1.5 DSG Switching ACT on / Off

[dongilders]

Initially, my Karoq would display the 2 cylinder ACT message occasionally. Now it never displays, even when the engine is over running.

 

I assumed I had somehow switched the feature off, but can find nothing in the manual to tell me how to turn it back on?

 

Can anyone help? Is this a user managed feature? Or is my Karoq  needing some adjustment?

 

I have 5000 miles on the clock

[silver1011]

When ACT is active on my Kodiaq I get a symbol on the dash, the word Eco with a circle around it...

 

 

Oh, and it sounds and drives like a 3 cylinder Citroen C1.

 

If you've managed to disable it, please let me know how!

 

Edited 9 March, 2019 by silver1011

[dongilders]

Weird....

The user manual is not very clear.

 

The question remains - is there a way for the driver to turn Active Cylinder Management off, or on?

 

[Ootohere]

To my knowledge no way to disable or inhibit the function of ACT on the car.

I thought you were asking about having mistakenly turned off the display for when you had ACT functioning and re-activating?

 

[dongilders]

Hmm. ..Thanks for your input Skoffski

 

I will keep a close eye on the screen over the next few days and watch for the '2 cylinders only' message! 

 

Maybe I've missed it, but I don't think so.  

 

I'll post again after I've checked.

 

 

[Sanqhar]

I can’t place seeing it in Eco Mode, just get the Coasting message on light throttle. 

 

Tom

[Panther_uk]

ECO appears on the maxi dot on mine all the time when cruising at constant speed, the message '2-cylinder mode' appears dependant with what's being displayed on the maxi dot.

[Breezy]

‘2 cylinder mode’ appeared on mine several times in the first week I had the car, ive not seen that since and my driving style and routes are pretty much unchanged. Does seem a little odd.

[MJ1]

I still get it every day...

 

 

Best way is a gentle slope down in cruise control mode at a slightly lower speed than slope will generate freewheel speed.

[dongilders]

2 hours ago, Breezy said:

‘2 cylinder mode’ appeared on mine several times in the first week I had the car, ive not seen that since and my driving style and routes are pretty much unchanged. Does seem a little odd.

Intriguing Breezy,

 

Its like starting as a new owner to use and experiment with the various dashboard  control settings eventually changes something?

 

Of course, what I don't know is: is it going into 2 cyl and the message is being hidden, or if it is not going into 2 cyl at all? Or some change of control setting has turned the 2 cyl feature  or the message off?

 

Any experts out there?

 

[MJ1]

If you can not get message showing mode to work on a gentle slope at around 40mph then I would say take it to dealer to check.

 

Over the last 6 months I know where and how I can get it into 2 cylinder mode and every journey, even a small 10 minute trip I can get it to engage.

 

If you are getting none then sounds like a fault?

[Teds]

My 1.5 is tending to go into 2 cylinder mode more as it gets run in.  When it was new, it virtually never came on.  Now it will come on very light throttle downhill up to about 50mph and quite a lot around town on the flat at a steady 30.  The speed at which it will activate has been increasing.

 

I have been using Tesco Momentum fuel consistently up to now but have just changed to normal 95 fuel so I will see how (or if) it affects 2 cylinder mode.

 

Mileage so far 2500 over 4 months.

[xman]

IIRC ACT will work from approx 1500rpm to 3500rpm, and throttle demand of less than 25% of max power available at that engine speed.

 

In practice I find it doesn't kick in until somewhat over 1600rpm but will hang on until about 1400rpm.

 

I have a manual (1.4 tsi superb) and often find at urban speeds (40mph) ACT will kick in readily if I am in 5th gear, but not if I am in 6th as suggested by the maxidot, and it is much more economical to stay in 5th rather than 6th until I get to around 50mph.

 

So your DSG might be selecting too high a gear, and the engine speed is too slow or "slogging" at >25% demand for ACT to work.

 

The Cylinder deactivation text message is shown only on the fuel consumption pages. On other pages it shows a small ECO in a circle symbol towards the bottom right on my Superb.

 

ACT usually only deploys on light throttle and easy level or descending roads, almost always on the overrun, but you have DSG and if you have selected ECO drive mode, the DSG will coast instead of ACT (i.e. DSG clutches disengage).

 

As always check your tyre pressures are correct.

 

Hope this helps.

[Teds]

13 minutes ago, xman said:

IIRC ACT will work from approx 1500rpm to 3500rpm, and throttle demand of less than 25% of max power available at that engine speed.

 

In practice I find it doesn't kick in until somewhat over 1600rpm but will hang on until about 1400rpm.

 

I have a manual (1.4 tsi superb) and often find at urban speeds (40mph) ACT will kick in readily if I am in 5th gear, but not if I am in 6th as suggested by the maxidot, and it is much more economical to stay in 5th rather than 6th until I get to around 50mph.

 

So your DSG might be selecting too high a gear, and the engine speed is too slow or "slogging" at >25% demand for ACT to work.

 

The Cylinder deactivation text message is shown only on the fuel consumption pages. On other pages it shows a small ECO in a circle symbol towards the bottom right on my Superb.

