Hello everyone! I have the Skoda Octavia mk3 5e 2013 1.6 dsg diesel. For 2 years straight now I am having random long cranking times. In the morning either the weather is hot or cold it will take even 8 seconds for the engine to start. If after that i switch it off and start it again it automatically starts. No problem. The long time that it takes to start maybe random but it will happen more 10 times a month. Any ideas or suggestions will be greatly appreciated. Thank you for your time.

I will ask a Moderator to move this to the Skoda Octavia Mk III (2013 - 2020) forum as you have posted it in the 'Driving and Touring Routes' forum.

 

A dealer software update reduced this for me. When I finally replaced the battery with a new AGM it never came back again.

This was a problem on the old 1.9 and less common on the newer cars.  The issue on the 1.9 was to do with the coding of the fuel pump that requires the engine to turn over at a minimum speed.  If the starter is a bit worn (took very little on my car) then it requires a double turn of the key to "wake" it up.  I had a new battery, all earth points checked, starter cleaned out (this helped the most).  All those didn't fix the issue.  The only thing I did that 100% solved it was a remap.  Unintentional side effect.  Ran the car 3 years with the map and never had to double crank it.

Timing issue??