Hi

I have a 69 plate Scala Se Tsi S-A. It's a 1ltr petrol.

I have had a few problems with it, last year the gearbox was replaced. The car has done 69400 miles.

Everything was fine up until recently when I started getting errors popping up on the trip computer when I turned the car on. That has continued & I now have the amber warning lights on the dash. Is this looking like something that would be expensive to diagnose & fix? I have lost so much faith in this car. This is my 3rd Skoda, I never had issues with my others but this one has been a different story.

Welcome.

69,426 miles. Has it had the spark plugs changed at a service at 40,000 miles.

Have you read about the GPF and what to do?

Is it doing short trips cold starts? GPF & Stop / start might be if you are doing.

Engine Stop / Start issue is maybe just the battery condition, state of charge.

Battery needs tested.

Edited 11 June11 Jun by Ootohere

Hi.

I can't see anything about the spark plugs on the service history but it's a print out & was before I got the car.

Short trips but we have taken it further recently. It's been up & down the motorway.

Cold starts yes but not been a problem lately.

Try the way of getting the light out as comes from the owners manual.

Thank you.

Edited 11 June11 Jun by Everdreamer

Remember,

In a modern car faults stack up. A blocked particle filter will cause the engine ECU to put the car in a limited power mode (That's the EPC light). This in turn will turn on the dreaded orange "check engine" light.

Sometimes, even if you solve the original problem, (particle filter) you'll need to clear the fault codes using an OBD II reader.

I can understand your your loss of faith in the car, and I'm no VW fan, but things might not be anywhere near as bad as you might think and very easily recoverable at no real monetary cost (little electric, some small amount of petrol)

Modern cars don't suit short journeys and infrequent suitable use - but that's what many of them get so adding in things like motorway or spirited back roads driving and very occasional preventative battery recharges can avoid some issues.

The state of charge of the battery can be too low for the car's computer systems even if the headlights seem bright enough and the engine starts, the engine will start even if the battery is very low, far below what the computers systems like. All sorts of unexpected warnings, unseen error codes and issues can be from just the battery being too low for the car's computer systems there are numerous threads and posts where this has been found to be the case.

The stop/start not being active when it should is the first warning that the battery state of charge is too low, if this is missed or ignored for too long and/or too often then the battery gets progressively further from full recovery.

Driving the car even on the motorway nay not always be fully sufficient as it depends on how much electric is being used and/or or low and worn the battery is.

Check the state of charge of the battery, better still fully recharge the battery to 100% using an appropriate battery charger maintainer following the instructions in the car's Owner's Manual and for the battery charger maintainer. Lower amps charger (say 4-amps) will take longer to fully recharge the battery but generally will give a better recharge and if you can't fully recharge the battery in one go take two or three.

Or it may be better for you to just have the reassurance of buying a new battery (and getting it 'coded in correctly). Personally I always fully charge the new battery to 100% before fitting to be sure that is the way they start when first fitted to the car (it shouldn't take too long as a new battery charged off the car).

Just getting the existing battery to a reasonable state of charge and following the driving instructions for the particle filter should help you at least in the short term.

And you certainly want to check when the spark plugs and engine oil filter were lasted changed but that's just engine more important obviously is service and maintenance of brakes (fluid, pads, discs, tyres) and tyres (tyre age, wear/damage (tread and sidewalls), wheels).

Good luck, let us know how you get on.

Before this gets silly:

The start stop may well not function. Sometimes this is nothing to do with the state of battery charge.

As an example, on a hot day if you have the A/C turned on then the compressor needs to run if it senses the car is too warm. This will start the engine (or not stop it).

The key for the OP is to follow the instructions in the manual to clean the particulate filter. If that does not work then professional help is needed.

8 hours ago, Aldfort said:

Before this gets silly:

The start stop may well not function. Sometimes this is nothing to do with the state of battery charge.

13 hours ago, nta16 said:

The stop/start not being active when it should is the first warning that the battery state of charge is too low,

Bold italics added to highlight what I put before you continue with your mistake.

8 hours ago, Aldfort said:

The key for the OP is to follow the instructions in the manual to clean the particulate filter. If that does not work then professional help is needed.

13 hours ago, nta16 said:

Just getting the existing battery to a reasonable state of charge and following the driving instructions for the particle filter should help you at least in the short term.

Spot the similarities. I was referencing Ootohere's post where he's put up the driving info for the filter from the 'Owner's Manual', something I often do but Ootohere had already done this.

I hope you're not trying to jump on to a running bandwagon and tripping yourself up but just making a mistake or two as I do many times a day. 😁

"Please note - I am not a mechanic or expert in anything."