Engine needs to run longer

[weehappypixie]

Hi folks,

 

I am really starting to hate my 71 plate Octavia iV PHEV VRS with all the software glitches on it. 

 

I got it end of October 2021 and it has just reached 8000 miles on the clock so not a high mileage. Drive to work and back which most of the time is on EV.

 

Since the last OTA updates a few weeks ago I get the text Engine needs to run longer when it switches into Hybrid mode and it will not switch the engine off again until I do it with the ignition. 

 

I contacted the stealership as someone on the forums mentioned about the 12v battery being defective and possibly damaged by the CAN gateway. I'm on 1896 this now  and the CAN software is 7310 according to the stealership which is the latest they say.

 

Can someone confirm if this is the case and would it be reasonable to expect Skoda to replace the battery under warranty given the low mileage and previous issues with the software from new.

 

Thanks,

 

John

[Benjybobs]

Once the engine is running, and you get that message, how long does it continue to run for?

 

 When mine does this, it won’t go off again until it’s warmed up. Can be a few minutes if it’s particularly cold or I’m not going very fast. 
 

there may be other things that trigger it, such as particulate filter, cat converter temp/condition, battery etc
 

if yours is just permanently on then that surely has to be a fault they can’t ignore? 

[weehappypixie]

Hi Benjybobs,

 

It stay's on. I can drive from Scarborough to York and the engine still runs even when the temperature is at 11 degrees outside. I've driven in colder weather and it was OK before the last OTA updates a fortnight ago.

 

Thanks.

[Benjybobs]

Yeah that doesn’t sound right. Are you able to get a reading of the 12v battery voltage?

 

i recently had an obd11 Dongle on mine, and noticed with the ignition on, and some charge in the high voltage batteries, the 12v was showing a health 14v with the engine off. I wonder if yours isn’t doing that properly. There were lots of early adopters complaining of flat 12v batteries even with charged up high voltage batteries. I think they had to have a module changed or updated to cure it. Sounds slightly different from your problem though. 
 

good luck getting it sorted, you might have to wait for something more overt to happen before they take you seriously

[weehappypixie]

Hi,

 

Just an update should anyone need it.

 

Car was in at the stealership and they said battery was OK and that the message Engine needs to run longer message is normal and will go away after you have been driving constantly for at least one hour. It's the petrol filtering system doing a regen similar to a DPF on a diesel. Since I drive 98% on pure EV I hadn't seen that error before and driving to York from Scarborough and back obviously wasn't long enough in a single trip.

 

Car is now working again as it should, i.e. switching to EV driving through towns and stopping the engine at traffic lights. 

 

So, if you see this message pop up with a picture of a car with an exclamation mark through it then now you you need to take your baby for a wee drive

 

 

John