Anyone in Bristol able to help diagnose a misfire?

[BristolBikerMan]

My 09 2.0 TSI FL Octavia VRS is missing from time to time.

 

The idle on startup is rough when very cold. Occasionally sounds like it's running on 2 cylinders.

 

No CEL on.

 

Occasionally it hesitates badly when weather is freezing.

 

I suspect it's a coilpack or two, but would like to read the misfire counters and swap the coilpack and see if the problem follows the parts.

 

Does anyone in Bristol have vag com and willing to help me?

 

Cheers,

 

Conrad

 

[jjc]

Hi,

 

not in Bristol, but not too far away. Near Pewsey Wiltshire

Have you looked at the VCDS map thread? 

 

John

[cheezemonkhai]

I'm not a million miles away, but won't be going near anyone else until I've had the vaccine/lockdown is gone, so that wouldn't be until much later in the year.

Sorry.

 

Worth checking the hoses/secondard air supply and also that the electrics are all dry.

 

Just been on Eurocarparts and using their usual offer codes (today is PAT75)  Bosch coil packs for your car are less than £32 each or approx £125 for all 4.

By the time somebody has come to you, you've spent and hour and diagnosed the car, then replaced the coild you need it's probably no more expensive to just change all 4.

That plus when 1 starts to go, the others probably are not far behind.

 

If it was me, rather than paying £60-100 for a garage diagnostic (Assuming people can't help due to COVID), I'd take a punt on £125 of new coil packs and if it's not you can always ebay the known working old ones.

 

EDIT - Here is the link to the part:

 

https://www.eurocarparts.com/p/bosch-ignition-coil-413440467

Edited 15 March, 2021 by cheezemonkhai

[BristolBikerMan]

John: Pewsey is a little far for me, but thanks

 

cheezemonkhai: I totally understand your position on that, and anyone else who adopts it.

 

There is a 45% sale on at ECP at the mo, I already checked there and came to the same figure of £125.

I also found these: https://www.awesomegti.com/shop-by-brand/ecs-tuning/oem-red-r8-ignition-coil-pack-set-for-2-0t-vehicles/ but not sure of the quality, but they are well reviewed?

I'd probably just swap 1 at a time until I found the dodgy one, then replace them all and sell 3.

 

Hoses/air supply... It definitely feels electrical to me, no evidence of water ingress and its happened on very dry days/weeks.

 

 

 

 

[cheezemonkhai]

3 minutes ago, BristolBikerMan said:

John: Pewsey is a little far for me, but thanks

 

cheezemonkhai: I totally understand your position on that, and anyone else who adopts it.

 

There is a 45% sale on at ECP at the mo, I already checked there and came to the same figure of £125.

I also found these: https://www.awesomegti.com/shop-by-brand/ecs-tuning/oem-red-r8-ignition-coil-pack-set-for-2-0t-vehicles/ but not sure of the quality, but they are well reviewed?

I'd probably just swap 1 at a time until I found the dodgy one, then replace them all and sell 3.

 

Hoses/air supply... It definitely feels electrical to me, no evidence of water ingress and its happened on very dry days/weeks.

 

I think the red ones at Awesome are in fact OEM parts, but check with them before accepting my word for it.

I assume you've inspected the spark plugs also?

[BristolBikerMan]

I haven't bothered to pull the plugs, because they have only got 1-2000 miles on them. I'd expect to be getting codes if the engine had been rich enough to foul them.

[BristolBikerMan]

Spoke to Awsome GTI. They are indeed OEM supplied ones. The postage is 9.99 so its only a fiver cheaper than bosch/ECP... But would rather help out a smaller company anyway.

[BristolBikerMan]

Plugs all swapped out now with bosch double platinum. Will monitor the situation and pull the plugs again after a long drive.

At the same time, my battery died a few days ago and I charged it fully last night.

 

Only 12.1v after a full charge, so will have to see how long that lasts!! Will be next on the list to replace after coil packs, if they are actually needed.

[Breezy_Pete]

Keep charging it, sometimes it takes a few goes.

[BristolBikerMan]

Not heard of that one before! It's a pretty decent charger and I used the trickle function, but battery wouldn't take any more amps.

[BristolBikerMan]

On 15/03/2021 at 13:43, cheezemonkhai said:

 

I think the red ones at Awesome are in fact OEM parts, but check with them before accepting my word for it.

I assume you've inspected the spark plugs also?

Thanks for pointing me at the obvious... My assumption that FSH = fairly new spark plugs was horribly wrong.

They must have been absolutely hammered, because the car is a very different animal now.

Was missing a lot of low down and peak power. I think maybe Cyl3 wasn't doing a lot.

 

I just thought these were fairly heavy sluggish cars.

[cheezemonkhai]

The 2.0 TDI isn't sluggish, so a 2.0 TSI won't be for sure as long as you use the revs.

Glad you've found a cheaper solution.

Out of interest how many miles does it have on it and how bad were the plugs? Any burning/glazing etc?

 

I find the service intervals for many parts on some manufacturers plans are shall we say optomistic or functioning, but not optimally.

 

 

[BristolBikerMan]

Details of my plugs here: 

I'm still open to the possibility I'll need to get the coilpacks, but so far its running perfectly fine.

 

It's got 106k on it, the plugs were horrible!

 

Coilpacks are pretty dirty too, been in there for quite a while, I guess.

 

[cheezemonkhai]

Plugs wise, I think they are listed at 60-80k miles, but I drive a diesel so don't quote me on that.

Coil wise, I've seen some go forever and some fail early, but if they're a mess, I'd probably just order a new set and either put them in or keep them in the car.

 

When the coilpacks go on longer journeys, you tend to end up with a car that either goes into limp mode or becomes undrivable as the engine is all over the place.

 

Fingers crossed you don't need them

 

EDIT:

 

Oh yes those plugs are not the best.

If they're white not grey then two hot, one maybe borderline hot and the other fine, but all with a bit of oil/carbon around them bases.

Certainly not going to hurt changing them out for new ones.

 

Edited 18 March, 2021 by cheezemonkhai

[BristolBikerMan]

Not sure if they are a mess, that said if I get any significant hesitation or missfire again I'll swap them out.

I went out yesterday and have a feeling it hesitated, but it can be tricky to tell sometimes.

 

I'm only using the car for the occasional trip to supermarket due to WFH.

 

When I use it a little more in the next weeks I'll decide on buying the coils. And will probs pull the plugs after a longer journey and see how they look now.

[BristolBikerMan]

Got hesistation/misfire again. The situation is still night and day improved from changing the plugs, but one cylinder seems not to be playing ball from the sound of the exhaust.

 

I've pulled the plugs again. Colours:

 

(Left to right)

1: Brown

2: Brown

3: Black (was the worst black plug last time too)

4) grey

 

I'm still thinking that the fuel is not igniting in 3 from time to time due to a bad spark and thats causing the rich condition, so ordered the coilpacks from ECP {awseome out of stock).

Will fit them tomorrow and have a listen to the engine.