Apologies if this has been covered elsewhere but I've searched and can't see anything and was wondering if anyone can help or has had anything similar happen to them.

 

My 17 plate Octavia Estate 1.6tdi has done 19k trouble free miles. Yesterday morning I was called out to a (false) alarm at 04:30 and had to defrost the car quickly so used some warm soapy water (I know!). Returned home about 05:15 and went back to bed after a 4 mile round trip.

 

At midday I set off on a 40 mile drive (temperature now well above freezing). I soon noticed that there was a 'flat spot' in the power delivery and quickly worked out that the engine would not rev more than about 3,000 rpm (but well above 2,500). Other than this, power delivery was normal and there was no rough running so I continued on my way with just slight inconvenience in not being able to drop down to third to overtake lorries, etc..

 

I then spotted that the gear change indicator was reading incorrectly. No matter what gear I was in it read '2' with an arrow up to the 'correct' gear. However, there were no warning lights on the dash and nothing reported under the Vehicle Information. 

 

I got to my meeting, albeit a bit late, and started searching forums for answers. Three hours later I returned to my car resigned to heading to Arnold Clark Skoda in Inverness to seek assistance (I was that desperate)! However, the errors were gone - gear change indicator normal, full power available. I returned home without any hitches other than the rubber 'regen' smell when I got back.

 

I had to head back to Inverness today and again no problem and no smell.

 

So, has anyone ever had anything similar happen to them? Can anyone explain the cause of this? What would you do if it was yours?

I also have a 1.6 TDi and have never experienced anything like your “glitch”. I would just wait and see if it happens again. Weird. 

Not heard of this before but if the ECU believed it was in 2nd gear this could be the cause of your rev limit.

I'd assume that 1st & 2nd gear would be torque limited & when you saw your rev limit you were 3rd/4th/5th/6th gear?

If this is the case the rev limit was probably due to the torque limitation which would be applied in 2nd gear.

 

It is also normal when it is really cold that the LCD type displays become very slow to update until they warm up but normal after a minute or two they should work like normal.

 

Reading  the fault codes will give you a better idea where the problem came from but for something like gear detection I would expect warning lights rather than just a hidden DTC.

Slightly similar. 1.4tsi manual. In recent  cold weather noted that the gear change indicator does not start working until the temperature gauges start working.