skoda rapid Skoda Rapid Fuel Injector Problem

[Rajanikanth]

India, Hyderabad. 28/06/2017. My Skoda Rapid was showing glow bulb symbol and immediately I stopped the vehicle and called the customer care. The customer care person said no need to tow the vehicle and I can drive 30-40 kms with low speed and AC off. I did the same and reached home. Two days later the service person took the car. Next day the service person called and said there is a problem with the fuel injectors and I need to replace them at a cost of INR 1 lakh. I was really surprised because the vehicle had gone to servicing twice in the past one month and the last was two days ago. But now there is such a huge problem. Having my own doubts on the service station, I called Skoda customer care. Next day the service person said they are trying to cover it under warranty and asked me to wait. 2 weeks later the service person sent an email saying the cost would be INR 2.5 lakhs. Another week went by trying to catch hold of the Skoda customer support person. Customer support lady says this is normal wear and tear because the vehicle is 5 years old and 70k kms. I had driven 4 cars earlier to this and never seen or heard anyone spending 2.5 lakhs / 1 lakh for Engine wear and tear. I can understand Tyres, Battery, Glass and plastic items.

A little time spent on google will tell you that Skoda has faulty Fuel Injectors mostly for vehicles manufactured before 2012 in India and most of them are Rapid. Now they have left the customers to fend for themselves. Indian management have killed the brand VW and Skoda.

[sushil-singha]

I would like to let you guys know on  how I am dealing with the problems related to Skoda Rapid 1. 6  TDI 2012 model  assembled in India.

 

Here is a story on how the problem occurred and how did I solved it. It’s a problem related to diesel injector, ABS, start up problem and normal servicing.  From  Zero knowledge to a stage where I could handle most of the problems related to my Skoda Rapid. All by myself!

 

Here it is. 2 years after I purchased my car, we moved to Germany and since it was my first car and I trusted this Brand, I was not willing to sell it and also it was just driven for 20K kms. So I decided to send it from Pune  to Silchar, Assam which is my native place. Before sending the car to my native place, I confirmed with Skoda about the servicing possibility and they mentioned me that I can do it in Guwahati where technician from Kolkotta comes for a regular servicing.

 

During my First Holiday to India, I planned to meet my Engineering college friends in Barapani shillong. So I started at 05:30 chilled December from Silchar to Shillong. The route was scenic with beautiful view of rivers and gorges and it was also a misty morning.  I was enjoying my drive ……..BUTTT……. When I was at half a way from my destination, my car suddenly lost power and  it was not able to drive up the hilly road. Damn…..I have no idea what’s going on and had ‘ 0 ‘ zero knowledge about fixing problems related to engine area .  I was stuck in the middle of the forest and somehow drove the car to find a small workshop. I spoke to Skoda service and they informed me that most probably my diesel injector got failed.  I then talked to the road side assist to tow the car to the nearest Skoda workshop which was 1,200 kms  in Kolkata and since my road side assist expired, they quoted me around Rs 82,000 /- only for the towing. I had only few days left to return to Germany and so sending the car to Kolkatta was not possible. Moreover, the workshop guy where I parked the car in that forest had no idea about such cars with lots of electronic devices in it. This is where I dared to take the matter in my own hand.  I wanted to check which injectors and how many of them got effected. So I kept the engine on and plug out the injector connection one by one and this way we could identify that 2 injectors are either having electronic problem or got chocked. And that workshop guy said’ may be we could just clean it and could work’. Having no option left , I agreed and asked him to open the injectors and clean them. Man……..what happen next is where things went worst….he removed all the four injectors from the cylinder head and…..tried to open the top part of the injector where the electronic chip is fitted…. Mann oh Mann…..Only the laboratory guys should disassemble the injector individual parts….(NEVER OPEN AN INJECTOR PARTS) you should take out of the cylinder as a complete unit but don’t even try to open individual part of the injectors. ….very important…without knowing the consequences, the workshop guys cleaned it , assembled it , and fitted it back to the cylinder….and….now non of  the injectors worked ….Yes…all the 4 injectors failed. In India one injector cost Rs 21,500. So the cost of towing + 4 injectors would cost me 1,68,000 INR….hmmm…That was my worst day of life with no solutions left.

By the time we finished assembling,  the car completely broke down. It was dark and so I spent the night sleeping inside the car. Luckily I was alone and my family didn’t join me for the trip to Shillong. The next morning I searched for a tempo traveler or a truck to pull my car back to silchar, my home town, but was hard to find one in that isolated place. Finally I could manage a person who have a tempo traveler and he agreed to pull the car until my home at Silchar. By the time we started, dusk set in and the matter became worst again . One more challenge to face. The journey back to home from the workshop was terrible. Why ? because the engine was not starting and so the power steering, brakes are very  hard to operate and no lights as the battery went down in making several attempts to start the engine. We need to drive downhill and the only way to control my car is to use hand brake or shifting to small gears. The road was not good and to make the things worst, it started to rain heavily, typical Meghalaya heavy rainfall. But at the end we managed to reach my home with a minor scratch on my car.

