Hi All, i've just had my mk3 octavia 1.5tsi 2019 throw an engine light. 

 

OBD scanner says the car is throwing code p0441 'Evaporative control system incorrect purge flow' 

First of all would this cause issues with the start stop system as the car says 'start-stop error'- the code mentioned above is the only one being thrown 

 

Second how would I go about sorting the issue, I don't mind doing some minor work but if im gonna bite off more than I can chew do say! (My limit of technical work is replacing brake pads!) 

 

Thank you all in advance. 

Have you overfilled with petrol? I had something similar with my 1.4tsi Superb mkII just after I had bought it when I had filled up "thoroughly - ie numerous clicks" in Luxembourg because the petrol was super cheap . It was still under warranty so I popped into a German dealer who after a thorough check over told me in a combination of German/English  "one click halte!!". I followed that advice and it's been fine ever since.

 

Stop/star error could be one of many potential issues inc failing battery (likely at this time of year), clutch pedal sensor (does cruise control work?) , temperature sensors.  There is a complex algorithm re stop/start . I though on the Octavia there was a way of viewing the stop/start status?

Edited 16 February, 20233 yr by bigjohn

@bigjohn ah that seems to explain it, yeah I may have been a bit liberal with filling up at a petol station at £1.35/L trying to get my money's worth!  il bear the one click HALTE in mind in the future! 

 

il get my multimeter out in the morning and have a look at the battery and see what's what. 

 

I had the clutch done the other day but the start stop issues were there before and the cruise is working fine, I think some digging is needed for the start stop. 

49 minutes ago, willwn said:

@bigjohn ah that seems to explain it, yeah I may have been a bit liberal with filling up at a petol station at £1.35/L trying to get my money's worth!

 

I thought is was just us in Yorkshire that did that!!

 

 

@bigjohn I'm originally from Doncaster which explains it all!

Same here. 

Occasionally throwing up the p0441, with the stop start error too. 

Trying to find the valve online to replace it, just in case, seems to be impossible too... 

Every single n80 valve I find is "incompatible" - very confused... 

@Trimmy ive had the issue for best part of a month but its bizarre, I drive from Cirencester to Somerset every weekend and back on sunday night, some 240 miles return. and only do 30 odd miles around town during the week and the car is always throwing an engine light on a thursday afternoon / friday morning, and it goes out after a good 70 miles on the m5 or so. the start stop error is more random and i'm yet to identify a pattern with that. it's like a good motorway run clears the codes and the car is happy but is less happy around town. 

 

Doing some searching Ive come to the conclusion that it doesn't matter too much to leave it, so il ask about it next service in some 7k miles, which at my milage will be late April time 

any updates? have the p0441 error gone after the evap purge valve N80 replacement?

It cleared its’s self eventually, it’s happens again in the meantime but I recon it was from overfilling the tank (not stopping after the first click). It cleared after around 1000 miles or so

43 minutes ago, ant_buy said:

any updates? have the p0441 error gone after the evap purge valve N80 replacement?

32 minutes ago, willwn said:

It cleared its’s self eventually, it’s happens again in the meantime but I recon it was from overfilling the tank (not stopping after the first click). It cleared after around 1000 miles or so

Ah, that's nice to know. In our case, P0441 keeps popping up after resets (perhaps after a few days of driving), so it's a sign that the valve needs a clean, or a replacement. My mechanic is trying to get a new N80, but they are hard to get.

On 13/01/2025 at 11:22, ant_buy said:

Ah, that's nice to know. In our case, P0441 keeps popping up after resets (perhaps after a few days of driving), so it's a sign that the valve needs a clean, or a replacement. My mechanic is trying to get a new N80, but they are hard to get.

It's back again for me, now at 100k miles, gonna clear codes again and go from there...

35 minutes ago, willwn said:

It's back again for me, now at 100k miles, gonna clear codes again and go from there...

So, I have an interesting update. I've ended up replacing my N80 and the charcoal canister with the official dealer, which came with a hefty 500 quid price tag, for a half an hour job and 100-150 quid worth of parts. It's a rip-off, I know, but I really tried many things. And here's an interesting part, my local mechanic buys parts from the same suppliers as the dealer, and he couldn't get any as they were "out of stock". They have some sort of cheeky deals that some parts are reserved for the dealerships and not sold to independent mechanics. Also, stocks in dealerships should be open as they send parts between each other in case of need, but not in this case. That was from a phone call of my mechanic with his bud there.

The issue is resolved after the replacement though.

13 minutes ago, ant_buy said:

So, I have an interesting update. I've ended up replacing my N80 and the charcoal canister with the official dealer, which came with a hefty 500 quid price tag, for a half an hour job and 100-150 quid worth of parts. It's a rip-off, I know, but I really tried many things. And here's an interesting part, my local mechanic buys parts from the same suppliers as the dealer, and he couldn't get any as they were "out of stock". They have some sort of cheeky deals that some parts are reserved for the dealerships and not sold to independent mechanics. Also, stocks in dealerships should be open as they send parts between each other in case of need, but not in this case. That was from a phone call of my mechanic with his bud there.

The issue is resolved after the replacement though.

That certainly is an interesting update! I'm coming to the conclusion it doesn't appear to affect the car in anyway apart from the start stop occasionally not working (I dont like it anyway!) still getting same performance and economy. I'm now planning on hanging onto the car until the bitter end so it will just be one of its 'quirks' which cars develop with age!

out of interest, have you done the cambelt yet? I got a politicians answer last time I was at the main dealer, and I would rather not get it done to early when it doesn't need to yet as I've seen some 4 figure sums doing the rounds!

It will probably fail the MOT with the light on.

On 12/03/2025 at 16:52, willwn said:

out of interest, have you done the cambelt yet? I got a politicians answer last time I was at the main dealer, and I would rather not get it done to early when it doesn't need to yet as I've seen some 4 figure sums doing the rounds!

to be honest, i haven't had any indications that it's needed. but what i know for sure is that i'll do such things via my local mechanic that i fully trust in terms of the quality and not trying to oversell