not an option and breaker yards don't exist where I'm from.

 

Lastly, I apologize for any terminological mishaps that might be present. I'm not natively english, so some of the terms I had to guess.

 

 

[Dudurin]

Bit of an update:

 

After fiddling around with some vacuum lines today, the EML came on and the subsequent readout issued the following codes:

 

16486: Mass Airflow Sensor - Signal too low

16497: Air Temperature Sensor - Signal too high

 

Now, I'm by no means a mechanic, but to me this was reasonably conclusive evidence of a faulty MAF sensor. Since I have access to an almost identical, fully functional vehicle, I swapped the faulty sensor with the one from the functional car and went for a drive. The EML light went out, but unfortunately, the car behaves the same - Low on power, sluggish and hesitant to rev from idle. I then fitted the supposedly faulty sensor to the other car and took that out for a drive. It's not quite as smooth as it was, but doesn't drive remotely as poorly as the other car and the EML did not come on.

 

I have no idea what to do from here.

 

[Dudurin]

Bit of an update: I've purchased a USB to OBDII cable and downloaded VCDS Lite. Anyone able to tell me what to look for specifically?

[Dudurin]

Anyone?

[bigjohn]

 

Temp sensor?

[Saints92]

I'd be looking for broken wires in the loom near where you were working

[Dudurin]

Temp sensor?

 

Is there a way to check its integrity with VCDS?

 

 

I'd be looking for broken wires in the loom near where you were working

 

I have checked all of them, but unfortunately there were no loose connectors or broken wires.

 

I appreciate your input, guys, since I'm at a complete standstill and the car is using an unbelievable amount of fuel.