Hello internet, 

 

I just want to say (through my friend Mike who has a Briskoda account) a big thanks to Lee/Skoman for coming to help out with my 2009 octavia 1.9 tdi (bxe PD) for a TBA.  

 

I (and Mike) cleaned the air intake flap with dedicated spray cleaner but left it attached (as we didn't want to mess around with things like gaskets or doing things properly). Loads of black liquid and the flap was much freer and shiny. Left for an hour in the sun, discussing medals over tea etc. 

 

On going back to the car and reconnecting, it just would not start, one crank and that's it. We dis/reconnected the battery, tried left handed and right handed chicken dances in all manner of variations, but to no avail. Various readings suggested needing VCDS to perform TBA, and Lee/Skoman very kindly obliged with our request. 

 

He did the TBA but the car wouldn't start, cranking only once still. After multiple push starts and tapping the starter motor in case the starter had chosen now to be the time to go, we tried the manual crank involving dislocating shoulders and kneecaps in order to reach it. This was really stiff and led to him thinking it could be hydrolocked with the cleaning solvent.  

 

So, he removed the glow plugs and cranked it, and what can only be described as an intense ejaculation of black goop flew honestly about 5m in front of the car. I happened to be stood in front of the car when he did this and, having seen the matrix, felt like Neo when I dodged it (and the inevitable pinkeye). 

 

After cranking a bit more it seemed a lot freer, and it started! After an entirely trouble-free test drive (in which a hammer definitely did not get somehow left on the undertray only to fall out with a big clunk and confuse a dog walker, and in which the undertray definitly did not start scraping, requiring us to pull it off on the roadside) we made it back and I have a functioning car again. 

 

Engine diagnostics suggested injector 3 was running a bit rich (2.9 mg/str IIRC, normal range +/- 2.8 on VCDS?), so I imagine it could be that but more likely a load of carbon deposition in the EGR in a 180,000 miler. 

 

Some great points for reflection for me, including removing the TB and EGR to reduce the risk of crud-ingress and hydrolocking (I would have thought the volatile liquid would have evaporated out of the cylinder over time...), something about not leaving hammers in undertrays, and I think I need to take the TB and the EGR off for a proper clean to see if it reduces/removes white smoke on start up. 

 

So yeah anyone in the York area if you need any help I would recommend contacting Lee/Skoman, very knowledgeable and helpful, and a lovely bloke, thanks. (And thanks Mike for posting this!)

Well done @skoman and thanks BXEman for an entertainingly informative account. 

Had a neighbour hydrolock his sharan when he tried cleaning it too. I took my dad's off and put a new gasket on (ordered 2 when I did mine). 

Cut open a 4L milk carton, and cleaned in there to capture all the petrol/carb cleaner. Big chunks of tar off the EGR and the MPG was SO much better.

A wifebeating ex tenant of mine who thought he was the worlds best car mechanic asked me to spray easi-start into the intake of his Vauxhall Insignia while he was cranking it trying to get it to start.

 

Conscious of the risk of a hydraulic lock and knowing how little it need I was using it sparingly but he knew better and told me to spray it continuously from when the engine started cranking until it fired or he stopped cranking.

 

I though this will be fun well its a good opportunity to put my theory to the test and I was not dissapointed, there was a jerk and a hiccup & then the starter was spinning in free air.

 

It was a geared starter and had lunched the epicyclic gear train, they were tiny little gears and I'm surprised they were up to the job of starting it under normal conditions.