Octavia vRS TDi - exhaust fumes in cabin

[Matt H]

I have a 2016 (66-reg) Mk III vRS TDi.  18 months old, with 9k miles on the clock.  Bought from a main Skoda dealer when 10 months old / 6k miles.

 

Recently I've started to get intermittent diesel exhaust smells in the cabin.  It comes and goes, sometimes when in traffic in town, but also when out on country roads with no other vehicles around.  So, I assume the smells are coming from my car, rather than exhaust fumes from other vehicles.  Doesn't seem to coincide with any DPF regen activity.

 

Any ideas?  Do I have an exhaust leak, or an issue with the air-con / heating system, etc...?  I know from having looked that there were some issues on Mk II Octys with leaks from the manifold / DPF assembly etc, so is this the likely cause on my Mk III...?

 

The car is still well within the 3-year warranty period, but would investigations and any subsequently-require repairs (if needed) be covered by the warranty, or could a sizeable bill await (which I would be very far from impressed with, given the age and mileage of the car).

 

Any suggestions, please...?

[threadbear]

Definately a garage job. When my car does a DPF regen, you get a smell of burnt rubber, and if not completed the fan runs for a while when the engine is turn off. You need to take to the dealer at earliest oppotunity. You car is in warranty so there wont be any costs involved. (Well shouldnt be)

[Gabbo]

As above, a trip to the garage is advisable.

Everything should be covered under warrenty unless you have done any manual modifications or work yourself & the garage can show that these have caused the problem.

Hopefully something simple like tightening a gasket or rubber hose.

[Matt H]

Thanks for the replies.

 

Will have a look under the bonnet with the engine running to see if I can see / smell anything obvious, but will then get it into my local Skoda dealer thereafter for them to check it over.

 

Will report further as & when...

[Matt H]

So, having contacted the dealer I bought the car from last August (Johnsons, in Erdington), they have had the car in today.  Given it a good going-over, including collecting it from me at home and driving it to their workshop (50+ mile trip, each way), and they can't find anything wrong...

 

So, I will have to keep an eye (or rather, a nose) on it, and see if I get any more smells inside...  I'll be back onto them, if I do.

[wg100]

33 minutes ago, Matt H said:

So, having contacted the dealer I bought the car from last August (Johnsons, in Erdington), they have had the car in today.  Given it a good going-over, including collecting it from me at home and driving it to their workshop (50+ mile trip, each way), and they can't find anything wrong...

 

So, I will have to keep an eye (or rather, a nose) on it, and see if I get any more smells inside...  I'll be back onto them, if I do.

At least it’s been logged as an issue now, so should anything appear just after warranty expires, there’s a good chance of it being looked at.

[brian62c]

I've just started having this issue in the past couple of days. At first I thought it was just other vehicles' exhaust fumes but again, driving on empty roads (including motorways) and at all kinds of speeds has proved it is an issue with the car. I was hoping it would be a common fault which had plenty of advice on this forum - but I guess you can't win 'em all! Surely there can't only be two of us?

 

Mine is a 2013 1.6tdi with 65k and full Skoda service history, so absolutely no chance of any help from the dealer other than parting me from more of my hard-earned. I've discovered a VW specialist not too far away from me, so if I can't find anything myself with a good exploration of the engine bay, I'll have to give them a try. It's not terribly pleasant driving everywhere inhaling diesel exhaust - never mind it probably being not much good for my health.

 

Interesting that Matt H's dealer "couldn't find anything wrong" with his car. In mine, the smell is there all the time, virtually as soon as you switch on the engine, so there's no way you'd not be able to detect it, even driving just 50 yards! How a main dealer can either not detect the problem as reported (which should be absolutely obvious, see above) or find/know of a reason for it slightly beggars belief, imho.

Edited 29 January, 2019 by brian62c
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