Hi All

 

I hope someone can help us with our 67 Plate Skoda Octavia Estate (1.6 Diesel) we purchased last September from White Dove in Cardiff.

 

After owning the car for about 5 months, we noticed that the car has started "hesitating" whilst driving. Now, the word hesitating is the best word I can think of for what the car is doing. Generally, it happens most when the car is warming up. As the temperature needle starts to move, if, say we drive at 30mph in 3rd gear, on a flat road, and hold the speed at 30, the sensation we get is as if we've taken our foot off of the accelerator and put it straight back on. However, this doesn't happen every time we drive.

 

Along with this "sensation", whenever the DPF Regen kicks in, the car is noticeably less responsive, and the "hesitation" seems to get worse.

 

I have taken the car into a local dealership (we don't live near Cardiff so can't take it back there) 3 time in total now. Each time, they've said that they cannot replicate the fault. This, I suppose, is fair enough. After the last time they had it in, the said they did an ECU reset to see if that would help. On the 20 mile trip home form the dealership, the car was fine, so I thought it was now sorted. Sadly, taking the car out again 3 hours later, and it did it again.

 

The car is under manufacturers warranty until November 2020, but we are really starting to pull our hair out with the problem. The fault is intermittent, so the chances of the dealer finding a fault in the 10 minutes they test drive it are slim.

 

I suppose my question is, has anyone else ever had this issue before? And, when the DPF Regen kicks in, should it affect the driveability so much?

 

We really are running out of options as to what to do now. We'd rather not trade it in for a newer model (seeing as we are still owed a service we paid for up-front on a deal).

 

Any advise would be great.

 

Many thanks in advance!

 

P.S - No fault codes are coming up on a tester!

How many miles has the car done? This sounds like exhaust flow pressure sensors are showing reduced pressure downstream of the DPF.

When the hesitation happens, if you plant your foot, does the car pickup quickly or is there a hesitation to accelerate?

 

Throttle flat spots on lean burn engines are fairly common, but since this has just started happening, you need to have the exhaust pressure difference checked.

This needs to be done using live data on a test drive. 

Also some testing equipment doesn't read all the available data. Ideally VCDS should be used, or the proper VAG tester used by main Skoda dealers.

 

Tester tech should also check DPF ash level.  

Hi

Thanks for the reply.

 

The car has now done just 21,000 miles.

 

The hesitation only lasts a max of 1 second each time, but planting your foot results in a hesitation. There is certainly no "picking up quickly" at all.

 

Should I be noticing ANY difference when the DPF Regen kicks in? I'm amazed how awful the drive is when it's working.

 

I appreciate the response. At least I'll have something to put to a new dealership so that they can try and find this fault.

2 hours ago, the-goon said:

Hi

Thanks for the reply.

 

The car has now done just 21,000 miles.

 

The hesitation only lasts a max of 1 second each time, but planting your foot results in a hesitation. There is certainly no "picking up quickly" at all.

 

Should I be noticing ANY difference when the DPF Regen kicks in? I'm amazed how awful the drive is when it's working.

 

I appreciate the response. At least I'll have something to put to a new dealership so that they can try and find this fault.

From my experience I never know when it's doing a regen unless I'm in traffic & it's idling faster & the s/s is not working.

49 minutes ago, ords said:

From my experience I never know when it's doing a regen unless I'm in traffic & it's idling faster & the s/s is not working.

 

OK, thanks. I think I just assumed everyone had driveability issues with the DPF Regen on.

Personally I can usually tell when a Regen is happening, coming from a Peugeot with DPF issues I guess I'm a bit sensitive to the changes in engine noise  

The engine will get noisier and the drive a bit lumpier (for want of a better description)

 

By any chance does this hesitation happen at 1500 rpm, I seem to always get a hesitation if I drop the revs to just below 1500 and accelerate again ?

23 hours ago, lway said:

Personally I can usually tell when a Regen is happening, coming from a Peugeot with DPF issues I guess I'm a bit sensitive to the changes in engine noise  

The engine will get noisier and the drive a bit lumpier (for want of a better description)

 

By any chance does this hesitation happen at 1500 rpm, I seem to always get a hesitation if I drop the revs to just below 1500 and accelerate again ?

 

Mine happens at all rpm's, but yes, it happens at 1500. However, my biggest problem is not so mush a hesitation on accelerating (although it does do this), but more a problem whilst holding a steady speed, the engine almost thinks I've taken my foot off the accelerator and quickly put it back on. Perhaps "judder" is a better word? or stutter?

 

I've now booked the car back in to a different dealership, so fingers crossed they find something!

Edited 1 August, 20196 yr by the-goon
Added more detail.