 

ACT usually only deploys on light throttle and easy level or descending roads, almost always on the overrun, but you have DSG and if you have selected ECO drive mode, the DSG will coast instead of ACT (i.e. DSG clutches disengage).

 

As always check your tyre pressures are correct.

 

Hope this helps.

Very useful post, thank you.  When it was very reluctant to go into 2 cylinder mode (virtually never at that time), I was experimenting with sport mode on the gear box and it came on at cruise controlled 40 in sport mode and therefore a lower gear. The WLTP set up does seem to keep the revs very low in normal setting.  (I have not yet tried eco drive setting.)

[dongilders]

Just got home after a 160 mile trip in ECO mode.

 

I did not see the 2 cyl message at all.

 

Occasionally I saw the Eco sign.

 

Thanks all for the information. I am intrigued by the possibility I am not seeing the message because I am not showing the fuel consumption pages. I will try and check that tomorrow. I will also try to get the message in normal and sport modes.

 

Thanks again

[mullcott]

13 hours ago, dongilders said:

Just got home after a 160 mile trip in ECO mode.

 

I did not see the 2 cyl message at all.

 

Occasionally I saw the Eco sign.

 

Thanks all for the information. I am intrigued by the possibility I am not seeing the message because I am not showing the fuel consumption pages. I will try and check that tomorrow. I will also try to get the message in normal and sport modes.

 

Thanks again

I don’t think ACT works in Eco mode. See above post. 

[xman]

3 hours ago, mullcott said:

I don’t think ACT works in Eco mode. See above post. 

 

ACT is available all the time subject to the rpm and power demand limits I mentioned before. If you run in ECO drive mode with a DSG, when you lift off the throttle, the DSG will go into coast mode, the clutches lift off and so the engine is disconnected and the revs drop to idle, ACT will deactivate on that scenario because the revs are too low. However ACT will still go into 2 cylinder mode whenever light driving conditions that meet the rpm/power conditions allow.

 

The "2-cylinder mode" message is only displayed when you select the fuel consumption pages, it does not appear on other pages because there simply isn't room or it would detract from other messages. I addition there is an ECO in a circle symbol that appears on all pages AFAIK whenever ACT is active. Here is what it looks like, take note of the ECO symbol position ....

 

 

 

ACT is activated/deactivated in milliseconds and so may only display briefly, it all depends what you are doing with your right foot and the road gradients!

 

 

[dongilders]

Just returned from testing all modes and got the Eco symbol several times.

 

Then saw the note from XMAN!! ..........  Problem Sorted!!

 

Went out again and tested again. The '2 cylinder' message appeared, as XMAN said, when the 'CONSUMPTION' screen was displayed!!

 

So thanks very much to all who took an interest and especially to XMAN.

 

Some feedback for SKODA - put the circumstances the '2 cylinder message' displays in the User Manual?

 

Signing off

 

Don

[silver1011]

Gutted, 18 posts and still no secret button to turn it off.

 

In certain conditions when ACT is active my Kodiaq drives like its on 2 cylinders. I can feel it through the pedals and the engine note changes to sound like a Fiat Panda.

 

Sometimes, when it activates and deactivates the engine hesitates very slightly. The change between on and off is far from seamless. My wife can't tell, but I defiantly can.

 

All a little unnecessary in my opinion. I'd sacrifice the 0.5mpg is saves if I could disable it.

[xman]

48 minutes ago, silver1011 said:

 

In certain conditions when ACT is active my Kodiaq drives like its on 2 cylinders. I can feel it through the pedals and the engine note changes to sound like a Fiat Panda.

 

Sometimes, when it activates and deactivates the engine hesitates very slightly. The change between on and off is far from seamless. My wife can't tell, but I defiantly can.

 

 

IMO the only time it becomes vaguely noticeable in my 1.4tsi Superb is at the very low rev end i.e. 1400-1600 revs while pushing a little bit of power but not enough to deactivate it. Its very minor indeed, and no passenger has ever commented. Its only because I know about it and see the ECO symbol pop up. At 1900 rpm+ its totally imperceptible and I am very sensitive to this kind of stuff.

 

Solution is either

 

1. Drop a gear, in any case you get usually better fuel consumption 2000 rpm up

 

2. Press the throttle to deactivate

 

3. Back off the throttle in which case you probably need to drop a gear.

 

Activation/deactivation is totally seamless for me, no hesitation whatsoever.

 

You may have a bad example, or its a Kodiaq thing, or you simply expect too much.

 

ACT saves a lot more than 0.5mpg as far as I can judge, my Superb can return well over 50mpg on a long Motorway run at NSL, first car I've owned that can manage that, and I'm sure ACT is a major reason why.

Edited 13 March, 2019 by xman

[silver1011]

Our Kodiaq rarely sees a motorway, so round the houses the ACT is on / off / on / off and gets irksome after a while. It's currently averaging 30mpg so fuel economy is way down my priority list.

 

Dropping gears and stabbing the accelerator detract from what is a beautifully smooth engine, I'm already at the ideal RPM and speed ratio, so having to deliberately make inputs to bypass a system I'd rather not have is counter intuitive.

 

I'm sure it can be coded out, and if it continues to bother me then I'll dig a little deeper.