Hello everyone 

let me get you up to speed with we’re I am with my Octavia 2003 sdi 1.9 diesel.

whilst driving the car she lost power and became extremely sluggish, I took the car to my mechanic and he’s suggested it could be the high pressure pump, when you rev the car it smokes heavily and doesn’t sound right (diesel knock) . It starts and ticks over just fine. It has no fault codes on the obd2 reader. It doesn’t have a pre lift pump from the tank. I’ve done a fuel return test to check the flow rate from the injectors and found no fuel return from any of the injectors, even when reved up. I was hoping I’d find a fault with an injector but I don’t think it is. 

Can anyone give me their input on what I might be up against, I’m considering changing the diesel pump but are they coded on this age of car? It’s only done 150,000 miles which isn’t a lot for a car like this. 

Is it a scraper or an easy fix?

its had a full service all filters done over 500 miles ago. 

Thanks for reading this.

1 hour ago, Robzskoda said:

when you rev the car it smokes heavily

What colour smoke? This is potentially diagnostic.

Hi Ken thanks for your reply I might be wrong I think it’s white  ish but can’t remember I need to charge the battery and check to be sure the main noticeable things are lack of power and smells  badly of fuel both in the engine bay and cabin. Kind regards Rob.

40 minutes ago, Robzskoda said:

I think it’s white  ish

Well, if it's only on a cold engine that suggests failed glow plugs, but on a hot engine it suggests head gasket failure.

 

So next checks are whether the coolant remains pressurised once the engine cools down after a run, the oil level rises or the water level falls.

Thanks Ken I will check it over the weekend I will get the battery charged and check these things over the weekend and re post once I’ve some more information 👍

I’ve had time to get the battery charged and start the car again the smoke is white ish and smells heavy of diesel. 

Does this give you any idea what it could be?

I'm going with boost leak.

It’s a non turbo theirs no return diesel when flo tested off the injectors.

Check the pump timing with the graphing feature in VCDS 

Thanks for getting back to me, I haven’t got a vagcom machine to test the pump timing I will have to get in touch with my mechanic and see if he has the facility to do this for me. 👍thanks for your input. 

12 hours ago, Robzskoda said:

start the car again the smoke is white ish and smells heavy of diesel. 

Does this give you any idea what it could be?

It makes me thing you have bad glowplugs. Being an SDi doesn't even make a difference here.

Would all 4 go bad in one go? I thought the glow plugs were just to help the initial start process and not for running once the engine has started? Can that affect the diesel over spill from not returning after the injectors?

9 hours ago, Robzskoda said:

I thought the glow plugs were just to help the initial start process and not for running once the engine has started?

Yes and no. Yes because they do make starting easier: No because they remain active for a minute or so after the engine fires.

 

Now the tricky bit. On a direct injection engine (all 1.9D engines), the engine will fire but white smoke whilst the cylinders warm a bit without glow plug assistance. So the car could have been running with bad glow plugs for months, even years.

Thanks for getting back to me Ken. I’m not sure if I put this information in the original post but the car was working fine and had been driving perfectly, it failed when it was being driven and had power loss whilst driving and the car was up to temperature when it happened. It still starts fine the glow plug light goes out as it should it idols just fine it lacks power when driving. 

Im guessing it a fuelling issue from the pump. I’m trying to find out If the pump is coded and I’m looking into changing it if it’s not. If there is a service kit for the pump I might consider stripping down my pump and checking to see if a seal has gone.

thanks for your input if you can think of anything else let me know kind regards Rob.

On 19/09/2021 at 09:45, Robzskoda said:

 I’ve done a fuel return test to check the flow rate from the injectors and found no fuel return from any of the injectors, even when reved up.

 

Do you know this from witnessing it with your own eyes or what VCDS or whatever is telling you?

 

I very much doubt that the mechanical diesel pump on a MK1 Sdi will be coded, if it does not show up as a controller in the Installation List scan on VCDS then it does not exist.