Hi all,

 

My 2015 RS TDI, ever since about 6 months old, had a tendency to not charge the glow plugs long enough before starting up - causing it to turn over excessively. 

 

After my dealer was ever helpful with the 'we can't find anything wrong' line while the car was during warranty I just learned to press the start button, wait for the plugs to warm up, give an extra second before clutching and pressing the button again to start. I tend to forget this every now and again and the cars chugs like crazy. 

 

I thought it might have been the battery so bought a new one - coded it and although it's a fraction of a second quicker it still isn't enough to let me just sit into the car, clutch and press the start button once. 

 

Does anyone know if there's a solution in OBDeleven or VCDS to add a second to the glowplug time when I clutch and press the start button? 

 

The system does wait for the glowplug light to go out, but it needs just a little bit more to allow for an easy start.

 

Thanks all.

3 minutes ago, foregonereality said:

My 2015 RS TDI, ever since about 6 months old, had a tendency to not charge the glow plugs long enough before starting up - causing it to turn over excessively. 

 

The system does wait for the glowplug light to go out, but it needs just a little bit more to allow for an easy start.

Are the glow plugs in good condition, they're 9 years old now, and it sounds like they've never been as good as they maybe should be?

In the past, for the problem you describe, the solution was to mechanically advance basic injection timing by 1-2deg. Even though actual timing is electronically controlled, at the point when you start the engine what matters is that fuel is injected within 0.5deg of full compression. I had exactly the symptoms you describe on Mk1 Superb and adjusted the injection timing ~2 deg ahead, it was still within Skoda spec but after that the car started every time within 0.5s from turning ignition on for the next 12 years (1 glow plug swap in between after ~8 years / 120k+miles). The adjustment was on 3 screws on the gear pulley, just loosen screws, rotate pulley wrt mount, tighten screws, recheck basic timing, you needed VCDS / OBD11 or similar to monitor basic timing.

 

Unfortunately, looking at the CUNA 2.0TDI timing gear manual, it seems that this simple adjustment is no longer there. Perhaps there is a way to adjust initial timing at startup in VCDS/OBD11?

It likely isn’t your glow plugs. These engines are known for a long turnover. Worth a search, think it’s to do with the vvt solenoid

The standard phantom fault for long crank times at random startups that can't seemed to replicated or diagnosed... Some say ECU update fixes, some mechs say random parts changes to line their pockets... I say live with it, we all have it sometimes...

On 01/06/2024 at 06:49, Cactusjack said:

The standard phantom fault for long crank times at random startups that can't seemed to replicated or diagnosed... Some say ECU update fixes, some mechs say random parts changes to line their pockets... I say live with it, we all have it sometimes...

My car in cold weather always starts better than in warmer weather.  In cold weather there is quite a long delay whilst the glow plugs do their job and then instant starting. In warmer weather most of the time the starter kicks in before the glow plugs have had time to work resulting in some lengthy cranking time.

Edited 3 June, 20241 yr by ords