I lost hope on Skoda service and so I left the car without repairing and came back to Germany. As I said, at that time I had ZERO knowledge on how to repair a car. Not even the basics. Once in Germany , I started getting knowledge about repairing a car , visited some VW service here in Germany , googled it, watched you tube and most important is the blogs. Also the Team bhp website helped me a lot.  I decided to buy a refurbished injector here in Germany and there are lots of small companies who sell such refurbished expensive parts of cars here in Germay. I bought 4 Siemens Injector (part no. 03L130277S) at 1/3 rd the price quoted by Skoda India. I got it tested infront of me at their lab to make sure all 4 are functioning. That person was very nice and he explained that I would need to updated the codes in ECU after replacing the injectors and for that I would need the Diagnostic software.  Oh….one more twist for me….I have no idea what was he talking about…then after a lot of study , I came to know that I need the VCDS diagnostic software  sold by Ross Tech and which the VW group uses for their cars. I talked to the VCS dealer in US, India and Germany and finally decided to buy it from a German dealer….Thank god that I live in Germany and that everything works here fine.  I bought “HEX V2 for 3VIN” and it costed around Rs 18,000/- (240 Euro). I registered the software online and tried it here in Germany in my Audi A3 and works absolutely fine. So in my 2nd trip back to India after a year,  I have the VCDS software, Tools, Injectors and workshop manual with me…. Jung ladne ke liye tayar…As soon as I reached my home in Silchar , the next day I started alone with my task of replacing the injectors…my parents asked me to call for some mechanics  but honestly I have no faith on anybody including the Skoda guys. This VCDs software is a must have if you want to repair such cars with electronic controls. As you read along, you will come to know how this software made my life easy.  So, after replacing the Injectors one must update the code through VCDs software and the fuel system must be primed and priming fuel system is so easy with VCDs without which would be terrible.  After everything is ready, I turned on the ignition BUTT…it didn’t start, the ignition doesn’t start at all…I just hear a click sound…something like Tak..tak like something is popping out and heating something…OH God what this new Problem?  Then I googled it and came to know that the starter motor  mayyyy… be the problem. The diesel car was just standing still for a year and so other problems appeared. So I checked if the battery was dead and I made the battery recharged it at a local workshop and it was perfectly OK. To me its like something got jammed in the starter motor. So I opened the starter motor  which is Located at the lower most position. I cleaned it with petrol and manually rotated the shaft just to release the jam. Before opening it, I hit with a rod, pushed the vehicle backward but didn’t work. After cleaning , I fitted  the starter motor and remembering God (hey bhagvan!), I turned on the ignition….YES…after a long hold, the engine finally started and everything is back to normal like before.  Huraah!!!...

 

I test driven it in the hills of Manipur border and was driving the whole day continuously and I didn’t face any problem. But yes after a week, while I was driving, I had another different problem and that was with ABS . The ABS suddenly started functioning and it was jamming the wheels…Oh…NO…once again different problem…I was not able to drive so I decided to deactivate the ABS by plugging out the ABS Fuse just to somehow reach home. Huh!...needed to google which fuse is for ABS….Stupid Skoda designers didn’t mentioned the fuse in the back side of the cover.  That fuse cover must have been localised in India or China. Once I reached home, I connected my laptop to the car via HEX V2 and scanned the problem. It said “ not receiving proper signal from Front right wheel” it was something like that  kind of information.  So  I suspected  that the ABS sensor from the front right wheel was the culprit. I opened the wheel and cleaned the sensor and it worked perfectly OK . The ABS error display is GONE !!!...So now you understand how the VCDs detects problem and is so helpful. Just scan  and directly jump into the problem. And off course I asked my brother to buy oil filter, cabin filter, air filter, engine oil nut, which you change during every servicing and the engine oil (Fully synthetic 5w-40 )I got it at a local shop. 

"Toi toi toi" the car is running without any problem  and my parents are happy about it. I hope I would not face any more major problems with my Skoda Rapid 1.6 TDI 2012.

This is not a rocket science guys. I think everybody must have some knowledge on repairing cars so that the service centers can’t fool you.  All service centers and everywhere in the world tries to extract money as much as possible from the customers because it’s their business and I do not blame them. Instead I have learnt to tackle them.  My only request to Skoda is to have at least one permanent service center in a big city like Guwahati. They say that they use to have it but not amymore. Don’t  know how true it is.

 

So guys, If you have questions on Skoda Rapid Injector problems, VCDS software, normal servicing by your own, you can write me at [email protected].  Being born as a human being let me help you as much as I can. I can understand the problem you are going through.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited 23 March, 2018 by sushil-singha

[SKumar]

@ Rajnikanth- how did you resolve the issue as I am facing the same problem